Now THAT'S a lab result

Nurses General Nursing

Published

INR >100. Alive.

Skip details, just lab & living or dead.

ETOH-.529 . Alive, walking, talking, hitting on me.

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Specializes in Oncology.
Oncology has clearly desensitized me to abnormal lab results. I see platelet counts in the single digits all the time- many times drawn at home. The family is called and told to come in the next day for transfusion but to go to the ER if the patient starts to bleed. Platelets are not transfused until

Highest WBC count I've seen in newly diagnosed or relapsed leukemia was >500K. Also once saw a kid with an Hgb 1.9 and platelet level of 3 at diagnosis. His poor mother had been bringing him to the MD for weeks saying something was wrong and was brushed off. When they finally drew labs? Bam, ALL.

Yeah, spending my whole career in BMT, *yawn* on some of these CBC values. Obviously more concerning if you didn't just load them with myleoblative chemo. The low low hgb's I've seen have been on new-leuk Jehovah's Witness patients refusing transfusion. None of them have made it.

I know someone with ITP who was recently discharged from the hospital with platelets on 14, so it's not just oncology that doesn't get super concerned over low counts.

We had a BMT patient awhile ago with a hereditary anemia so rare I won't even name it here who had so many blood transfusions and was so chronically anemic that he tolerated low hemoglobin very well and we didn't want to iron overload him any more, so we didn't give him RBC's until

On the other hand, some of these BAC, BG, and trig's are blowing my mind.

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Totally common findings for heme/onc populations.

T= 107.1. Alive. More concerningly, AOx3

Also a Heme/onc patient

Sorry, most of my patients aren't heme/onc. Super low plt common, usually HIT or ITP.

WBC pt was septic from endocarditis from a recent dental procedure...yikes! Surgeon replaced heart valve when WBC around 75k...risky vs dead.

Temp > 108; family withdrew after EMS found patient "tweeking" naked on motel room rug...yeah, I had ask what that meant so that's why I remember...tox screen was impressive!

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Specializes in Hospice.

INR 18: came to hospice s/p a brain bleed.

K+ 11.8: elderly diabetic triple amputee N.H. resident whose sole remaining limb became gangrenous. Dead. But, this one turned out to be a twofer. The interns were so excited by the wild EKG that we couldn't get them to call a surgeon for the old independent-living guy in the next room who was perforating an ulcer. He's dead, too.

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Specializes in Emergency/Trauma/LDRP/Ortho ASC.

Hgb A1c - 13.4 - mother alive, fetus dead

The other day I had a laboring mother type 2 NIDDM come in and tell me "I don't take my blood sugars because I'm too busy, my baby is fine." Said she takes Metformin but pharmacy confirmed she hadn't picked any up in 10 months. If only we could tell them these stories...I wanted to beat my head against the wall.

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Temp: 108.6 F. not a mark on him, but hyperthermic from firefighting in hot area. Cooked all his blood proteins and bled from everywhere exactly like Ebola. Died in a few hours, not a damn thing we could do.

PaCO2=96, PaO2=136. Gomertose but woke up when ventilated with room air.

BP: Patent Pending (that's what it says at the tippy top of a real mercury sphygmomanometer >300) / 268. Not dead yet, but was in an hour.

Type and Crossmatch: AB. Alive, which was a good thing because he was Type A when he came to the hospital and got three units of Type B in the OR. Ooopsy.

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Oh, and my favorite platelets: 250. That's not two hundred and fifty thousand, that's, like, two hundred and fifty, period. Alive and soaking up those little baggies from the blood bank alllllllll night long.

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Specializes in Oncology.
Oh, and my favorite platelets: 250. That's not two hundred and fifty thousand, that's, like, two hundred and fifty, period. Alive and soaking up those little baggies from the blood bank alllllllll night long.

Our lab won't even report numbers below 5,000 any more. It just says

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Our lab won't even report numbers below 5,000 any more. It just says

(It was a long time ago)

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BG 11 talking ambulatory already q2h glums this was about 1hr after previous check which was 112. No coverage given obviously lol Only reason we found out was she told the PICC nurse she felt a little dizzy. 😱... She had a sitter for the next couple days and doctor tried to discharge her the next day. She appealed her d/c can you blame her?

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Specializes in Intensive care, ER.

I've seen troponins >50 and triglycerides 4500 range. Both lived. The triglycerides patient also had pancreatic issues and had actually drank himself into DM type 1 and his blood had the same issues previously described... Turbid, settled intI a white layer. We had to send it to a different hospital. WBC around 65000. That's all I can think of right now. I've also seen plts in the 1 million range because at first I thought omg their plts are 1,000 then I realized it was 1000x1000! I don't remember if that one lived or died. Bodies are amazing.

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Specializes in Hospice.

Dig level >9, sinus rhythm!

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