I like those at a bachelor party
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus
Posted on 11/06/2006 12:04:18 AM PST by 60Gunner
Last night a "GDFD" (get drunk, fall down) was brought into the Emergency Department by aid car. She arrived, as most drunks do, bellowing obscenities and calling the staff vile names. And this young lady was also a spitter. Nice.
The law allows us to restrain a patient who poses a threat to himself or to staff, and our MD, a particularly excellent one, wasted no time in decreeing that it be made so. Security is always down there, so we summoned them to help us put the leathers and a spit sock on the young lady. We then shifted her over to our bed and unceremoniously strapped her down.
While all this was going on I was getting report from the very beleaguered-looking aid car crew. It seems that the patient was with her friends at a bachelorette party and the patient had a little more than her share of the alcoholic beverages, and when the staff decided that enough was enough about four shots of Jaegermeister ago, they cut her off. Little Miss Adventure got up to voice her dismay and wound up on her backside, having struck her head on the way down and picking up a nasty hematoma on the back of her head for a souvenir. "Thank God she's not bleeding so we don't have to sew her up," I thought.
It is interesting to note that although the young woman was maybe only 5 feet 3 inches tall and weighed perhaps a buck-five soaking wet, she fought like a wildcat in a burlap sack with a snake in it. Some people hold their liquor; with others, their liquor holds them. This lady was simply awash in the Nyquil-like stench of Jaeger.
The staff got Little Miss Adventure settled in (read: strapped down), and I obtained IV access (in this case with a big ol' 18-gauge in her antecubital fossa- that's the inner elbow for you laypersons) and drew blood for lab assays.
Oh, yeah. Little Miss Adventure was also a biter.
Now, we needed to get a urine toxicology screen as well. Since I am male, and this woman was in her twenties, obviously I was not the one to go in and do it. But I did inform her that yes, Nurse So-and-So was about to put a catheter down there.
"The ---- she is!" declared Little Miss Adventure.
Three minutes later, Nurse So-and-So walked out with a sample of urine, which she held up for me with a flourish, and I began charting.
Suddenly, someone behind me says, "230."
Then I hear, "Naw. She's tiny. 180."
Suddenly, numbers are being called out around the Nurse's desk as if it was the set of The Price is Right.
A brief explanation is called for here. Any time we get a GDFD into the Emergency Department, an informal bet about the blood alcohol content (BAC) immediately forms. It usually starts by someone saying, "249" (or 0.249). So without fail, within thirty seconds the entire front staff of the ED has a number except for me. After some prodding and some quiet consideration, I call out, "310."
"Get out!" says Nurse So-and-So. "She's maybe a hundred pounds soaking wet."
"No," says I, "I will bet you a pizza it's at least 300."
"Okay, Boy Wonder. What makes you so sure?"
"I think she's got a tolerance, that's what. Anyway, 310 is my number and I'm sticking with it."
"Have it your way," says Nurse So-and-So with a dismissive wave.
So all the while, Little Miss Adventure is screaming, kicking, spitting, and offering her pointed and graphic opinions about the lineage and sexual orientation of every staff member she who dared enter her room, even the poor little housekeeper who came in to change the linen bag. (It's a good thing she doesn't habla the Ingles, or at least much. Still, the darling woman came out of the room shaking her head and muttered, "stupid drunk b----."
About a half hour later, the labs came back. Yes, I was wrong. But we were all shocked. Her BAC was 0.418. What that means is that this little firecracker had herself a helluva tolerance for booze. I've seen worse, but not in a little chicky boom-boom as small as Little Miss Adventure. Her tox screen also showed THC. That's the groovy stuff found in marijuana.
Also around this time, a couple of the patient's girlfriends filtered sheepishly into the ED. They all seemed genuinely concerned, a little anxious, and shockingly underdressed for the weather. I averted my eyes, causing Nurse So-and-So to snort. At last, one of them pipes up in a nasal, whiny tone that would have been stereotypically applied to a stripper, "Can we see [the patient]?"
"And you are...?" I asked, looking over my computer screen.
"We're her friends. And we work with her. She was at my bachelorette party," says she.
"I'll tell her you're here. What's your name?"
"It's Nikki. With an I." she says, spelling her name and holding out her hand.
"Charmed," I answer, shaking her hand and stiflng the urge to guffaw. I went into Miss Adventure's room and told her she had some friends here, and asked if she would like to have them in- one at a time.
"Oh, pleeeeeeeeze?" She whined.
