November 1, 2007

• Contingency Plan

  Well folks, its November is National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo for short. This year I have decided I will try and participate, and while I am not promising an entry every day, I will attempt to give you all at least a complete short story. So if at any point you would like to read this in its entirety, it will be tagged as NaNoWriMo

  Here are the only rules I am setting for myself-
  1)No matter how long it takes me, I have to bring this story to a conclusion I am satisfied with
  2)All characters must have logical reasons for their actions
  3)Frequent commenters earn at least a cameo in the story

  So here I go

  CONTINGENCY PLAN

  One-ON CALL

  Alarms and Buzzers were going off everywhere. Josh flailed about, seeking the source of the noise, finally realizing it was his pager going off again. 2am, October 31st. All Hallows Eve.

  “Great. Just great-another code yellow. How the heck did I get call on halloween” He muttered shrugging his lab coat on and heading toward the emergency room. ” Ghosties and Ghoulies and Four legged beasties and Drunks that go bump in the night.” Then he chuckled. Everything’s funny when you are sleep deprived. On his way he passed the nurses station, where Bright was watching something on the news about the latest deadly infection to run in terror from, according to FOX.

  “Hmmph.” The real miracle will be if i DONT have tuberculosis or MRSA by the end of this year”

  Down in the trauma bay, he gowned, gloved, and shielded, then waited for the paramedics to arrive. 5 minutes later, in came the pt, secured to the backboard, c-collar on, dressed in zombie makeup with blood dripping from his mouth and down his neck. The paramedic started giving the history to the attending while the rest of the trauma team began the primary and secondary survey.

  “26 year old male with a history of asthma was intoxicated at a halloween party where he was involved in an altercation with another partygoer. He bit the person, and was stabbed with a broken beer bottle in the chest and neck. On scene, airway was intact, breathing was rapid and shallow, pulses were strong and equal bilaterally. Glasgow Coma Scale was 13. He has no known allergies and is not on any medications.”

  The paramedic continued to talk, while the trauma team finished the primary and secondary survey. Once exposed, the patient had two small clusters of wounds in the left anterior chest with some small glass shards visible and one vertical incision approximately one centimeter in length on his right lateral neck. The blood from the mouth was apparently from a small cut in the gums, most likely sustained from biting the other person.

  “Sir! What is your name? Tell me your name”
  “Where do you live?”
  “Have you been drinking tonight?”
  “What is your name?”

  Nothings but moans and the rank smell of alcohol came off the patient.

  Suddenly he became wild, began flailing about, snapping at techs, and repeatedly trying to get off the bed.

  “Dammit, he tore out his line”
  “Someone help me hold him still for x-ray”
  “He’s too combative right now, we need to intubate him!”
  “Get the med students help, we are having enough trouble with him”

  “Josh! get me Some Etomidate and Suxx.”
  Sedated and semi-paralyzed, the tube was placed down the patients throat to his trachea, checking for proper placement by observing the CO2 monitor.

  While all this was going on,still other members were performing the focused abdominal sonography for trauma (or FAST scan) to assess for organ injuries or intraperitoneal bleeding, and still others were suturing up the wounds in his neck

  “Alright everyone, send him down to CT to check for any glass shards and proper tube placement and then up to OR. We need to close those wounds and stabilize him. And everyone- let’s keep a close watch on this one”

  …in retrospect, those words would ring deadly true…

  TO BE CONTINUED

  • 8:18 pm
  • 6 Comments