Every time I see a new health care provider, I always have to fill out the endless forms—the ones where you list every surgery you’ve ever had (that section always has at most three dinky lines, I have to write super small) and of course any medication you take as well as any medication you’re allergic to.
Only I think all these years, I’ve been reading those forms wrong. I bet they say something about all known allergies. That came up last week at the first Care Bear appointment. I’d dutifully filled out all the forms and listed every medication I’m allergic to. And just randomly while talking with the surgeon’s nurse, she said ok and no nickel allergies, right.
Actually, that’s not true. I get a terrible reaction to nickel jewelry, a real burning pain bad enough that I have to immediately remove whatever it is. I learned this the hard way after I got my ears pierced; the earrings a junior high school girl can afford from money earned by babysitting are the cheap ones, the ones with nickel. I learned really quickly that I couldn't wear anything with nickel in it.
The nurse asked me if I ever had any weeping sores from the nickel and I said that I couldn't have left those earrings in long enough for that to happen. It burned way too much and too quickly to leave them in more than 10 minutes.
Turns out, for a lumpectomy, you’d normally have a little thing called a reflector inserted much the same way as the biopsy was done, local anesthesia and then somehow placed in there using a needle of some kind. You can’t see it or feel it but the surgeon uses ultrasound to find that reflector and the titanium marker that's already in there to get right to the correct spot. Only the reflector contains nickel, and I'm allergic to nickel.
For the lumpectomy, there’s another older procedure, one that's nickel free. With this procedure, I'll still have that local anesthetic, and then a wire inserted that same morning as the surgery. The nurse assured me that they do secure it with gauze and stuff, but I'll still be hanging out with this wire sticking out until the surgery. The surgeon will use the wire and the titanium marker I mentioned to get to the right spot and remove what needs to be removed.
But I have to say it’s never ever occurred to me to mention nickel as something I’m allergic to. Ever. So note to self, list everything.
Only I think all these years, I’ve been reading those forms wrong. I bet they say something about all known allergies. That came up last week at the first Care Bear appointment. I’d dutifully filled out all the forms and listed every medication I’m allergic to. And just randomly while talking with the surgeon’s nurse, she said ok and no nickel allergies, right.
Actually, that’s not true. I get a terrible reaction to nickel jewelry, a real burning pain bad enough that I have to immediately remove whatever it is. I learned this the hard way after I got my ears pierced; the earrings a junior high school girl can afford from money earned by babysitting are the cheap ones, the ones with nickel. I learned really quickly that I couldn't wear anything with nickel in it.
The nurse asked me if I ever had any weeping sores from the nickel and I said that I couldn't have left those earrings in long enough for that to happen. It burned way too much and too quickly to leave them in more than 10 minutes.
Turns out, for a lumpectomy, you’d normally have a little thing called a reflector inserted much the same way as the biopsy was done, local anesthesia and then somehow placed in there using a needle of some kind. You can’t see it or feel it but the surgeon uses ultrasound to find that reflector and the titanium marker that's already in there to get right to the correct spot. Only the reflector contains nickel, and I'm allergic to nickel.
For the lumpectomy, there’s another older procedure, one that's nickel free. With this procedure, I'll still have that local anesthetic, and then a wire inserted that same morning as the surgery. The nurse assured me that they do secure it with gauze and stuff, but I'll still be hanging out with this wire sticking out until the surgery. The surgeon will use the wire and the titanium marker I mentioned to get to the right spot and remove what needs to be removed.
But I have to say it’s never ever occurred to me to mention nickel as something I’m allergic to. Ever. So note to self, list everything.
2 comments:
Oh gosh...glad to file that as near miss
Wow. I remember being in that mode--you have to make sure you complain enough and list everything everywhere you go, multiple times with multiple doctors.
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