The Intensive Care Unit

                  PROLOGUE
Joe was running very late. He had promised his girlfriend of two years the surprise of her life. A well thought out plan to execute the perfect proposal. And with lots in his mind he was racing through the rush hour traffic at neck breaking speed nearly missing a car .

Mark was working as a nurse in the local hospital for over twelve years. Happily married with three children,Mark had chosen to settle in his hometown after marrying his childhood sweetheart,who is now a full time mother.And today just like any normal day Mark got ready to go to work the evening shift in the ICU. But today he was running slightly late and on the way he nearly had an accident as a maniac on a bike almost had a collision with his car.  
                       JOE
Where am I .And whats that beep beep sound. Why can't I move myself. Am I dead? No!!! that can't be. I can hear voices talking in hushed tones.The last thing I remember is the blinding glare of an oncoming vehicle as I was riding my bike.  And that jarring alarm again. What's that.....Am I floating....  
        
                    MARK
Patients assigned today bed 3&4. Ok let's see. Bed 4 , Joe a  25 year old male patient with history of road traffic accident on the ventilator. Oh oh a busy shift today then huh!!! There goes the ventilator alarm again. Seems the patient is awake. Inj. Midazolam 4mg stat.Sleep away...

                 JOE
What's that gurgling sound.Cough! Cough!! Oh what the hell!! What is going down my throat. Ssss!! What's that sound. Thank God it stopped. And as I  try to look at myself. Which is difficult as it is with this darn thing around my neck. I see tube coming from my nose another one in my chest and a tube for my pee.I see this machine right next to me making a slight huffing noise along with a hum as it tries to take air in and out my lungs , With tubes going from my mouth and into the machine. The gentle whirr of this thing next to my bed and the soft beep beep made me realize that I am in trouble ,deep trouble. Only the regular beat of my heart which the monitor showed in the form of sound gave me a reassurance albeit a weak one that for the time being I am alive.
                     
                       MARK
Well , let's see the orders. Hmm suction PRN(whenever necessary), sides q4h(four hourly I),IV fluids,ok on inotrops too. So blood pressure also to be maintained. I have to change his sides and giveback care too. It's definitely going to be a hectic shift. Time to  suction him. I hope this kid survives. If not hang in there my friend till my shift ends. Thankfully my other patient on bed no.3 Mr.Smith is stable. He is on some oral meds.So not much to worry about him. He will be shifted out of the ICU tomorrow anyway.

                      JOE
As I come slowly out of my drug induced slumber. I see this nurse talking softly to the patient next to my bed who seems to be in a much better shape. Oh oh there goes the alarm again from the machine which I think is the ventilator as I overheard while the nurses were talking.Darn there goes that thing down my throat.That was  uncomfortable,but I think the nurse knows what he is doing. Anyhow!! Where are my parents?How is my girlfriend taking all this in? I hope I get better. There's a lot left for me to do.

                  MARK
Another half an hour and my shift will end uneventfully . Hang in there Joe for a couple of days and you might even make it.Just then the alarm of the monitor that show  heart rate of bed 4 goes off. I think he is crashing. I see the on call doctor rushing to the bed along with a couple of other nurses. Immediately we disconnect the ventilator and connect the AMBU (it's a bag like structure which we connect to a tube that goes down a patient's throat and squeeze it as air goes in ). One of the nurse started a CPR (unlike in movies this one with both hands) . The doctor gave a series of stat orders . Inj atropine stat,inj adrenaline stat blah and blah which were immediately followed . As we all frantically made a joint effort to save the kid.One of the doctor said it's a VT (ventricular tachycardia- an abnormal heart rhythm which can be corrected by giving shock) on the ECG/EKG(It's a waveform representation of the heart beats). So we brought the paddles from the crash cart ,charged it ,shouted all clear and gave a shock of 300 joules.No effect,so the CPR continued.
 
                    JOE
What is happening ,I wondered as I saw a flurry of activity near my bedside. Doctors and nurses running around. Someone was loading injection into a syringe ,other was giving CPR,then there was someone I guess the doctor giving terse orders and finally the shock. It went for almost half an hour but it seemed a lifetime as I saw a bunch of people desperately trying to bring my heart back..... I stood over my lifeless body till I no longer could as I heard the doctor say 'time of death 8:15 pm' ....