I failed my MRI, and I’m alive because of it

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Into the Wilderness: Story 58

Ten years ago, I was hospitalized with acute abdominal pain. My temperature was 105, and I was vomiting and crying with pain. Less than an hour later, after an MRI with contrast, the young, extremely tall doctor pronounced: “gallstone-induced pancreatitis.” A gallstone had lodged in my biliary duct. The result was a bunch of disgusting goo called sepsis.

No beds were available in intensive care, so I was moved to a surgery recovery floor instead. My nurse, a tiny Phillipino woman with quick hands and unwavering pleasant facial expression, stayed by my bedside the entire night. She couldn’t give me pain medicine because my blood pressure was dangerously low. I was too sick for ice or water, so she would graciously dab my dry lips with a wet washcloth. She brought new heated blankets every 30 minutes, tucking them around me with military precision. She never once alerted me to the criticalness of my illness. Before she left her shift the next day, I thanked her for the quality care. The pleasant smile quickly morphed into a creased brow as she told me, “you should have been in intensive care.” Apparently, my blood pressure and other vital signs had worried her several times during the night.

Although I had felt horrible, I had no idea how sick I actually was. This shows my nurse’s exceptional care. I had all signs of a critical infection: extremely low blood pressure, high fever, shivering, increased heart rate and extreme pain. Yet she had calmly stood by me, warming me up, adjusting my oxygen cannula, changing the IV fluids and re-administering antibiotics and blood pressure medications. I would have wonderful doctors and surgeons during my week in the hospital, but I am here today because of this nurse.

This is why I am so disappointed by the Trump administration’s attack on nursing’s professionalism. I see a twofold reason for doing so. First, nursing is associated with being a “woman’s job,” called “pink collar” in the past. By lowering the professional level of nursing, women’s opportunities for independence and career growth are more limited. Women will struggle to pay for student loans, leading to fewer women entering nursing. This leads to the second reason. If becoming a nurse returns so little, more women may choose to stay home and bear and raise children. The Trump administration is literally working to undermine women’s educational and professional process. He isn’t picking on nursing alone. The de-professionalizing of professions also includes physician assistants, nurse practitioners, physical therapists, audiologists, social workers, architects and accountants. Most of these professions have traditionally been filled by women. Architecture and accounting are the exceptions; however, today, slightly more women than men are entering accounting.

Thinking about my own hospitalization, I can’t imagine a “less qualified” nurse taking on the responsibilities my nurse carried. The nurse was responsible for my life through an entire night. She kept me alive by monitoring my vital signs, adjusting medications and fluids and calling the doctor with recommendations when his/her approval was needed. She operated efficiently, calmly and professionally — all a result of her education, training and certification.

Trump’s — and Linda McMahon’s — recent attack on professions demonstrates enormous knowledge gaps, but it’s not the only one. I’ve been listening to Trump’s silly claim of “acing” his MRI and cognitive tests. He even told a journalist whose question he didn’t like that the journalist would flunk a cognitive test if he had one. Does Trump realize how absolutely ridiculous and stupid he sounds? One cannot ace or flunk an MRI. An MRI either shows disease or not. Same with cognitive tests. They reveal brain damage from strokes and dementia or they do not. These are not competitive tests in which a room of people compete for the highest grade. These are diagnostic tools.

Is Trump saying his images were free of any kind of damage or disease? He didn’t say this, and no one in his administration has come out to clarify. Poor Trump couldn’t even remember the body part the tests were done on. A later press conference mentioned a “routine abdominal scan.” But no routine MRIs exist. MRIs are expensive procedures supporting doctors in determining or ruling out disease and health issues. Trump wouldn’t have had an MRI if his doctors weren’t concerned about his health.

MRIs are not a competition. If your MRI shows nothing and mine shows an occlusion, aren’t we both winners? You’re a winner because you no longer have to worry about disease. I’m a winner because now my problem can be addressed. Why then does the chauvinist Mr. Trump turn a medical diagnostic into a playground taunt? We know the answer. His 3rd-grade logic cannot comprehend the complexities of science, human decency and common sense. Trump can only live in the overly simplified reality of win and lose.

If I hadn’t “flunked” my MRI — meaning if nothing had shown up on the images — I may have died. Instead, I received the necessary treatment and was sent home sans an organ.

In fact, the sepsis had to be cleared before I could have surgery. I was on intravenous fluids and antibiotics for four days, eating crushed ice and jello. This occurred during the week of Thanksgiving, and I recall watching the Macy’s Day Parade, trying to imagine lime jello was as tasty as the steaming pile of turkey and stuffing on my husband’s plate, straight from the cafeteria. Hospital food never smelled so delicious.

I had another MRI and more tests before I finally was cleared for surgery to remove my gallbladder. Another few days and I was sent home to recover, grateful for the incredible care I had gotten.

My niece is a Neonatal Intensive Care nurse. She works with only the highest risk babies due to premature birth, malformations, complications and birth defects. She has cared for babies smaller than 900 grams — that’s not even two pounds. She cares for these extreme preemies, not the doctors. The doctors visit once a day, conferring with my niece who relays necessary medical information. Once my niece had to correct a doctor whose recommendation was no longer best practice. The doctor actually listened to her, and the baby got the best care.

My niece worked this Thanksgiving Day, was called into a training the day after Thanksgiving and would have worked through the weekend if she hadn’t gotten food poisoning. She regularly works every weekend and holiday. She starts early in the morning before the sun is up and gets home after dark. I will not divulge her pay, but I will say she is not paid in line with the responsibilities she manages. She is not rewarded enough for the level of professional she is. She needs more pay, more opportunities for growth, not less.

De-professionalizing nursing puts American lives at risk. Speaking about MRIs as if they are a fourth-grade spelling test devalues the diagnostic methodology of the medical profession. All of Trump’s language minimizes value where it truly exists — education and certification — and lauds value where it doesn’t — his ridiculous gold filigree. It’s the upside-down, backwards world again. But how can we expect more from a man who has proven his small, limited and petty mindset again and again?

I would love to hear from you, even if, especially if, you disagree. Perhaps we can bring back the American tradition of debate. Please like and share this blog with others. Subscribe to receive it by email and go directly to the Walk the Moon website (www.walk-the-moon.com) to peruse the full collection of articles and updates. You can email me from the Walk the Moon website as well.