PICU Playa'

I was a little surprised at the pain meds neurosurgery ordered for a kid they admitted to the PICU last night. He had just had his skull opened and grids placed to help figure out the location of his seizures. Our ICU team was consulted to help with pain management overnight. I figured it was probably just me not being used to adult doses—he was 16—so I thought I’d try it out and follow their plan. It was this combination of frequently scheduled Toredol and Valium… and if he still had pain he could have 5mg of Morphine (big adult dose!) or Tylenol with Codeine. Neurosurgery does not mess around!

Turns out, they worked a little too well… I woke him up before examining him and saw him looking at me kind of funny while I was introducing myself. I asked him to follow my light… but instead, he just said “Woah… doc! You’re beautiful!” His mom started laughing pretty hard while I just went on with my exam, but he was like “no really—you’re really beautiful!” Nice. I had to cut back on his meds a bit. The best part was watching the reactions of any female nurse or resident who came out of his room… they all had smiles on their faces!

Countdown to California… 25 days!