#trauma name

[macgyvermedical]

Hello!

I was wondering--if more than one person (of the same gender) was admitted to a hospital's ICU at the same time, and they were both unconscious or otherwise in a bad enough mental state to not be able to give any identifying information and they had no ID on them, would they both be referred to as John Does? Or would they be given different monikers to help better tell them apart? John Doe 1 and 2? This is assuming they're staying for multiple days and are still too injured to give their information over that time.

Thanks!

This is a really good question!

It's pretty common that a patient coming into the emergency department isn't able to identify themself, at least initially. This isn't usually because they're unconscious (though it can be), but rather they may have dementia, are delirious, are very high or drunk, are experiencing some form of psychosis, speak a language we can't identify right away, are a very young child, or simply that they refuse to tell us their name.

At the hospital I most recently worked at, we had temporary names for patients. We called them "trauma names" and they were usually a string of three random letters, a random noun, and then three random numbers, which ended up looking something like this:

BZC-TIGER-552 (TIGER-552, BZC for Last, First naming conventions such as what was listed in the med machine or chart)

This name was used to make a temporary chart, and it would effectively serve as their name in all capacities until we learned their real name and could merge their charts. If we needed to refer to a patient who had a trauma name, usually we used the noun in the middle. So I might call our fictional trauma patient "Tiger" until I had something more official to call him.

[callmelinamfsnow]

“I’m family”

“So. is. he”

[ministarfruit]

day 12: karma ♡

(femslashfeb prompt list)

[bluegiragi]

they lost focus and had a consensual workplace relationship

nsfw on patreon

[bizarrelittlemew]

calling it right now that season 3 starts like this

[salemontrial]

I'm sorry but I feel like non-Australians just will not be able to 100% get Ca$h's character, like I don know if you can understand how impactful it is unless you know eshay culture and how harmful it is. Like I know Chooks, they went to my schools, they take my busses, literally every time I go outside I'm scared of them. Literally as I'm typing this there's a group of them on the bus behind me and it's making me anxious. Ca$h trying to tear himself away from his eshay group in order to protect his friend and safely be with his black nonbinary partner and their alt friend group is like. A massive deal I can't imagine the eshay types I've been close with ever doing that for me

Edit: Not to even MENTION having the eshay character be unapologetically queer and asexual like that is CRAZY. Like there's a reason Darren was so surprised if you're queer and an eshay most of the time you do NOT say it and to have it being portrayed so beautifully is. Gods.

[andi-o-geyser]

*record scratch*

Yup, that’s me, watching my future wife fall to the ground dead from a trap I set off. I bet you’re wondering how I got into this situation. Well, my life’s a little crazy, but it all began when my family was murdered in a political coup and I made a pact to create the first gun with a smoke demon...

[cyarskaren52]

[feelingtheaster99]

What I find so funny is that in receiving small glimpses of episodes I haven’t seen, I fully assumed that Kipperlilly Copperkettle was some type of dog-based humanoid? But no, that was Kristen just roasting her to FLITH upon meeting her

[biceratops7]

Guys… guys.

As hilarious as all the “how oblivious ARE you?” jokes about Stede are, I think we’re missing the big picture. This isn’t about obliviousness, it’s about trauma.

Stede isn’t ignorant of the fact he’s in love with Ed. he’s been abused his whole life for his queerness and is having trouble conceptualizing that he’s allowed to be.

Notice how Stede immediately has the instinct to walk back his comment of Ed being “lovely”? This is the same man who didn’t even pick up that his very obviously mutinous crew was planning a mutiny, that shit was learned behavior. He’s speaking as a little boy who was tied to a boat and stoned for picking flowers, and as someone who was told mere days ago a man falling in love with him was “defiling a beautiful thing.”

Homophobia/ heteronormativity is alive and well in this world and Stede, being forced to live in the conservative circles he does, would’ve absolutely been painfully aware of it. The fact that he feels the need to ask a woman what it’s like to be in love with a man speaks volumes after he’s already been happily kissed by one and has roleplayed being married to him when lonely. He’s not just casually making conversation then has a eureka moment when he happens to notice the description applies to him and Ed too, he asked specifically to compare them.

It’s him testing the waters and thinking that maybe “they” were wrong. Maybe he’s not broken or pathetic, maybe he never deserved to be treated as such. Maybe he didn’t “seduce” Edward, or “ruin” him, or “defile” him. And maybe his feelings for Ed are just as loving and romantic as Mary’s feelings are for her boyfriend.

It’s such a beautiful moment when he slowly smiles, let’s out that little breath like a sigh of relief, and tells his wife of an arranged marriage with nothing less than wonder in his voice that what he’s found at sea is in fact love. Fuck, it gets me every time.

There’s an absolutely gorgeous through line of queer liberation in Stede’s half of episode 10 after this scene. How he refers to Ed as his “newfound love”, confidently says they’ll “all be great”. He smears the blood on his face himself, breaks his own flowers, all to reach someone who sees him as perfect and beloved exactly as he is. What a fitting ending to his days of crying himself to sleep because he cannot be what everyone’s failed to beat him into.

[italiansteebie]

He heard the news, and suddenly everything was moving 1,000 miles an hour. The only thing Steve could think about was Eddie. Was he scared? Did he run? What happened? And suddenly they’re in the boat house, poking around one minute, the next, a jagged piece of glass was pressed to his jugular.

“Steve?”

And then it was over, Eddie dropped the broken bottle and slumped against his chest, heaving sobs making their way out, body wracking as he cried. “Shhh, it’s okay, Eds.” He soothed, pointedly ignoring the confused glances from the rest of the group.

