Work.....again

We all know that shit happens, right?  Well I try to stay out of it, but sometimes I step right into it.  At the end of the day, starting at around 3:30, nurses I work with start to go home.  Since I don't get off until 5:30, I pick up a lot of these patients.  Most of the time it is just finishing up an infusion and letting them go.  We call it turning them loose.  lol  So, by 5:00, everyone was leaving and I picked up this lady that was new to us, her first treatment.  My report was "all you have to do is watch her for an hour.  She's already done, but the order says to keep her for an hour".  I didn't know why, but who am I to question?  She seemed ok, had some IV fluids going that I stopped and took down.  Fortunately for me, and her, I left the IV in.  Apparently she was having a pain problem and was initially going to be admitted for pain control.  I was not told this.  I found out from the patient.  But, they decided to drug her up and send her home.  This was after they told her that her cancer had spread to her spine and she could have a cord compression that might leave her paralyzed from the waist down.  Send her home?  WTF?  And I would have known nothing if the patient hadn't spoke up that she was scared and starting to hurt again.

After she had gotten IV fluids for some time, of course she had to go to the bathroom.  She needed help, so I assisted her.  She could barely walk, prolly weighed 250 lbs., and now I was scared!  I got her to the bathroom.  A few minutes later I hear screams coming from inside and I asked her what was wrong.  She had felt something snap in her back and the pain was excrutiating.  She was screaming and crying and I yelled for help, cuz I couldn't pick this woman up!  The end of this story is that we got her to the ER, she was still screaming and crying, and I breathed a sigh of relief as she rolled off the floor in a wheelchair. 

Just another day in the life of me.