Ironic observations

[Trinityheart8891]

hey guys,

Ironic observation I had today--nurses are the most curious ppl when it comes to a 21 yr old having a sternotomy scar. . .I was at work today and it was my first day in the cafeteria alone pretty much, I was running the register, and I have to say, every person I noticed staring at my scar(was wearing V neck scrubs) was a nurse (ok, I work in a hospital cafeteria, I come into contact with an unusually high number of nurses, but still) it happened at least 3 or 4 times, from what I noticed. . .not really surprizing I guess, but I still thought it was pretty ironic.

ok, this post was kinda pointless, just thought I would mention/vent. Does anyone else who works in a hospital notice similar interactions?

thanks

 

[Ross]

Ah so you've discovered that you are now a fascinating creature eh?

 

[Bina]

MOrgan, my daughter is a nurse....they like ALL scars and ALL wounds.
She made sure to visit me after OHS to check out tubes, staples, incision, IV, etc. She even visited after my cath.
Really, if these things grossed them out they would not be nurses.

 

[Freddie]

Ah so you've discovered that you are now a fascinating creature eh?

You mean to say that you have never noticed this before Morgan?

Believe what Ross has said

 

[ALCapshaw2]

You could add ROSS to your list of 'reactors

(and identify him by his reaction

IF he had come through your line....

I better stop before I get into trouble ...

'AL'

 

[AaronB]

My Primary care Doctor always has students on hand and I'm always a Heart sound teaching tool at every visit! Maybe I should get a discount

 

[Superbob]

I had a nurse once who was just fascinated with drawing blood. So it's not surprising that some would be fascinated with scars and wounds, etc. Goes with the territory, so to speak.

 

[Nancy]

Joe had a ton of big scars all over his chest and back. Both doctors and nurses were always looking at them when he had appts. I guess it is a history list of sorts. I never paid much attention to the scars, I thought they were quite faint, but to medical people they meant a lot.

I can remember going for some pre-op testing with a nurse, and she looked at the minutest scars, even one where I had a tiny skin tag removed-wanted to know what that was--I could hardly remember, it was so long ago.

That's their field, and it's interesting to them.

 

[Philip B]

Intrigued?

Intrigued?

You'll find that lots of people are intrigued with the chest scar many of us have from OHS. Since my surgery last March I've had a number of folks step into my high school office and ask me about my chest scar.

Once you grow some hair on your chest, your scar will be less noticable.

-Philip

 

[Marguerite53]

Once you grow some hair on your chest, your scar will be less noticable.

-Philip

Ha ha! Easy for you to say!

My experience lately has not been with nurses, but with saleswomen while I was shopping for holiday clothes. We were invited to a "cocktail dress" event (which we later did not attend as my husband was called out of town) and I knew everything I looked at would probably be very revealing of my not very pretty scar. The women were lovely. They would ask if I needed help, then I would say what I was invited to, and that I hoped to find something not too low cut as I had a rather large scar that might detract from the look. Most were curious to see the scar and then "do you mind if I ask you why you have such a scar?" would come up.

Recently, too, I was at a fairly intimate dinner event sitting across from a tiny and much older woman who had a pretty white line of a scar popping above her blouse. I was curious!!! So I asked her about it (not right away, but at a comfortable time) and turned out she had had endocarditis and then a valve replacement. Of course, we talked for quite some time after that.

So I wonder if the curiosity, and particularly the experience these nurses have, might prompt them to be wondering if they can guess your circumstance....or give them pause, because you are so young. Perhaps there is the curiosity of those who have helped people like us, but never actually personally experienced it. I guess I would be tempted to ask them...once caught looking.....if they wanted to hear my (your) story. Perhaps there is not much time in the lunch line for conversation.

At any rate....please don't become sensitive about it. It doesn't sound like these nurses have very good manners. And some of us can certainly attest to the "bedside" manners of some nurses!!

Enjoy the job! You might meet some sweet young doctor!! I met my husband while I was checking groceries...he was a customer! 27 years later......

Marguerite

 

[netmiff]

I think it's the combination of your age and the scar - I mean, how many 21-year-olds have had OHS ? We have a very large and active cath lab here, and everyone (I mean medical staff) was astounded that I was there at my "young" age, and assumed it was for a stent or pre-by-pass surgery. When I had a chance to look around, they were right, most people had me beat by about 15 years or more. In the pre-op clinic, I walked up to the registration desk, and they took one look at me and said, Oh you must be ...and named me. I am 52, so do not consider myself young for this kind of thing, but THEY all had me picked out !

People are strange, I had a customer one day (I own a custom imprinting store), and when I said I couldn't reach something, they kind-of looked at me, and I said oh, just had OHS, reaching is still sore, can you please get it, I found myself about 10 minutes later in the rest room with this strange (and I mean that in BOTH senses !) woman, listening to my lub-click, lub-click, lub-click ....

And yes, any medical personnel I came in contact with before I started clicking were offered a free listen at the murmur !

 

[Bina]

Now there's a weird pick up line:
"Hey honey, wanna step into the back room and hear me "click"?

 

[Susan BAV]

This is something that I'm really sensitive to; I can't wear anything with my scar peaking out or else whomever I'm talking to is absolutely distracted. Frequently, it catches someone's eye, then they'll look again just to be sure with their lips slightly drawing back in a horrified pose, and then they'll start looking anywhere else in an uncomfortable way. It's happened to me so many times that I'm just personally more comfortable not scaring anybody with it.

