Like fixing a broken bone, for example. Your tibia is in two pieces, which is one piece more than it should be. You hurt. It's not fun. But then we give you pain meds and do a conscious sedation, you murmur a few choice words, then wake up and wonder why we're all giggling and hey! your leg doesn't hurt anymore. So far in my career, these sorts of things have been my favorite.
Until today.
I can now say with certainty that my new favorite is treating SVT with adenosine. It's just so...rewarding! There's nothing like it!
I mean seriously, it's one of those things where the new patient complaints of his heart racing, you hook the nice guy to the monitor, your eyes get really big, every alarm in the place goes off, and six people come trooping into the room immediately. He's racing away at 220 bpm, you put the pacer pads on to ward off bad spirits (or to shock the hell out of him later), call for a doctor, start big honking IVs, send someone for the adenosine, draw it up, and warn the guy it's going to be a bit of a weird feeling.
Then you slam it in. Eyes go from the IV to the monitor.
And ba-BAM! Flatline. You wait. And wait. And oh dear God is it EVER going to start up agai-whew. There is it. Success, in 15 seconds flat.
I love my job.
7 comments:
Too stressful for me, but glad there are people like you!
Wow! I can only imagine what that must feel like. I bet that 15 seconds seems like an eternity.
I love it, it's such a rush.
I'm glad you love your job!
=]
Awesome story. We just learned about SVTs and other funky weirdo rhythms and adenosine and atropine and all that fun stuff. Good story.
Great story. You remind me of my friend. Thanks for sharing!
I remember my nursing instructor describing it exactly like that. She was an ER NP and said it was the best fix in the world! Just when you think, "This is it, get the paddles, beep, there pops up a lovely sinus rhythm!"
Love your blog, mentioned you on mine!
I LOVE LOVE LOVE treating SVT. I think it' one of my favs!
I had a dude recently that were were giving 18 mg, yes, you read correctly, 18 mg at a time...every 15-20 minutes....for hours. It was crazy! I love it!
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