Judgement...

So yesterday was quite the eventful shift. It started out easy/ normal enough. A few MI rule-outs, an Alzheimer's patient from the nursing home that split her head open when she tripped on her comforter, a few toddlers with over-zealous/ hypochondriac patient looking to get their kids scanned and treated for the few HOURS they'd been exhibiting MILD symptoms... And to spice things up, there was the 72 year old nursing home patient that was vomiting green-gatorade (medical code for Bile) and probably had TB (I was gowned and masked most of the day. Blach)...
Well, now that I've ruined your appetite (sorry if you're reading this on your lunch break or hanging out post evening meal)... then there was the highlight / low-point of the shift (depending on your prospective).
I was already 15 minutes past my scheduled shift end, when we had an ambulence come in code 3 with a 15 month old, who was actively seizing with a Grand Mal seizure. She wasn't breathing on her own, had no reflex or tone, just completely limp and unable to handle her own secretions. After the Doc leading the code got the endo-tracheal tube down her (soooooo want to get my shot an intubation... but maybe next time) and then I started baggin' her (aka breathing for her by pumping and ballon and inflating her lungs every 5 seconds)... as our team of Respiratory Therapists and Nurses worked on her, and as I was trying to pay attention to pumping the balllon and counting every 5 seconds I was trying to ask the Mom about the childs history and what happened. The mother was 23 years old, with 3 kids, age 7, 4 and the 15month old we were working on. While clearly concerned and upset by what was happening, it was realllyyyyyyyyyy hard to try to work on the kiddo and NOT be all judgy judgy of Mom. She was a total space cadet. Deverting questions, pretending she didn't know the answers to simple questions like :
"Has she ever had a seizure before?"
M: I don't know
(come to find out the child had had 5 in the past 3 months...)
"How much does she weigh?"
M: I'm not sure she was here in Novemeber do you guys have it in the chart?
(she's 15months old! At that age kids can grow up to 1-3lbs per WEEK so her weight in November is now OBSOLETE so I went a different route asking "What size diapers do you buy for her" - thinking that would at least give us a weight range. Mom said "5's..." - finally the most definitive answer yet)...
And I get being traumatized that people are poking and tubes and computer screens and monitors are all over your kid and it kind of sends you into shock, but I have a feeling if I stop her on a random night in TARGET she wouldn't be able to answer any more coherently.
Come to find out the child has had 5 seizures since early November - each time precipitated by a viral/cold symptoms. And the child's older sister (the 4 year old) has had the same seizures and has been evaluated with EEG's (which is like an EKG for your brain instead of your heart) with no diagnosis concluded - other than the fact that they confirmed she does NOT have epilipsy.
The baby had been in our ED twice for seizures like this (just not as bad as this current one) she had been evaluated by a neurologist and given anti-seizure medications - not to be taken every day - but to be given should the mother notice she was starting to have symptoms. The mother simply let the prescription run out (again... hard not to judge). So when the child began seizing in the car as the mother picked her up from daycare she had no way of stopping the progression. Why you would just "forget" or "let" a prescription such as that just run out - especially when its for your child - is beyond me. I just kept counting ***1,2,3,4,5... breathe... 1,2,3,4,5..."
Finally I asked:
"Is she up to date with her immunizations?"
M: Oh, we don't do vaccines
I soooooooo wanted to reply, But clearly you do you DO do menigital seizures??? UGGGGGG (again REALLY REALLY hard not to be judgy... 1,2,3,4,5... breathe... 1,2,3,4,5... )
I think when I become a Board Certified PA, I want to hold local conferences FREE for parents to educate them on the true SAFETY and NEED for vaccines. The main reason most people don't get their child vaccinated is because they think they'll develop autism. There is absolutely NOOOOO link whatsoever to Autism and vaccines and this has been proven by numerous scientific studies. ONE study about 10 years ago done in the UK suggested this original link and start the wide spread mis-informed panic that now exists about immunizations. The manuscript has since been withdrawn from the archives of medicine because the study was biased and the data so flawed and manipulated that its authors were reprimanded with suspensions of their medical licenses and fines. Those people who withhold vaccines are putting their own children's health and LIFE in jeapordy - not to mention the health and life of every child and person they go to school with, walk down the aisles of the grocery store with, etc. I think anyone who CHOOSES to withhold vaccines from their child, should first have to spend 2 weeks at a hospital in a 3rd world country and see the babies gasping their last breath from pertussis, or seizing with a seizure from diptheria.
As the great movie "Parenthood" once quipped: "you need a license to drive a car, buy a gun, hell you even need to register to vote... but any butt reeming asshole can be a parent..."
Unfortunately, I see the truth in this satire daily. Cases like the little girl I was breathing for last night just make it extra sad... 1,2,3,4,5... breathe... 1,2,3,4,5..
The girl stopped actively seizing after we gave her some IV medications, but she never regained consciousness, and never started breathing on her own again during my watch. The transfer ambulance came to take her on the 30 min ride to OHSU's pediatric ICU- our hospital doesn't have a pediatric ICU- and the paramedics took over for me... 1,2,3,4,5... breathe... 1,2,3,4,5...