And so on

I've had a very strange week at the hospital. Last Wednesday some things took place that while inappropriate to detail set the stage for me to make a good impression on the staff quite inadvertently, and have been told to apply the next time there is hiring, and for the first time, I believe that I have a fair chance at a job all because I did something that I didn't want to do. Again, sorry for the lack of details--let it suffice to say that it's best to do the right things, always, even if it embarrasses the hell out of you.

So today I saw head trauma at its best. The patient fell down a flight of stairs and from the looks of it, destroyed her head. Massive amounts of blood gushing out of seemingly everywhere. It's common knowledge that the head bleeds profusely when injured, but my goodness, to see it is something else. Making matters more complicated was the fact that she was hearing disabled, and so to try and evaluate a patients level of consciousness is difficult when that person cannot communicate through words. For fear of brain bleed and spinal cord issues, a CT scan was ordered, and I got to see the inner most parts of this woman's head.

We also had a patient today who accidentally lit his leg on fire after dropping a cigarette after pumping gasoline (nice combo!). He suffered from second degree burns, and last time I checked he was on massive pain medication.

I assisted in the suturing of a little girl who was playing with a knife (imagine letting your two year old mess with a kitchen knife, grr!) and surprisingly she lacerated her index finger. I'm fairly certain my ear drums are destroyed from all the bloody murder screaming she did into my ears as I tried to help her.

And finally, a patient was presented to the ER for abdominal cramping--she was five weeks pregnant and had noticed some vaginal bleeding. Upon a pelvic exam it was determined that she was actively having a miscarriage. I wasn't in the room for the exam, but suddenly a Tech appears with a small container labeled "dentures". However, when she opened it up, and showed me, there before me lay the miscarried fetus. While it was not very developed, there still was a sense of sadness because while some may argue that it was never alive, I do hold to the belief that it was a forming human being, who for whatever reason had died.

Not to end on a sad note, though....
I'll be back on Saturday, and hopefully will have more tales to share....