my boys are on a roll

Norway beats Germany 8-5! '

the haunting of the emergency room

I've seen my share of dead bodies over the years.  Its part of working in the ER. Some are expected and some aren't. Some are dead when they get here, some arrive living, then die.

Those that arrive living, but are expected to die, are usually people at the end of a long battle with cancer or something like that.. Some have a sudden event outside the hospital, make it to the hospital, but the decision is  made by the family to stop treatment.  Sometimes we just can't save them, its just their time to go. They are very elderly and the doc decides to stop treatment after a while.

Then there are the unexpected deaths. The people who had something catastrophic happen, be it trauma or some medical event.  Yesterday they were fine, today they are dead. Sometimes they are young.  It feels unfair they are dead.  One thing you learn in ER, life is certainly unfair. The family is stunned. These are the people you will hear crying loudly, it breaks your heart how they are suffering.  It makes you want to cry too.

These deaths are tragic, but you can point to a reason for them.  Something bad happened and death resulted. Its sad, but your mind tells you that is what happens sometimes.

Then there are the deaths that happen unexpectedly in the ER.  They don't happen often. They are the people who walk up to the triage window.  They are walking and talking.  Here's the thing: this is the last time they will be walking.  They will die shortly after they arrive.  These are the people that just kill the ER staff.

Sometimes they have very specific complaints like chest pain,, shortness of breath.  They go right back. Sometimes they have vague complaints. They have stable vital signs. They look OK. I had one like that recently.  I put them on a cart in the back of triage. There were no beds. They only were back there about 5 minutes before they went back to a room.  Within a half an hour they were dead. Boom just like that.

In this situation, someone went to the room, they are unresponsive. They have no pulse.  They are rushed to a stab room.  Everything is tried.  It usually goes on for a long time until we realize it is futile. They aren't coming back. They are declared dead.

We are left saying to ourselves: What just happened? They were OK when they got here.  We start second guessing ourselves. Could I have done something different? Did I miss something? It takes you a while to realize that there is nothing you could have done.  It wouldn't have made a difference. OK, you tell yourself, but they still will haunt us for days.

Now its time to try and find the family.

  .

Norway smashes US and Russia

Good news!  The Norway mens curling team won their first game against the stinky US team! Final score 7-4.  And they looked GREAT doing it!

This just in!! Norway beats that foolish Russia 9-8 in 2nd game! 

MADNESS: TALES OF AN EMERGENCY ROOM NURSE - official sponsor of the Norway mens curling team.

Susie the cheerleader takes a dirt nap

Heroin is getting a lot of attention these days. Why?  Its a huge problem and its getting worse.  Other why? Suburban white kids are the new face of heroin. .

Crack, whether it is true or not, has a black face.  Its an inner city problem. It doesn't affect them, so middle class and above people don't care. Pretty much the same with meth, its a rural white problem.  We as a society pretty much write these two groups off.  Doesn't affect us, who cares?

When suburban white kids start dying it gets attention. Suburban white kids who have everything, live a nice life, aren't supposed to get addicted to things like heroin. They are supposed to go to college, get married  and have 2.2 kids and buy a house in the suburbs down the street from their parents. Blond Susie the cheerleader isn't supposed to be on heroin. But she is.

So we are in the middle of a heroin epidemic. I see it everyday.  High school kids on heroin. Overdoses. I am seeing it more frequently. Its sad and depressing to see yet another drug destroy communities.

Recent articles have traced the use of heroin back to prescription drugs.  Here's the scenario:  Mom or Dad goes to the doctor for lets say back pain.  Doctor willingly gives them a script for Percocet or Vicodin. No prob. Back pain resolves, not all of prescription is used.  Mom or Dad puts it in the medicine cabinet, not wanting to throw it away.  Junior sees it, takes it, maybe goes to a part and throws it in a bowl with all these other collections of narcotics the other kids brought from their parents medicine cabinets. Junior likes the feeling. Gets addicted.  Its an expensive habit on the street. Pills going for 5-10 dollars a piece on the street.  Friends introduces them to heroin, cheap, better  high.  And so the saga begins...and ends either dead or in the ER with an overdose.

And we are right back where we started: at the docs prescription pad.  I have ranted on this for years: the overprescribing of narcotics.  The docs of this country's responsibility for it. Why don't they stop doing it? Old news. Not changing anytime soon.

Perhaps we should be asking a different question: Why do we live in a country with such a massive drug problem? Why do we as a country feel the need to dope ourselves up in order to cope with life? We are constantly telling ourselves what a great country this is, blah blah blah.  I don't think so. We are fooling ourselves. This is a sick society.  We pretend it isn't as our kids are dying.

madness blog sponsors olympic team

I have become an official sponsor of the Norway curling team.  How can I not with their great outfits?

 Go guys!