The
Case of the Missing Kidneys
by Traci Tran
As you probably guessed, the
night brought even more excitement for Meredith...but what could top a
case of excessive diarrhea...?
It was getting later into the night and Meredith was having a hard time
staying awake. The hospital seemed quiet and under control so she
headed over to the cafeteria to grab some coffee. She thought
about how when she graduated medical school she would be sure to find a
place to work where she wouldn't have to cover the graveyard
shift. But, for the time being, Meredith tried to look on the
bright side. Some interesting things seemed to happen late at
night after all. Meredith sipped on her coffee and sat down to
relax for a little bit. After sitting down for just a few
minutes, she received a page to report to the Emergency Room
ASAP. It was her first page to the ER at this hospital, so
she was eager to see what would await her. She definitely
wouldn't need coffee to keep her awake now...
Meredith rushed over to the ER as fast as she could. When she
arrived a nurse clued her in on the situation.
"We have a male in critical condition. He woke up at a college
party bleeding in a
bathtub full of ice. He called 911 and they rushed him over here
right away," the nurse told Meredith.
Meredith quickly absorbed the information and went to the room where
the patient was lying. He seemed to be in an extreme amount of
pain
and passed in and out of consciousness.
Meredith
immediately noticed the patient's chest. In
what appeared to be red lipstick, was the eerie message, "Call 911 or YOU
WILL DIE!" Meredith shuddered at the sight of
the creepy message,
but quickly focused her attention to the emergency situation at hand.
ER doctors and surgeons hovered over the patient. The bleeding
seemed to be coming from his back. The doctors turned him over to
find two slits on both sides of his back. The slits were
approximately eight or nine inches. Meredith came to assist the
doctors in assessing what had happened.
After palpating the patient's back, Meredith declared, "I think...his
kidneys were stolen!"
The doctors couldn't believe such a thing could happen. They
rushed the patient to the lab to get an X-ray. X-rays confirmed
the horrible thing that Meredith had discovered...someone had stolen
this poor guy's kidneys!
Meredith had never had a case like this before. Everyone at the
ER was baffled. The police were called and a file was reported so
that the kidney stealers could be arrested. Meredith didn't have
time to worry about who stole the kidneys, she had to help keep the
patient alive. The patient would need kidney transplants to
survive...
Author's
Note
I originally read this
story on a website about Emergency Nursing. It had a link to some
medical urban legends and the kidney story was by far the most
interesting! The legend says that after a night of partying and
drinking, a
student from the University of Texas woke up in a bathtub full of ice
sans his kidneys. I kept the legend the same and just added it
along to my frame tale. This would not be a pleasant experience
at all and I hope it never really happened! The source never says
if it is true or not, but I think this is just an urban legend
(hopefully!). Either way, let it be a lesson: don't get drunk at
a party and pass out or you may wake up without your kidneys!
Bibliography
Title: Someone Stole My Kidney
Author: Angela Shah
Emergency-Nurse.org Website
Webpage
Link.
Image
Information
"Healthy Kidney." Link.