Brain Lost

It's Monday. Crazy ass day at work. Strokes all over the place. Our floor, ICU and a few other floors because the hospital was full last week. FULL. No beds. ICU patients were "lined up" in the ED to get an ICU bed. And patients in ICU that were ready to go to the medical floors were waiting for people to get discharged home. It's always hectic when there is a full board.

I get in most morning and walk down to my hall, and the first thing I do is look at the wipe board. It list the patients last name, physician and room number. If the patient is on telemetry monitoriting there is a heart sticker next to him, and if they are a stroke patient, the bed number is outlined in purple.

This morning, of 25 beds, 13 had purple borders.

Ahhhh- job security.

Above my head in my office is another wipe board. It lists the patients last name, age, the status of thier MRI, and all the stroke protocol measures. I fill it it for every patient and that is how we track that patients are getting the best care. It's over my head so my boss can look up over my head and answer many of her own questions without having to ask me.

I beat everyone I know and love with stroke information. I love going to friends houses and seeing the stroke magnets we made on thier refrigerators. My dad laughs about it, but you know, someday, a co-worker is going to have a sudden onset of weakness on one side- and he's going to remember that damn magnet. And when that co-worker says, "I'm just gonna call my doctor and have him fit me in at the end of the day"- he will say, "NO!- you have to call 911!"

If you are having a stroke, there is medication to reverse it if you are a candidate for it. If you think of the blood vessels in your brain as pipes, a stroke is like a clogged pipe. The medication, tPA, is like Drain-o.

"Brain-o"

You got three hours to get the Brain-o, so for fuck's sake. Don't wait. And an ambulance or paramedics is always the best way to go to the ER in an emergency. You get through triage faster.

Go ahead, laugh at me and tell me I'm crazy for taking the time to blog this shit. I am annoying my friends with it. But you know, they will be prepared if it happens to them or someone they love. They will NOT lay down and sleep it off if all of a sudden one side of your face looks and feels like it's sliding off and you start talking slurred like you've spent all day on hopped up vodka and Ativan. They will call 911.

Maybe later they will tell me that they remembered how often I pounded them in the head with this stuff, and they won't be disabled, or have to walk with a cane, or be unable to swallow thier food. I know I linked the hell out of this page... click and read, if nowhere else, then here. Just do it!!!

And in case you refuse, then here: read the damn signs and symptoms....

Stroke is a medical emergency. Know these warning signs of stroke and teach them to others. Every second counts:

• Sudden numbness or weakness of the face, arm or leg, especially on one side of the body
• Sudden confusion, trouble speaking or understanding
• Sudden trouble seeing in one or both eyes
• Sudden trouble walking, dizziness, loss of balance or coordination
• Sudden, severe headache with no known cause

OK- that is my PSA for this week.

I'm out, bitches!!!