the ER goes black
I was having a hard day...
a restless night I had had and I was working under 4 hours of sleep
i was sick, with a sore throat
i was hungry without much food for the day except for a cup of coffee for breakfast if that counts and a egg mcmuffin i got during class break
and most importantly, i was severely dehydrated from all that coffee
well i was helping the doctor put in an IV into a sickle cell patient's jugular vein (that's in the neck) and it was a fat needle
i was totally cool with it, keeping my calm and trying to keep the young pateint calm when suddenly i started getting light headed. i shook up a little and tried to concentrate when i started to feel like i was about to lose it. suddenly i said "i'm sorry doctor campbell but i have to leave" and just as i was walking out everything started blacking out. apparently, the nurse saw me passing out and grabbed me before i hit the floor. next thing i know i'm in a wheelchair and someone's yelling "keep your head down and keep taking shallow breaths, you're vagovasal"
slowly, my vision comes back and next thing i know i'm handed crackers with some juice
i recovered and in ten minutes went back to work but man, that was scary.
i still don't think it was the blood but rather the stress of it mixed with dehydration and my cold although jack disagrees (there i used your name on the blog, let's see if you catch it).