These are just too good to not share with you. So here's one more.
Her Morning Elegance by Oren Lavie
"In this stop motion video, a young woman is seen literally walking through her dreams, all from her bed."
There will be more to come, I'm sure.
Right now I'm busy cramming for my PHTLS exam and scenario tomorrow... wish me luck. I always need it.
-AM
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Moving Pictures!
Since it seems like you can't watch them anywhere else these days, here's another interesting music video (full-screen button is right beside the "vimeo" logo, hit it):
Skeleton Boy by Friendly Fires
"The three piece band plays and dances around in a small room dressed all in black as small white styrofoam balls are blown around. A skeleton is outlined on each of their outfits with double sided tape and as the song progresses, more and more styrofoam sticks to the tape, creating the outline of a skeleton."
Brilliant.
-AM
Skeleton Boy by Friendly Fires
"The three piece band plays and dances around in a small room dressed all in black as small white styrofoam balls are blown around. A skeleton is outlined on each of their outfits with double sided tape and as the song progresses, more and more styrofoam sticks to the tape, creating the outline of a skeleton."
Brilliant.
-AM
Monday, April 27, 2009
Part Two - The ER (Bad Luck).
(Survived the trip to Montreal and back, by the way. Although some people out there still need to learn the art of "driving to arrive".)
Now before we start, I want to remind you to read my little "disclaimer" beside my photo there on the top right. Although the events here are more or less unchanged, I took some liberties with the identifying details. I'm a little paranoid, but in this business, I believe that's an advantage.
So, I want to tell you about the night I spent helping out in the ER, which just so happened to be the night of Last Class Bash. The night that students from both Universities in this relatively small town are celebrating the end of their classes. Drinking, obviously. Every single person we met after about 10 pm had been drinking. I'm not exaggerating either, I mean everyone.
Although they had all been drinking, some were not to blame for whatever put them in the hospital that night. Some certainly were. (This is really the night that inspired my previous written post). Drunk patients with their drunk friends. With various injuries: serious, minor, or imagined. Self-inflicted or otherwise, we saw it all that night. And although alcohol was always a factor somehow, and some patients may very well have deserved what they got, some were just plain unlucky. It seemed to become a theme for the night.
My first indication of this was a young man who was walking across a fast food parking lot, minding his own business, and was hit by a speeding car. It was a hit and run. Apparently the patient was also seizing on scene. He did have some pre-existing neurological problems. When he was brought in, he seemed to be alert, although quite anxious. The nurse began with the quick, basic neuro exam which consists of asking the patient their name, date, where they are, and what happened to them. He passed the first question just fine, "My name is Joey", (not the real name, of course). The nurse asked, "Do you know the date?". Reply, "My name is Joey... my name is Joey". Okay... yes, we've established that, but can you tell me what happened to you? "I don't know... my name is Joey, my name is Joey...". Obviously a fractured leg was no longer the main concern.
While I was with this patient, I overheard a radio patch to another ambulance. Two unresponsive patients at a motor vehicle accident. I knew we'd be getting no sleep tonight. They wheeled them in. These guys were in rough shape. All cuts and bruises and road rash. Fading in and out of consciousness. I learned that they had both been drinking. One was the driver, the other his passenger. They had gone off the road, single vehicle accident, and rolled the car into a field. Only the passenger was well enough to leave the car and return to the road to flag down help. In keeping with our theme, as he walked to the side of the road he was struck by another car. Another hit and run. The next driver to pass by called 911.
Shortly after that, another unfortunate young man came through the doors. The story here was that he had stepped in front of a car and had broken his femur. Now this is not just another broken bone, femur fractures are taken very seriously. The reason is that your femoral artery travels just parallel to the bone down your leg. When there is a complete fracture there is also the danger that the broken bone could sever the artery, causing you to bleed out.
He had obviously not touched the artery, so first on the to-do list was to stabilize the broken femur. The doctor and nurses fiddled with the traction splint while I stood back. (I began to explain how to use it, because we had many times in class, but I'm "just a student", so they didn't pay me much attention. Others were more receptive, but I knew when to just back off). The patient had been sedated for the splinting, and if you've ever had a bone re-set, you'll know why. Something that was interesting to see was how much the leg had been shortened. He had suffered a complete fracture, so the muscles and tendons in the leg pulled the bones together, looking something like this. Leaving his left leg about 3 inches shorter that his right. The doctor stretched his leg down to even the length, and I grabbed a hold of his thigh to hold the fracture steady. I'll tell you, I have never felt anything quite like it. There was nothing holding his thigh together, the flesh and muscle were like jelly in my hands. Sorry, that was gross. I still have to get used to telling these stories.
