Friday, January 9, 2009

Sign of the Times

Walked into work last night for my first shift back after a long vacation, and who was there to great me but Jose Cuervo, sporting his very own c-collar after getting drunk and falling down.  With the amount of wasted CT scan radiation that head has been exposed to, it's amazing it doesn't glow in the dark.  

My eight hours in our critical care area were spent dealing with some pretty sick patients, but the worst was a 65 year old male with 10/10 crushing chest pain.  Rushed in by EMS from his home, the gentleman experienced sudden onset of pain as the sheriff arrived to evict him and his wife from their home.  According to the wife, her husband had worked for the same company for over 30 years, but lost his pension when the economy began to tank.  Their savings finally ran out and they could no longer afford to pay their bills.  

EKG showed he was having an MI so we ran him up to the cath lab, saving his life while burying him with medical bills plunging him further into financial hell.

Meanwhile, Jose Cuervo returned to the ambulance bay three hours after he had been discharged, where he could be seen through the glass doors downing another bottle of Listerine before staggering into the waiting room.

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