From a nurse who has experience in ICU/ER. The word "stable" should

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

never have been used...as per my pre "heart attack" post

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=413170&mesg_id=413820

Shotgun injuries shred their victims. You think you have one issue dealt with and another rears its ugly head.

I cannot even begin to describe the destruction that a shotgun blast can inflict.

As we discuss the heart muscle damage that the victim is dealing with, we must acknowledge the damage to supporting ligatures (muscles, tendons) and the damage to vital perfusion pathways (jugular, carotid).

This guy was bleeding out and if it had been a backwoods, ordinary Joe situation, well, he wouldn't have made it.

Just a little dose of reality from one who's been there. BTW, I never had to deal with the SS, etc. This has got to be a major stressor on the medical providers. Please, be kind. MKj

[MuseRider]

1. Can you imagine?

I am an ex ICU/ER nurse and that is hard enough on it's own but to add the SS and the Bush**/Cheney administration to it, well that would be impossible.

[DemBones DemBones]

2. Thanks for an R.N.'s view on this.

Sounds like you're better off being shot by a rifle or handgun, as long as the bullet misses vital organs or does minimal damage.

So you're not buying that Mr. Whittington was sitting up and talking?

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

5. Yeah, once I heard he'd been air lifted to a trauma center, I knew the

guy was in a bad way.

He was most likely intubated and on a respirator, for at least a few hours after surgery. And, most definitely, unstable.

Some more Orwellian double speak. MKJ

[txindy]

13. I know what you mean. I perked up at the transfer, myself.

They sent him from one hospital to another's Trauma Center. Not good.

I do have a great deal of sympathy for the medical personnel, believe me. I have the terrible feeling that they will be made the fall-guys/gals for whatever happens - and that they are well-aware of that. The surgeon yesterday was very upset on-camera. There had to have been a good reason. Whittington's in a very bad way, I'm afraid.

It boggles my mind that Darth shot the guy at a quail hunt, pretty much washed his hands of him, and then going so far as to attend a QUAIL LUNCH at the ranch the very next day. Right before leaving the state completely. Talk about unbelievably cold!

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

9. As more news filtered out, I didn't buy it. Especially, the part about him

being moved out of ICU so quickly after the trauma surgery.

He may have been talking (after being extubated), but sitting up and chit chatting would earn him a trip to the step down unit, this time for real.

Until then, if there was an ounce of honesty in the information coming out, he'd be described as at least "serious", if not "critical" while in ICU and in danger of serious complications.

Just like most of us here, I am highly skeptical about the "official" story, and a lot of the doubts, for me, are based on personal experience.

MKJ

[OzarkDem]

3. Thanks for the info

I was wondering whether he was bleeding a great deal given wounds to his neck and chest. Docs and all are doing a difficult job given the pressure.

[Ilsa]

4. I can just imagine the management calling in their best certified,

highest degreed nurses, best documenters, and plenty of them, to deal with this one man, same nurses on rotation. I had figured he would have been placed in a VIP suite, but the ICU story never made sense unless one assumes there was alot more damage and bleeding.

Yeah, he would have died in the field if it hadn't been for cheney's resuscitation team nearby, and the rest of their asses would be in the Kenedy County clink if they had been regular folks not "entitled" to special consideration, like a day's delay in metabolizing their drunkenness.
'

[madrchsod]

6. did they put this guy out to remove the pellets?

he may have been "stable" but he`s still wired into every monitor. shit i had one hell of a reaction from my anesthesia after my last surgery and that was the first time in my 5 recent surgeries. who knows what is going to happen down the road for this guy.

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

10. Not just to remove the pellets, but to examine and repair damage.

MKJ

[nomatrix]

7. Thank you for your birdseye view.

Not a nurse but love watching movies, like Master and Commander (Russell Crowe)

As in that movie, wouldn't a pellets piercing his skin and took a bit of fabric fiber, fester (say it fast 5x's)

and become a danger to the victim's survival until it is found and removed?

[area51]

8. Nurses rock.

:yourock:

[Vinca]

11. A question for the R.N.

Do the pellets actually "migrate" as has been reported? Wouldn't they have had to pierce the pericardium to get anywhere near the heart? Isn't it more likely Cheney shot him in the heart?

[Obamarama]

12. But...but...but....

Katherine Amrstrong just said he was hardly hit...just a few pellets here and there. By gosh, he was awake and talking.

And, don't forget....Hannity said this sort of thing happens all the time and afterall...it was JUST birdshot.

I'm SO confused...I just don't know WHO to beleive. :sarcasm: