Thursday, September 29, 2005

Never give up

On Monday night, a "code blue" was called in the ICU.  Gina & I went to observe.  It was an older gentlemen who had been in v-tach during the day.  He had been started on an amiodarone drip.  He went back into v-tach so they shocked him.  That led him into asystole.  That's when they began pumping the drugs into him: Vasopressin, Epinephrine, Atropine & Sodium bicarb.  Nothing was working - he was in asystole for a good 5 to 10 minutes.  The ER doc asked "Does anyone else have any ideas?"  Nope.  So he called the code off.  Gina & I left only to find out later that while they waited to print out a strip of his asystole - his heart started beating again...40, then 60, up to 72 & normal sinus rhythm.  Wow!  Is that amazing or what? 

On a depressing note, there was a 30 yr old female that had been dumped in the ER parking lot late one night.  She had overdosed on drugs & whoever she was with decided to take her to the hospital, pushed her out of the car into the parking lot & left.  Needless to say, she was on life support for 2 days when her family decided to take her off & she passed away. 

My week went fine - not much to really talk about.  I have ACLS class tomorrow.  I just want it over & done with.  I'll write more this weekend.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Wow, you look pretty worked up about work! I was getting worked up about work also all the time. Last month I took a cruise to get my certifications in BCLS, NRP, and ACLS. That was a relaxing experience! Also a great way to meet other medical professionals. See http://www.cardadrsi.com if you're interested.

Best,

Connie