Puerto Rico Thread

Politics and religion
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This guy needs a source because this is not really how IVs work. In some cases it allows patients to receive their medication comfortably… like they’re mixing the medication in with the solution to give it to them over time and and dilute it. There may be, in many cases, other ways to administer the drug. There are also other fluids they can mix.

I would be skeptical to believe that people are dying because of this which is why I want his source.

Now having said that, the three systems I know fairly well have basically gone to the alternative methods to save those specific IV solutions for those who really need it or are allergic to the other mixtures. And of course there are is the hydration application but again there are other sources and other alternatives, more expensive.

203

Not sure about people dying, but the shortage is definitely a major issue, and it isn’t hard to imagine it leading to that (perhaps through accidents/infections/problems arising from medical personnel having to employ non-standard practices…or maybe a decline in care resulting from those practices being more time-consuming than traditional method, I.e. an IV push taking longer than hanging a bag, leaving less time elsewhere…just guessing here).

Hard to believe that the Baxter plant (guessing) still doesn’t have power.

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Yeah it’s not a minor issue for sure but people dying… that’s take a major issue and makes it extreme when I’m pretty sure that’s not what’s happening… anywhere.

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Yeah. When I saw that I thought it might be wrong, but not working in health care, I couldn’t say why. That makes sense. I would think stored blood and plasma would be a greater issue. Having said that, I’m planning on donating one or both on a regular basis.

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Well to be clear, I am not a clinician. I am however in billing which means there’s been a lot of discussion about costs and supplies and alternatives. For certain though I know some medicines are given via an IV for comfort, for patient comfort. I believe there would be some pain otherwise.

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Having been in a hospital for a serious injury, I understand injecting pain medication into a drip. OTOH after my accident I was on a strict 4 hours between morphine doses. And they were really strict. Really strict.

I was hit by a car crossing the street. My left leg was broken. (I also had a depressed skull fracture, but that’s another story)

Anyway, after having my tibia reamed with a giant corkscrew, they put a “pin” in it. The skull fracture caused me no issues. Nor the reconstructive work on my face. But the leg was fucked. At first they gave me Demerol. But that didn’t help much. Then I was on morphine. Just enough to kill the pain for a short while. When the pain started to dig in it was usually about ten or fifteen minutes before the next shot.

Now I know that hospitals have to be careful with drugs like morphine. I understand the addictive issues. But that last ten minutes were HELL. I’d start to feel the pain and knew I was in for some fun. I tried so very much to ride it out.

There is a part of the book Misery, by Stephen King, in which the main character talks about picturing his pain. He sees it as a post from an old pier. When the pain was away he could barely see the top of the post in the water. But when the pain started coming back it was like the tide going out. You couldn’t stop it. It just happened.

I completely understand this.

I felt the pain coming back. And I knew it would be BAD. Around the ten minute mark I’d ask a nurse if they were going to give me a shot. They would walk away. But they would be back.

“Your chart says you get a shot at XX:XX it’s not that time yet.”

Then the pain would take over. It didn’t get bad fast. Oh fuck no. It crept up on you. I knew it was really bad when I broke out in a sweat. Literally sweat pouring off me. Like the water in my body had had it with the fucking pain. And maybe I considered suicide. But did not have the means or the wherewithal.

Then the nurse came in with my shot. And I got it. And I FUCKING LOVED HER for a while.

The only time I got a shot a bit early was when my father and mother were visiting. They saw me sweating and asked why. I told them a version of the above story. My father was not an emotional man. But he left the room. And shortly there was a nurse with a shot, before my time. My father returned. His face was bright red. His eyes were red. He had been crying.

I think I know what happened. Although I never asked and he never explained.

The point I lost in the above is, I guess, drip meds work in some cases. Sometimes they don’t.

Edit: Wow. This is really the wrong thread for a drunken screed like this. Sorry all. And especially sorry to Nesrie. This had nothing to do with what you wrote. My bad.

