Monday, February 27, 2006

'Wires' - Athlete

I've always liked the album 'Tourist' by the band Athlete. Listening last night I realised the medical theme of their Top 5 hit 'Wires'...

You got wires going in
You got wires coming out of your skin
You got tears making tracks
I've got tears that are scared of the facts

Running down corridors, through automatic doors
Got to get to you, got to see this through
I see hope is here in a plastic box
I've seen Christmas lights reflect in your eyes

You got wires going in
You got wires coming out of your skin
There's dry blood on your wrist
Your dry blood on my fingertip

Running down corridors, through automatic doors
Got to get to you, got to see this through
First night of your life, curled up on your own
Looking at you now you would never know

I see it in your eyes; I see it in your eyes
You'll be alright
I see it in your eyes; I see it in your eyes
You'll be alright
All right

Running down corridors, through automatic doors
Got to get to you, got to see this through
I see hope is here in a plastic box
I've seen Christmas lights reflect in your eyes

Running down corridors, through automatic doors
Got to get to you, got to see this through
First night of your life, curled up on your own
Looking at you now you would never know


I saw another significant case today: a thirteen year-old girl who presented acutely with Diabetic Ketoacidosis. This is an acute presentation of diabetes, whereby the body has begun to metabolise fat and protein, as in starvation. Patients complain of thirst and frequent passing of urine, and smell of pear drops, lose much weight and present with collapse or coma.

After suffering symptoms for only a few days, and having initially put the symptoms down to a urinary tract infection, the girl ended up in A&E, where she was transferred to the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit, where she spent two weeks in a coma. When she came round she was agitated, and thus sedated. She has neurological injury from the high pH (caused by the acidic ketone bodies produced) which has damaged her brain.

Dealing with loss is hard enough, but it seems so unfair when it affects a child, especially in such a dramatic way. I found it difficult to detach myself from the emotion surrounding the issue, and think about the practical multi-disciplinary approach that I ought to be considering. I do hope, like in the song, the girl will be alright.

6 comments:

aj said...

That makes sense ('First night of your life'). The plastic box could be an incubator.

I like the hope of the song, but also how it can be extrapolated to any trauma. Medical songs are quite rare but always very effective.

Anonymous said...

I heard this song a while ago due to my parents being into Athlete. I quite liked it but did'nt listen to the lyrics until I heard the writer was singing about his daughter which made me really listen & understand what he was writing&singing about.

SW3V said...

Hi - sorry so be completely random but I totally had this song down as a medical song from the off. I'm not a huge athlete fan(but Tourist is a great album) I didn't even know about the story behind it but assumed it was about a premature baby (didn't know who's) and decided to do a search and came across your blog (which is also the same design as mine - ha - do we know how to make the columns bigger?).

It always fascinates me what other people take from songs & lyrics. One song can mean so much to so many for completely different reasons.

Richard Ashcroft's medical nod is totally heart wrenching.

Thanks for letting me post on your blog :o)

JP said...

i heard that this was about how the writers sister was left after their parents died, and she was a baby.
but i don't know ...

just heard it at school...

:/

Adso said...

I found out my two year old son had diabetes when I walked in from work one day and my wife blurted at me "You must drive us to the hospital now. Ryan had diabetes."

I had no idea this was on the cards so this was a major, major shock and yet my wife was oblivious to that and I couldn't express my shock and yes, grief at what I had just heard but had to wear a chauffeur's hat instead.

I think the reason that I cry whenever I hear this song is because it provides some kind of channel through which I can express my grief at what has happened to my own poor son.

Mums please try and realize that Dad's love their kids too, OK.

Unknown said...

I wrote a general post about how I felt about the song, on my own blog Musings of a thirty something woman, and only realised today that the song was about medical conditions. Stupid I know, given the lyrics. I like what your blog is doing in general. Very impressive