He had walked the razor's edge between life and death, and he knew it; a dozen strangers had formed a human chain to reach into Hell and pull him back into the land of the living. As consciousness returned, he struggled to ask one question of the doctors hovering over him:
"Did the Flames win last night?"
Monday, November 12, 2007
Sunday, November 04, 2007
The Carms Revolution
Even damnation is poisoned with rainbows. (Leonard)
I headed out through the snow this morning to meet up with friends. It was supposed to be just for breakfast, but conversation dragged on through dinnertime, with the snowfall coming down hard outside.
We spoke of carms, the residency match process here in Canada. Where to apply, how many programs, what to put in our applications; these are questions that have no answers. The act of asking is cathartic, though, and so these days we go through this process over and over.
Of course, if we are successful in our applications, then this safe little world we're living in, with its tight friendships, will be destroyed, and we will all head out to begin from scratch, again.
To all of my architects let me be traitor.
Now let me say, I myself gave the order
To sleep and to search and to destroy.
I headed out through the snow this morning to meet up with friends. It was supposed to be just for breakfast, but conversation dragged on through dinnertime, with the snowfall coming down hard outside.
We spoke of carms, the residency match process here in Canada. Where to apply, how many programs, what to put in our applications; these are questions that have no answers. The act of asking is cathartic, though, and so these days we go through this process over and over.
Of course, if we are successful in our applications, then this safe little world we're living in, with its tight friendships, will be destroyed, and we will all head out to begin from scratch, again.
To all of my architects let me be traitor.
Now let me say, I myself gave the order
To sleep and to search and to destroy.
Saturday, October 27, 2007
They Come in Threes
I've been thinking a lot about life and death recently. Sitting in my spider hole in D'heller, my networkless laptop powered on just to keep me warm, put these thoughts about existence into my mind. Was there more to life than perfecting my Zero Wing skills? What was the point of being a Puzzle Bobble god?
My good friends in LA had a baby two weeks ago now; I've been through a lot of births in the past few months, but I still get choked up by them. And, when it's the baby of such good friends, it's especially meaningful. My happiness about the event are, well, inexpressible.
While they were experiencing new life, though, I was forming a new and close relationship with death. A week ago, I answered a code; the poor person passed away, his head in my hands, my face perhaps the last he saw. Will I end up the same, I wondered, alone, a stranger saying goodbye to me as I leave this world?
I continued on my rounds, and ended up at another code, less than twenty minutes later. This time, I had just begun to bag when she revived. The code team arrived, and I left. Is she still around a week later, I don't know.
They come in threes, I was told. And so, the wait for number three began. It happened on Thursday, at the end of a long day. This one turned out well, and everyone there was happy and relieved. Grandma was okay, and the family intact.
So, now that I am in nephro/internal, I find myself with a job opposite to that I had in my obs/gyne rotation. Death is all around, and it's our job to make sure that it doesn't come too early. This is why I'm here...
As Leonard said:
We've been around, we fall, we fly
We mostly fall, we mostly run
And every now and then we try
To mend the damage that we've done
My good friends in LA had a baby two weeks ago now; I've been through a lot of births in the past few months, but I still get choked up by them. And, when it's the baby of such good friends, it's especially meaningful. My happiness about the event are, well, inexpressible.
While they were experiencing new life, though, I was forming a new and close relationship with death. A week ago, I answered a code; the poor person passed away, his head in my hands, my face perhaps the last he saw. Will I end up the same, I wondered, alone, a stranger saying goodbye to me as I leave this world?
I continued on my rounds, and ended up at another code, less than twenty minutes later. This time, I had just begun to bag when she revived. The code team arrived, and I left. Is she still around a week later, I don't know.
They come in threes, I was told. And so, the wait for number three began. It happened on Thursday, at the end of a long day. This one turned out well, and everyone there was happy and relieved. Grandma was okay, and the family intact.
So, now that I am in nephro/internal, I find myself with a job opposite to that I had in my obs/gyne rotation. Death is all around, and it's our job to make sure that it doesn't come too early. This is why I'm here...
