So I signed the discharge papers, and an ambulance came, paramedics came to take her home.
我在出院单上签了名, 一辆救护车来后急救人员将她送回了家。
And I went back to my work on the wards.
之后我回到了我在诊所的工作。
All the rest of that day, that afternoon, I had this kind of gnawing feeling inside my stomach.
在接下来的一天中, 那天下午, 我的肠胃有着一种翻滚的感觉。
But I carried on with my work.
但我还是照常的继续工作。
And at the end of the day, I packed up to leave the hospital and walked to the parking lot to take my car and drive home when I did something that I don't usually do.
在工作结束后,我整理了下便离开了医院。 在我走向停车场去取我的车的路程中,做了一件我平常不会做的事情。
I walked through the emergency department on my way home.
我从急诊室借了道。
And it was there that another nurse, not the nurse who was looking after Mrs. Drucker before,
而就在那里,另外一位护士,不是之前照顾Drucker女士的那位,
but another nurse, said three words to me that are the three words that most emergency physicians I know dread.
对我说了 绝大部分急诊医生都害怕听到的三个字。
Others in medicine dread them as well, but there's something particular about emergency medicine because we see patients so fleetingly.
其他科系的医生也害怕这三个字, 但因为急诊医生看的病人都来去匆匆, 这三个字对我们有着特别的意义。
The three words are: Do you remember?
这三个字是: 记得吗?
"Do you remember that patient you sent home?"
“记得吗?你送回家的那个患者?”
The other nurse asked matter-of-factly.
那位护士就事论事的问道。
"Well she's back," in just that tone of voice.
“她又回来了。” 她就用了这样平常的语调。
Well she was back all right.
她的确回来了。
She was back and near death.
回来时已经濒临死亡。
About an hour after she had arrived home, after I'd sent her home, she collapsed and her family called 911 and the paramedics brought her back to the emergency department
在我让她回家后大约一个小时后, 她昏倒在了地上,她的家人打了911, 急救人员将她重新带回了急诊室。
where she had a blood pressure of 50, which is in severe shock.
此时的她已严重休克, 血压只有 50。
And she was barely breathing and she was blue.
她的呼吸极其微弱,面色发青。
And the emerg. staff pulled out all the stops.
急救人员们使出了浑身解数。
They gave her medications to raise her blood pressure.
他们给了她提升血压的药物。
They put her on a ventilator.
并将她连接上了人工呼吸器。