About yesterday’s post. It’s been a trying week. At work in the ED, I had a guy with a serious heart attack (STEMI alert), some COVID patients, and more. The one that took the cake was the woman who was a mother of 3 kids. She was in the middle of a miscarriage and was bleeding to death. Her pulse was 120, her blood pressure was 72/42 and a MAP of 52. Her ER bad looked like a movie murder scene. Watching her fight to save her own life as well as the life of her unborn child, while at the same time watching other people literally fight to kill others. It made for a tough day at work. Emotionally draining.
On top of that, I am trying to complete my CEN certification while at the same time completing my BSN, all while working PRN in the emergency department. This will mean completing my 6th college degree. Lots going on that was physically tiring. Oh, did I mention that I am on the HOA board, my wife is dealing with some (minor) health issues, and I also had to do some minor repairs on the rental?
There are times when the cup is empty, when you are simply out of the energy that you need to do all of the things, and yesterday was one of them.
Today will be better, once I am done with today’s scheduled 3 hour class. I expect to be back to my usual opinionated self this afternoon. Thanks for listening to my venting.
12 Comments
Michael · May 12, 2022 at 6:32 am
Down time friend, Down Time.
Hug your family, play with the dog, enjoy that wonderful shade of spring green.
We will still be here awaiting your thoughts.
Terry Hansen · May 12, 2022 at 8:19 am
Hang in there. Your thoughts are worth my time.
Some Name · May 12, 2022 at 8:34 am
You rock, and for sure you don’t speak B.S. Thank you for your blog.
It's just Boris · May 12, 2022 at 9:40 am
For what it’s worth, it’s pretty evident you make a difference in people’s lives, in a good way, both in the real world and online.
Burning out helps no one. Please take the time you need.
roadgeek · May 12, 2022 at 9:46 am
The mom with the miscarriage. Did she pull through? And her baby?
Divemedic · May 12, 2022 at 12:15 pm
Mom yes, baby no. Mom wound up getting a d&c
Yep · May 12, 2022 at 11:03 am
People don’t understand the stress of emergency medicine. You go from a snotty-nosed kid to working a trauma code on a young kid involved in auto-anything (pedestrian, collision, etc) to your above situation and back to someone who just wants a pregnancy test – in an ED, really?? MUCH cheaper at CVS, but admin demands that we see everyone with a smile.
Ain’t happening- 40+ years in emergency medicine, I’m basically done.
Big Ruckus D · May 12, 2022 at 11:03 am
Damn, that’s a rough go. I hope the mom made it, although I’m guessing the baby didn’t since you referred to the situation as a miscarriage. I did a 20 year stretch as president of an condo HOA. Generally uneventful during my tenure save for massive needed capital expenditures, but I was burned out badly by year 19, and after 20 told everyone somebody else had to step up and take it on. No one since has comitted the level of attention and care to it, and have had people practically begging me to get back on it.
Being self employed, and working 60+ hour weeks routinely anymore (and even turning plenty of work down these days) I have limited usable time left where in not flat out beat and lacking motivation to do anything.
Point being, I get it. And you are breaking off and trying to chaw way more than I ever did, so take care of yourself and don’t run it off the cliff trying to keep up an unsustainable pace.
Don Curton · May 12, 2022 at 2:07 pm
Grab a drink and sit down, relax. Watch some stupid mindless TV. Play a few games on your phone or just catch some shut-eye. Everyone has high stress days. Comes from being human. Although from the description, sounds like your high stress beats my high stress by a lot. We all understand, though.
Skyler the Weird · May 12, 2022 at 2:23 pm
I read “Blood, Sweat, and Tea: Real-Life Adventures in an Inner-City Ambulance” by Tom Reynolds an EMT with the London Ambulance services talking about his work.
“Dear Mr. Alcoholic: Would you mind awfully not swearing at me, taking a swing at me, or exposing yourself to me? I have quite enough abuse from the nondrunks out there”
EMT’s have to put up with a lot for little thanks.
Thanks for all you do Dive Medic.
D · May 12, 2022 at 3:49 pm
Hang in there. Take some time to decompress.
AC47spooky · May 13, 2022 at 4:15 pm
I can’t imagine doing your job. I thank the Almighty God of the universe for people like you. His ways are inscrutable … but when He provides for us through your work – it makes sense to me.
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