As Leonard said:
We've been around, we fall, we fly
We mostly fall, we mostly run
And every now and then we try
To mend the damage that we've done
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Back to Life
Last Thursday, I emerged from my spider hole, and returned to so-called civilization, looking much like Saddam. I haven't quite recovered, though. A classmate asked me yesterday why I was walking around stooped over; the contractures will take some time to stretch away.
We had Thanksgiving on Monday up here, which resulted in a nice dinner at a classmate's place. I started nephrology the next day. It's fun so far; maybe I should go into nephro...
We had Thanksgiving on Monday up here, which resulted in a nice dinner at a classmate's place. I started nephrology the next day. It's fun so far; maybe I should go into nephro...
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Claustrophobia Update
In this world of irony, it is only fitting that I posted about my odd claustrophobic dreams a couple of posts ago. Now, I'm living the dream.
For my placement in the badlands, the school assigned me a room in a basement. Where do those dreams come in? The bathroom: the ceiling is about 6'1", which means that I can't stand up straight. Shaving isn't easy, walking around has to be done doubled over...
But, that's the good part. The shower, well, is about 6'2" tall, and about 2' by 2'. In other words, it would make a cozy coffin for someone 6" shorter than me. The shower head is located a bit below my shoulder height. I can fit in there if I fold myself up a bit like an accordion bellows. To top it off, the shower head pops off once it heats up, giving me a fixed time limit for shower length... showering is a form of comical torture.
No internet access at home either; I have to go to the hospital to (slowly) check my email... and facebook is blocked. I feel like I've been buried in Kill Bill: Volume 2...
For my placement in the badlands, the school assigned me a room in a basement. Where do those dreams come in? The bathroom: the ceiling is about 6'1", which means that I can't stand up straight. Shaving isn't easy, walking around has to be done doubled over...
But, that's the good part. The shower, well, is about 6'2" tall, and about 2' by 2'. In other words, it would make a cozy coffin for someone 6" shorter than me. The shower head is located a bit below my shoulder height. I can fit in there if I fold myself up a bit like an accordion bellows. To top it off, the shower head pops off once it heats up, giving me a fixed time limit for shower length... showering is a form of comical torture.
No internet access at home either; I have to go to the hospital to (slowly) check my email... and facebook is blocked. I feel like I've been buried in Kill Bill: Volume 2...
Sunday, September 09, 2007
Bones
My rotation in therapy is done, so I've left behind the hermeneutic circles I'd weaved myself into, and I'm moving on to family medicine. I have a rural placement, in a town famous for its dinosaur bones; it's in what is called the badlands of Alberta. I may not have net access there... not sure how I'll cope with that. If that's the case, I guess I'll be doing a lot of studying and reading, and perhaps a lot of running as well. I'll have to pack my Nietzsche and Freud books... I almost bought a couple of Dostoyevski books on Saturday, but held off...
Wednesday, September 05, 2007
Changes
I'm one and a half weeks into my current rotation, and it seems to have had a pretty profound effect on my thought patterns.
Some thoughts I had today:
"Hmm, this reminds me of the conflict between Hegelian and Marxist dialectics."
"He's caught in a classic Batesonian double bind!"
Neither of those sentences would have meant anything to me two weeks ago. I bought a six-pack of beer on the way home.
Some thoughts I had today:
"Hmm, this reminds me of the conflict between Hegelian and Marxist dialectics."
"He's caught in a classic Batesonian double bind!"
Neither of those sentences would have meant anything to me two weeks ago. I bought a six-pack of beer on the way home.
Sunday, September 02, 2007
Psych
I've never considered myself claustrophobic before, but how else can I explain my recent dreams? Over the past couple of months, I've repeatedly had dreams about being uncomfortably squished into tight spaces.