The splint was applied. Unfortunately, during the procedure, the effect of the sedation had been amplified by the amount of alcohol in his system. Just as I let go of his leg, he stopped breathing. The respiratory therapist began to ventilate him with the bag valve mask (BVM). I pitched in and took over. He was fine, but he was so heavily sedated that his body could not breathe for itself. Another first for me. The responsibility of knowing that if you don't squeeze air into this man's lungs, he will die. Obviously there were lots of people around to keep an eye on him, but still, it's a feeling that will control you. And when I would test his body's respiratory effort, by removing the mask to see if he could breathe on his own, and nothing would happen, I'd realize just how much we depend on others to keep us alive when we are unconscious and have no idea what's happening. That drove home the fact that I can't be getting into this job for the recognition.
I was with him, squeezing the BVM and holding his jaw up to keep his tongue out of his throat, for about 40 minutes before he recovered. All of this, and all the while I am thinking, "Why did he step in front of that car? Suicide attempt, just drunk and being stupid?". I put it down to alcohol and that he had probably made some sort of terribly stupid decision. When he awoke, he told his parents the story, who then passed it onto me. I learned to always wait for the first person account. Apparently he had just left his building, and as he walked past, saw several others beating up a younger man beside the building. He went over to see what was happening, and tried to pull off one of the attackers. All he wanted to do was help. They immediately turned their attention to him, and began to chase him. He ran, and as he ran he came to a snowbank. He ran over the bank, and landed in the road, and was immediately struck by the car.
Bad luck.
-AM
the only living boy in New York
Now before we start, I want to remind you to read my little "disclaimer" beside my photo there on the top right. Although the events here are more or less unchanged, I took some liberties with the identifying details. I'm a little paranoid, but in this business, I believe that's an advantage.
So, I want to tell you about the night I spent helping out in the ER, which just so happened to be the night of Last Class Bash. The night that students from both Universities in this relatively small town are celebrating the end of their classes. Drinking, obviously. Every single person we met after about 10 pm had been drinking. I'm not exaggerating either, I mean everyone.
Although they had all been drinking, some were not to blame for whatever put them in the hospital that night. Some certainly were. (This is really the night that inspired my previous written post). Drunk patients with their drunk friends. With various injuries: serious, minor, or imagined. Self-inflicted or otherwise, we saw it all that night. And although alcohol was always a factor somehow, and some patients may very well have deserved what they got, some were just plain unlucky. It seemed to become a theme for the night.
My first indication of this was a young man who was walking across a fast food parking lot, minding his own business, and was hit by a speeding car. It was a hit and run. Apparently the patient was also seizing on scene. He did have some pre-existing neurological problems. When he was brought in, he seemed to be alert, although quite anxious. The nurse began with the quick, basic neuro exam which consists of asking the patient their name, date, where they are, and what happened to them. He passed the first question just fine, "My name is Joey", (not the real name, of course). The nurse asked, "Do you know the date?". Reply, "My name is Joey... my name is Joey". Okay... yes, we've established that, but can you tell me what happened to you? "I don't know... my name is Joey, my name is Joey...". Obviously a fractured leg was no longer the main concern.
While I was with this patient, I overheard a radio patch to another ambulance. Two unresponsive patients at a motor vehicle accident. I knew we'd be getting no sleep tonight. They wheeled them in. These guys were in rough shape. All cuts and bruises and road rash. Fading in and out of consciousness. I learned that they had both been drinking. One was the driver, the other his passenger. They had gone off the road, single vehicle accident, and rolled the car into a field. Only the passenger was well enough to leave the car and return to the road to flag down help. In keeping with our theme, as he walked to the side of the road he was struck by another car. Another hit and run. The next driver to pass by called 911.
Shortly after that, another unfortunate young man came through the doors. The story here was that he had stepped in front of a car and had broken his femur. Now this is not just another broken bone, femur fractures are taken very seriously. The reason is that your femoral artery travels just parallel to the bone down your leg. When there is a complete fracture there is also the danger that the broken bone could sever the artery, causing you to bleed out.
He had obviously not touched the artery, so first on the to-do list was to stabilize the broken femur. The doctor and nurses fiddled with the traction splint while I stood back. (I began to explain how to use it, because we had many times in class, but I'm "just a student", so they didn't pay me much attention. Others were more receptive, but I knew when to just back off). The patient had been sedated for the splinting, and if you've ever had a bone re-set, you'll know why. Something that was interesting to see was how much the leg had been shortened. He had suffered a complete fracture, so the muscles and tendons in the leg pulled the bones together, looking something like this. Leaving his left leg about 3 inches shorter that his right. The doctor stretched his leg down to even the length, and I grabbed a hold of his thigh to hold the fracture steady. I'll tell you, I have never felt anything quite like it. There was nothing holding his thigh together, the flesh and muscle were like jelly in my hands. Sorry, that was gross. I still have to get used to telling these stories.
