Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Emotionally Tapped

I am once again working too many shifts... I am tired, cranky and in desperate need of a vacation.. or even a couple days off....

The last 2 weeks we have seen some heartbreaking cases...

A 14 month old brought in by mom after drinking lamp oil.. inital oxygen sat 30% heartrate 280.. not responding to pain stimuli.... Ped trauma activated, attempts at IV placement successfull then quickly blow.. IO placed in her leg.. oil suctioned out of her lungs and stomach.. HCT dropped from 31-23, she was going into DIC.. transferred to Ped trauma hospital in big city.. placed on lung bypass machine.... and mom upon hearing that social workers needed to talk to her.... has disappeared...

A 26 yo male codes after a history of Percocet and Oxycontin addiction has put him into critical condition with pancreatitis and hepatitis..coded 4 time in 3 hours... 4th time we lost the battle.

A 16yo football player is head butted by opposing player after play ended.. CT scan + for C4 fx, spinal cord trauma.. shipped to trauma center for paralysis...

Foreign exchange student gets into argument with host family son... Goes to his bedroom and returns with knife and stabs himself multiple times in front of family in the stomach..

31yo male in with shortness of breath, cold symptoms for last 2 weeks... XR recommends CT for definitive diagnosis... Results Stage 4 lung cancer..

Actually I think I could use a hug more right now....

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

HUG!! Hang in there! We all have days that suck so one person doesn't have to get the bad day every day! Tomorrow will be better. The young ones are always the hardest.

Bianca Castafiore? said...

I'm glad you were there for them.

"I am a smart-ass, outspoken, on the verge of burn out, adrenaline junky, 15 second attention span ER nurse. I am every patient and Drs nightmare!"

No, you're not! Have a hug, dammit...

Unknown said...

A BIG, BIG hug for you! Wow, sounds like a tough day! I love your blog! I've been a nurse for a year and a half and have worked in a small town ER for a year. Our volume is 40-70pts/day for two RNs & one MD. We have nine MDs to service ~10,000 total population (between our town, surrounding villages, and aboriginal reserves), so sometimes it is busy. We're more of a stabilize & ship facility, but we keep what we can on inpatients. Today, we had a 16yo come in today for back pain r/t a fall on the ice yesterday, denied being pregnant, comes back from xray -- not only is she pregnant, she's about 36wks, and the head is engaged. She's had no prenatal care, as she was hiding it from the parents. She sure didn't look pregnant! To add to things, she begins to labour and is 6cm & 80% effaced by the time she's in the ambulance & out the door to a larger centre 1.5hrs away. The MD on call rode along just in case babe was born enroute. Crappers. Was a good lesson for me & MD on call (he's a fresh grad) to remember to do a complete head-to-toe regardless of presenting complaint. Did I mention I love your blog? It makes me laugh after a long day. Thanks for writing. I don't feel like I'm the only one in this insane asylum. Ha!