The "Blackout"

Today was quite the wild ride.

Last night I stayed in Yuba City at my friend Dawn's place so that I could make the best use of my time. This morning I got up went to Jamba Juice for a smoothie, printed my prep worksheets for the hospital, checked to make sure that my patient was still at the hospital, then headed for clinical conference.

After conference, we hit the floor running. We had only been on the floor about a half an hour and I was about to give my patient Phenergan, an antiemetic (to decrease nausea and vomiting).

With my instructor by my side, I began infusing this medication into his IV line over two minutes. While I was pushing the medicine, I started to feel a little dizzy, but brushed it off.

After the medication had been administered, I needed to flush the line to maintain patency so I started, but at this point I was really light headed. So much so that I said I needed to sit down.

As soon as I sat down, I lost my vision and I remember saying, "I'm going to blackout." Next thing I know, I am coming out of a trance with a room full of hospital staff, students, doctors, and paramedics all yelling my name.

They were taking my blood pressure, feeling for a pulse, and checking my respirations. Needless to say, I was so confused.

How long had I been out? HOW did I get on the floor? What happened?

They started questioning me, but to everything they asked, my answer was no(has this happened before?, do you have a history of cardiac problems?, are you diabetic?...an on and on and on.

I was embarrassed but at that time, that was the least of my problems. They said I was seizing and that I fell out of the chair and onto the floor.

Normally, I am in a patients room all by myself, so I am thankful that I happened to be giving a med with my instructor and another fellow student at the time, because I could have really hurt myself.


Anyways, they insisted on taking me to the ER by ambulance-I refused the ambulance because they are $$$$, plus the ER was less than 5 minutes away from the hospital I was at, but they insisted that it wouldn't be safe any other way.

The ride was uneventful, I didn't even get sirens, but I am glad because I think sirens are for more critical situations. When we arrived, I felt like I was going to vomit but luckily, I was able to breath through it and was able to control myself.

To make a long story short, Andrew drove up and met me and brought me some food. I was questioned, tested, and they found.....................................................................NOTHING!

My first reaction and my secret wish was that I was pregnant-but I'm not pregnant. They took an EKG, I have a healthy heart(no kidding), my blood pressure is 103/66, low but consistent. My oxygen saturation was 100%, my pulse was 70. Furthermore, the blood back came back normal.

Their diagnosis, was vasovagal syncope which is a fancy way of saying I fainted because I wasn't receiving enough oxygen and they believed that is was triggered by emotional stress--check, check.

After four hours, they sent me home to rest. No answers, just ordered to rest. Although, today was a waste of time, I'll give them some credit because rest is what I desperately need. I even got an official doctors note excusing me from classes tomorrow-wow.

The moral of the story is; don't faint in a hospital while taking care of a patient, but if you do faint and start seizing make sure there are helping hands around.

If this ever happens again, I'll be sure to invest in a fainting chair.