The splint was applied. Unfortunately, during the procedure, the effect of the sedation had been amplified by the amount of alcohol in his system. Just as I let go of his leg, he stopped breathing. The respiratory therapist began to ventilate him with the bag valve mask (BVM). I pitched in and took over. He was fine, but he was so heavily sedated that his body could not breathe for itself. Another first for me. The responsibility of knowing that if you don't squeeze air into this man's lungs, he will die. Obviously there were lots of people around to keep an eye on him, but still, it's a feeling that will control you. And when I would test his body's respiratory effort, by removing the mask to see if he could breathe on his own, and nothing would happen, I'd realize just how much we depend on others to keep us alive when we are unconscious and have no idea what's happening. That drove home the fact that I can't be getting into this job for the recognition.
I was with him, squeezing the BVM and holding his jaw up to keep his tongue out of his throat, for about 40 minutes before he recovered. All of this, and all the while I am thinking, "Why did he step in front of that car? Suicide attempt, just drunk and being stupid?". I put it down to alcohol and that he had probably made some sort of terribly stupid decision. When he awoke, he told his parents the story, who then passed it onto me. I learned to always wait for the first person account. Apparently he had just left his building, and as he walked past, saw several others beating up a younger man beside the building. He went over to see what was happening, and tried to pull off one of the attackers. All he wanted to do was help. They immediately turned their attention to him, and began to chase him. He ran, and as he ran he came to a snowbank. He ran over the bank, and landed in the road, and was immediately struck by the car.
Bad luck.
-AM
the only living boy in New York
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Help!
Some people wonder how we can show sympathy for certain patients who may have caused their own problems. The ones that have "brought it on themselves".
I often wondered this same thing, and I was worried that I might not be able to treat all patients the same way. Sometimes it is hard, I won't lie. I met a patient who was hooked up to every machine imaginable. Tubes down his throat, several IV lines in each arm, machines basically doing all of the work. It was hard to watch him lay there struggling to live. I wondered how someone could end up this way, and how unfair it seemed. The nurse told me that he had smoked at least a pack of cigarettes a day for almost 40 years. I stopped wondering, and any questions of fairness vanished. It was hard not to keep that in mind as we were with him, but we didn't change the way we treated him.
I'm no longer worried about how I'll treat patients. I've proven to myself that I can look past their downfalls. It could be because I'm new to this, and I get too nervous to think about anything other than what I'm supposed to be doing, but I have a feeling that I won't change. I'll make a conscious effort not to. It's not our job to treat based on lifestyle preferences, no matter how much they have been to blame for someone's current condition. That night, especially, I learned that when I'm standing next to a patient on a hospital bed, the only thing on my mind is that I want to help.
-AM
i need somebody, not just anybody
I often wondered this same thing, and I was worried that I might not be able to treat all patients the same way. Sometimes it is hard, I won't lie. I met a patient who was hooked up to every machine imaginable. Tubes down his throat, several IV lines in each arm, machines basically doing all of the work. It was hard to watch him lay there struggling to live. I wondered how someone could end up this way, and how unfair it seemed. The nurse told me that he had smoked at least a pack of cigarettes a day for almost 40 years. I stopped wondering, and any questions of fairness vanished. It was hard not to keep that in mind as we were with him, but we didn't change the way we treated him.
I'm no longer worried about how I'll treat patients. I've proven to myself that I can look past their downfalls. It could be because I'm new to this, and I get too nervous to think about anything other than what I'm supposed to be doing, but I have a feeling that I won't change. I'll make a conscious effort not to. It's not our job to treat based on lifestyle preferences, no matter how much they have been to blame for someone's current condition. That night, especially, I learned that when I'm standing next to a patient on a hospital bed, the only thing on my mind is that I want to help.
-AM
i need somebody, not just anybody
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Food Fight.
This is an odd little animation that recreates conflicts from WWII up to present day warfare... with food. The food of each country involved. Strange, yes, but strangely entertaining. Or maybe it's just me. (The pile of pasta looking stuff is beef stroganoff, by the way. Russian.)
Hope this does you over until I finish writing up the next little updates. In the meantime I'm also trying to squeeze in some practice and studying for school. Never a dull moment anymore.
-AM
Hope this does you over until I finish writing up the next little updates. In the meantime I'm also trying to squeeze in some practice and studying for school. Never a dull moment anymore.
-AM
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Road Trip.
Well, it looks like I'll be heading to Montreal in several hours. Just until Sunday, though. I'll try my best to get lost and wind up up with something interesting to tell you. Trying to get lost is so much fun. Just keep turning corners you've never turned before. You never know what you'll find.
If that fails I'll still have hospital stories to tell when I get back.
Have a great weekend, everyone.
-AM
le tir... et le but!
If that fails I'll still have hospital stories to tell when I get back.
