Baby, it is cold outside.

The other day a young guy came in by EMS. They said they found him down outside a bar and beat up. So that, in and of itself, is normally not that big of a deal; however, that night it had been snowing. This guy was as white as a ghost, and had a rectal temp of 30 degrees Celsius (moderately severe hypothermia).

The EMS had appropriately removed his clothes so when he came in to the trauma bay we placed him under the bair hugger. We got an IV, started some warmed IV fluids, gave him some warmed humidified 02, and I tried to get a central line. The guy was shivering so much I turned his leg in to swiss cheese before I got flashback. Nevertheless, I got the line and we really started pumping so fluids in him.

So the moral of the story today: if you're going to go out drinking, don't follow the binge by getting your butt kicked. And if your going to get your butt kicked, don't let it happen in a back alley in sub-freezing temperatures.



So I've been working nights lately, and I have a quite a few ahead of me. I'll get back to updating the blog more regularly soon.