Jeff's Journal

Where Were You When the Lights Went Out?

It was an interesting day in the clinic. I was in the middle bay and there was a major rustling behind me. You cannot really see behind you when you are tethered to the machine, but from the periphery I could sense some action behind me.

Once the initial commotion calmed a bit, EMS workers bolted through the front door and rushed in. There were some radio blurts and then a stretcher appeared and one of the patients was whisked away. Speculation on the floor was one of the comrades had a stroke.

The stroke event led to reminiscences of when other medical emergencies happened on the ward. There was a tale of how someone had a heart attack. The person telling the story witnessed the staff going into action and said the staff was most impressive at that time. This led to one of the nurses relating a story of another clinic when a patient did something to their needle at the access point and bled to death in four minutes. These stories make you feel warm all over.

Things settled down after the EMS folks departed until the storm came. There are huge windows on one wall of the clinic. We watched a weather transformation this afternoon. The sky went from bright and sunny to dark and gray. Then the sky turned black and the rain started. The rain came down in impressive sheets and filled the street, but the lightening was more spectacular.

It was spectacular until the lights went out. I don’t mind the lights going out, except it usually means the electricity is off. I don’t mind electricity going off except when about a pint or two of my blood is outside my body dependent upon a machine to pump it back in. Yep. The machines stopped. The staff has trained us to manually pump our blood back in our bodies. However, when they trained us, the machines were within reach and the lights were on and you could see what you were doing.

This afternoon you could not see a thing when the lights went out and the tubes and blood pressure cuffs curtailed the ability to reach. I would have been in big trouble if it had been up to me alone. (But, I’m trained.) Fortunately, there were only four of us left in the clinic hooked up to the machines. I have never seen nurses bolt from behind a desk, but we have some quick ones when they have to be! The electricity was off for a little while and once the machines recycled and the staff punched the right sequence on the front panel the blood was flowing again. With all the heparin injected in you I don’t think the blood would have clotted (I mean if I get a paper cut, I get concerned because it just keeps flowing. Not to mention when I nick myself shaving.), but having a machine stop pumping was a first.

I started thinking after the pump got going again. At home when there is lightening and thunder, I usually turn off my computer and other electrical devices. I wondered if it was a wise idea to be attached to a machine during an electrical storm. I was about to voice that question to the charge nurse when all of a sudden we had a repeat. There was a huge clap of thunder, a brilliant blast of light and the electricity went off again.

I guess I am telepathic. This time the charge nurse shouted to the techs to remove every one from the machines and call it a day. I did not get my full time on the machine, but given the weather and the possibilities of the electrical chair, I’m not going to complain.

posted by Jeff Waldo @ 5:46 PM