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Nurse Stories, Part Four: Death Never Takes A Holiday (By Louisiana M. Sandusky, R.N.) by Karen Lynn Vidra, The Texas Tornado
Sunday, July 11, 2004
Rated "G" by the Author.
Louisiana Sandusky, the charge nurse at Nashville Memorial Hospital in Nashville, Tennessee, shares some more of her heartwrenching and memorable experiences she has had being a registered nurse.
I wish I could say that during the holidays, pain, suffering, or death do not occur, but of coures, you and I both know that even during the holidays people end up dying, no matter how hard you valiantly try to save their life.
I remember one Christmas in particular, when a little boy who had fallen through a plate glass window died after bleeding out. We tried hard to save the little fellow's life, but he was mortally injured, and no matter what we did, we just could not staunch the uncontrollable blood flow from his broken little body, and he "bled out" all over the bed and the floor. The little boy was only a year-and-a-half old.
I also remember during the Fourth of July last year when a teenaged boy came in after a firework exploded in his hand. He lost several of his fingers, and his hand was destroyed; it didn't look like a human hand, and what was left of it was pretty mangled up. He was in a great amount of pain, and he was scared that he would never be able to use his hand again or would never be able to play baseball, which he loved. It turned out that he did lose his hand; but he has since been fitted with a prosthetic hand, and at last report, he is doing well, and he is now playing baseball again.
Another time, also during Christmas, I was working the pediatric's floor here at the hospital when a "Code Blue" call went out over the loudspeaker. I knew that my daughter, Ronee', was in because she had suffered one of her asthmatic attacks, and she had been rushed to the hospital earlier that day. She had appeared to be doing welll, but not long after she was settled into her room in the PICU, she went into sudden convulsions, and her blood pressure, which was already abnormally high at the time, skyrocketed. It turned out that she had suffered a stroke. It was her eighth bithday, and it was also Christmas Day. Instead of laughing and playing with her new toys with her brothers and sisters, she was now fighting for her very life, and at the time, things did not look at all good for Ronee'. She was in a coma, and she was paralyzed; and there was no telling as to whether she would ever regain the full use of her one side or whether she would ever emerge from her coma.
I have also had people who were doing well, only to have them "crash" and go downhill; and sometimes they ended up dying, even despite our best efforts. One such fellow was a man I will call George, who had survived a successful liver transplant after suffering for years with liver failure; and during his recovery period, he somehow contracted a strain of the rare and deadly "flesh eating" disease (also known as necrotizing fasciitis, or, in medicalese, "NecFac"). No matter what we did for him or how we tried to preserve his life, things kept happening to George, and he ended up dying of overwhelming infection and complications incurred from the bacterial disease itself. I will never forget of how bad he looked, or the wails of his wife when we told her of her husband's death; and I will also never forget the awful, indiscribable odor of his body as the disease ravaged through his system. This happened on Thanksgiving Day two years ago, and I still have nightmares about him and his sufferings.
Still, as another example, on Easter Sunday, my then one-year-old son, Johnny, was admitted to the hospital after he came down with suspected meningococcal symptoms. He was suffering from a very high fever, convulsions, semmed bothered by the lights, and had a fine, red-purply rash all over his little body. He was clearly very sick, and it seemed as the hours passed, he only became sicker, and only a few hours after coming to the hospital, he was at death's door, and the prognosis for Johnny was very poor. Doctors didn't hold out very much hope for Johnny, and they were afraid that he would be permanently damaged somehow if he DID emerge from his coma. I don't know how he did it, but Johnny managed to hold on, and he awoke several months later. However, the damage had already been done: he was blind, and he couldn't hear or talk. He suffered both physical and brain damage as a direct result of the meningitis he had; and his life hasn't been the same since.
Sometimes, it seems as though the holidays bring forth the worst or most heartwrenching cases. I have seen almost entire families wiped out by accidents involving drunken drivers, or by natural disasters such as tornadoes, floods, or blizzards, or the loss of several kids or adults at once due to industrial (or various) other accidents, fires, or whatever, or people dying as a result of neglect, abuse, or the elements (cold, heat, etc.). I have also seen gang violence explode during holidays like Hallowe'en, Christmas, or Thanksgiving, and I wonder why such things have to happen. I also have seen stabbings, shootings, and whatnot occur during holidays, and at times, it is enough to make me want to give up my nursing career because I am exposed to sickness or tragedy day in and day out. Yet, my duty as a nurse calls, and I feel compelled to try to aave the sick and injured, or bring some semblence of comfort to thoes who are dying. This is why I stay at my job because I enjoy helping people, and even if it means having to work holidays to try to help people, then my job is worth more than all the money or gold in the world. If I could save or prolong just one life or give a suffering child or adult a chance at life, then I can at least bring them comfort during their sufferings or pain, and let them know that I am there to help them through this crisis.
Karen, you must do an awful lot of reading. This is so wonderfully written! Your medical knowledge amazes me! Brava for yet another fascinating write! Your photos really enhance the stories too!
A page-turning novel about a relationship between best friends that is interrupted because of betrayal , deceit, sexual promiscuity and pregnancy happens!
A page-turning novel about a relationship between best friends that is interrupted because of betrayal , deceit, sexual promiscuity and pregnancy happens!
I wish I could say that during the holidays, pain, suffering, or death do not occur, but of coures, you and I both know that even during the holidays people end up dying, no matter how hard you valiantly try to save their life.
