Open Chest...SAY WHAT???

This last weekend I was thinking about my blog, about how it is my adventures as a travel nurse. I'm out here in this great big world experiencing all kinds of things...and I don't think I have ever blogged about something that pertains to my job!!!  Well, something exciting happened today that I have never experienced before and to get my hands in the mix of this crazy afternoon, was, well fabulous!  If you are a healthcare provider, you will completely understand that adrenaline and "fun" that today brought, however if you aren't a healthcare provider you are going to think this is pretty gruesome!
The day started like any other, expect the fact that we were starting to computer chart everything for the first time...that was the least of our worries by the end of the day!  We had 3 patients, and one was being whisked to the OR for open heart surgery as I arrived...after that the day was calm!  We got our line placement call from the OR, then we got our "on pump" call, which means the patient is on the bypass machine so the heart can be stopped for surgery, we got our "off pump" call, then we got the "we are back on pump" call (which is not a good thing), then we got our "off pump for the second time" call (ok things are looking a little better), then we got the "we are coming to you with an open chest" call!  You read that right, AN OPEN CHEST!!!!  Seriously, when the nurse that took the call said this out loud, I had to turn around and say, "What did you say?"  But, she wasn't kidding!!! 
After that call and by the time the patient arrived to us in the ICU it was CRAZY!!!  Imagine this...a small hospital room, with 4 IV poles, 8 IV pumps with 8 different drips, 2 chest tubes, a IABP, a temporay pacemaker, all the cords to both A-lines and a CVP with the transducers, a patient with an open chest, a bed, a heart cart, a respiratory therapist, 3 nurses, 3 PA's,  the perfusionist, 2 cardiovascular surgeons, and 2 anesthesologists....and our manager running all over the unit getting the things we needed...IT WAS NUTS!!!  People were shouting orders, and yelling get this and get that, then there was me...and all of a sudden we lost a pulse...everyone was so concentrated on what everyone else was doing, so above all the chaos, I yelled "WE LOST THE PULSE"...and of course we couldn't do chest compressions, so all we could do was shock the patient...thank goodness the patient was in vfib and not asystole, so the shocking worked!!!  We were slamming adenosine and digoxin into this patient, giving him blood, titrating drips like a mad man, all while performing fantastic teamwork...it was so much fun!  I know some of you are thinking that is morbid...but I go to work everyday to take care of the sickest people in the hospital...and that is exactly what I did today!!!