Beating Heart Baby.

I worked a long, exhausting night. I worked from 4Pm - 11 PM; it was a shift from heaven. Usually, when I tell you things were slow and boring... it doesn’t mean that we were sitting around waiting for a case to come in, but we were stuck with the usual bump and scrape check out. I feel bad saying that we had a shift from heaven because we had a bunch of admits, but I love working and helping those in need.

It was no more than thirty minutes after I walked into the door when we had a code blue on arrival. When there is a code blue on arrival, the hospital is in chaos. Each department sends a doctor, nurse, or technician to the emergency room. Then, we have an established plan of action for the incoming patient. In the case of cardiac arrest, cardiac involvement, the representative from that department would take control of the situation. If it relates to a different department, that person is in control of the situation. The representative from the psychiatric unit is responsible for the psychiatric well-being of the family members. Together, the hospital creates a respectable and strong team. This code has been a structure for hundreds of hospitals across the country.

Tonight's case was a 32-year-old man whom we called "Phil". Phil is 5'10", weighing in at 150lbs., Phil is skinny, but... he had atherosclerosis. Atherosclerosis is the hardening of arteries; it is caused by buildup of fats and cholesterol. Once the fat and cholesterol build up the arteries began, expand out the side, thus causing a thoracic aortic aneurysm. The aorta is the largest artery in your body and the most important; an aneurysm on this artery is not good. His artery first began to leak within him. He was brought in by ambulance for excessive chest and back pain. Once he arrived, we gave him immediate chest x-rays which vaguely indicated that there was a leaking aneurysm (massive 7 centimeter one, we find out later). Before our eyes, Phil went unconscious as he flat-lined. With the hospital's cardiologist on hand we had to physically go into his chest to first stop the bleeding aneurysm. Talk about an adrenaline rush. Here we are, twenty hospital workers frantically trying to save one man from death. At this moment, the world seemed to slow. His artery was carefully stitched with the aid of the oncall surgeon until we could safely transport him to an operating room. Once in the operating room he was in a long procedure were a synthetic fabric was inserted to replace the artery wall. A M A Z I N G. Phil is safe and sound now in the recovery unit :)

The other cases are not as interesting as this one... I couldn't believe the people in the emergency room. We all did fantastic and Phil lived. My hours at the hospital are going to be cut soon. I'm going to be working in another hospital soon for school, where I will be attending as an intern. I'm excited; you can call me Doctor Baxter!

I'm going to crash now, night!