the time I caught a hidden stroke

I was covering two different units, working with a lot of critically ill patients requiring sedation for trauma and illness.  I was getting a page every 5 minutes from nursing, 95% stuff that could be put off until the next shift..

I kept assessing an unstable, sick patient with a bad head injury while getting hammer paged and running around the different units dealing with half a dozen cases of refractory septic shock, coagulopathic surgery patients with low EFs..and then a nurse tells me that the patient with the head injury vomited.

I run, I go do a neuro exam, I think for a second.  The neuro exam is stone cold stable from previous multiple exams..but the patient vomited, this is new and there's a high chance of increased intracranial pressure.

I order the stat head CT and call neurosurgery stat.

There's a hemorrhage in the brain and the neurosurgeons rush the patient to the operating room for a stat crani.

I managed to save someone's brain because of vomit.