"p" fruits make you poop.

something i learned today during didactics. (see: fancy word for lecture). the "p" fruits include prunes, pears, peaches, pineapple, etc. and are good things to give kids who are constipated. we doctor types are good for something, huh?

******

my patient this morning did bad things overnight last night. he has a neuromuscular disease (see: bad nerves and bad muscles), and has pneumonia on top of it (and multiple other issues). well, the pneumonia is a problem for him because since he has bad muscles (this includes the muscles you use to breathe with), he has trouble breathing over the pneumonia. and so last night he dropped his oxygen saturation a few times and they had to bag him (see: not breathing good and needing extra help to breathe). at the last hospital i was at, if you were bagging someone on the floor (see: not the PICU), you had to call a code (see: bad). i guess this is not the policy here.

so this morning, he had been flying pretty well for about an hour or so by the time i saw him. and my intern (see: 1st year resident) left me to do an exam on the kid and write a progress note. the respiratory therapist was doing his morning treatments at the time, so i started my note before seeing the kid. i had written no more than the date and time when one of the RTs comes out of the room to summon help as the kid's SATs were dropping again. so i page the intern and walk into the patients room as if i know what i'm doing and will be of a great deal of help to these people.

the next two hours were a flurry of activity. there was me, the intern, a second year resident, a third year resident, both of our attendings, the nurse, the nursing student, the transport nurse, at least 4 respiratory therapists and perhaps 3 RT students. it was a LOT of people. we ended up transfering the kid to the PICU (see: pediatric intensive care unit) and intubating him (see: breathing for him).

it was sad.