“embiggen”? I like that word–if the med career dries up, you could always write freelance…the Penthouse stories would take on new dimensions and nuances.
I once had a pt who was quite ill (he died-no, not all my pts die-I work in ICU and stepdown). Young guy with a drug habit. He also liked tattoos. He was fortunate to be in a supportive and loving relationship with a special girl.
He was bathed(d/t being absolutely filthy)as soon as he was admitted to the ICU, whereupon we(we Rn’s tend to do baths in pairs) discovered that he had a fly (common house fly) tattooed on the head of his penis. His pubic hair was shaved off and instead, he had seven locks (bunches?) of horse hair sutured around his groin. They were in a sad tangle, and of course, we washed and dried them neatly.
His SO arrived about then. She asked after her paramour and we reassured her that he was stable at the moment. She asked us outright if we had noticed his “best tattoo ever”–we answered in the affirmative.
She replied with, " He got the fly and I got the swatter! We like tattoos that go together!"
but of couse, we murmured as we went about our business…
I would say Mr. Bageldog Penis is yet another illustration of what it is not a good idea to inject oneself with unknown substances. Or have someone else do the injecting.
We see a lot of insulin overdoses in Veterinary medicine; two people in house give “Fluffy” her morning insulin without telling the other, owner misreads units as cc’s, owner misreads 4 units as 14 units, owner gives “Fluffy” her morning insulin when “Fluffy” is puking her guts out for some other reason so won’t be taking in anything to replace her blood sugar or owner gives “Fluffy” her insulin and does not make sure she eats.
Considering that people can be pretty stupid about their pet’s medicine, I would not be surprised that people can be pretty stupid about their own medicine, therefore I would suspect that insulin overdoses in humans are quite common. Perhaps death may not be as common since most diabetics are known diabetics and would be aware of the symptoms of hypoglycemia as well as those around them and it would be much easier for medical professionals to diagnose and treat.
With the thief in question, it’s less likely that someone around him will say, “hey, he’s showing signs of hypoglycemia! That strange substance he injected himself with must be insulin! Let’s get him a candy bar and call 911, stat!”. More likely they would just think he was tripping, then later they might realize he wasn’t breathing.
So…this guy travels with syringes full of insulin, instead of just bringing his bottle with the prescription information on it and some syringes with him? After he’s already been pulled over and had issues with the cops for having unlabeled syringes of some unidentified substance? That’s just absolutely insane. If nothing else, I’d think traveling with full syringes would make it hard to accurately dose himself. And unless he’s getting multiple doses from a single syringe (and thus reusing the needle), it seems like he’d waste quite a lot of insulin that way.
Oh, and Wile E., you forgot my personal favorite insulin-overdose scenario: the family has two cats, only one of which is diabetic, and they give the insulin to the wrong one. I’ve seen this happen twice–once at a boarding facility, and once when the 7 year old kid just randomly decided to poke the kitty. (What the child was doing up at 11:00 on a school night, or why the child had access to the syringes, I’ll never understand.)
Alot of diabetics suffer from poor vision. Many of these either purchase pre-filled syringes/pens and use those. Most have a family member fill the syringes (they are taught the correct method) and then take them along. It sounds to me like this guy’s dose IS one full syringe–which means he is receiving either 50 units or 100 units at a time–those are big doses(which also doesn’t bode well for the thief).
I don’t quite see how the cops, upon pulling over,would have immediate access to the syringes (I would think that they would be tucked away), so I am puzzled by that.
Zette, I wasn’t with him in the car that night, so I don’t know the specifics of what went down. I think it was just some routine traffic stop, but he’s only mentioned it once and not in great detail.
CrazyCatLady, I don’t know the specifics of his insulin use because, well, I’ve never had any need to sit R.R. down and quiz him on exactly how and how much insulin he takes. How would you work that into a conversation? “Mighty beautiful weather we’re having. By the way, I need to know your insulin schedule and dosage. No reason, I just do. Oh, and is your syringe pre-loaded?” If I’m not mistaken, he needs two injections a day, and prepares his syringes in advance with the required dosages. The syringes stolen were the ones he’d prepared for that night and the next day, you see.
Total hijack, but when I woke up from major surgery eight years ago, the first thing I did in the recovery room with the nurse was ask for my underwear back. I didn’t think nurses were supposed to laugh at patients.
(I loved my nurses - they spoiled me rotten because I was a 20 year old with a horrible roommate and they thought I was sweet;) - the nuns came to see me every couple of hours, and the nurses kept bringing me jello because it was the only thing I could keep down. If I didn’t hate the sight of blood, I’d love to be a nurse - half my family is anyway.)
I don’t know who I have more sympathy laughs for–your nurse (who was probably much more concerned about your coming out of anesthesia) or you–everyone’s got priorities!
Ok, lieu --my second whoosh in as many days. Gotta get off this decongestant–it makes me slow.
Are you playing off the horse/stable linkage (completely accidental) or does paramour mean something else?
Man, I only write the posts–doesn’t mean I know what they mean!
" 'As part of his undercover work battling the evil zwilniks (drug-running fiends and enemies of all that was, is, or will be, Good, True, and Beautiful) Kinnison resorted to the persona of Sybly Whyte - a science fiction writer. Alas, no manuscript of the novel containing the adventures of Qadgop the Mercotan has been found…"
So, are you out and about, battling zwilniks or do they come to you?
I’m hypoglycemic. My lowest was 25. It was like trying to think through sludge. Until I was 6 months pregnant, we’d never seen my BS go above 100. But now I am back to my low BS self.
In regards to the OP…you know you can walk into any hospital ER and get emergency insulin in such events, right? Rest assured that the robbers will get what they’ve got coming.
After awhile in health care, you stop asking for the origins of certain thought processes. Perhaps he thought it added to his attractiveness as a mate. Maybe he thought he looked “cool”. Or possibly, she insisted upon it–as an initiation type thing?
Who the hell knows? And he is dead these 10 years and now we’ll never know!
QtM -I have a confession: I googled “mercotan” and came up with the zwilniks…it was easier than cruising SDMB <hangs head in shame>
