Inspired by Barbados Butterfly

I am in the Well Baby nursery at my hospital. I see all new babies born to the university service and follow them for the duration of their hospital stay. Since I'm an Intern (for only 7 more weeks) I take a ridiculous amount of call. Although, I'm not sure that it will be any different when I'm NOT an intern. When on-call, I have been admitting patients to the general pediatrics service. In light of the conversation Barbados Butterfly shared in her recent post here is conversation that took place a few nights ago while on-call.

It's 3:30 a.m. I've been asleep MAYBE an hour (which is lucky)

Nurse: Doctor, are you covering pt. Doe?
Me: Yes
Nurse: His platelet count is 1.3 million
Me: That's high, we should repeat the lab to make sure it's accurate. How fast can we get the repeat results back?
Nurse: We can run it STAT.
Me: I think that's a good idea. Let me know the results.

1.5 hours later, I haven't heard from said nurse and decide to call.

Me: Hi, this is Dr. Brown. Did that repeat platelet count come back.
Nurse: Oh, we're going to draw that in about 10 minutes.

HUH?

This critically high platelet count was so critical that you called me in the middle of the night to tell me about it...that you waited 1.5 HOURS to draw the STAT repeat lab?!?

To say I was annoyed is putting it mildly.

I am not dogging all nurses. I take pride in having an excellent working relationship with 99.9% of the nurses I have worked with. I couldn't do my job without them and there has been a nurse or 2 in my life that has saved my back side. So please do not flood my comments with venom and hatred where none exists.

? A Day Off ?

I'm not very smart. I finally get a day off from work with no other obligations and what do I do...I spend THE WHOLE DAY working in the yard. I have been meaning to re-mulch our flower beds for awhile now, but hadn't gotten to it. Well, yesterday was the day. Beth had pulled weeds from the main bed, but hadn't gotten to the 2 beds beneath the 2 trees. (there's still a 3rd bed where the weeds are threatening to take over). So I spent the morning pulling weeds. Then it was time for a trip to Lowe's for mulch and a few flowers. I also stopped by an attending house, she's got an AMAZING garden, for some plants that she offered to share with me. Then to the grocery store for some dinner items and then home to start (what I THOUGHT was going be) dinner. It finished cooking at 9:15 last night. That story in a minute.

So I managed to get the 2 beds around the trees planted with flowers and mulched before dinner. I also managed to plant the ground cover and plants given to me. Then it was time to go in and get dinner ready. Boy was I in for a surprise!

So corned beef, according to the directions, should cook in 2.5 hours. I failed to realize that crock pots don't get that hot that quickly in order to fully cook the meat in that amount of time. So 3 hours later, 6:00 p.m., when it was time to eat; dinner was still raw. Chipotle here we come!!! It also gave me the chance to go back to Lowe's to return the liner I bought to go around the beds as a barrier to the grass. The whole setup was $108.00 and I decided that money could be better spent elsewhere. So I took them back. Then, back home to finish the yard, I still had mulch to get out.

By the time I finshed it was dark, so I have no idea how the beds look. Then this morning, it came a GIGANTIC THUNDERSTORM. It looked as though the flowers and mulch survived, but I'm anxious to get home and see. I guess I will spend my next day off finishing the one last bed on the side of the driveway and all will be complete. Of course, by then, it will be time to mow again and I will spend even more time in the yard instead of enjoying my day off.

The corned beef will be eaten for dinner tonight. I even bought garlic bread (the really good kind from the supermarket with LOADS of butter and garlic on it).

The other bad thing about working in the yard...I always pay for it for the next few days because muscles I didn't know I had, hurt. I feel 90.

Easter Saturday

So I sit in the Newborn nursery here at Hermann waiting to checkout my patients so that I can go home post-call and get some sleep. Call wasn't too bad. I went to sleep at midnight and the pager stayed quiet until 3:30-4:00 (I can't really remember now).

Anyway, I stood up for myself yesterday in a fashion that I rarely use. Someone said, "G--D-----". I said to this individual, " God doesn't damn anyone. In fact, today is the day he chose to save us." (It was Good Friday yesterday, the day Christians celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus.)

I REALLY hate that cuss word (I'm sorry to admit that I am more tolerant of others--sorry Mom); because I truly believe that God doesn't damn anyone. He desires that we all be saved (See John 3:17). We make choices, and ultimately those choices may lead us to an eternal damnation, but God isn't responsible, and He's given us salvation and redemption through His son, Jesus.

As we celebrate this Easter weekend, I hope that you are able to spend it with family and/or friends. If you can't make it to family, call them and tell them you love them and wish you were there. Remember the death and resurrection of Christ in a way that's meaningful to you.

Pray for a tired Intern who is 75 days away from being an Upper Level Resident and will soon have a brand new doctor (aka me 295 days ago) under their tutelage.

Also, if any of the above doesn't make sense, or if I repeat myself, remember, I'm 30 hours without meaningful sleep.

Happy Easter

Well Baby Nursery

So, since April 1, 2006 I have examined at LEAST 50 newborn babies. Some in the first few minutes of their lives. And I have already spent 40 hours in the hospital (again, this is since Saturday morning at 7:00 a.m.)

It's going to kill me.

10 hour days
30+ hours when on call (7 times this month)
4 WHOLE days off between now and April 30.

Call me in May. Ok?