F*&%ng SWINE FLU!

What kind of country of dummies have we become when the PRESIDENT has to go on TV and tell us to WASH OUR HANDS and COVER OUR MOUTHS when we cough?

Triage has become a nightmare now what with all this "Swine flu" nonsense. I live in one of the cities where there was a cluster of infections, and our hospital has gone into full panic mode. There are masks at every entrance with signs saying "If you have a cough or fever, please wear one." So, since they're free, everyone has two or three on them, even the kids. I'm constantly stopping people and asking if they have cough or fever. No? TAKE THE MASK OFF, FOR GOD'S SAKES!!! You're just here to visit grandma!

Also, for every actually sick person I triage, I get two or three who are just worried about the swine flu. These are people who won't bother to get a regular flu shot--and the regular flu can kill you too, you dummies! Some questions:

Pt (on the phone): I need my family to get tested for swine flu. We just got back from Mexico.
Me: Are any of you feeling sick?
Pt: No.
Me: No coughs, no sore throat, no fever?
Pt: No. But I have two kids who have to go back to school.
Me: ARE THEY SICK IN ANY WAY?
Pt: No.
Me: I suggest you stay home.

Other pt (in triage): I have flu symptoms. I think it's the swine flu.
Me: Were you in Mexico?
Pt: No.
Me: Were you around an infected person?
Pt: No.
Me: Then you probably don't have the swine flu.
Pt: How do you know?
Me: Because you weren't exposed to it.
Pt: But I feel sick.
Me: You are sick. You just don't have the swine flu.

Please note that on top of all of this, I'M SICK. I have some upper-respiratory thing, brought on by the insane amount of pollen flying around. It started with a sore throat and uvula that was so swollen, I actually went in to my own ED and got one of the docs to give me a shot of Decadron so I could breathe and swallow. That thing was like a freaking THUMB dangling in the back of my throat. Then it progressed to a hacking, mucus-filled cough that burns my chest. Guess what I'm doing? STAYING HOME.

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Thanks, Sylvia!

Uh...ok

Sorry I've been gone so long! Things have been very busy, what with work and school and the band being in the studio.

I've got nothing about work to relate, but this happened last night and it was too good not to post.

I was on our lovely mass transit system last night on the way home from work at about 12:30 AM and on sitting down in my seat, this is what I saw directly across from me:
What is that, you ask? A well-dressed man with a pair of grey men's briefs plastered to his face, poking the fabric up into his nose with his fingers. Thanks, iPhone, for letting me snap this pic super fast!

What happened next, you ask? He put the underpants away in his shopping bag, and pulled out a plastic bottle full of some amber liquid, took the top off, and proceeded to sniff the contents. I don't believe that it was apple juice in that bottle.

I LOVE living in this city.

Can it be?

Are things maybe getting better where I work?

We had a good weekend. Not too crazy, not so slow that time drags: enough time to actually take care of patients, to get to know them and talk to them and be pleasant, instead of running around like crazy, flinging medications and treatments at them. I really feel as if I made people feel better. (Corny, I know!)

And the icing on the cake for me was when a woman approached me and said, "You probably don't remember me, but you saved my life." It took a second, but I did recognize her. She had come in with excruciating abdominal pain with referred pain to her shoulder, having syncopized--her blood pressure was 75/40 and she was pale. Yup, ruptured ectopic. We got her up to the OR in about 18 minutes flat, emergent transfusion running all the while. I actually recognized her husband first; he had been so worried about her, was crying, and wouldn't leave her side. They both told me that I made them feel so safe, that everything was going to be OK. And everything did turn out to be all right (whew)!

It was really, really nice to hear. Ok, I'm happy to be a nurse again.