two transplants and a alcoholic. Not so bad !

What a day, I have two lung transplant patients.

One Lung transplant patient is 20 years old and it’s the patient first time at this hospital, the patient has never been hospitalized for 7 years. Diagnosis, pulmonary hypertension. This patient was admitted to the hospital because of possible infection due to her white blood cells being elevated, febrile and symptomatic. We admitted her and placed a PICC line which is a central line so that high concentrated drugs can be given as oppose to a peripheral line which some drugs can rupture the vein causing it to infiltrate and cause injury to the soft tissue. The patient was so sweet and curious about everything, never been hospitalized for seven years and the dad at the bedside assisting her. I would explain to her everything I was doing and the purpose. You can tell some of her curiosity was based because of fear. Here for antibiotics and in a couple of days after assessing and observing her she than should be able to go home for a course of 10-15 days on antibiotics. A nurse will be hired and follow up with the patient to do PICC line care, and administer her antibiotics at home, these nurses are called home health RN’s.

My second lung transplant patient is 60 years old but loves driving motorcycles. He has three of them. He said that he loves the feeling of driving a bike, the sense of freedom and air is what he looks forward too. Patient was also here because of an infection, was going to be placed on the same regiment as the first transplant patient, antibiotic treatment.

My third patient has pancreatitis, experiencing symptoms of abdominal pain like no other. He says that he use to drink 3 fourty ounce beers, a 5^th of vodka, and 2-3 four locos a day for two years making a joke out of it like if he was cool for doing that. I just stared at him. Now his in this massive pain and blames me because I’m not bringing his pain medications on time when I actually was. But he tries to trick me so I can bring them earlier telling me that I forgotten, tank God for electrical charting. Doctors, pain management, and psych have been involved in his care. It is so hard to treat patients like this because they are admitted into the hospitals all because they are noncompliant and they continue with drinking that precipitates their symtomes. Plus the patient has history of abusing vicodin and possibly other narcotic drugs. But during my whole shift I did not let his personality and aggressiveness take the best of me and was positive and straight forward with the patient. Patient ended up working with me, he was quite, and compliant, but because I stayed strong, kind, assertive, and straight forward, or maybe it was my bald head and muscles that result him to be compliant. Sometimes if you’re not like that patient that have this type of mentality will try to be abusive and aggressive and try to make your shift impossible. But when this occurs just keep in mind this is why we get paid for what we do, this is why we have what we have, etc.