"Sure." I exit, motion to Nikki-with-an-I, and tell her to go in alone, to speak quietly, and that she has only five minutes.
Well, of course, the moment Nikki-with-an-I enters the room, the Boo-Hoo Fest begins. Miss Adventure escalates, Nikki-with-an-I feeds the fire, and pretty soon they're both bawling and screeching. I removed Nikki-with-an-I. Miss Adventure called me more names. Nikki-with-an-I looked a little shaken.
"Wow, she's really plowed, huh?" says Nikki-with-an-I.
"Like Farmer Brown's back forty," says Nurse So-and-So from behind me.
"How long will she be like this?"
"I dunno. Depends on her. It'll be awhile. Can't really tell you much more than that."
Well, do you think she will be able to work Monday?"
"Well, I don't know. What does she do?"
"Oh, we're both kindergarten teachers."
I have never heard the entire staff of my Emergency Department fall completely silent before. It was as if the breath had been sucked out of our lungs. But Nurse So-and-So, of course, recovered first:
"Thank God I homeschooled."
ER nurses ROCK! I used to work the ED...I still miss it but not the accompanying aggravation. I must admit a special enjoyment when dispo'ing drunks to the cops for their various charges etc. That is, once their C-spine was cleared and their boo-boos were stitched up. Most of the time they were driving, of course.
It was great fun when the cops would prod them into fighting, and naturally..."assault on a police officer" was added to the charge of DUI and whatever else. What sucks is that here in FL...some of these charges are reduced, depending on circumstances (libnut judges etc) so if they can at least get a good solid DUI they have to pay a heavy fine if not spend a day or two in the slammer. After years of seeing endless needless deaths and mutilations secondary to drunk driving incidents, I have absolutely zero sympathy for these folks. (Did you hear that, Mel Gibson?)
I didn't mind the regular GDFD folks, as you call them. They were often great entertainment and most tended to be happy drunks who were usually cooperative. Congrats on the BAC...that is pretty darned high. Did you win the pizza?
The cops are as sick of these situations as we are. Oh...ain't it nice to be passive/aggressive? LOL
Self-ping for the morning.
Ah, reminds me of when I worked nights doing patient registration in ED ... seeing obnoxious or abusive drunks, sometimes the same ones week after week, trying to get some information from them while ignoring the stench and occasionally getting called an a------ for my trouble. I have a lot of sympathy for the overworked ED clinical staff who have to deal with that crap night in and night out on top of everything else.
Would she been able to tolerate that much booze if she hadn't had THC in her system? That is the only conclusion how a girl that small was able to (barely) hold that much liquor.
Thank you for your encouraging words.
Regularly being in a classroom with 20+ little kindergarteners is probably as good a reason to get smashed as any. Except perhaps a classroom full of third-graders.
Sounds like what you got was a "fem line" (no offense). That is, an IV line into the femoral vein. And yeah, from what I hear, they hurt like a son of a gun. You have to be pretty dang sick to buy yourself one of those. I'm glad you're still around to talk about it!
Great post.
I use to work in a law firm .. one of the attorney's that worked for us handle the county bail bonds for those trying to get out of jail
One time, right before Christmas we had a nice sweet little old mother who showed up trying to get her son out on 10% bail
In between her telling us he was really a good boy .. We tried to explain to her that he was denied bail because of the multiple murder charges against him
Her response was ... He's really not going to be happy about this news
I kind of lose sympathy for her at that point
Thanks! Yep, I was pretty banged-up and going in and out of consciousness when I got to the ER. That woke me up, though!
Yes, I got the pizza (meat-lover's with extra cheese- I'm a horrible example). But I shared it with Nurse So-and-So, who happens to be one of my dearest friends and is a sh*t-hot RN who has taken care of my kids once or twice. We and our spousal units go out and throw darts frequently. She usually kicks my butt.
I like those at a bachelor party
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus
Heckuva thread. You're a great writer!
I am glad.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus
Nifty post, Gunner, and very well-written indeed.
Many years ago, I worked as a security guard at a local ER, a public hospital no less.
I could write a book about it but nobody would believe it.
I haven't seen any studies linking tolerance of ETOH (alcohol) with THC, so I can't really say one way or the other. But when you consider the fact that you or I would be dead with a BAC over 0.4, it stands to reason that this pretty young thing had either been hitting the booze for a long, long time or she picked the wrong university at which to study. We have a university in my area that is notorious for being a "party school." This is the product.
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