Superstitians & Scary Halloween

Do you have a people job? Say, you work for the police or in a hospital. The following things make people crazy, scary, and make you eerily busy:

1. Full moon
2. Friday the 13th
3. If you drop something and don't pick it up
4. Saying, "Quiet."

The ghost in room b

I promised a report on the relationship between pollution and asthma today, but I am going to have to defer that until Monday. It's been so crazy here at the RT Cave lately all my energy has been sucked out of me like the spirit of a dead man on an ER table after CPR.

I'm sure I mentioned somewhere on this blog about he ghost in critical care here at Shoreline. It's well documented now. There are stories about it that just about anyone who works here knows about. And many of us have seen it.

There have been nights when the door opens and shuts and opens and shuts all by itself, despite no breeze. It's amazing. Sometimes it even stands outside the door and watches over us.

We talk about it nonchalantly, as though it were another member of the staff. So as I was telling a personal story about my experience in that room, no one gave what I said a second thought.

This is the truth. I was standing there giving a treatment to Mrs. C. She had her eyes shut, so she was not witness to it. Or, if she did see it, she had probably seen stranger things in the room as she had perhaps become quite familiar with the spiritual host of the room.

I was looking at the TV, only the TV was no longer there. Instead I noticed another room off in the corner. My mind had been overcome by the moment, so I didn't second guess that the room was there. In my mind, I thought, "Why didn't I notice it before?"

I did a double take, and the room was still there. So I started around the bed to check out what was in this small room, and it was gone now. The TV was back. Everything was back to normal. And the treatment was still going.

I told this story to my co-workers, and they took me seriously. The Ghost in room B had made yet another appearance, albeit in an awkward way.

As I write this I wonder what the ghost was trying to tell me, or show me.

The ghost of critical care, or a patient saying "bye"

The ghost of critical care has been a staple at Shoreline for as long as I've worked here. One of the first days I worked here I was made aware of her. I'm not sure if it is a female, but the vibes I get tend to make me think that way.

I'm not sure if the story I want to relay today has something to do with the ghost or not. But it makes for an interesting story nonetheless.

Mr. Nurse told me on my first day here years ago of his first encounter with her. One of his patients, Mrs. Patient, was in a bed in room A, and she was seriously ill. He was in the room talking to her, and she said, "I think I'm ready to go now."

Back at the nurses station Mr. Nurse listened as the cardiac monitor alarmed. When he looked at it, he saw the following across the screen:

"Byebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebye byebyeByebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebye byebyeByebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebye byebye."

He rushed back to her room, and she was no longer in this world.

The funny thing was, Mr. Nurse told me this happened on the old cardiac monitors that did not have the capability to show words.

My lucky parking spot

I have figured out why it was so busy Thursday night, swamped Friday night, and now nice again tonight (okay, I just jinxed myself again.)

The reason is because on Friday night I wasn't able to park in my lucky parking spot. Yep, that's the reason. When my parking spot is taken, that means that we are busy and going to continue to be busy.

More often than not, barring a full moon, my parking spot means a good night is on the horizon. So far tonight (unless I have jinxed myself here for gloating -- SEE RT Cave #28), it's been really nice here.

Thus is how it is when you work at a small town hospital.

Be silent and you will not jinx yourself

I knew I shouldn't have said it when I did say it, but the need to gloat was sitting their in the back of my throat. I should have resisted, but I just couldn't.

"Do I need to tell you what happened to me last night?"

"What? she said.

"You know, I'd hate to jinx you by telling you how this beeper treated me last night," I said, as I grabbed the thing from my pocket and proffered it to my relief.

"Maybe you better not. I don't want you to jinx me." She grabbed the cold object and stuffed it into her pocket.

I don't want to jinx myself either. "Oh, but I feel like I need to gloat."

"I don't even want to know." She was smiling.

You know. I know you know. "Not only did ER not page, this thing never even went off at all last night."

"You bum."
------------------------

Twelve hours later, the tide had turned

"You bum," she said as I sauntered into the department sleepy eyed.

"What?" I said.

"You jinxed me. It was nice for a while, but then all shit hit the fan. I've been in and out of ER all day."

"Then I jinxed myself too."

I've been in ER all night.

And this brings us to RT Cave Rule # 28:

RT Cave Rule #28: If you are having an exceptionally good night at work, do not gloat about it. Not only will you jinx the incoming RT, you will jinx yourself. If you are having a good night, do not mention it lest the good night will end.

This is just one of many RT superstitions (for more, click here.)

That, my fellow RTs, is the RT thought of the day.

Beware! There's a full moon tonight.

I've been off work the past 6 days, so as I was driving to work this afternoon I was kind of hoping to have a good night: then I noticed the full moon.

I never believed in superstitions until I got this job. I've had good nights and I've had bad nights, but I have rarely had a good night with a full moon lighting up the night sky.

One night during a full moon we had a patient in for detox and he escaped through the window and onto the roof. An hour later he was found by the ER staff; he had walked in as a new patient. Have you ever had a patient escape like that? We've had it happen more than once, and our windows are but little slits.

If there's a crazy person out there, tonight's the night he'll make a public appearance. Will it be the cops, the social workers, or us hospital staffers who will have to deal with the brunt of it? I'm hoping it's not me tonight.

Who's going to be busy tonight, and what kind of busy is it going to be? Is this going to be one of those nights where we have three codes on the floors, or one of those nights where I have to do 20 EKGs in ER? Or will it be something totally unexpected, like another escapee.

I'm prepared for the worst but hoping for the best tonight.

You guys have any good full moon stories?