My patient ran away with cocaine in his colon

Did NO ONE freaking pay attention to the Just Say No campaign in the 80s except me??

Today, I am going to blog in the third person because I am getting bored with writing as myself . Meet one of my patients from over the weekend.


Damn.  I knew I was drunk last night but, fuck, how did I end up in the hospital?  *rolling to the side* oh mann a cop is in here! Son of a bitch how am I going to get out of here? My mom is going to kick my ass.. wow the judge told me to stay out of trouble, I'm going to go to jail now, no doubt.  I'm glad I swallowed those 4 bags of cocaine when I got pulled over, bought me some time to figure out how I'm going to get out of this mess. I hope one of the bags doesn't open.. if that happens I will OD and then I will really be fucked. *dozes back off to sleep*

What.. time is it..?  Oh man my stomach is killing me. ooh  it hurts... I hope one of those bags didn't bust open...wow.. if I happen to shit one of these bags out soon, I will be able to do a line of coke right here in the hospital.. *looks to the side* Oh wow!! The cop is gone! I should try to escape.. hm.. where would I go?  I better text one of my buddies and see when he can come get me.  I can't believe my luck that the cop left!!

Someone's in here.. oh, she's my nurse.  I'm.. not sure what to make of this.. she actually seems to care that my stomach hurts and she's not talking to me like I'm some stupid drunk douchebag.  She's giving me IV nausea meds too. And extra chicken broth.  This is nice but I gotta get out of here..

I'm in the bathroom right now and nobody is bothering me.. if I put my street clothes on and unscrew the hub of my IV from the tubing like..this..oh ... cool!!  Holy shit!  I could totally mainline this shit if I keep my IV in!! This is my chance to get out.  I will leave the detached IV running in the bathroom with my gown and telemetry box on the floor and just casually walk out..

Okay... back to first person..

State police: "Yes are you the RN who was caring for the pt. who escaped earlier this morning?'

Me: "yes"

State police: "Can you please tell me your full name and title?"

Me: "Sure, it's _____ _______, RN"

State police: "Date of birth?"

Me:  "I'm not telling you that!" *laughter*

State police: *silence*

Me: "You need that don't you.."

State police: "Yes."

Me: Fine, it's XX/XX/XXXX (I used my actual birth date)

State police: Ok.  Can you tell me what happened.."

I gave him a statement and I was a little annoyed once I told him everything that happened.  There was an officer in the room right up until 5 am.  Upon doing some googling I found out the patient was on parole and had a pretty long rap sheet.  Not to mention the fact that if that cocaine packaging  had split open, he would have ODed right on the spot and DIED (and I would have had to try to save him), or he could have passed the coke and snorted it all in the bathroom AND DIED (and again I would have had to try to save him). or he could have stashed it where a confused old patient could have gotten a hold of it (okay that's a stretch but still, WTF??) Not only that, but the cop who was watching him never told anyone he was leaving or why ...suddenly it wasn't important to watch the guy.(probably staffing related but still, tell us what's going on)  To top it all off, we called the cops IMMEDIATELY when the guy got away.  They didn't even bother coming to look for him and took 6 hours to call back after we notified them.

My hospital doesn't really have a security dept.. (they have 1 maintenance man who doubles as security) and I have to be honest when I say I don't feel very safe sometimes.

I will also say I'm kind of glad he got away because I really didn't want to be remotely involved in what will happen when he passes that cocaine.  Especially without any police or security to protect myself, my coworkers, or my patients.

So, Mr. Cocaine Colon, be gone with you. And next time I hope they take you someplace else that has an actual security dept.

Keep going back for more

Nursing is a really weird thing. It’s the most rewarding and yet the most stressful experience I’ve ever lived though. When I’ve got intense, high acuity patients (which lately is all the time on my floor), I have a tendency to push all my own needs to the side and give my all to my patients. Most patients recognize it and some even appreciate it, but on the extra busy days when I don’t sit or eat or drink for 13 hours, I find myself in tears the second I get into my car. And driving home. And in bed. And in the shower.  I think my biggest problem is, the more difficult and needy my patients are, and the less help I have, the more I ignore my own body.  I know that sounds crazy and counterproductive, but I get in this “zone” where all I think is “maybe I haven’t eaten in 10 hours but this patient is experiencing a worsening stroke and I have 5 other patients besides him- they win priority.” My thought process is that I might be hungry, sore, stressed, whatever but oftentimes my patients are dying or nearly died, confused, tearful, scared, etc. and that is more important for me to address than my own needs. It just is.  It’s what drew me in to nursing and what I fear will eventually land me in a psych unit.  And as much as I know this job is destroying me, I know I will never do anything else.

It’s very much like being in an abusive relationship.

I need to find a better balance.  My plan is to drop down to 2 twelves every week vs 3 twelves, but right now I need to prepare financially and build up some savings for me to be able to do that. I also am going to try and get into the new hospital location that is only 10 minutes from my house. My goal is to achieve this within 6 months to a year. Here's to hoping.

I do not think that there is any other quality so essential to success of any kind as the quality of perseverance. It overcomes almost everything, even nature.
John D. Rockefeller