can a heart physically be broken when someone is emotionally broken hearted?

Mrs. Rodriguez* was admitted to the hospital for complaints of shortness of breath and chest pain. After five days of diagnostic tests and blood tests, she was found to be fine . A psychiatry consult was ordered and a psychiatrist came to make one last evaluation on Mrs. Rodriguez* before the decision was made to release her. Doctors did not mention any of their findings or lack of findings to her and she was frustrated. "Why am i still here she asked, can you please read my records and tell me what the doctors have concluded?" I agreed to read the doctors progress notes and get back to her. Reading through the notes and evaluations it was concluded that Mrs. Rodriguez heart was failing according to the doctor from depression, depression from losing her husband several years back to cancer. She spoke to me once about him and called him the 'perfect man' and 'the man of her dreams'! She was happily married for 50 years and felt an immense and unsurvivalable loss when her husband passed away. Apparently Mrs. Rodriguez heart never recuperated from the loss and her heart was indeed breaking. Mrs Rodriguez did not have a heart attack as was suspected but she was indeed suffering from a broken heart that manifested itself in physical pain and in the very beginnings of heart failure. How many milligrams of Zoloft can fix a broken heart?

When Someone Dies In Your Arms

This weekend was a rough weekend for me, not just because i worked a crazy 84 hours in 5 days but because i lost a patient. I started my shift that night a little tired because i was just simply overworked and to be honest with you,underpaid for the work i and many nurses do. My patient load wasnt too bad and i wasnt really stressed out by my patients, they all seemed manageable and knowbody was unstable. One patient Mr. Brown* was having a bumpy evening with his health. Although he was a sickly man with a long medical history that included two open heart surgeries, severe arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure he was actually doing pretty well and he didnt look that bad for his condition either. Mr Brown* was in the hospital this time for some breathing problems which at this point were undercontrol. Sometimes though Mr. Brown* would get breathless and couldnt even speak without huffing and puffing. All was well with Mr. Brown* and he was even joking with me and we were talking about how he was like a cat with nine lives and i asked him what life he was on now, "number five or something", i stated. He laughed and stated that he did feel like a cat and couldnt believe he had lived this long being as sickly as he was. Mr. Brown* still had the energy to joke around and put a smile on my face when he said that i was a very thorough nurse and really nice. After our chat,his evening medicine and a portable chest xray ordered by the Intern he decided he needed to use the bathroom urgently. He knew that he was too weak too go to the bathroom on his own . After discouraging him from getting up and instead using a urinal and/or a bedpan, he decided to go to the bathroom instead which was a few feet away with my assistance. Carefully we took the few steps to the bathroom which for Mr. Brown felt like a mile and sat on the toilet to do his business in private. I told him to pull the call light when he was done and i would return to assist him back to his hospital bed. Not more than five minutes had passed when the call light of Mr. Browns' bathroom turned on. I was suprised that he finished so quickly knowing how slow Mr. Brown was at everything. Upon entering the bathroom i found Mr. Brown still sitting on the toilet seat with his body facing the bathroom sink and his arms cradeling his head as it lay against the porcelain bowl of the sink as if totally exhausted. "Poor Mr. Brown* i thought". He was so tired and weak that he couldnt even stand up to wipe himself or put his pajama pants back up and cover himself up. "Mr. Brown are you ok?" i asked, but no reply. My heart started beating really fast and the adrenaline started rushing through my veins. I knew something was wrong! I tapped at his shoulder but he wouldnt look up. I grabbed his arms lying against the bathrrom sink and they suddenly went limp! I grabbed his face and told him to say something . His mouth made a quiver but no words came out!! Suddenly i was holding on to the weight of a 150 pound man,balancing it on the toliet seat so as to not drop him. His face in an instant turned white and his mouth turned blue and suddenly it seemed as if his eyes began to proturude from his eye sockets and his pupils became fully dilated. I was shocked,terrified and scared at the same time. I wanted to get help but i didnt know what to do with Mr. Browns' body. I realized at that moment that Mr. Brown had died in my arms!! I was holding a dead man in my arms!! I gently positioned him against the wall and left him sitting on the toilet seat some how. I ran out into the hospital corridor and shouted loudly "code blue, code blue"! As i tore the crash cart from the wall , all the nurses and assistants started running towards Mr. Browns' room. I was asked by many what room the code was in but i couldnt speak and i couldnt say one intelligble word, i simply told them to follow me. I was in shock and could only think of the possible electrical activity still left in the heart of Mr. Brown that we could still capture and bring back to life Mr. Brown with. As i got closer and closer to the room with the big bulky red crash cart a nurse yelled out to me from some direction, "he's a DNR!!!" I said "WHAT!!!ARE YOU SURE?" She yeeled out "YES...IM SURE!" I vaguely remembered from early that night from report that the patient was a do not resuscitate but it had slipped my mind!! The other nursing staff and i proceeded to carry Mr. Brown from the bathroom to his hospital bed and allow him to pass away peacefully and without any extreme measures. His wife would later be called and she come and say her last goodbyes to him. Its weird because after all that, i had to proceed to care for my other patients as if nothing had happend and later wrap my friend Mr. Brown in a body bag and send him away to the cold morgue. Mr. Brown wasnt suupose to die that night . He had five lives left like we joked or so i thought. Patients have died before in my care before, but they were expected deaths of severly ill and unstable patients. Mr. Browns death was a suprise both for me and the doctors and interns that took care of him. It was just his time i realized. Nothing that we could have done would have changed the situation. His wife helped me realize this when before she left home after saying her goodbyes, she kindly wished all of us a Merry Christmas with a soft smile and said Thank you!!

I have this strange odor coming from my %$#& what is causing it?

As a nurse i often get friends, strangers and even my own patients ask me to diagnose there ailments, aches, rashes and odors. Half the time i smile and listen intently to there worries and concerns and give them whats called a 'preliminary diagnosis' based on my book knowledge and nursing experience, the rest of the time i tell them "go see or ask your doctor"! I created this blog not only to give my nursing advice to those that may have embarrassing questions that they don't have the guts to ask even their own doctors but to share my sad, amazing, scary and even gross experiences as a nurse on a day to day basis. Eventually i hope to write a book about them and have other nurses and even patients share their experiences with me and with their permission share them with the world! Many of my friends are nurses, doctors,psychologists and fitness and health professionals. So if i cant answer the question, one of them can help me. Feel free to ask anything even if you think its dumb or silly! If you want to share your experiences as nurses or want to ask a fellow nurse a question feel free to respond.If you are or were a patient, share your experiences whether negative or positive or ask any questions you may have. I will try to get a response for you in a day or two. This should be fun!!!!
Yours truly,
Carmen Cossio, R.N, B.S.N