Tumbling Dominoes

One could keep reincarnating every 25 years as an ICU Nurse, and find the same old problems. We unleash new names for the same disorders, apply similar drugs, wring our hands, and have the same outcomes. Sepsis, Sudden Cardiac Death, 1st MI.........at least 50% mortality. Folks, when the Grim Reaper comes for you, we're not much help. But if YOU are willing to help....go for it.

She has been here several weeks

And had every kind of tube,

Can you believe, she was admitted

For just a Jiffy Lube,

Her heart was sort of sluggish

And her blood was quite anemic,

And so, like tumbling dominoes

Her brain became ischemic,

Combative and demonic

Obesity berserk,

She started busting up the place

And nearly killed the Clerk.

She was dosed with Midazolam

MS and Ativan,

Enough to kill an elephant

It knocked her on her can,

But side effects are side effects

And some can lead to death,

We finally had to silence her

But we took away her breath,

She earned the ventilator

The prize behind, Door Number Three,

It includes a year of tubing

And a Therapist for free.

Her respiratory failure

Brought on Shock and R-D-S,

Why, in just a couple hours

She became a total mess,

Reversible?, it’s possible

But, that’s not the likely course,

We can treat her up the yin yang

But can’t replace her life force,

The woman was a time-bomb

Just waiting to explode,

She had multi-system plug up

From a life on lipid road,

Her triglycerides set records

That will stand for many moons,

She had a steady diet

Of booze and macaroons,

Her husband was no better

He paid the grocery bill,

You couldn’t make them understand

This method of life would kill.

Now, lying here before us

Is a body, life supported,

And we’re rushing around like maniacs

Because her heart beat just aborted,

Thus, it seems a little pointless

To apply our super science,

To a person who spent years

In stubborn, health defiance!