The 48 year old man was ill.
He was admitted with fever, cough and productive sputum.
Within 24 hours of ward admission, his condition deteriorated. At 45 breath per minute and dropping in conscious level, we knew he's not gonna make it without a ventilator (breathing support).
We had to intubate him before he deteriorated even further. By Friday nightfall he's already on triple heart-supporting (inotropic) drugs. The chest infection looked rampant at that stage. His prognosis was rather gloomy. I was on call that night, and by 5am we began the 4th inotrope.
"Shit, things doesn't look good. Nurse Maria, could you please call his wife and children, I need to break them the bad news"
Two hours later, as I was telling them his grave condition and that his likelihood for survival is looking thin, I saw his heart beat went flatline on the cardiac monitor.
"Damn!" I cursed silently.
I quickly asked the family to wait outside. We called the code and worked on him for 40 mins. Sounds of adrenaline ampoules broke the silence.
"Come on, stay with us... stay with us" I heard someone whispered those words to my ears... only to find that person was me.
A nurse recited the Shahadah to his ears while the rest of us working on him.
We couldn't revived him. At that point of time I like to believe that God loves him best.
As I told the family afterward, the wife broke into silent tears.
***
Update:
Yesterday we got our country's first case of positive H1N1 transmission.
22 cases.
A global pandemic.
We are at war with another microorganism.
The important thing is to remain calm.
(and yes avoid overcrowded place and sneeze into your tissue)
6 comments:
My heart goes out to the family of that man...and to you and your team.
We are now living in dangerous times. A friend wanted to give me a return ticket to visit her for her birthday (Macau) but I humbly declined the offer for fear of the H1N1 threat...Life is not as simple as it used to be.
Do take care, Dr. Tranquility and may the Almighty protect you and yours.
I am a selfish parent and I worry about my eldest who is a doc...right there in the line of fire.
I hope this one doesn't get out of hand. Stay safe doc, coz we need to hear more of your 'chocolate' stories! :)
Warmest, Maya
Keep the faith, dude.
My condolence to the family members of the deceased.
I wonder how do you gather so much strength to inform such unfortunate news to families like these?
Take care, sir..:)
Whenever I want to pass on the breaking news to someone else, I'll get lump in my throat.
MWS:
May God bless you and your family. Thank you for your kind words.
Maya,
Your eldest is doing the right thing. May he walks along the valley of light.
Andrea:
Faith is something that is hard to come by these days.
Ida:
It never gets easy. Trust me.
SPD:
Yeah, it does.. doesn't?
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