will to live

We have a frequent flier at St V's; someone who comes in again and again with the same problem. This girl calls the ambulance every few weeks.

When they arrive, she shows them the massive cuts on her arms. She then takes them to the fridge, where she has stored all her blood in jars. In this way, she can tell the paramedics exactly how much blood she has lost.

For a while, everytime she came to ED, they would fill her up with donor blood and send her for psychiatric counselling. Unfortunately, when she has enough blood in her, she feels "too full" and wants to bleed herself again. The hospital was going through all it's O-negative blood on a single patient. There is now a hospital order that we just give her fluids and stitch her up as best we can.

Did I ever say I wanted to do psychiatry? I retract that statement, officially, here.

Emergency is still good. I still enjoy my work, even during crappy, frustrating, sad days like today. This is a good sign.