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FEATURE:
IN REAL TIME
Part 5
IN
REAL
TIME
FRONTO
TEMPORAL
DEMENTIA
Caring for
the Caregiver
By Rajam Ramamurthy, MD
The loud knock on the door I just closed and the loud voice of a I reached the hospital the CT scan was already done, he had IV flu-
man calling Ma’am! Ma’am! Brought a lump to my throat. I had ids running and oxygen, via a catheter in his nostril, was at 40 per-
just come in to grab my purse to follow the ambulance in my car. cent. He was not conscious. His breathing was slow and labored but
The EMT had put ‘N’ in the ambulance and I couldn’t ride with he was maintaining a normal level of oxygen in his blood. They were
him. Did he arrest, was he bleeding. I stood behind the glass door, preparing to X-ray his left shoulder which was enormously swollen.
my body felt heavy like I was wearing a lead apron. The EMT tech The blood tests were normal except for a blood pH of 6.8, most pa-
screamed again, ‘Ma’am, could you get the dog out? He climbed in tients at that pH are dying or are dead. N had no evidence of heart
with your husband.’ Seeing me, ‘Patch’ jumped out and the ambu- or lung problems. The slow breathing and the pH prompted a tube
lance left. in his trachea and a machine to breathe for him. He was sedated
and was moved to the medical intensive care unit.
I had instructed them that ‘N’ should be taken to the University
Hospital emergency room, the best in town for trauma care. When The medical ICU is in the brand new part of the hospital, spa-
30 San Antonio Medicine • January 2017
