SoapBox
I've been in the ICU over two months now. Although the patients are a bit different than I am used to, the game remains the same. You have NO IDEA how many we have that were either 1) no seatbelt or 2) alcohol related... or in most cases, both.
As an ER nurse there are few things that get to me. I can take care of violent crime victims, HIV/AIDS patients and even sick/dying kids. The kids don't bother me as much (I think) because I don't have any yet. Police/ firefighters and EMS are where my heart is. I worry about those guys.
In the ICU I have found that quads really bother me. We had a young guy in the unit for 6 weeks following a drunk driving accident. He hit a phone pole on a motorcycle and it broke, hitting him in the head and breaking his neck/severing his spinal cord at a high level. He's 30. These people can't even cough without help and will depend on someone else for the rest of their lives. As soon as this one finally was strong enough to get out of the ICU (he will be on a ventilator like Christopher Reeves for the rest of his life) we had another come in. Drunk, no seatbelt..... complete injury at C4. He has a little movement of his arms, but not much. He was so angry when I saw him last. I don't think the reality of his situation had set in yet.
I asked a couple of the more experienced nurses if they ever got used to seeing kids like that. The response.... not really. We do our best for them and hope they do well. Hmmm... I think I like the ER, not knowing what would happen. This is just soooo sad.
Had a great Halloween. We decorated the house and put a dead gangbanger in the front flower beds surrounded by police tape. Tacky, yes but he had lights! Didn't have as many kids as I would have liked, so I spoiled the crap out of the ones who did come to the door. My favorites are always the ones who don't quite get trick-or-treating yet. They have this look that says "why am I at your door in a cow outfit with a plastic pumpkin?" The littlest ones kept trying to get in to see the dog. Poor Maddux was having a breakdown with the doorbell ringing so much.
The cop took my car to work the other evening. We met up and rode to his doctor together and then went home to sleep, figuring we could pick up the car in the morning. Well, yesterday morning we found that my car had been egged in the police precinct parking lot! GRRRRR.... we were both so pissed. I did a police report and spent most of the afternoon getting the egg off. There is a dent and cracked pain from where one had been thrown so hard. The cop is mad because he thinks it could have been one of the other officers. The car wasn't exactly out in the open, and although it is in a not so nice part of town, some thug would have had to cross the lot to get to the car. Lets just say, rollcall tonight is not going to be pretty.
Otherwise things are pretty peaceful here. Cold and rainy.... I have court for a drunk driver tomorrow. He was an asshole so this should be fun!!!!
As an ER nurse there are few things that get to me. I can take care of violent crime victims, HIV/AIDS patients and even sick/dying kids. The kids don't bother me as much (I think) because I don't have any yet. Police/ firefighters and EMS are where my heart is. I worry about those guys.
In the ICU I have found that quads really bother me. We had a young guy in the unit for 6 weeks following a drunk driving accident. He hit a phone pole on a motorcycle and it broke, hitting him in the head and breaking his neck/severing his spinal cord at a high level. He's 30. These people can't even cough without help and will depend on someone else for the rest of their lives. As soon as this one finally was strong enough to get out of the ICU (he will be on a ventilator like Christopher Reeves for the rest of his life) we had another come in. Drunk, no seatbelt..... complete injury at C4. He has a little movement of his arms, but not much. He was so angry when I saw him last. I don't think the reality of his situation had set in yet.
I asked a couple of the more experienced nurses if they ever got used to seeing kids like that. The response.... not really. We do our best for them and hope they do well. Hmmm... I think I like the ER, not knowing what would happen. This is just soooo sad.
Had a great Halloween. We decorated the house and put a dead gangbanger in the front flower beds surrounded by police tape. Tacky, yes but he had lights! Didn't have as many kids as I would have liked, so I spoiled the crap out of the ones who did come to the door. My favorites are always the ones who don't quite get trick-or-treating yet. They have this look that says "why am I at your door in a cow outfit with a plastic pumpkin?" The littlest ones kept trying to get in to see the dog. Poor Maddux was having a breakdown with the doorbell ringing so much.
The cop took my car to work the other evening. We met up and rode to his doctor together and then went home to sleep, figuring we could pick up the car in the morning. Well, yesterday morning we found that my car had been egged in the police precinct parking lot! GRRRRR.... we were both so pissed. I did a police report and spent most of the afternoon getting the egg off. There is a dent and cracked pain from where one had been thrown so hard. The cop is mad because he thinks it could have been one of the other officers. The car wasn't exactly out in the open, and although it is in a not so nice part of town, some thug would have had to cross the lot to get to the car. Lets just say, rollcall tonight is not going to be pretty.
Otherwise things are pretty peaceful here. Cold and rainy.... I have court for a drunk driver tomorrow. He was an asshole so this should be fun!!!!
posted by jeepgirl at 07:16
1 Comments:
LOL I spent almost 20 years as a ICU nurse. The ER is not my cup of tea. You never know what is going to roll in the door and back then if you weren't sick to die I could not be bothered. Plus I never liked all those nasty open dirty wounds. And if I ever see a bone poking out of somwhere I gotta go! I like the unit where everything is controlled. Medicine by numbers! So, are you going out with a cop or married to him?Just curious seems like ER nurses end up with either cops or firemen. My mom was an ER nurse and yep, married a cop! I do home health now and I love it so much!
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