[rant: on]So a 20 year old girl was admitted to my ward yesterday with a fractured tibia sustained in an MVA. She was t-boned by a drunk driver. She had emergency surgery to fix it (forgot the name of the surgery). Anyway, she developed compartment syndrome. We spotted it right away and the surgeon was informed and she came back to our ward from surgery with four fasciotomies. Over the course of an hour she became very dyspneac: 25 resps/min, 92 sats. Not fifteen minutes later her sats dropped to 64%. Gave her 10L oxygen which brought her up to 92%. Chest pain was noted on inspiration, so I suspected an emboli. Sent her down for a CXR and CT on 10L oxygen, full tank. She returned to ward with no tank and no mask with cyanosis up the ying yang. Got her back onto oxygen and more concious. Results of her CXR and CT came back and were positive for a fat embolus. I reiterate, this patient is 20 years old. [rant: off]
Maybe I have thin skin (still a student, practicing as an LPN on days off) but boy was I mad. Soooo young and all this crap happening to her... all because of a drunk driver. I HATE drunk drivers. Thanks for letting me rant.:bowingpur
