Excess and Greed

Good god I'm tired, and so glad that this weekend is over- in a way.

I haven't worked three days in a row for a long time.

I didn't think I'd blog about this weekend, since nothing blogworthy occurred until today.

I'll start with the student from my boyfriend's school.

It's funny... every time I get a patient from his school, I automatically wonder if he's been their teacher at any point in time. Nevermind that there's thousands of students at this school, and that the teachers don't get to teach all the students there....hehehe.

Anyhow, this girl came in for a Xanax overdose. Initially, the story I heard was this: she usually takes it, for whatever reason (didn't get a clear history on her myself), but today she claimed she didn't feel like they were taking effect; so she kept taking more and more and more...Until more became about 30 pills. I'm surprised she was still conscious and somewhat coherent...Though she couldn't stand and when she spoke you couldn't understand a word she was saying.

When I first started working at the hospital, every time an intentional overdose patient would come in, my reaction was rather hostile in that I'd think things like "oh god... so stupid... let's put the biggest needle in this patient we can so they'll remember that this experience was so horrible they'll never do it again". Now, however, I see these patients from a new angle.

Yes, some are just stupid... But alot of these kids are just crying out for help. That's all. It's sad that they choose such extremes to ask for it, but sometimes it takes hitting rock bottom to be able to climb your way back to the top. Though I never went to such extremes, in a way I have been in their shoes so I understand a little better. At least I like to think I do, and perhaps it makes me a bit better equipped to handle patients like these when they roll in.

I still haven't figured out whether this was an act of sheer stupidity, apathy and wrecklessness, or indeed a cry for help...She wasn't being very open about why she did it at all. Some are more open than others. Whatever the motive, I have a theory as to why she may have done it.
In triage, the "boyfriend" (or so they said he was), was on the phone with someone else and at one point said "well... you know how you told me to be completely honest with her yesterday?"

Very nice guy, no doubt...But the minute you see him (and god I hate being stereotypical, but they exist for a reason), you immediately realize this guy is probably gay. Now, there's nothing wrong with that, but I have a feeling he may have come out to his girlfriend last night. This, in turn, threw the poor girl over the edge, causing her to intentionally ingest 30 Xanax pills...maybe to kill herself, maybe to scare him... who knows. I'm no social worker, and I'm sure there are alot of underlying issues that would cause her to deal with such devastating news in the way she did, but it's just a theory that crossed my mind.

Glad to report she's doing fine and currenly in the hospital for observation.

Now on to the slightly humorous tale of the weekend.

Later on today, I was in a 5 month old patient's room while the In-House Intensivist was speaking to the parents regarding test results and further procedures that had to be done on the child.

I remember thinking "holy jesus this doctor has only ONE thing on his mind." It's green, made of paper, and highly valued by our society...especially those who already have tons of it. Can you guess what it is? That's right. Good ol' money...

We ran a complete blood count on the baby, which would tell us the white blood cell (WBC) count. The highest normal value is 15,000 WBCs, and the baby had a value of 43,000. This is extremely high in all patients, but on such a small baby who has yet to develop an immune system to ward off attacks, it can be potentially fatal, as it is a sign of severe infection.

Anyhow, as the doctor was addressing the parents, explaining the cell count to them, etc... Every time he would mention the 43,000 WBCs, he would end up saying "43,000 dollars"... He did this about 10 or 12 times during the course of his visit to the room.

Patients nowadays (thanks to the amazingly horrible health system in this country) already walk in to a doctor's office, emergency room, or urgent care thinking that no doctor cares about patients as human beings anymore...Thinking that docs walk around with dollar signs in their eyes every time they treat a patient.....He sure made it seem that way today. I chuckled a bit inside, but honestly it's sad to see someone who treats children proving that greed takes precedence over compassion for many.