Tomorrow, November 20, 2005, I will be a storyteller in 'Tellabration' a storytelling event here in Cleveland, Ohio.
The theme of the event is old and new. I'm going to tell the story of my mother. My mother got pregnant with me when she was seventeen, married my father and had seven children, actually eight, my brother Louis died immediately after birth. When I was eighteen and going to college, she finally came out and declared to us and the world that she was a lesbian! I can only imagine the circumstances that lead her to opening her legs to my father the day of my conception. It was the early 1950's and there was no word that my mother knew for lesbian, homosexual, or just being different. I'm positive, she thought she was just plain fuckin' weird and trying to exorcise an internal demon. She defined herself thru her pregnancies until the time came when she could proclaim it on her own!
She died at the age of 52 years old from metatstatic breast cancer. That same cancer wiped out the women on her side of her family. My grandmother (her mom), my grandmother's sister's, and my Mother's sister. My younger sister was diagnosed at age 26 and had a lumpectomy.
The 'new' part of my story contribution is the birth of my son, a complete and utter surprise! He has been a beacon of life, energy and creativity for me and my husband, and his really older sister! I have been so productive and creative since giving birth to him!
My Spoken Word piece that I composed called 'For Chance' received an 'Editor's Choice Award for Outstanding Achievement in Poetry by poetry.com and the International Library of Poetry, November 2005.' Woo Woo!
UBU (you be You!)
Stand up Comedian/Actor/Writer/Spoken Word Poet/Corporate Speaker/Mother/Wife.
Saturday, November 19, 2005
Tuesday, November 15, 2005
By: Adrienne Zurub, RN, AD, BA, MA.
A recent study at the University of Chicago, studied a varied database of 15, 440 patients from 31 hospitals between 1990-2000, who underwent CABG (coronary artery bypass grafts). The average age of the men was 63, and the average age of the women was 66.
The conclusion is that 22% of women are more likely to die after CABG than men!
The following actions/suggestions may save your life:
Invest and develop a relationship with your Nurse during your operative hospital course! This includes the Floor Nurse, the Operating Room Nurse, and the nurse in the intensive care unit.
Your Registered Nurse is your Partner in maintaining, reparative, and surviving your hospital course! He or she is your most vocal,profound and proximal patient advocate and your first line of defense. Registered nurses are highly trained, educated and technologically advanced practitioners. Typically, they interact more with you and your family than your doctor.
View your doctor and surgeon as independent contractors not your Partner! You, the patient are paying them! It is their privilege to serve you! Doctors need patients in order to practice medicine and make a living.
Research to find the best doctor, surgeon, and cardiologist for your specific heart problem! Specialization in heart surgery means that some heart surgeons do certain procedures better than others; because THEY DO MORE!
Go to the largest best teaching Heart disease institution in your area or outside the state. Why? Because at a larger facility, the heart center will have been exposed to and treated successfully a large number of patients with varying degrees of heart disease problems.
Go to the largest Heart disease center that routinely does patients from around the world! Why? Because this institution will have experienced the anomalies, the differences in vasculature (smaller arteries & veins in persons from Asian countries and the Middle East generally), and other oddities of the heart disease process. Also, patients now, present acutely to specialized heart centers with a number of disease processes in play as well as the prime offender of heart disease. Concurrent diseases such as diabetes, renal failure, patients on IABP (intra-aortic balloon pumps), LVAD (left ventricular assist device) carotid disease, some cancers, some previous and forthcoming surgeries and etc.!
Because of experience in treating a multitude of patients and problems, your presentation for surgery will be handled more efficiently and diagnosed quickly and correctly.
Just because your surgeon or doctor is nice to you in their office, does not mean that he or she is qualified to do your procedure. Research to get the best practitioner for your insurance dollars, or your personal dollars for those without insurance. Some surgeons are not surgically proficient in cases that they do not do routinely. Examples of this are: re-operations, combination re-operations for CABG and VALVE surgery, myectomies for IHSS, and etc.
A reason a surgeon may not be proficient in a procedure or procedures is because of the mortality rate associated with that procedure. That mortality rate if the procedure goes bad increases the hospital's surgical mortality risk (which affects their reputation and income) as well as that of the surgeon.
Also, if things go bad and the patient winds up staying in the intensive care for say weeks or months, the insurance provider may not pay beyond a 'reasonable' cost, and the hospital takes the hit for costs. Another reason a surgeon may not be proficient in certain procedures is that the hospital does not have highly trained nurses, cardiologists, and auxiliary personnel for the preopertive, intraoperative and postoperative course a patient may require. There are other reasons but the aforementioned are important.
Women (and men) need to ask about their quality of life after a heart procedure. What will your quality of life be? Will it be better? What emotional and social resources will you and can you utilize to combat anxiety, depression, and feeling alone? Women, typically older women may experience more anxiety and depression after surgery!
Women are nurturers but many do not put in place a system for their own nurturance after major life altering surgery! Network, make friends, do everything you can to ensure your best quality of life after a major procedure!
Find out how your surgeon, doctor, cardiologist plans to prevent you having a stroke before, during and after your heart surgery! Women have a higher stroke risk after heart surgery than men.
And lastly, BE FEISTY! Not arrogant, mean or nasty. Come in fighting for your life...because you are!
Everyone that visits a hospital should take the following precautions: wash your hands before, during and after the hospital visit. Take those antibacterial wipes with you and use them!
