RE: Hi Guin, , Eve, Jana, and All from BBS!

[Guest guest]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

The only thing I remember about having tonsils out was the ice cream

afterward.

On Jul 7, 2004, at 4:48 PM, Laurie Wasser wrote:

> I was finally able to join this group.YEAH!!!! Been trying for

> weeks but my cookies were disabled, although I re-enabled them so I

> could join and could still NOT get on. Finally figured out it was

> an extra security program that I had installed on my laptop that was

> blocking the cookies.

>

> I miss the BBS terribly. I've been going through some of these

> posts and found one that Guin had written- stating she felt like

> there had been a death in the family when the BBS went offline. I

> felt the same way and found myself wondering daily, how everyone was

> doing. So I'm so glad to be back in some kind of contact.

>

> For those of you who don't know me, I do not have an ICD. But I am

> an EP nurse (have worked in the field for 13 years) and just

> recently left the EP Lab and went back to Cardiovascular Critical

> Care Nursing (Open Heart Recovery Unit.) I've found many

> opportunities to do patient teaching regarding ICDs and have even

> talked some of the surgeons into getting EP consults when needed.

> I've only been in this job since March 1st, but am really loving

> it. It is pitifull though the zero amount of ICD teaching that goes

> on. I had a patient waiting for 5 days in the critical care unit

> until she could be implanted and NO ONE ever came to initiate any

> teaching, except for me. I had to bring in my stuff from home and

> call her family in, otherwise she wouldn't have had any. Is that

> ridiculous or what?!!!!

>

> Oh well, it's not gonna change unless we keep working on it a little

> bit at a time right?

>

> Anyway, so good to be back IN TOUCH! HOPE all have had a good

> summer so far. My 6 yo daughter got her tonsils out a few weeks ago

> and that was fun. And I turned the big " 43 " yesterday.

>

> Talk to you all soon!

>

> Love, Laurie

>

>

>

>

> Please visit the Zapper homepage at

> http://www.ZapLife.org

>

[Guest guest]

Hi Laurie, Glad to hear from you.. Like you and all of us I miss the

BBS terribly.. I feel like an addict deprived of my drugs without

hearing from you, Eve, Don, Allan, etc., etc., etc. Hopefully Duffy

will find a way to get us back soon.. In the meantime, I come in here

every day and read the posts. Don't know why it seems so different

but it does.. Keep talking to us Laurie.. Love, Helen

[Guest guest]

Thanks, Helen.

BTW, forgot to tell you I loved seeing you in your ICD Live wires

shirt. You Go Girl!!!

Laurie

[Guest guest]

Laurie,

I sure wish you had been around when my

husband was scheduled for his ICD. We were in New York (we live in IN.), w/o family & our other

usual support when my husband was dx w/ heart failure w/ EF of 25-30 %. This

was in addition to his WPW we already knew he had. He evidently had developed

& compensated his HF for quite some time, but also had been having frequent

runs of SVT. Even though he was in CCU x 10 days, we only had booklets about

“the device”.

He was/has essentially continued to be now

only looked upon as “the device”. We received no/little

psychosocial support there & none from the office Nurse here. We/I finally

demanded they refer us to someone since he was having PTS from his “electrical

storm” 6 hours after his ablation & insertion of the ICD.

The good part of this is I am a Nurse Practitioner,

the bad part is I am a Nurse Practitioner & spouse of a pt w/ an ICD.. But

my specialty is now GI—Hep C veterans. We had a great EP doc; unfortunately

we didn’t always have all our questions for him even though we would

write them down before his visit. I find we have had to hear the same things

more than once.

We now have a wonderful social worker in

the heart failure clinic that we have been seeing weekly.

After doing a net search I am so glad we

found this list serve. I lurk a lot, tried the BBS before it went down, have

put a few names on my IM list , although I haven’t contacted but one

person on IM (thanks Sue). My husband & I can relate too many of the fears noted

in the e-mails. We are definitely planning on Memphis 2005 & have put our

name on the list for attending. I have shared this list & the conference

info w/ our HF nurse at my VA & our SW. He agrees this is a super

site. DK if he has become a member. (Ed is not a veteran & is

seen in the private sector).

I love teaching my patients & having

always taught patients, it amazed me how fast Ed, my husband, was now a “device”—meds,

device interrogation, “see you in 6 months”

Gee does it show I still am angry about

our experience in New

York & after we

got home??

Sorry—guys—this turned into a

bit of venting

Janet Stockbridge

Hi Guin, ,

Eve, Jana, and All from BBS!

I was finally able to join this group.YEAH!!!!

Been trying for

weeks but my cookies were disabled, although I

re-enabled them so I

could join and could still NOT get on.

Finally figured out it was

an extra security program that I had installed on

my laptop that was

blocking the cookies.

I miss the BBS terribly. I've been going

through some of these

posts and found one that Guin had written- stating

she felt like

there had been a death in the family when the BBS

went offline. I

felt the same way and found myself wondering

daily, how everyone was

doing. So I'm so glad to be back in some

kind of contact.

For those of you who don't know me, I do not have

an ICD. But I am

an EP nurse (have worked in the field for 13

years) and just

recently left the EP Lab and went back to

Cardiovascular Critical

Care Nursing (Open Heart Recovery Unit.)

I've found many

opportunities to do patient teaching regarding

ICDs and have even

talked some of the surgeons into getting EP

consults when needed.

I've only been in this job since March 1st, but am

really loving

it. It is pitifull though the zero amount of

ICD teaching that goes

on. I had a patient waiting for 5 days in

the critical care unit

until she could be implanted and NO ONE ever came

to initiate any

teaching, except for me. I had to bring in

my stuff from home and

call her family in, otherwise she wouldn't have

had any. Is that

ridiculous or what?!!!!

Oh well, it's not gonna change unless we keep

working on it a little

bit at a time right?

Anyway, so good to be back IN TOUCH! HOPE

all have had a good

summer so far. My 6 yo daughter got her

tonsils out a few weeks ago

and that was fun. And I turned the big

" 43 " yesterday.

Talk to you all soon!

Love, Laurie

Please visit

the Zapper homepage at

http://www.ZapLife.org