Blood, Slobber, Urine, Vomit and More Blood

My favorite patient tonight was admitted with anemia. That doesn't sound very exciting, but there's more to the story. He came to the ER because of a head wound. He had been struck on the head because he had been caught in bed with another man's girlfriend, even though, as he said, We wasn't doin nuthin."

When he came to the ER his blood alcohol level was almost four times the legal limit. The heavy drinking had led to a platelet disorder so he was now a "bleeder"and severely anemic. Even his gums were bleeding, and with his tendency to drool, bloody slobber sometimes ran down his chin.

Of course it was on my shift that the DT's started. He was shaking so violently that I had to place pills in his mouth and hold his water cup to his lips. At the same time, bloody drool was running down his chin.

He looked to be in his sixties, but he was actually a few years younger than I am. Oh, and did I mention that he was also incontinent?"

We debated putting his roommate in another room so that he wouldn't have to endure that strong, old urine smell in the room. Despite our efforts to clean him and the linens, he still reeked. But then the roommate vomited and the room smelled of acidic vomit, so we decided to keep those two patients together. We try to separate clean patients from dirty patients.

There was also some excitement when a patient was found on the floor lying in a pool of blood. She had knee replacement surgery earlier in the day and she decided that it would be a good idea to go for a walk. In the process, her drain came out causing blood to pour over the floor. The anesthesia caused her to lose her mind, hopefully only temporarily. When a patient is almost one hundred years old, as she was, those things happen. She's tied up now and appears to be okay.