Friday, September 29, 2006

People Watching at a Puertorrican ER

So, as I was sicker than a pervert...(get it?)... I had to go to the hospital. I was actually very well taken care of, although kinda slow. So, while I was there, swimming in and out from dreams because of whatever the hell they put in my IV line (IV line is "el cablecito del suero que te ponen", years of watching ER teaches you something, you know...), and so, many interesting things, or I shall say, many interesting people came into the emergency while I was in my bed.

1. Blond, straight-haired lady comes in, and is sitted on the chair in which blood is drawn from patients. She looks healthy, although kinda groggy, when a male nurse passes by and asks her when was her liver transplant sugery done...

2. Old guy on a wheelchair with a blank eye, kinda creepy, kept looking my way, until all his bloodwork was done.

intermission
My bed was number two, so I was right in front of the little station where all the blood is taken and all the IV's are stuck to the patients... just in case that that wasn't obvious already.

3. One of the most shocking moments I've lived in a hospital: fifty-ish guy comes in with the sickest nosebleed i've ever seen. He was bursting bad. He was saying that he was drowning on his blood, and he was gurgling and spiting blood on oodles of paper sheets that would red so quickly. The floor was drizzled with red spots, but right below him, there were little pools. I've never seen so much blood from a live person. (maybe I have, and just blocked it out of my head). The guy kept asking for help. He was taken to the back of the ER. I later heard he was in surgery.

4. Tall, toasted-skinned guy, forty-ish comes in lamenting: "ay, aay, qué dolor" and he's grabbing his stomach. He came right after the bleeding man. The nurse had put some paper towels on the floor, but she wasn't put out by the fact that she was stepping on wet blood.

5. A very tall guy, who had mental issues, behaved when the nurse said not to get stiff so that the blood would run through the needle. Then he was sat next to the wall while waiting for a bed, and he began to moan loudly. The nurse yelled from afar that the medicine was going to take effect soon, that he had to stay put for a while. The guy then wanted a glove, because he wanted to bite on it. The guy who was accompanying him said that those were not for him to use, and then I fell asleep and I don't know what else happened.

6. And finally... a lady with a lisp and (fañosa) is screaming out view: "this is what you were waiting for huh?", and she comes into view with a convulsing girl on a wheelchair. "I've been here since 2pm and you haven't looked at her yet!" It was already 10pm, and I found that hard to believe because I got to the hospital at 5:10, and I was in a bed. Anyway, so the lady kept screaming and insulting nurses. "Isn't anyone going to move?! I swear that if my girl dies here I'll kill everybody here!" Then, the girl fell from the wheelchair, and her brother grabbed her. The lady threw the chair against the wall. After a while someone told her to shut up, and the girl got service... never heard from them again...


That was an exciting night at the Hospital. Next time: Weird people at the restaurant.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ew.

Anonymous said...

Glad to hear you're still alive.

J O E L said...

yep i still gots lots to do before death becomes me