Who knew?

First time in my years as a med student that i really thought i was going to pass out...but dont worry, i didnt.

Let me preface, I was at a wedding the night before drank [Saturday night]...sobered up...drove home...got 4 hours of sleep before my 13 hour shift. oops.

Up at 5:30am... by 8am Sunday, still no food, water or coffee in my GI tract...
A guy came drunk as shit and had partially self amputed his entire foot. [he said he stepped off a curb wrong but to do that much damage he had to have drunkly jumped off a building..but he was probably too drunk to remember]. His tibia was sticking straight out and his foot was twisted to the left. Incredibly, he was neurovascularly intact so he didnt need to go straight to the OR. It was gruesome looking at it but it didnt bother me too much. that is, until the ortho resident had me help him reduce it before he splinted it....

I stood next to the bed holding his leg in my hand, knee under my arm. the resident stood at the foot of the bed and we each pulled in opposite directions. With a lot of force, he was able to put the ankle back where it was supposed to be. When he did this, i felt the cracking/ crunching sound of bone and was straining as it took a lot of muscle strength for me to hold his leg. immediately after, i began to notice little details like sweat dripping down my legs and getting a little dizzy. I turned away and kept breathing and smiling, talking to the patient and trying to act like i was fine so no one thought i was a wuss. I began to feel better but as I was looking away, I could not get the 'drip drip drip' sounds of blood dropping into a bucket below the foot.

"just keep breathing" i thought.

the feeling eventually went away. i have never fainted but i imagine this is what it feels like before you do...


Ironic situation of the day:
17 year old girl who hurt her ankle [got flown in by a helicopter off the hiking trail!]. Turns out there is no fracture, not even swelling. Its a mild sprain. She is crying her eyes out, loud as hell, grabbing onto "daddy"
vs
Man with partially amputated foot quiet for hours while waiting for ortho surgery [not a peep out of him, just some versed and he was fine]

They were right across each other in the trauma bay