He was a pleasant, elderly man with an automatic defibrillator installed many years ago who unfortunately developed atrial fibrillation with rapid ventricular response that coincided with the same rates as his slow ventricular tachycardia, resulting in shocks from his ICD that he really preferred not to have. But he also was plagued by a more concerning problem (as far as the family was concerned) that had grown worse over the years: dementia.
I had explained the pros and cons of AV junctional ablation in great detail to him and is faily members in great detail the night before and all agreed this was the best course of action. His wife co-signed the consent. Everything was set. He was brought down to the holding area before his procedure with the family members beside him. As is customary, I greeted them before the procedure and turned to him to ask if he was ready and if he had any further questions.
Smiling, he said: "Nope, but that stuff you pour on those stumps sure works great - gets rid of the roots and all."
And that, in a nutshell, is why I love my job.
-Wes
And that was before the infamous "Ruby Cocktail".
ReplyDeleteNo doubt he concluded that after subtracting 247 from Tuesday...
ReplyDeleteMarco
Now I understand why you had his wife co-sign the consent.
ReplyDelete-Steve