The last one was about two weeks ago, and I remember parts of it very clearly. I was leaving my office; the door was tiny, just small enough for me to crawl through, with quite a bit of trouble squeezing myself through. The door led into an antechamber, a small room perhaps three feet by three feet, with a second door on the wall to my right, leading to a larger room. The second door was the same size as the first, and I had to work my way through that one, while my lower body was still in the first doorway. As I was worming my way to the second door, someone came to talk to me through the second doorway; they mentioned something about increased budgets, and I was happy because it meant that I could get a bigger doorway for my office.
I eventually made it out into the larger room, but the ceiling there was about six feet high, and I kept hitting my head on the metal light fixtures as I walked around doubled over.
I wonder if being in my obstetrics rotation for the past six weeks had anything to do with it.
Now I'm thinking about going into psych; I'm in the middle of a two-week elective in family therapy, and it's great.
The last one was about two weeks ago, and I remember parts of it very clearly. I was leaving my office; the door was tiny, just small enough for me to crawl through, with quite a bit of trouble squeezing myself through. The door led into an antechamber, a small room perhaps three feet by three feet, with a second door on the wall to my right, leading to a larger room. The second door was the same size as the first, and I had to work my way through that one, while my lower body was still in the first doorway. As I was worming my way to the second door, someone came to talk to me through the second doorway; they mentioned something about increased budgets, and I was happy because it meant that I could get a bigger doorway for my office.
I eventually made it out into the larger room, but the ceiling there was about six feet high, and I kept hitting my head on the metal light fixtures as I walked around doubled over.
I wonder if being in my obstetrics rotation for the past six weeks had anything to do with it.
Now I'm thinking about going into psych; I'm in the middle of a two-week elective in family therapy, and it's great.
Sunday, August 12, 2007
Ahem
Another weekend without call. The result: nothing. The highlight of the weekend was listening to 'Cough Piece' by Yoko Ono, all the way through, and contemplating its meaning to the artist and its meaning to me.
I tried to get a haircut, but failed. Didn't have a reservation...
Yoko's thought for the day:
Kyoko, don't worry
Don't worry, Kyoko
Mum's only looking for
Her hand in the snow
Which kind of makes you worry about Mum.
Leonard's thought for the day:
Four o'clock and the fog comes in
We all remember the sea
For several seconds our sins are forgiven
Mine against you, yours against me
I tried to get a haircut, but failed. Didn't have a reservation...
Yoko's thought for the day:
Kyoko, don't worry
Don't worry, Kyoko
Mum's only looking for
Her hand in the snow
Which kind of makes you worry about Mum.
Leonard's thought for the day:
Four o'clock and the fog comes in
We all remember the sea
For several seconds our sins are forgiven
Mine against you, yours against me
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Survival of the Fittest
Obstetrics is going well; of the surgical specialties, this is by far my favourite so far. Did I already say that?
I just survived a week with three 24 hour shifts in it, so I'm a bit tired. One of the things with long shifts, is that you end up eating a lot in the hospital cafeteria. Options there are... limited, to say the least. However, the result has been an improvement in my diet, I think, as I have been consuming vegetarian sushi almost exclusively. Getting home, I'm too tired to go get take-out, so I'm eating mostly yogurt, Ensure, and chocolate. Yes, chocolate, thanks to my total life disorganization.
Recently, I bought a big box of chocolates from Bernard Callebaut for the nurses in one of the units I'd been working in. Unfortunately, I never got around to going back to drop it off. So... I opened it up and started eating it myself. And man, it's good stuff, bringing a bit of joy into my life every night (every night I'm home, that is). I'm sitting here with the taste of chocolate in my mouth as I type this; it's not just a moment of pleasure that it brings, but it also evokes memories of previous times and places, involving chocolate from various sources, like Burdick's, Serenade, or the chocolate of my youth: Rottenhöfer.
Anyways, I'm sure that right now there's an accountant at the head office of Wendy's, who's staring at some balance sheets, and thinking: "What's gone wrong in Calgary?"
