Widow Maker

This is a previous post I wrote back in my last CCU rotation. We saved her

I'd like to introduced young Ms. R, a 58 y/o female currently walking the tightrope between life and death. Earlier today she was admitted with a new onset MI (heart attack). She was rushed to the angiography lab where one of the critical arteries supplying blood to the heart didn't appear on the monitor- it was horrible clogged.

The “widow maker” was so affectionally named due to it’s effectiveness at doing exactly that. It is a commonly fatal stenosis of a critical artery that supplies the heart. It tends to affect fifty something year old men, fatally, making their wives widows, instantly. Ms. R had no idea of this horrible monster that was forming in her arteries and now it threatens to end everything that is her life.

I had to talk to her family earlier tonight and tell them how grim the situation looks, they cried, I had nothing to say to comfort them at all. I shouldn't, she has a very slim chance of survival and they better be prepared. At the moment she’s nearly maxed out on all the possible medication we can give her and the only thing standing between her and the *BUS (Big Unit in Sky) is the love of god and a resident with 14 months of experience.

I am scared. Back to work!