Just a few things..

Had an overall decent weekend at work. Got to go home early (1130pm) today, it was nice. I got back my patients from Saturday and Sunday and the two biggest pains in my ASS were transferred to other floors (hell YEAH baby!) And I got left with a cute 98 year old lady, an adorable 95 year old lady, a new stroke on a 84 year old lady and a PITA 55 year old lady who takes more meds than the other 3 women I mentioned COMBINED.

PITA #1 was a dude with Hep C and a bleeding disorder and he constantly had fresh, bright red blood in his mouth coming out of his gums. Plus his liver was shot so his ammonia levels were sky high and affecting his cognition and sense of balance. His gown was covered in blood, his room was a sty, he was forever pissing all over the floor and if I sound a little harsh talking about him it might be because the motherfucker HIT me in the arm when I gave him a shot of insulin in addition to calling ME a pain in the ass and looking at me with absolute venom every time I entered the room. Then he proceeded to call me a bitch every chance he had. At one point I walked into his room to give him some scheduled meds and he started saying "OH GOD, what do you want NOW!?  Jesus!" then I said, "Look, I don't want to be in here any more than you want me in here, so just let me do my job and I promise I will be getting away from you as quickly as I possibly can."  And then I hummed this song every time I was in his room:

A good patient I had was a 98 year old lady whose grandson was visiting and noticed her speech was getting slurred and she wasn't walking straight.  He called 911 and the ambulance came right away.  Upon arrival to my hospital, she was administered the clot busting medication TPA.  Within a few hours, all her stroke symptoms resolved. She was coherent, bright eyed and quite spunky when I got her.  I met her Grandson and thanked him for acting so quickly- he saved his Grandmother from an end in life that I see all too often.  She was really cute, too.  She said the state sent her a driver's license when she was 96 but she decided not to drive anymore.. not because she thought she couldn't, but because she said, "God forbid if someone ever hit me, the first thing everyone would say would be 'what was a 96 year old doing driving?!' and then I'd end up getting blamed for it.  So it was my choice to stop driving."  This little lady had more brains and sense than most 40 somethings I care for. Anyway, what I learned from her was firsthand how important it is to be able to catch a stroke in its early stages-- it's truly a medical MIRACLE what tpa can do.  I think we've all heard how critical timing is with catching and treating strokes.. but until you see it firsthand?? Just wow. Amazing.