Saturday, December 5, 2009

Live! From ER! It's Dr. Grumpy!

I'm on call.

While rounding, I was paged overhead to come down to ER for a stroke that had just arrived. Guy who can't move his right side.

So I'm sitting here in ER, watching him from the nurses' station, waiting for my turn to go in. Nurses are hooking him up to stuff, techs in there drawing blood, an EMT going over info with another nurse.

In the middle of this all the patient is lying there, calmly texting with his left hand.
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27 comments:

  1. AnonymousDecember 5, 2009 at 11:51 AM

    so apparently his Wernicke's area is doing just fine. hey, could be doing worse things with his functional hand.

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  2. webhillDecember 5, 2009 at 11:54 AM

    well, I guess that is better than him lying there totally freaking out and trying to punch someone with his left hand, right?

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  3. AnonymousDecember 5, 2009 at 11:56 AM

    Wow!!! Kinda makes you wonder what we all did BEFORE we had cell phones!!!! I wonder if the stroke took out his "Oh Shit!!!" reflex?

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  4. J-Quell'nDecember 5, 2009 at 12:24 PM

    Now, that's what I call making the best out of a crappy situation!

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  5. MickeyDecember 5, 2009 at 12:46 PM

    I hate to say it, but that could definitely be me in the future. ;)

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  6. lbparkerDecember 5, 2009 at 12:46 PM

    Well, its better than staring at the ceiling. . .

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  7. UnknownDecember 5, 2009 at 1:44 PM

    I'm torn. My first thought was to wonder why the patient doesn't have someone with them handling the texting. (I tweeted updates throughout my husband's ER trip following a seizure.) Hot on its heels was "how the heck does someone text one-handed?".

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  8. SparklenDecember 5, 2009 at 2:30 PM

    That is just fantastic, lol. I know that I never see anyone under the age of 25 without a cell phone texting in hand, but someone of that age? Wow

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  9. MOJITOGIRLDecember 5, 2009 at 2:30 PM

    God forbid you lose your ability to text. Then it's all over. Might as well not live. (can u tell I'm the mother of a teen?)

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  10. BradDecember 5, 2009 at 3:02 PM

    If he really was having a left MCA stroke, I'd be curious to see what those texts looked like....

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  11. PhatheadDecember 5, 2009 at 3:04 PM

    Hmmmm I could envision you typing out a post about your stroke as you were having it hehe

    Isn't technology wonderful

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  12. pharmacy chickDecember 5, 2009 at 3:10 PM

    Geez, sounds like something I'd do!I love my txt!

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  13. Frantic PharmacistDecember 5, 2009 at 3:15 PM

    That is the best one yet, Dr. G. !!!
    I would love to see the text...
    "OMG hving stroke lol, ttyl"

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  14. BarbDecember 5, 2009 at 3:36 PM

    I suppose that was the best way to let his wife know what was happening?

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  15. mommy-medicDecember 5, 2009 at 3:36 PM

    Impressive- but only if he was spelling stuf out on the 9 digit keypad, not a full qwerty keyboard. :)

    (And hey- doesn't that give you a decent neuro assessment? or maybe not, dunno if he was texting gibberish to wrong numbers, lol)

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  16. ToBlog todayDecember 5, 2009 at 3:52 PM

    Too funny, but does not surprise me.

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  17. Grumpy, M.D.December 5, 2009 at 4:15 PM

    Mommy-Medic: Actually it was QWERTY, just slow going with one hand.

    Sparklen: He's a hell of a lot younger than you think. Too young.

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  18. Sue D'nyhmDecember 5, 2009 at 5:03 PM

    This wasn't the business guy that you blogged about a while ago that couldn't get off his phone for his appointment with you and expected you to work around his schedule? Sounds just like something he would have done.

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  19. Grumpy, M.D.December 5, 2009 at 5:24 PM

    Sue- good point, but no, it wasn't him.

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  20. AnonymousDecember 5, 2009 at 7:42 PM

    there is a generation of people now who could text under 10 tons of wet cement. hopefully they will all be buried with their cell phones and be able to confirm to those remaining the existence of heaven.....or hell.
    but then again hopefully god has banned the use of cell phones or it might be too easy to confuse his/her domain with the other place.

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  21. MomNurseWifeDecember 5, 2009 at 8:11 PM

    Hmmm....maybe if you build a good rapport, he can come to you for carpal tunnel or another upper extremity nerve pain as an outpatient....

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  22. JoannDecember 6, 2009 at 1:48 AM

    Amazing!! Texting in sick to work?? LOL!!

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  23. RiverDecember 6, 2009 at 3:11 AM

    Aren't cell phones supposed to be turned off in ER?

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  24. AnonymousDecember 6, 2009 at 4:09 AM

    Anosognosia?

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  25. ChristyDecember 6, 2009 at 11:48 AM

    LMAO! He was probably Twittering about it.

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  26. ERPDecember 6, 2009 at 9:58 PM

    Right brain dominant obviously - otherwise he might exhibit "Blackberry Hemineglect"

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  27. AnonymousDecember 7, 2009 at 7:33 AM

    You don't say - how about this guy who twittered at the altar??

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSkT5XykJzo

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So wadda you think?