But maybe the problem could be that I do try to hide it. Maybe if I just wore something where it is visible--anything below a crew neck shows it on me--and ignored peoples' responses. I don't know if I could do that. But anyway, it's something that I'm really sensitive to.

I enjoyed the members' explanations here that medical people are fascinated with things like that. I think that's probably true. And most nurses seem to constantly be trying to learn and understand new things. Perhaps that was part of their interest.

I remember coming home from my first shopping trip after surgery and all the new blouses that spring were V-necks. I was so discouraged and bought nothing. It's not as bright pink as it was then but there's still no disguising the thing. There have been several threads here over the years about putting makeup over it and such.

 

[gadgetman]

Was it a MALE NURSE??? Remember yer TWENTY ONE now!

Bubba

 

[Philip B]

Camo

Camo

All kidding about camouflaging chest scars aside, I felt somewhat selfconscious about my scar last spring. I even avoided wearing shirts that exposed the top of my scar. Thinking about other people seeing my scar kinda passed.

Interestingly, I have noticed that I've become more aware of other people I see who have that scar running down the center of their chests. I don't question the other people I see, but I frequently smile and think to myself, "Wow, there's another OHS survivor!" I find that I have a great deal of admiration for OHS survivors now.

-Philip

 

[evelyn2]

Hi Morgan

I am a nurse in a teaching hospital with plenty of interns, medical students, residents around. I wear V-neck scrubs because it is so very hot on my floor. I catch alot of these people unable to look at my face once they notice my scar, they seem to be so distracted. No one actually ever asks anything about it, they just keep trying to avert their eyes. I always think they wonder how I could possibly do my job (I think that myself most days). The other nurses I work with already know my story so they don't think anything of it. They just worry if I get SOB.

I think for you, people are surprised because of your young age. Most people associate "the scar" with bypass surgery, an older folks problem. You shouldn't have to feel self-conscious about your scar or shouldn't feel a need to explain it either. Just say have a good day, and if there is someone you want to share your experience with then tell them.

As to nurses being curious, we are so used to examining and discovering every little thing about a patient, it becomes second nature to ask detailed questions about every thing we see.

I hope this helps somewhat.

Evelyn

 

[Guest]

Ah so you've discovered that you are now a fascinating creature eh?

Oh my ... that has so many different connotations, don't it, Ross?




Morgan ... my sis used to work in a local hospital. And, whenever I went to see her there, I noticed, too, that nurses seemed to be a bit more attentive to all types of people in the hospital.... It is interesting, though....



Cort:34swm."Mr Monte Carlo.Mr Road Trip".pig valve.pacemaker
WRMNshowcase.lego.HO.model.MCs.RT.CHD = http://www.chevyasylum.com/cort
"Somebody snitched on me" ... Barry Gordon ... 'Nuttin' For Christmas'

 

[wes]

scar

scar

i don't feel too self-conscious about my scar, but then again I'm only 3 months post op and it's winter, so I don't walk around shirtless very much. In Japan we have a lot of public bath houses and hot springs where communal bathing (segregated by sex of course) is the norm. I'll be going to my first post op hot spring on Christmas day, so I'll see how many people stare at my scar or ask me questions! In my 7 years in Japan, I've only ever seen one other person with a chest scar.

Has anyone thought about getting a tattoo around their scar? That way, people would stare at your tattoo instead of your scar. You know, maybe we could tattoo Gizmo coming out of our chest. or E.T. or an elf or something cute.

 

[westkane]

A liitle beach/sun time seems to help make the scar less visible, but remember the sunblock as it can be very sensitive at first. And for those really nosey people I had a come back line but have not had to use it yet...."my scar? That's where they removed the Alien that was implanted in me" If nothing else, I figure that ought to keep them guessing.

It is the scar that allowed you to live....Wear it with Pride

 

[donnamarie]

This is something that I'm really sensitive to; I can't wear anything with my scar peaking out or else whomever I'm talking to is absolutely distracted. Frequently, it catches someone's eye, then they'll look again just to be sure with their lips slightly drawing back in a horrified pose, and then they'll start looking anywhere else in an uncomfortable way. It's happened to me so many times that I'm just personally more comfortable not scaring anybody with it.

But maybe the problem could be that I do try to hide it. Maybe if I just wore something where it is visible--anything below a crew neck shows it on me--and ignored peoples' responses. I don't know if I could do that. But anyway, it's something that I'm really sensitive to.

I enjoyed the members' explanations here that medical people are fascinated with things like that. I think that's probably true. And most nurses seem to constantly be trying to learn and understand new things. Perhaps that was part of their interest.

I remember coming home from my first shopping trip after surgery and all the new blouses that spring were V-necks. I was so discouraged and bought nothing. It's not as bright pink as it was then but there's still no disguising the thing. There have been several threads here over the years about putting makeup over it and such.

I have a couple of v-neck blouses and a necklace with a beautiful gold heart pendant that I wear with it. The heart lays right over the top of the scar and it's barely noticible. I only had surgery 2 months ago, and have yet to have a stranger ask me about it. Now, some friends have said "let me see your scar", but I don't mind, to tell the truth I'm rather proud of it!