Recent Entries

• A Man Drink

  May 5, 2018

  My friend Becky said I drink like a wuss. I am on call a lot, so I usually have non alcoholic beer, or on occasion, a glass of wine. But I really don’t consider myself a wuss. I mean, I jog and work out, and I can handle myself in a fight if I have…

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• Terminal Wean

  November 27, 2011

  There are times when, despite all the therapies and the machines,  patients just wear out. They  tire of the battle of staying alive attached to various technologically advanced, but ultimately painful and degrading, machines. The patients, or if the patient is unable, their families de...

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• The Hardest Time

  November 12, 2011

    I had tried everything I knew and nothing had worked. My patient, 62 year old Caroline, was still tied to the respirator for her every breath. We had tried all the different ventilator weaning techniques, all the drugs that could reduce her cardiac load and enhance her lung function, all t...

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• Well Officer, it’s Like This…

  November 7, 2011

  OK, OK - I like to sleep naked.  I'm glad to confess that habit. I woke up the yesterday and realized I had the entire day off,  I was alone in the apartment, no roommate or roommate's girlfriend to be concerned about, and I could do whatever I wanted. I decided to have someth...

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• The Painting

  October 25, 2011

    I was at a fast jog by now, but the beige concrete wall just in front of me seemed hard and unyielding. As the nurse increased the speed and I ran my hardest, I began to feel uneasy. I nodded to the Cardiac Stress Lab nurse, Donna, and she slowed the treadmill down to…

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• Pole Dancing

  October 9, 2011

  Sometimes the simplest things are all it takes. Pediatric Oncology, or Pee Donk, as the kids call it, is basically a cancer ward for children. It is designed around cheerfulness with cartoon characters on the walls, toy boxes and play areas in various places, and a staff of nurses and nurses aide...

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• Draftee

  September 9, 2011

  Sorry guys! I was about to write this entry when I got called away. I did not think the title was actually public yet. Here is the entry..   She was wearing the uniform of an army she never wanted to join. Blue and white cotton that tied around the back of her neck and…

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• Bathroom Heroics

  August 16, 2011

  "Rob, Mrs Johnson is having difficulty breathing,"  Jennifer the nurses aide said. She was breathless too because she had just run up the hallway to get me. When someone runs like that, you know it has to be urgent.  We ran down to Mrs Johnson's room together. When I ente...

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• Toes

  August 12, 2011

  "When the toes wiggle, the patient is completely paralyzed." I knew what the anesthesiologist was saying of course. We were administering a nerve blocking agent, and as it travels down the body, muscles spasm slightly before they are paralyzed. The agent blocks the nerve impulses f...

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