The Last Patient of a Long Night Shift
By Birdstrike M.D.
My first night shift in a stretch of 7 was almost over. It was 6:15 a.m. and I had to keep moving otherwise the minute I would stop, my eyelids would drop like two ton shades and I’d fall asleep. That never makes for a good drive home after a night shift.
“Got time to see one more?” asked Jenny the nurse.
“Do I have choice? The door-to-doctor time storm-troopers would have it no other way,” I grunted back, eye lids drifting closed.
“Febrile seizure,” it said.
Good, this should be quick and easy, I think to myself. We’ll give some Tylenol, reassess in 30 minutes and this baby will be happy, smiling and bouncing off the walls. That way I can get out of here at 7 a.m. and be home in bed with my eye blinders on drifting towards sweet REM sleep at 7:20 a.m. My sanity depends on it. 15 feet away, I head towards the room. Looking into room 4, I expect to see the usual post-febrile seizure toddler, sitting up in bed, recovered, awake and well appearing. First I see the child’s mother, well put together, attractive, smiling and relaxed. I cross the threshold to the room, look down on the hospital stretcher and I see a child, about 1-year-old, still seizing. Still seizing? I think to myself. This isn’t right.
“Jenny, get in here! We’ve got a seizing baby,” I say. I look down at the child, who is pale, head turned to the right, with the left arm twitching violently. “Call respiratory! Jenny, yo...
Source: WhiteCoat's Call Room - Category: Emergency Medicine Doctors Authors: Birdstrike Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
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