After my previous post, where I covered why I'm still writing............to be a voice, that tells the stories; a loyal reader pitched in with a wonderful tale, which in fact, I was a witness to. It was fun writing about it (circa 1991)
Out of Alignment
Oral cavity cleaning
Turns out, is a really good endeavor,
When you are an ICU patient
And you don't want to be there forever,
If we keep your mouth clean
Your bacterial burden will be reduced,
Less chance of acquiring an infection
Where you might be double deuced.
But don't assume it is without risk
What if you have a loosie juicy jaw?
Your Nurse is armed with a toothbrush
Your jaw goes sideways, oops, was there a flaw?
You say," You know, that happens sometimes
And I have to go to the Dentist to get it fixed",
"Honey, we can't do that, but we've got drugs
That can get anything unmixed".
It was not an easy maneuver
To get her jaw in alignment,
It took Morphine and Valium
And group consensus refinement,
Ultimately, the ENT resident
Straddled the patient
Right there on the bed,
Pulled out his Home Depot vice-grips
And rearranged her head.
Betty woke up and her jaw was working
The ENT resident was gamely twerking,
And sweet little Vanessa, the toothbrush dame
Knew that someday this episode would earn her some fame.
2 comments:
Oral care is all fun and games 'til a patient chomps down on your distal phalange!
So true. A few times over my most recent years of Transesophageal Echo's or Bronchoscopies, the physician who failed to place a bite-block, was likely to get chomped on. Propofol is about the only drug to reach for then.
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