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I walked home at the end of my second shift deep in thought. If the Weasel’s behavior was any indication, I was in for an arduous three months. The Annoying Little Chihuahua of Discouragement that had stalked me for days began to nip at my ankles. Screw this, I said to myself, shaking off the imaginary dark cloud that hung over me. I’m not going to let that little fink wear me down.I took a deep breath and looked up; it was then that I noticed, for the first time, the genuine black cloud- a very angry and large black...

My first shift in the Indian Hospital ER was over, and I walked the short distance back to my house with a lot on my mind. I entered the house, walked to the refrigerator and pulled out a Guinness. Tossing my keys on the desk in my room, I changed out of my scrubs and into a ratty old T-shirt and baggy shorts. I opened the bottle, flopped into a chair, put my feet up, and took a drink. The ice-cold stout was like a balm for my dry throat. I opened up the orientation folder and waded through the...

My three-day orientation was over in less than three hours. The mountain of paperwork, through which I had only begun to wade, would have to wait to be filled out on my off time. Within a twenty-minute stretch, our waiting room was packed with patients sent over from the hospital's clinic (because, according to the clinic nurse, the MD was busy planning a rafting trip). To top it all off, we had three ambulances coming with assault victims who had also, according to the medic's radio report, "seemed intoxicated." I had no idea where any equipment was located. I had...

Starting my first shift at the Indian Hospital was an exercise in uncertainty. I did not know what to expect. Having worked for the better part of a decade at my previous hospital, I was pushing myself out of the comfort zone that inevitably forms with staying in one place for a long time. After encountering a bloated carcass and being nearly drowned, struck by lightning, and beaten to death by hailstones, I walked into the Emergency Department of the Indian Hospital with a vague sense of unease. Seeing the layout of the department, it occurred to me that this...

Ever the optimist, I began to rationalize as I unpacked my things and settled in to my new, if temporary, abode in IHS housing. So what if my initial impressions of the reservation were not what I expected? What did I expect, anyway- A John Wayne movie? I had yet to really explore the natural beauty of the place, and with the exception of the obnoxious MD with whom I shared the house (as noted previously), the people seemed rather nice. The house itself was clean and had air conditioning. The topographical features were pretty amazing, too. On that front,...

0430... It was hard to believe that less than two hours ago our 40-bed Emergency Department was nearly full. We managed to admit or discharge nearly all of our patients in that short time. Only two occupants remained: one was a 17-year-old habitual "cutter" who had gone off her bipolar medication; we had stitched her up and she was just waiting for Daddy to come get her. The other patient was a harmless professional drunk whom we named "Otis." Otis was currently sleeping off his two-bottles-of-Old Crow dinner and getting IV vitamins. Nurses and ER Techs had been busy for...

Kingman, Arizona; 0800 (8AM for the rest of you) on day 4: I awoke to the bewitching aroma of coffee, sizzling bacon, and Southwest omelettes. Melanie (ER nurse) and Kevin (ICU nurse)- the married couple who so graciously took this wayward colleague and his wrecked toe into their home for a day- had just arrived home from their shifts and were preparing what was shaping up to be a smashing breakfast. I pulled the blanket from over my eyes and sat up on their couch, squinting against the brilliant sunlight that streamed in from the living room window. With some...

Okay, I know this is a bit of a chronological jump, considering I was last writing about my recent odyssey. I'll get back to that soon. I am back at work now, and since returning I have encountered an unusually-long parade of ER patients who have displayed, shall we say, less-than-sound judgment with regard to the way they chose to conduct themselves in ER Triage. I am a man of great forbearance and restraint. I have never told any patient that he/she was a slack-jawed, mouth-breathing idiot before- even when the patient's actions clearly proved such to be the case....

