What a day at AMC!

OK so this is an official WARNING: *if you do NOT like to read about blood and guts and everything else, you may NOT want to read this!*

So today started out with a patient passing out on my supervisor and me while we were transferring him from a bedside commode to a wheelchair. We knew that he had a past history of passing out when sitting up so we were prepared and 1/2 expecting it. But it all happened very quickly, I ended up running up and down the hallways yelling for a nurse (that never came) and everyone looking at me like I lost my mind. Only to return to my supervisor empty handed as she continued to yell for help from the room. Another therapist ended up coming and helping us (to keep him from falling out of the chair) and the patient returning to consciousness... All ended well... no worries. THEN I got to see a trach. be inserted. I saw them cut open the skin around the trachea and cut a hole, then insert many different sized tubes to create a larger hole for the trach. Next on the list for that patient was a gastrointestinal tube (GI tube). They put a scope w/ a light on it down his mouth, and into his stomach (it was neat to see his insides!) then they actually tried to push the light up against the stomach wall and spot it from the outside of his body (this meant that there was no obstruction in between the outer stomach wall and the stomach itself and could puncture his abdomen to place the GI tube)! They could not see the light (which meant there was an obstruction of some sort) so they aborted the GI tube.

Next on the list of experiences was the ER to see 2 traumas come in. The first guy passed out while driving (NO SEAT BELT) and hit a cop car then another car, cutting the back of his head open. He was bleeding profusely and ended up vomiting in the ER (very abruptly) and needing staples in his scalp (I actually saw his skull!). The second trauma was a construction worker who shot himself with a staple gun. A 2inch staple was in his right side and slightly puncturing his gall bladder. He ended up needing to go to the OR so nothing too exciting happened w/ him... Other than the fact that he actually stapled his shirt to himself and was flown in by helicopter.

So in summary, I had a very exciting day and got to see many new things. I actually surprised myself that I didn't get nauseous or anything! :o) Also, on Monday I got to see a chest tube put in. They cut him open in between his ribs and punctured his lungs and stuck a tube in (lots of fluid/air= gurgling once they punctured the lungs). Tuesday I am tentatively scheduled to see a total hip replacement in the OR... wish me luck!

(I did not include all the details... give me a call if you would like to hear more!)