Have a great weekend, everyone.
-AM
le tir... et le but!
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Part One - Reality Check
Oh, hi! I didn't see you there. Have you been waiting long? Just thought I'd stop in to blow the dust off this thing and drop you a few updates.
So, here I am with a few days "off". Fresh off of my last shift at the hospital for the Clinical phase of my course. It's been a great month: No exams looming in the near future, no scenarios to worry about. Just spending time at the hospital practicing skills and observing procedures (on real people, for once!). We spent at least one day in as many different units as we could, finishing up with four days in the ER. Some units were unbearably slow, some were too busy for me to even remember all of the things I'd seen. But for you, I will try.
I'd like to share with you some of the more interesting sights and lessons. I was originally going to squeeze it all in right now, but I think I'll break it up over several posts. I'm just too long-winded. If I wrote it all out now the sheer length of it would discourage anyone from reading. Just let me know if I wander too much. I'd hate to bore you. So! Let's see...
The Psych Ward:
I'm not sure what I was expecting to see here, but I was quite surprised. These weren't the kind of people that are in Hollywood's Psych wards. The people who think they are birds, or Abe Lincoln, or from the future. There was, however, one interesting case of a young man who was a hockey referee, but at any given time believed he was actually refereeing a game. Any time the Doctor would ask him to do something, the patient demanded to see the NHL rulebook. One time, after arguing in his room for several minutes, the Doctor came back to see us. We asked him how it went and he said, "Well, he gave me a ten minute misconduct."
Back to my point. The patients I met were there for a reason, obviously, but very few of them showed it. Several of them were among the most "normal" people that I met in the Hospital. Many of them had checked themselves in because they knew they needed help, they wanted help, and won't leave until they feel they are well again. For me, it was a great reality check. I have a lot of respect for those patients.
That was my first day in the hospital, and my only day in Psych. So I didn't see much of them for the rest of the month. I saw the occasional patient around the hospital, some looking much better than when I saw them in the ward, some not. One young guy had looked and sounded particularly down and out while wandering the halls. I had spoken to him, and noticed his smiles were few and far between. I spotted him on the sidewalk outside the hospital as we were driving in for our last shift, just the other day. Across the street from him were two girls out for a run in shorts and t-shirts. I glanced back to see him wearing one of the biggest smiles I have ever seen as they smiled back and ran by, followed by his gaze. We had a good laugh at that, but his face showed the look of someone who was just happy to be alive.
We all live for something, I guess. I'd say he's feeling better.
-AM
empty as a pocket
So, here I am with a few days "off". Fresh off of my last shift at the hospital for the Clinical phase of my course. It's been a great month: No exams looming in the near future, no scenarios to worry about. Just spending time at the hospital practicing skills and observing procedures (on real people, for once!). We spent at least one day in as many different units as we could, finishing up with four days in the ER. Some units were unbearably slow, some were too busy for me to even remember all of the things I'd seen. But for you, I will try.
I'd like to share with you some of the more interesting sights and lessons. I was originally going to squeeze it all in right now, but I think I'll break it up over several posts. I'm just too long-winded. If I wrote it all out now the sheer length of it would discourage anyone from reading. Just let me know if I wander too much. I'd hate to bore you. So! Let's see...
The Psych Ward:
I'm not sure what I was expecting to see here, but I was quite surprised. These weren't the kind of people that are in Hollywood's Psych wards. The people who think they are birds, or Abe Lincoln, or from the future. There was, however, one interesting case of a young man who was a hockey referee, but at any given time believed he was actually refereeing a game. Any time the Doctor would ask him to do something, the patient demanded to see the NHL rulebook. One time, after arguing in his room for several minutes, the Doctor came back to see us. We asked him how it went and he said, "Well, he gave me a ten minute misconduct."
Back to my point. The patients I met were there for a reason, obviously, but very few of them showed it. Several of them were among the most "normal" people that I met in the Hospital. Many of them had checked themselves in because they knew they needed help, they wanted help, and won't leave until they feel they are well again. For me, it was a great reality check. I have a lot of respect for those patients.
That was my first day in the hospital, and my only day in Psych. So I didn't see much of them for the rest of the month. I saw the occasional patient around the hospital, some looking much better than when I saw them in the ward, some not. One young guy had looked and sounded particularly down and out while wandering the halls. I had spoken to him, and noticed his smiles were few and far between. I spotted him on the sidewalk outside the hospital as we were driving in for our last shift, just the other day. Across the street from him were two girls out for a run in shorts and t-shirts. I glanced back to see him wearing one of the biggest smiles I have ever seen as they smiled back and ran by, followed by his gaze. We had a good laugh at that, but his face showed the look of someone who was just happy to be alive.
We all live for something, I guess. I'd say he's feeling better.
-AM
empty as a pocket
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