Really nurse, it's nothing much...

** Warning: medical content **

I see a lot of rubbish things come into emergency. I realise that everyone has their own definition of 'serious' and what needs medical attention, but things like papercuts should not be on anyone's list.

I wasn't thinking anything except a slight annoyance when a gentleman came up to the triage window stating he had a cut or scratch on the back of his leg. Of course, you can't see jack below the patient's waist from the triage window, so I asked him to come through so I could have a proper look.

The plastic bag tied around his lower leg with a shoelace should have twigged something more with me, especially when on questioning he said he hadn't wanted to get the blood in his car. Okayeee..

So then I started unwrapping the layers.
Plastic bag x 2.
Teatowel tied with another shoelace. Kind of bloody.
Another teatowel, another shoelace. Even more bloody.
Face washer. Secured with a PET COLLAR.
By now I was more than a bit incredulous and wtf-like.

Me: What is this?
Him: It's a cat collar. It's new, it's not been used so it's okay.
Me: Uhh... why?
Him: Well I couldn't find anything else.

By now, everything is blood soaked. Big time. Blood's not a problem, I can deal with that. But if this is just a scratch, I'm Florence Nightingale.
The last layer was a paper towel  held on with a big wad of sticky tape.
I'm thinking, I can't *wait* to see this 'scratch'.

The towelling comes off. Instantly, the artery on the back of his leg that has somehow been nicked starts spurting blood in time with his heart beat. A lovely, juicy arterial bleed.

I swore. Quite loudly.

How he hadn't noticed the pulsating vessel I have no idea. But thank god he did come to hospital with his 'scratch'. I'll still roll my eyes at people with papercuts, but the next scratch I won't believe until I see it.

Scratch

Not a scratch

Earworms

I tend to get songs stuck in my head often. I listen to music a lot; my life wouldn't be complete without it. Once upon a time I played a few musical instruments, but gave it up late in high school because I was so fixated on my studies and getting into uni that I didn't have the time to devote to practicing. I regret that now, but I figure you don't forget how to read music and one day I'm sure I will take it up again as a hobby.

But for now, it's purely listening rather than playing pleasure. A line, a verse of a lyric, or a portion of melody will just resonate with me, and then it sinks its tentacles into my brain for a while. Until another song attracts me.

Right now, it is Talking Heads 'The Lady Don't Mind'. Why this song? The lyrics describe a wee bit of my thoughts lately. And you can sing along to it :)

Death again. Sorry.

My cousin died today. I won't blather on about it because frankly I'm not in the frame of mind to do so right now. He was a teenager. He died tragically. I guess any child's death would be classed as tragic. But it was an accident. He was found by his mother, who wasn't able to revive him. I learnt of the news in the morning, then spent the rest of the day dodging the tv and online news reports. Given the amount of trauma I see in my line of work, I'd never really given much thought to news reporting of such things. Today, the inaccuracies and intrusiveness behind it really got to me. Public interest and all that, yeah I get it. But decorum didn't seem a priority. I know journalists are just doing their jobs. As are the police, ambos, doctors, nurses, etc who attend to such deaths. I've lost count of the number of families & deaths I've dealt with, of whatever cause, in hospital. My perspective has now changed. I can only hope this has made me a more compassionate nurse, however the short time longer I may be doing this job. RIP Liam.