They sunk to the floor together, Steve caressing Eddie’s hair. “It’s okay, babe. Breathe, just breathe with me.” Eddie’s sobs stuttered to an end, “She broke in front of me, Steve, I- I knew you said this shit bad but, damn it, Steve.” His voice came out wrecked and broken. Steve sighed, “That’s exactly why I didn’t want you getting mixed up in this shit with me, Eds. I- I can’t lose you.”

Eddie reared back, “And you think I can lose you, Steve?! I can’t.”

“Ed-”

“No! I can’t. Okay?”

Eddie cradled Steve’s face, tear tracks drying and breath returning normal, Steve reached to wipe away a stray tear, tucking Eddie’s hair behind his ear. They were lost in the moment until Dustin broke the silence, “What the fuck.”

“Language.”

“Watch it, Henderson.”

Dustin eyed them, “Okay. Now I see where you guys get it. Weird. Um. Do you want to explain?” Dustin and Robin watched as they silently communicated, eyes flicking towards each other in confusion. “We-” They started in unison, giggling at each other before Steve continued. “We’re dating.” Dustin blanches and Robin looks like she’s about to pass out.

“You’re gay?”

“Bisexual,” is the unison response, “We- Uh. How’d you meet?” Dustin splutters, watching the blush spread across Steve’s face. Eddie grinned, “Stevie here got himself locked inside the mall last summer, and it was just his luck that I was there graffitiing the side of it and heard him crying. I was his white night.”

Steve scoffed, “I was NOT crying,”

“Pfft. Stevie, you were weepin’ like a baby, sweetheart.”

Dustin gags at the pet names, and Robin is just staring at them, starry eyed.

“So there’s… I’m not,” Steve smiles softly at her, “Yeah, Robs. You aren’t alone,” She gives a soft smile back before the lightbulb goes off. “Wait! That’s why you reacted so well to Tammy!” She’s spinning around, and suddenly there’s a finger in Steve’s face, “You had the NERVE to make fun of Tammy, when you're dating HIM?”

“Hey!”

“Shut up, Eddie. Does that mean- Does he know?”

Steve shrugs, “I didn’t have anywhere to go after the russians. I hadn’t told him yet but… The truth came out when his uncle Wayne was patching me up.” Robin’s gaze on Eddie turned thankful.

They were all caught up in a soft moment when the sirens of a cop car broke the peace, “Oh, fuck, I forgot I’m running from the cops.” Eddie says, a little shell shocked.

“Don’t worry, we can go back to my place,” Steve reassures, and never the serious, Eddie waggles his eyebrows at this, to which Dustin and Robin share simultaneous gags, and Steve pushes at his shoulder.

“What? Oh, yeah. Running from cops, don’t make jokes Edison.” He’s muttering to himself as they move to Steve’s car, ducking down and dodging suspicious eyes. Once in and buckled, Dustin gives a pointed look towards the metal head in the passenger seat.

“Edison?”

And the tense atmosphere lifted ever so slightly.

[crymeariveronceagain]

hey i don't know what writer needs to hear this today but you can have characters in your work who exist only to move the plot forward. you can create an oc for a fanfic who exists to ask a question at the right time and is never seen again. you can create a novel and have random characters that exist to move the story. characters are elements of narrative. not every single one has to have a whole backstory and a life fleshed out. sometimes they can just be there for a scene and then never be involved again. isn't that how life works? don't we meet people and then they vanish? aren't our lives simply moments spent to drive forward the plots of others? your character can be pointless. you character can exist in a moment. your character can take up space. your character can exist, even if you don't know their birthday and their mother's favorite song.

characters are not people. you do not have to make them into people unless you want to. you owe them nothing. use characters however you want in your story. develop them as is relevant. otherwise, it literally does not matter.

[parttimeagents]

to be with you completes me

I am way more active on Twitter btw: https://twitter.com/PartTimeAgents

[samanthamulder]

THE X-FILES (1993-2018)

SEASON THREE — Don’t you see, Mulder? You’re doing their work for them. You’re chasing aliens that aren’t there, helping them to create a story to cover the shameful truth. And what they can’t cover, they apologize for. Apology has become policy.

[batsyvie]

she reminds him of his rose

[kaftan]

Animorphs rambling incoming:

i don’t think people who haven’t read Animorphs understand that Animorphs is the quintessential “childhood trauma in a sff setting” narrative. but people need to understand. because at its core, past the simplified synopsis (six kids gain the power to turn into animals so they can fight the aliens that are infiltrating Earth by sneaking into people’s brains!), Animorphs is a war story. it’s not a story about a war that just so happens to star children--it’s about child soldiers. Applegate and her co-authors made a choice to refuse to dress it up as “kid superheroes save the day!” because they wanted that message to sink in.

it’s hard to really convey this fact about the series with any number of words because you really need to read it yourself, you need to experience the crumbling of naivete and slow erosion of morality and steady piling up of casualties over ~1.4 million words. but... between the moments of levity, goofiness, and genuine fun (which the series is full of! they’re welcome breaks from the many grimmer scenes) the message of the cost of war, the way it destroys children, is always present. it’s sobering.

even outside the war context, it’s all the little things: symptoms of PTSD like rachel’s increasing aggression / jake’s listlessness and depression / everyone’s hypervigilance and self loathing; the hopeless of knowing as a child that no one is coming to save us; that moment in #19 where marco is desperately trying to lift the team’s spirits by Using Humor To Cope but every joke falls flat; the repeated scenes of different animorphs mourning the people they used to be and the world they can never return to; i could go on and on--it’s all of these things that are emblematic of childhood trauma in general. try as i might, i can’t think of any other series that does what Animorphs does with extended narratives of trauma, period. that’s why i’m nuts about these books. that’s why i think everyone needs to read them.

thanks for attending this impromptu TED talk.