Hi,
I am looking for a medical alert bracelet. I will probably get the USB.
What do you have inscribed on your bracelet? I have a K-Pouch.
Thanks!
Bill

There are several good sites to order from on line. I had the name of the surgery - j-pouch or in your case k-pouch along with the medical symbol on either end of the engraving. Some also put down their doctor's name and telephone number.

I got a non traditional looking one plus carry the information in my purse.

I saw on this site ,a girl had a tatoo of the symbol, no colon- red circle with a line thru it and a : inside it right on her left hip.

Maybe the photo is still somewhere on this site.

My, I just keep my medical history in my wallet. I think I'll put it in my phone, too.

I have a bracelet but forget to put it on half the time I leave the house. I keep my medical information in my purse calendar and have told my husband to retrieve it if necessary - but what if we are hurt together?

One lady on here has a tatoo on her abdomin that said NO COLON and the ER doctor argued with her saying she had to have one or maybe had to have an external bag - he didn't believe she had no colon and had an internal j-pouch! That is scary. She said it was a good thing she was awake after her accident.

I think the tatoo idea is good but I don't like needles. I just finished my 4th acupuncture for fibromyalgia pain so maybe......

Thanks for the example.

Barbie - Suebear and kennymac both have the no colon tattoo. Kennymac post some photos of his two tattoos.

kathy

I never take my Med-Alert bracelet off. Even when I had recent surgery they just wrapped it with gauze and tape and left it on. It is that difficult to remove. Mine says "ileo-anal anastamosis with J-pouch". The service I bought it from has its phone number on the bracelet and they have my health history/meds/docs, etc. on file so that if called, they have all of my updated medical information. There is a small yearly fee to maintain and it is up to me to update my records with them. I purchased a plain stainless steel bracelet so it wouldn't look like jewelry.

USB ones are cool.

Mine says in this order

Vanessa T
Continent Ileostomy

back
ICE: Doctor name
doctor's phone number
see wallet for medical ID card

I have a friend that has mulitple medical problems and wears one. One time she was taken to the hosptial by the EMT's and they told her they don't even look for or at those braclets. She is no longer wearing one.

Allykat, that's very interesting, I wonder why they don't look? In an emergency getting to the hospital I get understand but what about when in the ER? Do they look in there?

So one EMT said that. He can't say everyone doesn't look. I know that hospitals seem to. My husband has an Army bracelet and they always check it when he is admitted and the nurse is asking questions before drawing blood. I highly doubt nobody looks for a clue about the patient they are working with and rather guess..
pft

I'm still wearing mine. It's not the traditional but more stylish out of aluminum. That and all my abdominal scaring should tell them something.

Hey everyone, I just read vanessa's recent blog posts and I recommend it for anyone who wants to learn about BCIRs. The surgery sounds worse that mine were and the hospital stay longer than most. Except people like me that have complcations.

Thanks vanessa

I work in medicine and have a ton of friends/family members who are first responders. We/they ALWAYS look at the wrist if possible for a medical alert bracelet. Some then also check the neck.

We're trained to look for them and are told by hospital attorneys that if a patient has one and it is visible and a responder or hospital personnel administer treatment without abiding by the information provided they can be sued for providing negligent medical care.

I've not ordered one for Booski. She wore one when she was younger and hated it. Now that she's closer to 18, and the doc didn't indicate she needs to wear one, I'm not so sure it's worth doing for her. She'll likely take it off anyway. A tattoo is out of the question for her due to extreme needle phobia.

As someone w/surgical experience I can't really think of a reason treatment wise during a trauma incident that would require knowing about the jpouch that couldn't wait until one of us were contacted. The odds of having a rectal tube placed are extremely small. Any medicine that would be administered would be IV bypassing the colon for the most part. It doesn't affect MRI/CT/Xrays. If a doc can't see that she's missing 5 feet of colon then they are going to make other more serious mistakes in a trauma situation in the first place and the colon will be the least of it. If she's out of it for a while, pooping on herself will be the least of her worries. Scarring will clearly show the stoma site and the other work.

I'll have to think about it some more, but I'm thinking it would be a no for her. I think if it makes someone feel more comfortable then they should opt for one.

Good to know....I have put off ordering one too long...gotta get on that.

Mine says

"Total Colectomy, Ileal Pouch, Allergic: Compazine."

I got mine from Lauren's Hope because they are stylish but still show the appropriate info. You can change out the bracelets as you choose and they also offer a nice variety of children and men bracelets.
http://www.laurenshope.com/