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wannabeabonedoc

wannabeabonedoc

Turbo Monkey
Apr 19, 2004
1,034
1
Wytheville Virginia
So, I graduated from medical school in May, and on July 1st I started on the medicine service at the hospital I work at in cleveland. So far this month I'd managed to escape the dreaded "code blue" until tonight. First code, first time doing chest compressions on a real person, first time I've seen someone die right in front of me. What sucks about the situation is that early yesterday morning when I was finishing my night shift, I went to check on him and ended up sitting in his room to watch the end of an Slayer concert on tv. He was doing great and was talking about how he'd seen them in concert a bunch. Then the next time I saw him, I was doing chest compressions and dislodging his ribs from his sternum in the process. :(
So here's to you Mr. _______ I hope you're still listening to Slayer wherever you are. \m/
 
Toshi

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,288
7,727
Cracking ribs during middle of the night codes is no fun. I don't want to go out that way, at the end of a long string in a beeping, chaotic ICU.

Here's what I wrote when I went through the same thing: http://toshiclark.xanga.com/587206689/coding-/

Toshi said:
i hurt people today. first, in a very painful incision and drainage, milking out blood and pus from an arm wound. the patient later remarked that i have very strong hands, for better or worse. and just now i broke multiple ribs on a guy in the ICU while doing chest compressions for what seemed like an eternity.

my hands still hurt.

the most awful part is hardly physical: we shocked him 11 times as he kept on slipping into v. tach. for the first 6 at least he was conscious and unsedated. hearing an old man plead "noooooo" as the defibrillator screams its charging tone is one of the more horrible things i've witnessed.
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A

alexrex20

Chimp
Jun 25, 2010
97
0
Spring TX
wannabeabonedoc said:
So, I graduated from medical school in May, and on July 1st I started on the medicine service at the hospital I work at in cleveland. So far this month I'd managed to escape the dreaded "code blue" until tonight. First code, first time doing chest compressions on a real person, first time I've seen someone die right in front of me. What sucks about the situation is that early yesterday morning when I was finishing my night shift, I went to check on him and ended up sitting in his room to watch the end of an Slayer concert on tv. He was doing great and was talking about how he'd seen them in concert a bunch. Then the next time I saw him, I was doing chest compressions and dislodging his ribs from his sternum in the process. :(
So here's to you Mr. _______ I hope you're still listening to Slayer wherever you are. \m/
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if it's any consolation, he was already dead by the time you got there. hence the code blue. ;)

i'm an ICU nurse. i won't say you'll get used to death, but you'll eventually get to the point where it's not so traumatic. if you know you did everything you could, then you can't kick yourself for it.
 
Leppah

Leppah

Turbo Monkey
Mar 12, 2008
2,294
3
Utar
It takes special people to do what you guys do. Keep up the good work and focus on the positive things. There are so many positive things, I'm sure they always go un-noticed. Keep your head up.
 
A

alexrex20

Chimp
Jun 25, 2010
97
0
Spring TX
eric strt6 said:
been there, out in the field. it really sucks but you gave him the best shot you could. Even though we try we can't save them all.
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some of them don't need to be saved. why anyone would want greatgrandma Wilma of 92yrs to be a full code, already on the ventilator and several pressor drips, with a history of CHF, COPD, pneumonia, etc. is beyond me.

if i'm 92 years old and my heart stops, that's it! no more!

i recommend everybody discuss a living will with their family, for all family members.
 
tylerpier137

tylerpier137

Monkey
Mar 29, 2007
366
0
ventura
Like alot of people here, been there, done that.

I was doing my first clinical hours for my EMT class in a local ER when a full arrest patient came in (No pulse on arrival). Between myself and 2 others we do chest compression for over 45mins, cracked ribs, while the doctors did everything they could. Needless to say he didn't make it. The main thing that bugged me was that I could have possibly done something wrong. I found talking to people about it made me feel better and helped me to realize that there was nothing I could have done differently.

I could understand that it would be alot harder having spent time with the patient prior. Hang in there.
 
wannabeabonedoc

wannabeabonedoc

Turbo Monkey
Apr 19, 2004
1,034
1
Wytheville Virginia
alexrex20 said:
some of them don't need to be saved. why anyone would want greatgrandma Wilma of 92yrs to be a full code, already on the ventilator and several pressor drips, with a history of CHF, COPD, pneumonia, etc. is beyond me.

if i'm 92 years old and my heart stops, that's it! no more!

i recommend everybody discuss a living will with their family, for all family members.
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right now on our census there are 4 people 95+ years old. EVERY ONE OF THEM is a do everything full code. The saddest part is that they are old but still with it enough to be conversational, however they signed away their power of attorney to their deadbeat children who keep them as full codes so they can keep collecting checks... It makes me angry

As a recap, I put my big boy doctor pants back on and made it the rest of the night. I couldn't help but think about what we did making sure we did everything, meanwhile getting paged for more pain meds for the 35 y/o drug addict in the next room over...
 
DirtyMike

DirtyMike

Turbo Fluffer
Aug 8, 2005
14,437
1,017
My own world inside my head
Sad stuff, its not anything you will ever get used to specially when you rion the business of saving lives.

Im personally DNR myself, If I go code, let me go I dont want to end up a veggie and inflict that type of hardship on my family, I would rather they get my insurance money, instad of having to spend it caring for me.
 
Toshi

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,288
7,727
Here's another musing that I had back in 2007, also on death in the hospital:

http://toshiclark.xanga.com/615410341/life/

life is precious. it's trite, but it hits you sometimes. that "sometime" would be now, primed by it being at the end of the fourth night in a row of 8p-8a ER shifts: i saw a really horrible trauma code run, and called pretty quickly. the speed with which the surgery residents and trauma fellow set up the room, the blood dripping on the floor as the medics entered, doing CPR all along the way, the naked reality of an opened chest with a heart not beating...

it's hard to feel empathy for some of the people we see, like heroin junkies with abscesses all over of their own dirty doing, but this guy, a 26 year-old rookie police officer, is someone for whom absolutely everyone involved had much empathy. and now he's dead, even when the impressive, well-oiled machine does its job to a T.
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This was the guy: http://www.seattlepi.com/local/331191_crash12.html
 
bizutch

bizutch

Delicate CUSTOM flower
Dec 11, 2001
15,928
24
Over your shoulder whispering
wannabeabonedoc said:
right now on our census there are 4 people 95+ years old. EVERY ONE OF THEM is a do everything full code. The saddest part is that they are old but still with it enough to be conversational, however they signed away their power of attorney to their deadbeat children who keep them as full codes so they can keep collecting checks... It makes me angry...
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Wow. You could go all "Dexter" and balance the scales.....;)
 
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