November 3, 2011
It was a relief today when I was placed with the same patient I had the day before. It helped to know what was going on and not have to start from scratch. I felt like I was improving when I understood everything that was being said in report. We started the day much like we had the day before. We gave blood, took lab draws, and continued to patient on pressors. Overnight the patient’s condition had deteriorated, however. Her kidney had failed and she was putting out very little to no urine. Her eyes had turned green from the liver failure. This was something I had only heard of and never seen. It is a truly sad sight. At around noon, the physician talked to my nurse and I and said he thought the patient didn’t have a chance. The next step was dialysis, but he didn’t think the patient would tolerate it well and even then she’d be a vegetable on a ventilator. So, just like that, all the things we had to do stopped abruptly. The only order was to keep the blood pressure medication drips going so the patient’s family could get there. I have never been present when a physician told a family he suggested taking their family member off of life support. It was handled compassionately and kindly by the doctor. It was hard to see the family react, and I learned a bit about how to handle a situation such as this one.
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