October 2004

You are currently browsing the monthly archive for October 2004.

iGourd.

10/29/2004 in Randomness | 5 comments

Steve had a contest at work to carve the best pumpkin, and look what he created! Me so proud (and a little dorky).

iGourd

iGourd

New layout. Again.

10/23/2004 in Randomness | 2 comments

So yeah. New layout. Credits to Randolf for the pix. I’m still tweaking (a la my OCD), but hopefully, will work on other pages as well. I don’t think I’ve ever finished an entire website before. Just tweaked layouts. Maybe this time will be the charm, ay? Also on my to-do list: update!

So lemme know what the word is.

My first patient.

10/11/2004 in Lamenting | 6 comments

I was holding his hand when he died. He was gasping for air, even with a full oxygen mask on. He was thrashing (they call it “agitation”), and they couldn’t draw his labs or check his pulse ox or pull an EKG. So I held his hand, and for a moment, I thought he was going to be alright.

He turned blue, then black as he slowed down. I put my stethoscope to his chest and tried listened to his lungs. I couldn’t make out any breath sounds, and when I turned to look at his face, I saw that he had just quit. Sputtered, then started up again. His eyes, though, had became big and blank. The same eyes that were twinkling at me before, making jokes and teasing the nurses.

I couldn’t feel his pulse anymore, so I just held his hand. They were so cold, and I thought that if I just cover them, if I could warm them up, he would be alright. But he let go.

Later, we determined that it must have been an arrhythmia. Then a stroke. Checked the little boxes on the death certificate. Called the time. Called the family. Called to cancel all the consults and labs he had scheduled. He wasn’t going to need any of it anymore. His name was erased from the dry-erase board. He was deleted from the swamp computer.

And then I went home and cried for a man I knew less than 24 hours.