Emotional Week Thus Far

Today at 3:16PM we removed the ventilator from my patient in the ICU. I've been with him since he was admitted on 1/5/07. I sat in my office and blinked back tears. My only hope for him is that he can finally have some peace. I went in to see him this morning. He looked so ill - his eyes were glazed and rolled back in his head. His skin was puffy and yellowed. He looked so miserable. Whenever someone touched him, his oxygen saturations would drop in the 70s and his heart rate would jump up to the 140s. It was as if he was saying, "Please leave me alone." At 6:00 this evening, he was still alive - breathing on his own, but his oxygen sat was 61%.

I went out this evening with several of the pharmacy team members. We christened the new BW3s as an official VA hangout. The B shift pharmacist came in at 7:00 and updated us all on my patient's status. A fellow pharmacist's son kept hitting on me throughout dinner - problem here would be that he is 16. HA! Other highlights of the evening - waiter forgetting to place my order and waiter losing my credit card. At the end of the day, the beer was good and the wings were great. It was a much needed unwinding after a very emotional day.