I just survived a week with three 24 hour shifts in it, so I'm a bit tired. One of the things with long shifts, is that you end up eating a lot in the hospital cafeteria. Options there are... limited, to say the least. However, the result has been an improvement in my diet, I think, as I have been consuming vegetarian sushi almost exclusively. Getting home, I'm too tired to go get take-out, so I'm eating mostly yogurt, Ensure, and chocolate. Yes, chocolate, thanks to my total life disorganization.
Recently, I bought a big box of chocolates from Bernard Callebaut for the nurses in one of the units I'd been working in. Unfortunately, I never got around to going back to drop it off. So... I opened it up and started eating it myself. And man, it's good stuff, bringing a bit of joy into my life every night (every night I'm home, that is). I'm sitting here with the taste of chocolate in my mouth as I type this; it's not just a moment of pleasure that it brings, but it also evokes memories of previous times and places, involving chocolate from various sources, like Burdick's, Serenade, or the chocolate of my youth: Rottenhöfer.
Anyways, I'm sure that right now there's an accountant at the head office of Wendy's, who's staring at some balance sheets, and thinking: "What's gone wrong in Calgary?"
Monday, July 23, 2007
The Gates to the Garden
Okay, I've enjoyed a lot of medicine before, for various reasons, but I have to say that the biggest rush you can get in meds may be obstetrics. I have three 24-hour shifts this week, and finished the first one this a.m.; it was my first completely sleepless call shift.
And it was good. I felt like the opposite of St. Peter, standing outside the gates of the womb, receiving the sinless into life, and cradling them in my size nine hands as their cords were cut and they took in their first breaths.
And it was good. I felt like the opposite of St. Peter, standing outside the gates of the womb, receiving the sinless into life, and cradling them in my size nine hands as their cords were cut and they took in their first breaths.
Saturday, July 21, 2007
Potterless
As everyone knows, today saw the release of the final Harry Potter book. I preordered from Amazon months and months ago. Well, today is the day... and they have yet to ship it, those jerks. They sent an email a while back saying that if you wanted it shipped on time, you'd have to pay extra. I'm pretty angry at Amazon right now... I wish I hadn't ordered $270 worth of textbooks from them last week; they haven't shipped those yet either, those jerks!
'Chapters' all the way from now on!!!
Anyways, so here I am without Harry Potter to read. I had the entire plot worked out in my mind, based on the final few chapters of the last book, and now I can't confirm my predictions.
To make up for this fiasco, I picked up some light reading at the local used book shop: 'A General Introduction to Psychoanalysis' by Sigmund Freud.
I was thinking this week that I have been mostly successful at eliminating all fun from my life. Almost all reading I do these days is textbooks. I don't have a TV; I gave up renting movies. However, I unfortunately still listen to music, and have a remaining hobby. I ordered up a bunch of Towa Tei and Haroumi Hosono CDs a few weeks ago (Motivation Five, Future Listening/Future Recall 3, Sound Museum, and Hosono House), along with a disk I was missing from Faye Wong (天空), and they arrived this week; I drove to the courier office today to pick them up. I'm enjoying GBI (German Bold Italic) right now. Augh! It's fun! Darn, must stop!
Anyways, I should really be studying obstetrics now. I need to know how to deliver babies by 8 a.m. tomorrow morning.
High contrast. It's cool!
'Chapters' all the way from now on!!!
Anyways, so here I am without Harry Potter to read. I had the entire plot worked out in my mind, based on the final few chapters of the last book, and now I can't confirm my predictions.
To make up for this fiasco, I picked up some light reading at the local used book shop: 'A General Introduction to Psychoanalysis' by Sigmund Freud.
I was thinking this week that I have been mostly successful at eliminating all fun from my life. Almost all reading I do these days is textbooks. I don't have a TV; I gave up renting movies. However, I unfortunately still listen to music, and have a remaining hobby. I ordered up a bunch of Towa Tei and Haroumi Hosono CDs a few weeks ago (Motivation Five, Future Listening/Future Recall 3, Sound Museum, and Hosono House), along with a disk I was missing from Faye Wong (天空), and they arrived this week; I drove to the courier office today to pick them up. I'm enjoying GBI (German Bold Italic) right now. Augh! It's fun! Darn, must stop!
