Just a note to say I love your blog...great stories!
Thanks, kiddo. Hang in there and keep the faith. You'll make it.
I just wanted to let you know I stopped by. Sounds like your woman behind door number three was a real weiner...er...I mean winner.
~Harms
Another great post, William. I think you were visited by a travelling circus, the same one that was in our neck of the woods last week
MJ
LOL! I think I just hooked my wife (an ICU RN) and my teenaged son (who wants to be either a bomb defuser or a neurosurgeon) on your Blog. Keep up the great work!
Hey, Motherjones. I wonder if it really is a traveling circus? You know, they seem to pop up in various ERs at various times...
Armed, your family is welcome here. I'll be careful with the language. Ahem.
You will be doing a keen dis-service to mankind if you do not write a book speaking of yer exploits.
A great wordsmith!!!
ER from the sneakers up. Kinda like "boots on the ground" Only different! Ha Ha.
And yes, how could you know? I can't tell you how often I hum that little ditty on my unit. You would think for a hospice unit we would be staid and quiet. You would be wrong. One night I had 3 patients die within 7 minutes of each other. I currently hold tht record to this day.
Buried in paperwork.
doo-doo-dee-dee-dee-de-doo-doo-doo-do
And, so it goes.
Love you dear. Don't stop anytime soon.
I really like to read your posts. They are always interesting, coming first hand from a Nurse who expereinces these situations first hand.
In reference to the lady that wanted the Ativan, if that would happen in any of the hospitals where I live they would have 302'd(involuntarily admission) her instantly. No questions asked.
I never posted this on my blog, but a few weeks ago I had an encounter with a very intoxicated person at a restaurant. The man, who I estimnate to be about 50-60 years old confronted me about a vehicle that was blocking "his view" out the window. I explained to the man that was not my vehicle, but did not want to hear about it. He got up from his seat came over and confronted me. I was with my wife and five-year old daughter, which did not help matters. The man scared my daughter by yelling obsenties at me. He did not touch me or assult me but was very threatening.
One of the restaurant employees asked the man to leave and he said more explictives to the employee.
Our server said to the man that she was calling the police. He continued his abusive language and started pushing tables and chairs around and left the restaurant.
The police did arrive, but were unable to do anything because no one knew the man's name and the intoxicant had since left the restaurant.
Levi.
Wow, Pennsy. Scary stuff for your daughter to have to have seen. How did you end up explaining that to her?
I don't know if you can answer this- why would the hospital do a '302' on a patient asking for Ativan? Is that for involuntary detox?
Mamabear, you are a doll! How is your boy doing? My prayers are with him and with your family. God bless you, and give that brave young man a hug and a big thanks for me.
That lady behind door number 3 must have made it to my ED this week. Even had that scruffy old gent with her. LOL he even had the balls to tell the EMT's to not give her any of "dat der narcan; she don't like that narcan, it jus mess her up".
Yeeeaaahhhh rrriiiggghhhtt it jus mess up her high das all!!!
LOL
I'm tellin' ya, Steve. It's gotta be a traveling circus.
Hey, Nurse William, I've been reading your blog for about 6 months now. Just love it; wish I had the "way with words" that you have. Keep up the good work. Would like to see you write more but then each entry wouldn't be as special I guess. Reading your blog helps me to see that my town isn't the only place with a shallow gene pool!
Been reading for a few months, and I love your blog!! That circus must have made it's way to our ER too! I also had one screaming at us for Ativan. She kept feeling the need to remind us (by yelling at the top of her voice of course) that her mom just died 2 days ago (3 days ago, last week, yesterday...it kept changing). "I'm ANXIOUS," she'd scream. And then she'd fall back to sleep.
Steve, thanks for your encouraging words. I have been toying with the idea of writing a book, but there are two drawbacks to that:
1. It takes a lot more time to write a book than it does to post a blog entry. I still have to eat, so I still have to work.
2. Sharing by blog enables me to interact with my readers. I like that a lot. It's far better than any other format for sharing, IMO.
Thanks again for visiting. Feel free to jump on in anytime!
Meghan,
Aren't those patients just swell? It's important to try to engage in therapeutic communication, but as you are aware, in these cases the patient doesn't want to get their problem fixed; he/she just wants his/her "fix."
There isn't anythiing to say to those people if they don't want to change. Eventually (probably years after your encounter), they will run out of hospitals that will give them the fix they want, and they will either move somewhere else or come up with another complaint and run the curcuit one more time. It's really quite sad.
Hey, just to add to the compliments by telling you I've tagged you in the Thinking Blogger Award meme. Your posts really give me food for thought, and you were one of the first blogs I thought of when Mother Jones gave me the award. You can choose not to participate, of course, but show off the award all the same, cos you deserve it
Oh, and DUDE! Right after I read your torsades de pointes post, we had a seminar on it the following day. Everyone was wondering how I knew so much about it already (believe me, it's a rare experience when I know ANYTHING in class. I got to be the nerd for once!) so it's official, your blog qualifies as revision
Just dropped by to bask in your talent for a while. Don't forget you've got to come help us save the country.
I;ve been reading your blog for about 6 months now. I get the, "Oh, I remember that day" feeling, then realize that it was happening with you! I recently retired from nursing with the Dept. of Corrections, so I have definitely experienced the denizens desire for chemical vacations.
Keep up the therapy sessions for those of us who are now in your expanding audience.
Was chatting with a friend of mine who works in our ER this morning.
Ever heard of someone trying to commit suicide by grabbing their pet Lionfish in their aquarium?
No, he did not attain death by "fish sticks" but the poison failed him and surgery had to remove the spine in his hand.
Exotic way to die---Ala Steve Irwin perhaps? Good Lord....deep thought.
One question from the uninitiated: why is warm saline such a big deal?
Hi, DJ.
Bone marrow is body temperature. Running room-temperature normal saline wide open into an intraosseous line would be like pouring ice water into a broken tooth. I am told that it hurts that much. We use warm normal saline because it is merciful to do so.
NW
I must confress, that was one funny story! and you even made me sit and figure out what song you were talking about! HAHAHA!
That's one funny story...
Can't help but be curious: how do patients such as her afford to visit the ER so often? I imagine insurance has its limitations.
Commenting by HaloScan
