CHIN: A Warm Blanket : Adults and Teens

A Warm Blanket : Adults and Teens

Please note that the following represent each family's individual experiences and beliefs. Every family is different, and the needs and feelings of the children involved will be unique. We encourage you to seek professional advice if you have concerns or questions with regard to these issues.

Responses to Family Room

I know the request for stories about warm blankets has been on the site for some time now. However, I still wanted to share with you a photograph of my son aged just a half an hour old.

It is one of my favourite photographs of him, although you can barely see him. He is snuggled in a "warm blanket" - the medical staff at the local hospital were so wonderful in the way they looked after me.

I was truly exhausted after the birth, and as you can see - as would be
expected with an adult with congenital heart disease I was totally wired
up to all the usual paraphernalia. However when I look at this photograph I don't see the oxygen mask, the cuff, the finger meter and my bandaged hand. I just see my little boy, content and peaceful - the staff made it top priority for me to be close to him. That soft warm cuddly blanket made sure that despite my special medical needs I still felt like a new Mum.

A.S.

A warm blanket...yes, especailly went sent into a freezing cold cath lab! Can they do anything to make procedures more comfortable, like listen to the patient when he/she says they are anxious or are in pain?

What does a warm blanket mean to me? Knowing that even if I one day don't have insurance, that my cardiologist will still see me.. He has told me that no matter what happens with my insurance, he will still see me, either at a discounted rate or for free. When he told me that, it made me feel really cared for, not just as a patient, but as a human being! My cardiologist also told me that he considers me part of his family and that really made me feel warm and fuzzy inside.

There was another time when I was having a catheterization and I could have sworn I was feeling pain. My cardiologist told me that I had enough numbing medication in me to knock out a horse, but he still listened to me and gave me another shot. I didn't feel anything after that.

A warm blanket to me means that no matter what I have to say or ask my doctor, he won't look at me in confusion, or look at me like I'm asking a stupid question. My doctor is always there for me, no matter what. He gave me his email address to make it easier for me to talk to him and I can even chat with him online if I want, and not just about my heart.

My doctor is my warm blanket and the only one that has ever been a warm blanket to me. It's good to feel like a human and not just another patient when you see your doctor.

I get the Warm Blanket feeling in hospitals when nurses go out of their way to make me happy, and just stop by and chat with me. I know they enjoy having a patient around their age and maybe even younger.

The best Warm Blanket feeling I had in a hospital is when I had my heart surgery and I was extremely hot. I was in the ICU and I asked the nurse if there was anything they could do, since I couldn't uncover more then I was and all I could do was suck on ice. The nurse went on her break and came back with a fan! She sat the fan on the tray table and I felt so much better. That was the nicest thing a nurse has ever done for me, on her own break even!

L.V.

I totally understand your "Warm Blanket" theory & wish that I had more of those experiences in the past 15 years when I was trying to find a healthcare professional to help figure out what was wrong with me. I only recently found a couple of healthcare professionals that I get the "Warm Blanket" experience with. Yet, it makes me nervous that one is not my cardiologist. I just feel that sometimes doctors & staff lose sight of compassion for their patients. Without this, "A Warm Blanket" does not exist.

K.P.

My cardiologist is wonderful! She recently told me that she wants to help my new husband and I adopt when we are ready. She said she would write letters and do what ever it takes to help get us a child.

When I had my fontan procedure 12 years ago, she slept on top of a desk in the nurses station because she was worried about me. She does that with lots of her patients.

I took a work permit for her to sign, and she informed me that it was the first one that she was asked to sign. She told us she liked to be included in her patients lives. She said a lot of her patients grew up or moved off, and she is upset that she never knows what happens to them.

I plan on keeping her as my cardiologist for as long as I can. She is like family, and that's what I consider to be my warm blanket.

R.W.