You Have a Certain Glow About You

That title may have been in poor taste. I'll let you decide.

I think I've written about this before in a blog on a planet far away. Oops, let me get back to reality here. It was not on a planet far away but the sentence started out with and ended on it's own. I'll rein it in and get back to what I really wanted to type.

The blog post that I'm not sure I did anyway, so I'll do now.

I was working the floor at a hospital here in town. Midnight shift and all was quiet. The phone rings and a call comes from ER. They are admitting a patient to the floor. I'm working Oncology so immediately we know it's a cancer patient or someone with a hematological disorder. A short report was received on orders on board, patient's condition and history.

 Quickly an admit packet was gathered up and we waited. Within minutes the elevator door opened and the patient was wheeled in and taken to his assigned room.

I walked into his room and greeted him. He was blind and months later he spoke about this night. I introduced myself and proceeded to do a head to toe assessment. A stat order was placed for platelets. A 20 gauge catheter was inserted, normal saline hung at KVO (keep vein open) and we waited for the platelets to arrive. He was blind because his platelets were at a critical level and he had bled out in the eyes. This man was critical in general. He could start bleeding out in other places so he was watched closely. Strict bed rest was ordered. No chances taken that this man might fall while going to the bathroom or OOB (out of bed) for any reason.

This man was a missionary and had went to Russia on a mission. He had been in the area where Chernobyl had melted down years and years before. This area was considered "safe" but apparently wasn't. The radiation in the area had wiped out his bone marrow;  blood cell producing area. His platelets had dropped and before putting him on a plane out of Russia, he was warned that he might not survive the trip back to the USA with the critically low level of platelets in his body.

Months passed and eventually his sight returned. During those months he was at the hospital often for effects of the radiation.

He spoke to me about that first night at the hospital and how frightening it was for him with the blindness. He waited for months to be able to see. During his first night at the hospital and for weeks afterward, all he had was our  voices and he knew I was with him most of that first  night. He wanted to see the voice that stayed with him. His care was non stop after he was admitted that night. A cooling blanket was kept on him for the high temperatures he was spiking and would continue to spike for months afterwards.

 Platelets were run, blood tests collected and various other procedures were started on him. It was a busy night for us on that unit.

This brings me to the nuclear power plant in Japan that is now belching toxins into the air. I think I heard the news agency reporting 6 power plants there and three of them are unstable. They are trying to pump sea water into the one to try to cool the rods.

 This worries me more then the water that flooded through the area. Along with that devastation, these power plants are going to be more of a concern to the well being of all the Japanese and for years and years to come. I'm frightened for them. I've seen what radiation poisoning can do. 

We administered to that missionary for months and months and still lost him.

Radiation poisoning is not light matter. The reason for this posting is the Japan disaster happening now.Yesterday morning when I first started watching what was going on, the reports mentioned the nuclear reactor there and the possibility that there was a slight leak. Soon it was discounted. I watched for further news on this. I was immediately more concerned about this power plant then all the water rushing in and the destruction it was causing. The nuclear power plant and what could happen sent chills through me.
A day later and the news is now full of reports on that plant and how one of the reactors  is causing concern. Cooling it down has been a challenge and now reports of leaks have increased. I continue to watch the news when I can.

 When Carrie is here, I get to watch a lot of Dora, The Explorer. She cares nothing for the news. She's not much on listening to me discuss current events with her, but I do anyway. Maybe if I start now, she will be more in tune with world affairs. I live in fear of raising a "Sarah Palin". I think Carrie is more in touch at her age then the former running mate of McCain. I won't even mention that Bachman twit. Another embarrassment for the members of other nations to mock us about.

I'm done!