12-02-2007, 07:14 AM
Having had to wear a neck brace for 4 months, and having been stuck in the stiff backboard collar for like, a week, this is one of my pet peeves working in a hospital, and has made me a few not-so-friends among the nursing staff; the stiff collar is only meant to be on long enough to stabilize the patient and determine whether the collar is indicated or not, and if it is, the patient should get a more comfortable collar. I've seen the hard ones cause skin breakdown after only two days. On the other hand, when I come across a patient who should be wearing a collar, who's either loosened it or taken it off, I'm absolutely going to get in their face about it.
If I was this kid's parents, I'd want to keep the braces as a symbol of how frikkin' lucky she is to be alive and recovered seemingly successfully. Or send it to the American Automobile Association to have bronzed and put in a display case as a monument to the thousands of children killed by cars each year.
[quote cbelt3]ahhh neck braces.
I wore one for about a week. Half of that was in a coma. When I finally woke up after surgery, I noticed that my head was stuck in one position, and I felt like I was in a bear trap. The damn thing was trying to bite my head off.
When they finally unstrapped my left arm (right arm was shattered and got a lot of ironmongery in it... I set off metal detectors), I complained about the neck brace. Was hushed and told 'it's for your safety'. They hadn't read the spine xrays.
After a nice shot of morphine, i was feeling rather clever, and removed the neck brace with one hand. As I recall, it was pretty tough to do.
Nurse walks in and says "What did you do ?"
"Ha ha. I won !" I said, waving the neck brace.
She strapped me back down and put the brace back on.
Never annoy your nurse....
If I was this kid's parents, I'd want to keep the braces as a symbol of how frikkin' lucky she is to be alive and recovered seemingly successfully. Or send it to the American Automobile Association to have bronzed and put in a display case as a monument to the thousands of children killed by cars each year.
[quote cbelt3]ahhh neck braces.
I wore one for about a week. Half of that was in a coma. When I finally woke up after surgery, I noticed that my head was stuck in one position, and I felt like I was in a bear trap. The damn thing was trying to bite my head off.
When they finally unstrapped my left arm (right arm was shattered and got a lot of ironmongery in it... I set off metal detectors), I complained about the neck brace. Was hushed and told 'it's for your safety'. They hadn't read the spine xrays.
After a nice shot of morphine, i was feeling rather clever, and removed the neck brace with one hand. As I recall, it was pretty tough to do.
Nurse walks in and says "What did you do ?"
"Ha ha. I won !" I said, waving the neck brace.
She strapped me back down and put the brace back on.
Never annoy your nurse....