Hospitals are host to some of the most resistant forms of bacteria.
SOURCES: Bute, B. Psychosomatic Medicine, vol 65.
Blankstein, R. Circulation, 2005. HeartCenterOnline. News release, American Heart Association.
Ms. Zurub is a CardioThoracic Surgical RN with over twenty years expertise working at a world-renowned Heart Center in Cleveland,Ohio. As well, Ms. Zurub is a Stand Up Comedian/Actor/Writer/Spoken Word Poet/Corporate Speaker. Her stage name is UBU (you be You!). She has performed at various comedy clubs in LA and New York City and numerous venues in between. Presently she is authoring a book and doing Speaking engagements on Transformation, Women's Health/Heart Issues, and any topic that your organization requires. She can be emailed at ubuzurub@yahoo.com.
A recent study at the University of Chicago, studied a varied database of 15, 440 patients from 31 hospitals between 1990-2000, who underwent CABG (coronary artery bypass grafts). The average age of the men was 63, and the average age of the women was 66.
The conclusion is that 22% of women are more likely to die after CABG than men!
The following actions/suggestions may save your life:
Invest and develop a relationship with your Nurse during your operative hospital course! This includes the Floor Nurse, the Operating Room Nurse, and the nurse in the intensive care unit.
Your Registered Nurse is your Partner in maintaining, reparative, and surviving your hospital course! He or she is your most vocal,profound and proximal patient advocate and your first line of defense. Registered nurses are highly trained, educated and technologically advanced practitioners. Typically, they interact more with you and your family than your doctor.
View your doctor and surgeon as independent contractors not your Partner! You, the patient are paying them! It is their privilege to serve you! Doctors need patients in order to practice medicine and make a living.
Research to find the best doctor, surgeon, and cardiologist for your specific heart problem! Specialization in heart surgery means that some heart surgeons do certain procedures better than others; because THEY DO MORE!
Go to the largest best teaching Heart disease institution in your area or outside the state. Why? Because at a larger facility, the heart center will have been exposed to and treated successfully a large number of patients with varying degrees of heart disease problems.
Go to the largest Heart disease center that routinely does patients from around the world! Why? Because this institution will have experienced the anomalies, the differences in vasculature (smaller arteries & veins in persons from Asian countries and the Middle East generally), and other oddities of the heart disease process. Also, patients now, present acutely to specialized heart centers with a number of disease processes in play as well as the prime offender of heart disease. Concurrent diseases such as diabetes, renal failure, patients on IABP (intra-aortic balloon pumps), LVAD (left ventricular assist device) carotid disease, some cancers, some previous and forthcoming surgeries and etc.!
Because of experience in treating a multitude of patients and problems, your presentation for surgery will be handled more efficiently and diagnosed quickly and correctly.
Just because your surgeon or doctor is nice to you in their office, does not mean that he or she is qualified to do your procedure. Research to get the best practitioner for your insurance dollars, or your personal dollars for those without insurance. Some surgeons are not surgically proficient in cases that they do not do routinely. Examples of this are: re-operations, combination re-operations for CABG and VALVE surgery, myectomies for IHSS, and etc.
A reason a surgeon may not be proficient in a procedure or procedures is because of the mortality rate associated with that procedure. That mortality rate if the procedure goes bad increases the hospital's surgical mortality risk (which affects their reputation and income) as well as that of the surgeon.
Also, if things go bad and the patient winds up staying in the intensive care for say weeks or months, the insurance provider may not pay beyond a 'reasonable' cost, and the hospital takes the hit for costs. Another reason a surgeon may not be proficient in certain procedures is that the hospital does not have highly trained nurses, cardiologists, and auxiliary personnel for the preopertive, intraoperative and postoperative course a patient may require. There are other reasons but the aforementioned are important.
Women (and men) need to ask about their quality of life after a heart procedure. What will your quality of life be? Will it be better? What emotional and social resources will you and can you utilize to combat anxiety, depression, and feeling alone? Women, typically older women may experience more anxiety and depression after surgery!
Women are nurturers but many do not put in place a system for their own nurturance after major life altering surgery! Network, make friends, do everything you can to ensure your best quality of life after a major procedure!
Find out how your surgeon, doctor, cardiologist plans to prevent you having a stroke before, during and after your heart surgery! Women have a higher stroke risk after heart surgery than men.
And lastly, BE FEISTY! Not arrogant, mean or nasty. Come in fighting for your life...because you are!
Everyone that visits a hospital should take the following precautions: wash your hands before, during and after the hospital visit. Take those antibacterial wipes with you and use them!
Hospitals are host to some of the most resistant forms of bacteria.
SOURCES: Bute, B. Psychosomatic Medicine, vol 65.
Blankstein, R. Circulation, 2005. HeartCenterOnline. News release, American Heart Association.
Ms. Zurub is a CardioThoracic Surgical RN with over twenty years expertise working at a world-renowned Heart Center in Cleveland,Ohio. As well, Ms. Zurub is a Stand Up Comedian/Actor/Writer/Spoken Word Poet/Corporate Speaker. Her stage name is UBU (you be You!). She has performed at various comedy clubs in LA and New York City and numerous venues in between. Presently she is authoring a book and doing Speaking engagements on Transformation, Women's Health/Heart Issues, and any topic that your organization requires. She can be emailed at ubuzurub@yahoo.com.
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