Anyways, I should really be studying obstetrics now. I need to know how to deliver babies by 8 a.m. tomorrow morning.
High contrast. It's cool!
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Direction
Well, I've enjoyed paeds neuro so much for the past week and a half, that I am thinking this may be it. I will decide over the weekend if I should just go for it. If I find I'm not so crazy about it after another rotation, I can always take a year off.
Cases are very complex, and come to the clinic typically undiagnosed. After spending time in surgery, where the cases were mostly 'done' by the time they got to you, it's a refreshing change, and more or less provides me with the main thing I wanted out of meds.
Funny, surgery seems to be about black and white: he has this, we do this, in this way. Things that fall into grey areas make surgical people nervous... and sometimes angry. That attitude is pretty desirable in the OR, but ultimately fails to satisfy me. I like the greyness of uncertainty that you find in the most complex cases. Heck, my life is spent living in grey, so it's what I'm good at.
Anyways, how can't you enjoy a profession where you get to test for the Moro reflex every time you meet a baby?
As an aside, the number 9.51 keeps coming up for me. What is the significance, I wonder?
Cases are very complex, and come to the clinic typically undiagnosed. After spending time in surgery, where the cases were mostly 'done' by the time they got to you, it's a refreshing change, and more or less provides me with the main thing I wanted out of meds.
Funny, surgery seems to be about black and white: he has this, we do this, in this way. Things that fall into grey areas make surgical people nervous... and sometimes angry. That attitude is pretty desirable in the OR, but ultimately fails to satisfy me. I like the greyness of uncertainty that you find in the most complex cases. Heck, my life is spent living in grey, so it's what I'm good at.
Anyways, how can't you enjoy a profession where you get to test for the Moro reflex every time you meet a baby?
As an aside, the number 9.51 keeps coming up for me. What is the significance, I wonder?
Monday, July 02, 2007
Nada
Well, I have very little to report. Anaesthesia is over; it had its rough moments, notably in the first week, but things pulled together more-or-less in the second week. One more week, and I would have been competent.
My current study style is a bit of this, a bit of that, what are they going to ask me tomorrow, what did they ask me today. That system really doesn't work at all; I need to formalize some kind of studying regimen, but haven't yet. I had all weekend to study for my next rotation, but felt so far behind, that I didn't even begin.
Anyways, this will be my first rotation outside of the OR since starting clerkship. So far it's been surgery, followed by surgery, followed by surgery, surgery, surgery, and anaesthesia. Now, paediatric neurology. A big shift. Will I cope with going from an action and anatomy orientation to a diagnostic one?
A preceptor told me on Friday that I should pick a discipline where I save the soul of a person, i.e., their mind. A finger, a bit of bowel, none of these are crucial to a person's being. I am taking that into consideration...
To quote the Trashcan Sinatras:
It's a hard road when you know where you're going
And it's harder when you know where you're not
My current study style is a bit of this, a bit of that, what are they going to ask me tomorrow, what did they ask me today. That system really doesn't work at all; I need to formalize some kind of studying regimen, but haven't yet. I had all weekend to study for my next rotation, but felt so far behind, that I didn't even begin.
Anyways, this will be my first rotation outside of the OR since starting clerkship. So far it's been surgery, followed by surgery, followed by surgery, surgery, surgery, and anaesthesia. Now, paediatric neurology. A big shift. Will I cope with going from an action and anatomy orientation to a diagnostic one?
A preceptor told me on Friday that I should pick a discipline where I save the soul of a person, i.e., their mind. A finger, a bit of bowel, none of these are crucial to a person's being. I am taking that into consideration...
To quote the Trashcan Sinatras:
It's a hard road when you know where you're going
And it's harder when you know where you're not
Sunday, June 17, 2007
Falling Asleep
So, as I reported before, I finished surgery on Friday. Before heading off to the exam, me and my size 9 hands closed our last incision for a while, and wrote up our last OR note.