The deep, exhausted sleep into which I initially fell proved to be woefully short-lived. I was jolted awake around 1AM by the simple act of rolling over. My left great toe, which I had injured the previous morning when I struck it against a heavy chair in Susanville, was proving itself to be in far worse condition than I originally thought. I did not detect any deformation at the time of injury, and I could bend the joint fairly well. I had done everything that we would have done in the emergency department for this type of injury, and had...

Fallon, Nevada to Kingman, Arizona:I have been all over the world, and have seen some interesting terrain in my travels. But the landscape of western Nevada was just, well... eerie. The outside temperature was 110 degrees and rising, and it was only mid-morning. I had cast a lot of glances out of the side windows for the first 100 miles of this leg, but as the environment became more barren and forbidding, and the atmosphere thinner and drier, I found myself retreating inward with a strange sense of isolation and vulnerability. And that only caused me to become more aware...

Day two, 0500: I had not slept so well and so deeply in years. It was the kind of deep and dreamless Rip van Winkle sleep from which one awakens with the impression that no time had passed at all. The first objective data to the contrary was presented by the merciless blaring of the alarm clock in my hotel room. My eyes snapped open and I fumbled hastily across the unfamiliar, darkened room with a single-minded determination to stop that damned bleating instrument of chaos and evil. It was during this effort that I encountered the second (and far...

I rose in the very early morning for my much-anticipated trip to San Diego with a sense of excitement and my three good companions: A cooler full of snack, my souped-up 2007 Ford Mustang named Baby-san, and the open road. Fully-prepped for the trip, waxed, and buffed until her fireglow scarlet paint took on a fathomless gleam, Baby-san communicated her eagerness to boogie with a throaty, crackling snarl as I fired her up and blipped the accelerator. I throttled up, released the clutch and let 320 horses out of the corral. With a saucy chirp from the Pirellis, we lunged...

It's been two years since I have had a break. It wasn't that I didn't have the opportunity; it's just that I never really thought about it. But a coming event has provided the opportunity for me to take a much-needed (and eagerly-anticipated) break from the trenches. What's the event? Well, dear friend, I am glad to tell you: One of my older sisters is graduating from nursing school down in Southern California. (Can I tell you all how proud I am of her? I am just busting at the seams. She's a good one, she is. And she has...

I have been thinking about this since nursing school. It was always a matter of the right motives, but the wrong time. Well, I have been talking to the Assistant Gunner (My bride of 19 years) and she agrees that the time is right. So I contacted my good friend who is a medical recruiter for the US Navy. He has laid out the whole shooting match for me, good and bad. I relayed this to my wife. She says, "God will guide us and whatever happens, He'll take care of us. Do what you know is right." So I...

He was sick, sick, sick. I inherited him at the change of shift. He was completely with it, but his body was failing him fast. The offgoing nurse offhandedly reported that the patient was a bomber pilot because his wife of nearly sixty years had mentioned it. (Sixty years! Can you imagine being married that long?) This man was the only person I had at the beginning of my shift. I signed off on the report and, after reviewing the chart, went into the room to introduce myself as the oncoming nurse. The patient was asleep, so I spoke with...

Okay. At the suggestion of many a reader (and I sincerely thank you all), I have begun a book. Sort of. It's a toss-up. I am torn between a non-fiction compilation of my experiences (which is fraught with legal hassles) and a fictional work based on my experiences with a third-person character taking on my persona. I'll be the first to admit this: it's one thing sharing my stories with you; it's entirely another when I have to sit down and figure out what I'm supposed to write, make the reader empathize, and all that stuff. Frankly, I do not...

The shift had been an exciting one from the time I arrived. I had some very challenging and complex patients for the first half; all but one of them ended up in our ICU. The one exception was sent over to a higher-level trauma center for his injuries. That patient was a teenaged Homo jackassii who had attempted to car surf and had managed to get up to somewhere around 30MPH when the car reached an intersection and the dufus kid's "friend" slammed on the brakes. The kid shattered both of his ankles, nearly tore one of his feet completely...