There is a scene in Apocalypse Now
I was in an ED the other day and I had flashbacks to this scene. Patients lined the hallways. The trauma rooms were filled, people scurried in and out. A crazy patient shouted to Jesus. It was like bumper cars with stretchers and hospital beds going in and out. Phones ringing unanswered. People being paged on the intercom. A priest giving last rights. The sounds of ventilators. A naked man walking through the middle of it, unnoticed. A janitor moping blood. The smell of feces. Conversations in Spanish. The radio going off – a patch about an elderly man with difficulty breathing. Cops standing next to a shackled tattooed girl. A little boy on the floor playing with a truck. I found a nurse, who was mixing a drip and started giving my report. She looked up at me. “Who are you talking to?” she said. “You aren’t talking to me. Nooo, nooo. You aren’t talking to me.” I pointed to my patient. “80 year old. Rectal bleed. Going on for two days. Stable vitals.” I showed her the paperwork and set it on the counter. “I’m leaving it right here for you.” She just kept shaking her head. Down the hall came another stretcher, being pulled by a firefighter in turnout gear, a paramedic bagged a nearly blue patient with an ET tube sticking out of his mouth, while an EMT rode the rails doing CPR. My pager went off. “CAN U CLEAR FOR PRI 1?”
***
The next day I worked I did one transport. The hospital was nearly empty.
Isn’t it weird how that works?
Heh, I should open with: I have had my share of interesting shifts in the past, but 99% of the time no matter how crazy it has been prior to me coming in the second I step through the door the radios will go silent, the pages will cease, and the phone lines will go dark.Its random chance in the end, but I seem to have really good (or really poor depending on my mood at the time) luck when it comes to this.
Even better part of the movie: later in the same scene when Sheen walks up to the guy shooting at some mysterious enemy behind the perimeter. They get “the bat” who shoots a grenade and kills the guy. Sheen says to him, “Do you know who’s in charge here, soldier?” He looks at him for a moment and say, “Yeah.” And walks off. That’s it. Kind of have to see the movie to get the point, but I like that part.
That’s part of the scene I was thinking of, but I just didn’t remember his answer right. I forgot he said, “yeah.” I love that scene, and the movie.Many years ago I read a book called Dispatches by Micheal Herr, who helped write the movie. It’s his essays about covering the war, and a version of that scene (the one with Bat)comes right from his book.Thanks for the comments.
How interesting. I have that book sitting right next to me in a pile of books destined for the Amazon.com used books. I moved recently and wanted to part with some of my older books. Now I’m going to have to keep that for a while until I find that part. Ever read any Tim O’Brien? He’s got a whole slew of books. If I Die in a Combat Zone is good. He has one better one, where he’s a kid that just got drafted. It’s about his summer before going to basic training. Very good book. Autobiographical more than fictional. Lake of the Woods is another excellent one. I read that a few years ago. Loved it.