5 days

When I was getting ready for the honeymoon I swore that I would not be working like a dog when I got back. That was BEFORE the washing machine went to shit 2 days before we left and I realized both cars need to be inspected. So worked 60 hours last week and worked 5 days over the weekend.

Christmas, New Years, Memorial Day, Fourth of July and Labor day...... the top 5 weekends for traumatic injury and organ donation. People get a day off and get RETARDED. My first two days in the ICU were relatively uneventful.... dad "spending time" with his teenage son by doing motocross and landing face first into a jump. Hell, at least he was wearing a helmet and body armor. He woke up today (came in Thursday) yelling "Dang it, Dang it, Dang it.... I'm fucked up!"

Saturday night in the ER.... warm, beautiful day, Memorial Day weekend.... never a good thing. I was scheduled to be in green.... but switched to the trauma room. Everyone else gets normal stuff...... it fucking rains zebras when I go in there.


One of the saddest cases in my career that night. 28 year old woman out on a boat with her husband of 10 years and another couple. Jet skiers cut the boat off and the driver swerved to miss and struck a buoy (or channel marker). She hit her head on something in the boat, and went down in the middle. When she got to us she was almost already brain dead. Her husband is a firefighter and they have a 9 year old son. I did everything I could in the ER and then sent her up to my ICU. It is so awful talking to a family about their loved one when we all know that she is going to die, there is NOTHING we can do, and they don't know that yet. She died in the ICU the next night. Her family hugged me when I got up there and thanked me for all I did. The saddest part of my night was watching her dad (BIG Harley guy) her husband, and son holding hands, crying and walking out of the unit.

As soon as I got back downstairs I got a call for a GSW that wasn't breathing...... whoo-hoo we're gonna crack one. Ummmm... no. We tubed him and got to looking. Big fat old dude had a through and through to the elbow and that was it. We looked and looked..... and did CPR when he coded, shocked him once. Finally figured that he old boy was having a heart attack. Did he have it AFTER being shot? Did the blood loss from the GSW cause the MI? We didn't know. We actually got a pulse back for a little bit and then said... what the fuck have we done?!?!?! His brain is now mush. When he coded again it didn't last as long. Ugh..... what a night.

So I think I have dropped enough mental goo here..... he cop and I are going to a cop cookout/poker night. It will be nice NOT to be at work for a change.

Crazy ER shit

Being back in the ER is it's own monster. I try to explain to the ICU nurses just what the ER can be like.

a psych pt cracked out of her mind, trying to get a pair f trauma shears away from the resident to slash her wrists

walking down the hall to green and seeing a bedpan and emesis basin full of vomit on the table in the hall

the hospital administrator receiving "heavy breathing" phone calls from the patient phone in the hallway

PD in with a guy who swallowed a baggie of cocaine. the doc told him he could die, he didn't care

mutiny in the waiting room because the trauma patients were getting to go straight back, while the 5 day toothache waited four hours

another waiting room pt who had "blisters" on his penis for a week (as much as you guys are protective of that, wouldn't you get to the doc when it started?)

stinky feet PhD (his claim) who refused to leave when he was discharged and had to be removed by PD

woman who overdosed on Xanax. on exam she had a vaginal/anal fistula. (think tunnel between the two) there was diarrhea coming out of BOTH holes! (GROSS!)

Pregnant female with cravings ate a whole jar full of pickles. THEN she drank the pickle juice. Came in screaming with chest pain (reflux vs indigestion). Then decided to leave AMA because the air was hurting her nose!


All of this was stuff from one night only. I am very happy to be home!

Welcome Back

I drove the cop into work tonight..... his precinct is in the middle of one of the biggest shitholes in the city. Drug dealers on the corners and drunk homeless guys sitting outside the liquor store. Ahhhhh... I'm home!


My first night back was actually Friday. I have mentioned our trauma patients who were "just minding their bidness (business)" and done got shot. Well, that was not the case Friday night. 20 year old kid (per his parents he is "a troubled kid") answered his door and BAM in the head. Turns out that he was involved in a shooting a couple of weeks ago and this was retaliation. There is no way that he will survive, we are just waiting for mom and dad to make a decision about organ donation vs taking him off life support. Dad believes that a miracle will happen and the bullet will just be siting on the pillow next to him one day. Hmmmmm...... not sure how to take that one!

We had another GSW to the head that occurred on the highway. The shooter must be related to the guy (or guys) who shot JFK because this was a one in a million shot. This kid was also a gang member (looked like MS-13) so I'm sure there is more to that story as well.

Its good to be home..... as great as the trip and the wedding were, I think Dorothy was right. There really is no place like home.

Louie's Backyard

Hey Guys!!! I am STILL on my honeymoon. Will update more when I get home. However, I ate at a great restaurant tonight called Louie's Backyard. Great views, romantic, yummy wines.

To the blonde lady in the table next to us.. who so gracefully put her cigarette out of her companion's faces(and into our dinner) and spoke loudly of her labor and ipisiotomy (sp) so that we all could appreciate her pain.......

FUCK YOU!