Death Note/Nite

Thanks to my Japanese flatmate, I have recently become hooked on a manga-turned-anime series called "Death Note". Thankfully Youtube have put English translated episodes up online so I can keep up to date and not have to bother my flatmate for a word by word translation.

The premise of the show is that a young man (Light Yagami) falls into possession of a notebook with supernatural powers. Whenever he writes someone's name in the book, they die of a heart attack. This notebook is known as a "Death Note" which belongs to the death 'gods' of Japan (the Shinigami) who usually use these books to rid the world of people when their time is up. However, Light-kun decides he can do a better job and decides to altruistically rid the world of all the bad or undesirables. The rest of the world soon notices that the crims are being bumped off at an alarming rate and start to panic. And so along comes 'L', the mysterious international detective whose job it is to outwit and discover the true identity of the killer now nicknamed "Kira". It's a psychological thriller and very well thought out. Each week I can't wait to hear the theme song and get my next installment. The psychology of death and dying.

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It was a night shift just like any other. The week of ward nights had so far been a dream run. Averaged about 2-3 hours of sleep interuptted only by phone orders for fluids and sleepers. Dr Z had commented how it was her 'calming effect' on the wards which made it thus. I laughed. And so began the Friday night shift. The beginning of an 3 day weekend (due to hospital days off). The night started with a constant stream of pages asking me to come and review people who weren't doing too well. Someone in pulmonary oedema, a Down's Syndrome guy who needed venous access but wasn't gonna let me anywhere near him with a needle. The usual kinda stuff that fills night shift.

And so as I was pinning down this guys forearm to pop in the cannula, I heard the nurse next door spurt out, "Um doctor... I don't think this lady's breathing anymore."
Argh!"Well do you wanna call a Code Blue for me then!!!!" (Frustration at nurses lack of initiative quite evdient in tone of voice)

Ok J... remember ABC.... ABC! (I told myself again and again)"Can someone get me a bag and mask! And the crash trolly while you're at it!" (just in case they didn't realise we'd need one - can never assume they'll 'get it')
Airway - Guedels airway inserted.
Breathing - bag and asmk commenced and handed over to nurse.
Circulation - pulseless in the carotids - CPR commenced

I put my hands on this 90 yr old ladies chest and with the first chest compression felt the CRUNCH as all her osteoporotic ribs shattered under the weight of my body. I started furiously pumping away, praying that the arrest team would arrive soon.

Thankfully before the first minute had elapsed they were on site with paddles and drugs and I was relegated from team leader to chest compression boy and let the registrars play with atropine, adrenaline and DC shocks.

But it was too late. She had been gone for too long. She was dead.
I had given her the best possible chance I could... but sometimes that's just not enough.

And so I wrote the first Death Note of the night as my registrar called up her husband to inform him of his wife's 'passing awayy. Turns out she lived 4 houeses down the road on my street. She probably walked past my house during the day on her way to the shops.

The ink has just dried on the Death Certificate, when the pager beeped. It was the surgical ward. "Sorry Dr J, we just need to to come and declare a patient dead." I went down and began the same process of 'declaring' death on this patient with a known leaking Triple A. And no sooner had I finished that one then another page... with another death.

By the time that shift finished, within 24 hours, I had declared 5 people dead. My own 'Death Note' episode, except that I was writing their names on paper retrospectively.

NB - this was a post I wrote in the past month that I was unable to publish due to internet problems, so it occurred about 4 weeks ago (sorry for the delay - but better late than never)