The Gum Tree for 2004 November 18

There was a little bit of excitement last night. Working in the ER wasn't very busy until about 9:30, and about that time a whole lot of people with small complaints (rash, headaches) came in and congested the previously vacant ER. There were also a couple of suicide attempts, and accidents. There were two events that were of note. First, there was a motorcyclist (young College Student with a Harley) who took a wide turn on Canyon road and ran right back into the bottom of a trailer bed. He hit his mouth and upper lip on the trailer bed, and came in with that thousand mile stare in his eyes. He was pretty lucky. a few inches higher and he might be living out his life in a nursing home. There was another guy who came in with vertigo. I took him to the Cat Scan and the tech there did the scan of his head. The scan revealed clusters of dead tissue in the left temporal lobe. It was amazing to see. I asked him a little bit about it afterwords and he told me that he had Astrocytoma (a brain tissue cancer) as a kid and that they had to do Brain surgery to excise the tumors. He also told me about all of the perceptual and functional defects that resulted the whole rest of his life. It is poignant to see that type of difficulty and trial. It is also amazing what the brain can do and can't do when it is damaged. It is a complex little circuitboard that affects emotions, perceptions, and thought. I found out yesterday tha Louise's Dad was assaulted yesterday. A young man from their church Ward was being pursued by some teenage kids (4) who had some kind of problem with him. After John brought the kid into his home and after a few minutes these 4 kids broke into the home and started breaking things and assaulting my father in law as well as this boy from church. We called my father in law (who is 66 years old), and he was pretty proud that he fought back and had the shiner on his eye as his little black badge of courage. I kinda wish that I were there to give them punk kids a lickin', but John handled things just fine. Louise is a little shook up about it though. She wants to get a big blackjack or night stick and put it by our bed for protection. There sure is a lot of violence in this world nowadays. I detest how bad it is getting, but on the other hand, if I saw somebody break and enter into my home, I wouldn't hesitate to attack first and ask questions later. I guess I simply lack that pacifist quality.