Memorable Firsts

One of my most memorable firsts is very similar to yours! I was six years into nursing before my first code blue, and I'd been dreading the day it would finally happen. I had just been transferred to a new unit due to low census on my home unit, and was still getting used to the new environment and staff.

One day while I was charting, I stopped to watch the monitor, as one patient's heart rate went a little lower...and a little lower...until I was like, I'm just gonna go eyeball the patient. I got to the room first and my heart just sank; even as I tried to rouse the patient, I knew she wasn't going to respond. The primary nurse arrived just a few seconds later, even though it felt like forever; she'd been on the other end of the unit with another patient and came as soon as she saw the monitor. The patient wasn't breathing and by that point had no pulse whatsoever that we could feel.

I can't even remember which one of us started CPR and which called the code and got the cart - but everything started happening so fast and people started flooding the room to help. The patient ended up surviving!

Afterward the primary nurse and I both looked at each other and were like, "...That was my first code!" It was within the first few months of the pandemic, and I just remember us hugging, social distancing be damned; laughing; and feeding oddly giddy that we'd gone through that together and were able to save the patient.

Oh, a good precordial thump in a witnessed unstable V Tach situation could break it every time. The first time I did it the old guy looked up and said "Lady, what the devil did you hit me for?"  

My "first" happened LONG before I became a nurse. I saw a friend give birth. I was only 19 but determined then I wanted to be an OB nurse some day. It took a LONG time, but I realized that dream and worked in OB for 15 years. I loved it......til I didn't anymore. Then I moved on.

Another "first" was my first successful IV start, which did not happen til I was a nurse. We had little to no opportunity in school, so I had to learn on the job. I was so proud; I still remember the patient's name and her face!

Great thread.

An ED patient diagnosed with a “fractured member” ...ruptured tunica albuginea (usually occurring during intercourse) resulting in massive swelling of the glans and considered a surgical emergency.  Twenty-something year old guy was totally unconcerned with his condition and signed out AMA!