Well, to wrap up our current placements, Atopy, Rococo and I went for sushi on 4 Street on Friday night. Afterwards, we hit some café on 17 Avenue for dessert, which was a nice change from the usual routine.
Anyways, next is anaesthesia. It involves a lot of sitting around and reading, with the occasional IV start or intubation. Quite a change of pace. I can't say I'm looking forward to it much, as I hate that feeling of unpreparedness I always seem to have these days.
Midsummer is this week, and that means that by next weekend, the days will be getting shorter again. Winter is coming.
Well, to wrap up our current placements, Atopy, Rococo and I went for sushi on 4 Street on Friday night. Afterwards, we hit some café on 17 Avenue for dessert, which was a nice change from the usual routine.
Anyways, next is anaesthesia. It involves a lot of sitting around and reading, with the occasional IV start or intubation. Quite a change of pace. I can't say I'm looking forward to it much, as I hate that feeling of unpreparedness I always seem to have these days.
Midsummer is this week, and that means that by next weekend, the days will be getting shorter again. Winter is coming.
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Sleep on the Horizon
I was on call three out of the last four weekends. That wears a person down. Tomorrow, I have my final surgery exam, and on Monday I start anaesthesia. So, I won't have any call for two weeks, possibly four. Now I can get some sleep.
Too bad; I've enjoyed being in the OR. Or, should I say, I like being at the table in the OR, since I'll still be physically in the theatre for two weeks, but I won't be doing anything except perhaps some IV starts and some arterial blood draws. On the plus side, I am looking forward to sleeping in until 5:30 every day, instead of getting up at 4:30 like I have been.
I thought about going to Boston for the weekend, but at $1500 for a flight via Chicago, it's a bit too much dough for 48 hours out of town.
Hoo, today was not an easy day. Lucky for me I can fall back on YMO's 'Computer Game -- Theme from The Circus' to get me out of a funk.
Too bad; I've enjoyed being in the OR. Or, should I say, I like being at the table in the OR, since I'll still be physically in the theatre for two weeks, but I won't be doing anything except perhaps some IV starts and some arterial blood draws. On the plus side, I am looking forward to sleeping in until 5:30 every day, instead of getting up at 4:30 like I have been.
I thought about going to Boston for the weekend, but at $1500 for a flight via Chicago, it's a bit too much dough for 48 hours out of town.
Hoo, today was not an easy day. Lucky for me I can fall back on YMO's 'Computer Game -- Theme from The Circus' to get me out of a funk.
Sunday, June 03, 2007
Freetime
I didn't have call this weekend. Whew! I really needed a full weekend off. It's funny how satisfying a simple day of relaxation has become for us clerks. Saturday, I did nothing of import. I met up with Rococo and Magic Pants at Earl's, and we spent the afternoon in the sun on the patio, with margaritas and happy conversation. Then, with coercion employed skillfully on my part, we went to see the latest Pirates of the Caribbean movie. It was supposed to be pretty bad, but Johnny Depp is Johnny Depp. Well, I enjoyed it. I have to say, though, that it was a bit Tranantinoesque, what with all the killing and killing and killing. Also, I was a bit disappointed in Keira's choice.
Today was a quiet day at home with Wa-Wa, Victor Jara, and the other rarely-played artists in my iTunes catalog. Funny, it seems that Tarcy Su and Yuki Hsu have new albums out... I thought they had moved permanently into the realm of memories of my youth.
Anyways, back to the subject of movies, I finally saw Babel. An okay movie; the strongest moment for me was when Ryuichi Sakamoto was used for the final scene. A great song.
We're in the midst of a thunderstorm right now. The windows are wide open...
The Lowest of the Low said:
And some time when your resistance is low
Remember that I know...
Who's your favourite Pogue
There's a place in my soul where no one else can adore you
And like the poet-soldier says, "I would spill my blood for you."
Today was a quiet day at home with Wa-Wa, Victor Jara, and the other rarely-played artists in my iTunes catalog. Funny, it seems that Tarcy Su and Yuki Hsu have new albums out... I thought they had moved permanently into the realm of memories of my youth.
