Theme Night

Talk to anyone working in the Emergency Department, and inevitably it seems that some days there's a theme running through the department.  Last night was "I Broke My Face" night.

36 year old who fell headfirst off of a balcony down to a sandy bottom below.  They thought they had a small scratch on their eyebrow.  They came to the emergency department because their eye swelled up and looked like a beet was growing out of their eye socket.  CT scan showed they broke their face.  They were  admitted for having pneumocephalus - "air in the skull."

20 year old who fell headfirst over the handlebars while biking with a friend.  Seems their front tire struck their friend's back tire.  No helmet.  Landed right on their face.  CT scan showed they broke their face.  The eye socket is made up of 4 walls.  They broke three of the four.  They got to go home with antibiotics and a follow-up with the facial trauma service.

25 year old that got mugged.  They were punched in the face and came in with a swollen cheek.  CT scan showed a broken cheek bone, otherwise known as the zygomatic arch.  Because it was broken in multiple places and pushed in, they most likely will need surgery.  I left that one at the end of my shift, so I will find out what happened to them when I go back.

40 year old that was drunk and crashed their car.  Since they weren't wearing their seat belt, the windshield stopped them from flying out of their car.  However, they broke the windshield with their face.  They broke their face in about 10 different places.  The facial trauma service was going to look at that one when I left.

I worked all Fourth of July weekend and kept expecting it to be a "Drunk and Disorderly" theme weekend, but surprisingly it wasn't.  However, the Trauma season is in full swing, so the hits will, literally, keep on coming.