208

Updates from my friend Marisol’s mom in Puerto Rico (they live in a fairly rural farming community in southeastern PR near where Maria made landfall):

100 + days without electricity and 60 days without running water… what does it really means? If you are lucky to have a generator you worry about having enough containers with gasoline. In our case, to remember not to go through the tunnels in Maunabo. And to go the “other” way to the farm so it is not spill all over the mountain. Rick finally has it down how many bungy cords are needed to steady the containers! In the morning we start the generator to watch the news and to know what is going on in the world and who is getting electricity in P.R. or water. And we learned about people isolated, in terrible need of help. And incredibly, people even in need, step up and give a hand to those in worse conditions. It makes me so proud…The dogs reminds me of hey, we need breakfast and so the chickens. We check on the small spring, a drop of water at a time, and fill bottles for cooking and washing dishes, after we filter it. Menu is plan for the day. We sweep floors and the rugs with a broom, yes, a broom… and then we fill buckets to use to flush toilets. You become very aware of how important is water in the daily living. Because of how precious it has become, we can not wash windows, floors, balconies, cars. We have to save it for bathing and doing laundry. Bathing is down to 2 gallons of water. No microwave or Keuric coffee pot. It draws too much electricity and shuts down the small generator! I use the magic bullet sparingly, so your cooking starts to change. Thank goodness for all those camping trips back in USA. Going shopping takes some planning because usually we have to go 40 minutes away and you don’t want to come home in the dark. It is pitch black to go through the mountains and get home it is no better. You carry a flashlight everywhere . Think batteries… rechargeable are not as good as regular… and solar, well, if you forgot to put them out, they are dead too! It is quiet because few people where we live can afford to buy a generator. Usually are at least $900! And gas is around $3 a gallon. So 6 gallons gives you 8 hours. So it cost $18 for 8 hours, but there is more than 8 hours in a day…multiply by 7 days… it is a daily struggle to keep things cold and force you to go more often to the supermarket. Ice is still precious. So after 100 days, it test everything in your daily life , and we have endure and thrive under harsh realities. Our pride and our colors have come out, and they happen to be red, white, blue with one white star in a corner. And that keeps us going until that day we can flip a switch and the lights go on, the refrigerator is working in the kitchen and not a small one in the utility room, and water comes out of the faucet. And I can take a hot shower! And life is normal again…

209

Every thread is the right thread for one of your screeds, Rich.

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No worries Rich. I am so sorry you went through that.

I just wanted stress that I don’t think people are literally dying over this shortage, but yes, there are reasons we do what we do with an ample supply of IV solutions. When it’s short, there are other methods… some of them are probably not that great when it comes to comfort, but it’s not death. I also know for a fact that there are cases they’re not using it just in case someone actually needs it, like really needs it.So there must be situations it is needed.

I am sure an actual clinician could provide more details but people dying on the mainland due to an IV solution shortage and nothing else is a factor… I am skeptical.

211

QFMFT

212

The cool thing is that now might be a good time for people like us to buy some property in PR and build some condos/resorts! Yay!

(Okay, not so cool.)

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People in septic shock, volume depletion from trauma, and in DKA need immediate IV fluids in large doses as life saving measures, off the top of my head. That’s why hospitals are trying to save those fluids for need rather than comfort. I haven’t seen a lack yet with a mid-sized hospital system due to that mindfulness of use, but it could happen if supply stays disrupted long enough. No need to panic at the moment.

214

There’s a growing suspicion in PR that this is exactly what will happen–deflate property values with an ongoing and unnecessary crisis and start pushing hard on the nation’s unstable debt to swoop in and collect properties and develop them for pennies on the dollar, thus transferring even more of the island to mainland control. . .

Still, I’m willing to just apply Trump’s razor and assume there’s no ulterior motive that sophisticated; he’s just a racist fucking piece of garbage elected by an entire party of racist pieces of fucking garbage who don’t really care if a bunch of Latinos die on an island somewhere.

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I have to agree with @CLWheeljack on this. Trump appears to be a “racist fucking piece of garbage” but he’s also quite probably a tool of other more sophisticated racist fucking pieces of garbage who wish to take advantage of the wreckage Trump leaves in his wake.

217

I’m sure the federal government will assist the new property owners with loans and stuff, too!

Anyway, I think this is the case anywhere there is valuable property. Trump is in favor of stronger eminent domain laws, isn’t he?

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True, but the large volume bags are not in short supply. The shortage mostly affects 50 mL and 100 mL bags, which are used to slowly deliver (drip) medications. The alternative is to push the med manually with a syringe. This may mean a nurse has to sit with the patient for 30 minutes, which is obviously very inefficient.

219

“We have smaller bags gone,” he says. “We’ve made adjustments trying to compensate for that, and now the larger bags, which we use as a stopgap measure, now they’re being inconsistent, and that’s what, I think, set off alarm bells.”

220

If you could only pump IV fluids out of the Gulf of Mexico like oil…

221

What does Puerto Rico need right now? If you said aid and supplies, lolno.

If you said “Tsunamis” then you win!