Chuckles

Another after work post.  Not tired enough to fall asleep but not awake enough to do much so why not recall a story?

My last patient today was a high school senior who dislocated his shoulder, I'm calling him Chuckles.  All things considered he was handling it well, making jokes and laughing with us in our attempts to help him feel better.

It just looks painful, I need something just looking at this....

Doc comes in and we tell him we're going to administer some meds to help him relax and sleep a little while we pop it back in (shoulder reduction for those requiring medical terminology).  Doc administers Etomidate so we can perform the reduction.

Etomidate is a short acting anesthetic we administer to perform the procedure.  The process is called conscious sedation (they aren't fully under sedation but gone enough that they don't care and won't remember).

Chuckles passes out mid sentence shortly after administering the medication.  Shoulder is reduced without any problems, less than 10 minutes later the Chuckles is almost back to his baseline.  

When he wakes up he is stoned.  He laughs at everything, asks his mom to record him so they can remember, etc.  He calls his girlfriend, all the while laughing at everything (that's why the nickname).

Trying to see how oriented he is I ask him to give me his birthday.  His response, "I'm 18, you do the math."  I explain to him that I am not being quizzed, he is and needs to give his birth year.  So he starts counting backwards until he gets to his birth year.  

For being as stoned as he is he does a good job problem solving.

I point out to him that he is stoned.  He yells out, "I'm not stoned, I never do drugs!"

I responded, "Dude, I gave you the meds.  You're stoned because of me."

He replies, "Oh.  Man that's some good stuff, you should think about selling it.  You'd make a fortune."

Chuckles is funny.  Eventually he is discharged and asks to be taken to the vending machines.  The next time I see Chuckles he is still in the wheelchair (too dizzy to stand up by himself) inching himself around using his legs and trying to keep all the honey buns from falling to the floor (and failing miserably).

Honey Buns, snack of choice for a post shoulder reduction

I must say, Chuckles made my night.