“My thoughts  as I retire for the night are for the 22 year old guy they brought in beside Dad this evening.  Jimmie started with a simple case of poison ivy that has turned into cellulitis and a severe blood infection.  When he arrived from ER he was heavily sedated and running a fever of 104+.  He had excruciating pain that radiated from the poison ivy site up to his stomach and down his other leg.

When I left they had already forced 2 full bags of fluids into him to try and rehydrate him and break his fever.  He severed in the military and is now working as a powder coater at some mill. Seems like a really good kid to be in so much pain. Lord willing his fever will break and the hand of peace will fall upon his pain.

His mom said this is the first all 3 of her boys have been home at one time for a couple of years. The whole family is military so this was to be a much needed week for them.”

We learned a lot about Jimmie as the nurses and two doctors tried to put a treatment plan together.  On top of his pain and infection, he is asthmatic.  The stress he was in was causing him to constrict and have a hard time breathing.  The doctors consulted and agreed they couldn’t give him his inhaler at this point because his heart was already beating too fast.  The examination was painful as touch caused the heavily sedated young man to groan in pain.  Once a basic plan of attack was formed, the doctors left the nurses to their tasks.

By this time, Jimmie’s whole family was in the room:  Mom, step dad, older and younger brothers, sister, aunt and grandma.  The nurses finally asked some of the family to step out so they could work.  The family obliged.  The first round of fluids were started as the nurses asked Mom and Jimmie questions.  Jimmie was becoming more alert as the fluids diluted his blood and the heavy meds it carried.  He spoke in the voice of a very strained young man.

The nurses have a set of standard questions that you get asked probably ten times over the course of shift changes and new doctors coming on board.  They try to gather history or circumstances where the individual may have dealt with something similar in the past or been exposed to something that may have been the root cause of the ailment.  You know the questions, “Do you have false teeth? Are you allergic to medications? Do you have high blood pressure?” and so on…

Partly out of the chaos that was going on and partly out of just having read the list off so many times, the nurse cruised the list sometimes editing it to questions that did not apply to Jimmie.  She got into a rhythm.  Jimmie was now also pretty coherent and answering certain questions on his own.  The nurse shot down the list, continuing with “Are you pregnant?”   We all burst out laughing.  That’s the problem!!!!  Jimmie got pregnant from the poison ivy.  That’s the cause of his unexplained abdominal pain!  To make things even more hilarious, she would say out loud what she was typing.  When she asked when the last tetanus shot Jimmie had, he replied Boot Camp.  She typed BOOTY Camp.  Again, everyone cracked up.  So now we know where Jimmy got pregnant with the promiscuous poison ivy at BOOTY Camp.   The rest of the time many jokes and puns were made.

Jimmie’s  asthma had been flaring since they brought him into the room.  It was interesting to hear the change in him as the fluids took hold and he laughed a little.  His wheezing went away.  The cough that plagued him even while he was knocked out by the drugs slipped away.  He became more at ease.  I didn’t hear another cough from him until his IV pump started blaring its alarm and it took 15 minutes for the nurse to come shut it down.

I have always thought that there is truth that laughter is the best medicine.  Tonight was proof.  It is so nice to hear laughter coming from a place like a hospital.  Especially with the circumstances what they are.

Here is to laughter and healing!

~Cappy