Say No To Drugs

Earlier this week, Nurse K wrote about the sad reality of hard-core drug addictions destroying people's lives, and reminded me of a patient from several months ago.  She was in her late teens or early twenties, but looked at least 50.  Her thinning hair still had some hints of blond, but was mostly grayish-tinged.  Receding gums left her with a toothy smile and track marks lined her arms, but her most distinguishing feature was a large patch of necrotic tissue on her arm - a failed graft that fell victim to skin popping.  Impossible to know what in her life turned her to drugs, but certain to say that they were rapidly killing her.  She appeared in the ER several times over a two week period, and then stopped coming in.  Whether she finally ODed or simply moved on to another hospital I couldn't say, but it's terrible to watch people killing themselves before your eyes.