Crazy Tuesday!

I've had two good days of class -- at class on time (or no more than 5 minutes late), awake through all of my classes, and I even put on a little bit of makeup both days! Due to a class rescheduling issue, we were done with class at noon today and don't have any class tomorrow -- it's like a weekend in the middle of the week!

This afternoon I worked a Kosair ER shift (the children's hospital in town). I'm a research assistant for an RSV study -- I listen to babies' lungs and rate their respiratory signs on a scale. Anyway, it was pretty boring, not too many patients -- although one bona fide RSV+ 6-month-old did come in, so I had to completely suit up in protective gear to evaluate him -- and I was getting some good studying in in one of the break rooms, and then one of the nurses came back and announced there was a full arrest. I wandered out to the ER to see, and I saw an understandably hysterical mother. Over the next hour, I got updates from the nurses: it was a 2-year-old boy who was being watched by his mother's boyfriend. The boyfriend called the mom at work and said she had to come home because the kid wasn't breathing (hello? maybe call 911 first?). So she came home and then called 911, and then there weren't any paramedics, only EMTs, so they only did chest compressions on the way in, which took 10 minutes, so who knows how long the kid was out. And when he arrived, his body temp was only 88 degrees -- so he was probably out for a long time (and no, he didn't fall into the river or anything). They got his heart beating again, but his catheter passed gross blood, so that indicated kidney damage -- probably trauma (but no visible bruises on his body). After he was stabilized, they sent him to CT and started thinking it was abuse by the boyfriend. I don't know what the CT showed exactly, but he had a bleed, and then the mother got really upset (but eerily, calmly upset, not hysterical), and... the boyfriend disappeared! He had asked where the bathroom was and didn't come back! The whole ER swarmed with security, and then police, and the place went on lock-down. At the same time, all the family was being held in the back part of the ER, where I HAD been studying, and they were all screaming bloody murder (Mom: "You're telling me there's something wrong with my baby's brain, and the only person with him today was my boyfriend. Now I'm normally a Christian woman, but today I'm not. I'm going to kill him. Where is he? I'm going to kill him."), so I was not back there anymore. It was very tense and finally the little boy went up to the PICU and the family followed, with many counselors and social workers and CPS in tow. Whew. The boyfriend? He indeed had gone to the bathroom, and locked himself in. He was being guarded quietly by the cops, and when the family went upstairs, they took him away. Silver lining, I suppose. Things don't look good for the kid, I think they were going to get him warmed back up and then pull the plugs :(

Tomorrow I'm going to be very productive even though I don't have class. A full day of studying downtown, interrupted for an hour by lunch with an interviewee from Maryland (yay, homestaters!) and paying my speeding ticket. Wish me luck.

Oh yes, and I've signed up to participate in the Louisville Polar Bear Plunge to support Special Olympics of Kentucky. That's right, I'm going to jump into the Ohio River in February -- wearing a crazy costume! Any ideas? -- will you support me? Go to https://louisvilleplunge.kintera.org/2006/ulsom2009 and click on my name to donate. I need to raise $100 -- please help!!