I hate it when patients don't take care of themselves.

I have a woman in the MICU who has been assigned to me.  She is 67 years old and has a multitude of health problems, including uncontrolled diabetes (doesn't help that she keeps eating the wrong things), high blood pressure, congestive heart and kidney failure, ulcers, poor circulation (she's already lost two toes on one of her feet, and her legs are always swollen, hard to the touch, and discolored), and asthma. 

This isn't the first time that Mrs. Helena Boika* has been in our hospital; that's what makes her case so maddening.  No matter how many times we, her doctors or nurses, tell her what to do or how to take care of herself, she flat out refuses to listen; then people wonder why she often ends up in trouble the way she does.

It is extremely frustrating.

This time, Helena is in for (what else?) her kidneys; she isn't peeing like she should or drinking enough fluids.  She's also in because her heart is acting up and she has to be monitored (which is why she is in the MICU in the first place). 

It doesn't help that Mrs. Boika doesn't speak much in the way of English.  It doesn't help matters any that I don't know much in the way of Hungarian.  I can converse very well in French, Cajun French, Spanish, German, Dutch, Vietnamese, Japanese, Chinese, Finnish, and Swahili (and have a working knowledge of Greek, Yiddish, Arabic, and Sri Lankan), but Hungarian happens to be one language I am not very well able to utilize.  I have to rely on Mrs. Boika's husband, Boris, to translate what she is trying to tell me (or I her).

I have tried to be very patient towards this woman, but it is getting harder and harder to deal with her.  She is one of our regular patients; lately it seems we have been seeing an awful lot of each other.  I just wish Mr. Boika could stress the importance of taking care of one's health and what could happen if his wife doesn't listen.  Well, she kind of got what she deserved.  She keeps on eating the wrong things or not drinking enough in the way of fluids; then people wonder why her body is so out of whack.

I don't mind Boris at all; it's Helena who I happen to mind.  She is very loud, bossy, demanding, and there is the language barrier to deal with.  I'm just thankful that Boris Boika is there with her; if he wasn't here, I don't know what I or my co-workers would do!  It's been a difficult day and I am more than ready to go home; I have had just about enough of dealing with Helena Boika!

*Not patient's real name.