Anyways, back to the subject of movies, I finally saw Babel. An okay movie; the strongest moment for me was when Ryuichi Sakamoto was used for the final scene. A great song.
We're in the midst of a thunderstorm right now. The windows are wide open...
The Lowest of the Low said:
And some time when your resistance is low
Remember that I know...
Who's your favourite Pogue
There's a place in my soul where no one else can adore you
And like the poet-soldier says, "I would spill my blood for you."
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Winter has Arrived
This morning, I woke up at 4:45, to complete silence. As any Canadian knows, there is no silence like that of a snowfall, so instantly I knew that there was a blanket of snow on the ground outside. When I looked out the window, I was greeted by about three inches of snow. June is in a week, and I still need to get the snow off my car before I head out to the hospital.
Anyways, I was gonna say a bit about my 24 hours of trauma call last weekend. It was pretty crazy. There were some car crashes, a couple of stabbings, etc. But, the big shocker for me was the number of ATV/quad injuries, who made up the majority of cases. In terms of long-term problems, I think that it will probably the quad riders that will end up in the most trouble; those things are dangerous, holy cow.
Good to see, though, how the whole system works. The city has a few good people standing at the ready to save our lives, 24/7.
Well, I got about 30 minutes of sleep during my shift. I was pretty much shot when I got out the door late in the morning on Victoria Day. Oh, it was snowing then too...
Anyways, I was gonna say a bit about my 24 hours of trauma call last weekend. It was pretty crazy. There were some car crashes, a couple of stabbings, etc. But, the big shocker for me was the number of ATV/quad injuries, who made up the majority of cases. In terms of long-term problems, I think that it will probably the quad riders that will end up in the most trouble; those things are dangerous, holy cow.
Good to see, though, how the whole system works. The city has a few good people standing at the ready to save our lives, 24/7.
Well, I got about 30 minutes of sleep during my shift. I was pretty much shot when I got out the door late in the morning on Victoria Day. Oh, it was snowing then too...
Friday, May 18, 2007
Keep Your Pants On
I just finished my week of urology. Now, it's the Victoria Day long weekend, but unfortunately, I have to do 24 hours of trauma call starting on Sunday at 8 a.m., so my weekend is shot. Tuesday, gen surg begins in the northeast.
I have one little story from the past week. On Wednesday afternoon, I was following my doc for an afternoon of cystoscopy. That's looking inside peoples' bladders with a scope, in case you're wondering. Well, for one patient, we had to use fluoroscopy, so we had to get on our lead aprons. My lead was different from the ones I have become used to for OR work; it closed at the front, with big velcro strips. After we were done, the doc started writing his notes, and the nurses and radiation tech were talking to the patient. I began to remove my lead. Riiiiiipppp, I pulled open the velcro. Unfortunately, the waistband on my scrubs had adhered to the velcro, so zooop, my pants fell down.
Pretty embarrassing. I'm not sure if anyone actually saw, since I was pretty speedy at getting them back up again. However, I can hardly believe that all of the five other people in the room failed to notice me standing there in my underwear...
Very inappropriate behaviour for a med student.
I have one little story from the past week. On Wednesday afternoon, I was following my doc for an afternoon of cystoscopy. That's looking inside peoples' bladders with a scope, in case you're wondering. Well, for one patient, we had to use fluoroscopy, so we had to get on our lead aprons. My lead was different from the ones I have become used to for OR work; it closed at the front, with big velcro strips. After we were done, the doc started writing his notes, and the nurses and radiation tech were talking to the patient. I began to remove my lead. Riiiiiipppp, I pulled open the velcro. Unfortunately, the waistband on my scrubs had adhered to the velcro, so zooop, my pants fell down.
Pretty embarrassing. I'm not sure if anyone actually saw, since I was pretty speedy at getting them back up again. However, I can hardly believe that all of the five other people in the room failed to notice me standing there in my underwear...
Very inappropriate behaviour for a med student.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
