Missing Mrs. S

So on Friday night the ambulance brought in Mrs. S that had fallen, she also had Alzheimer's Disease. She kept telling me that her husband was on his way in. I kept looking but couldn't find him. He eventually showed up and said that he had told the ambulance to take her to a different hospital (one closer to their house) and so he had been waiting for her there. He was pretty upset with the ambulance company. Mrs. S ended up being just fine and so I sent her home with her husband. Last night this same lady came in by ambulance again around 3:00 am. (I was at lunch and so I didn't see her arrive). Her husband called on the phone and I immediately recognized his voice. This is what had happened... Mrs S called 911 and met the ambulance out in the driveway. Her complaint that her feet were numb. She told the medics that her husband had a busy day and not to wake him (in her mind she was doing the right thing). So they brought her in. Meanwhile MR. S wakes up and can't find his wife anywhere. He calls the police, they call the local hospitals and we tell them we have her. Mr. S is just frantic, worried sick not knowing where his wife is. He is on the phone just crying to me telling me how worried he had been. He comes down to get her. He is still crying and so upset. This makes Mrs. S upset and very sad. She says just admit me to the asylum because my head is just not right, he of course would not even think of something like that. It was a very sad situation. I recommended putting an alarm on the doors so that she can't get out without the alarm going off. I sent Mr and Mrs S home again and told them as much as I liked them I didn't want to see them again. Mrs. S kissed my cheek as I belted her in the car. I learned two things: One, unconditional love. Mr S is amazing to take care of his wife and love her so much even though her mind is not very clear. Second, I am thankful for my ability to think, act and respond appropriately.
p.s. Mr S is now even more upset with the ambulance. They took his wife without even waking to tell him...honest mistake (I'm sure they did what they thought was best) but for sure a learning experience.

What do you mean I can't smoke in here...

I took care of a 24 year old male that decided to take a bunch of vicodin, soma, and xanax along with marijuana for his sciatic pain. Well his mom found him drowsy and pretty much unconscious and so the wambulance (as called by the ER nurses) brought him to me. He was not very nice, hit his brother, twisted my arm behind my back….you get the picture. I took him up to the ICU and he asked for a sleeping pill. Now remind you that he took enough meds to sleep for a week and so I kind of laughed and explained that he wouldn’t be getting a sleeping pill. Then he decided that he wanted to leave and was just being a pain. Happy for me that he was now in the ICU and I headed back to the ER. So like an hour later security comes running in the ER and says they have my patient from room 2. I was like, what?? Oh yes, my lovely patient had jumped out of the second story ICU window so that he could smoke!!!! And now he had a broken foot! We took some x-rays, applied a splint, I even gave him some pain meds and took him back up to the ICU! I’m guessing they locked the window…:o)
02/2008