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

New facts everyday

A wise fact I learned from an attending in the ED....

"Don't be a pussy" has no connection to being female. Please note the following word and definition.

Pusillanimous: lacking courage and resolution : marked by contemptible timidity. faint heartened. showing lack of courage.

Bet you didnt know that! I sure didint...

3 weeks in

The more I do this, the more I fall in love. I really don't understand why a medical student would want to do anything else? Every shift is so full of spontaneity, diverse cases, newly acquired procedural knowledge, and of course, lots of blood. I am enjoying everything about this rotation, the residents and faculty are wonderful and never to busy to teach, the staff and nurses are hilarious and also are always willing to help. The patient population is so wide and they are the sickest people I have ever seen. This week we had a male with AIDS that had a CD4 count of 8. That same shift I saw a man high on heroin and amphetamines that had his penis tattooed, stapled a huge scalp laceration, helped relocated several bone fractures, diagnosed a stroke.... i could go on forever.

I walk away from each 12 hour shift in a whirlwind. Not remember everything that happened because so much went on, exhausted yet awake on adrenaline. I get in my car. Take a deep breath. and smile like a lil kid in a candy store. Such a great feeling.

Shadower to Shadowee?

Today as we started our shift, a young guy introduced himself to the senior resident and said he would be shadowing him if that was OK. The resident welcomed him aboard and I introduced myself also. I was working in the same pod as this resident so I told him he could hang out with me.


What turned out was this medical student, between his 1st and 2nd year, shadowed me through our 7pm to 7am night shift.  A student...shadowing me. Just a trip. Time is flying, I feel so cliche when I say it feels like just yesterday when I was writing about shadowing other 4th year medical students.

Ultrasound ROCKS

The hospital got 3 new ultrasound machines which are amazing. Image quality and diagnostic accuracy are incredible. We use them in a large variety of ways, some examples: we use them in traumas to search for internal bleeding, in clinical workups to look for gallstones, and during central line procedures to locate deep veins. 

Each machine is worth more than a brand new car. And apparently the County got them by using money from speeding ticket fines. To many ironies to point out...

Quotable Quotes

A man comes in with un-controllable nose bleeding [epistaxis]
"do you have HTN?"
"Yes"
"do you take medication for it?"
"No, I havent taken anything for over a year"
"why?"
"because i have felt fine..."


3 AM on a Tuesday morning working Triage
"I have worms, these worms are eating my nerves. My legs hurt so bad. They are numb. I cant sit for very long because I have no circulation. Oh my god it hurts so bad."
[man then proceeds to lay on the floor in the middle of the triage cubicle]


Recently, we had a 20 something year old girl come in with a fork hanging from the base of her tongue. Apparently she had the stomach flu and couldnt eat for 2 days. After feeling better, she starting eating so ravenously because she was so hungry and somehow stabbed herself very hard with the fork. She couldnt get it out and came to the ER.

4th of July Shenanigans

Worked overnight in the emergency department in Pod D. Along with all the other normal cases, this is where the jail checks come [people who are being arrested and need medical clearance]. This is also where the suicide attempts and mental health patients come. Needless to say, it was pretty busy overnight.  Saw a good amount of motor vehicle accidents and other traumas. Everyone pitched in $5 and at midnight we had a BBQ outside in the trauma bay. It was a fun shift.

Some highlights:

Man comes in with huge black eye, blood in his ear, and lip split open needing stitches
"what happened?"
"i tripped and fell on a step"
"Wow, that must have been a pretty bad fall to get your ear, eye and mouth all at once?"
"yeah,  it must have been the alcohol. I just missed a step"


A prisoner comes in for ingesting a bunch of pills, has 2 security gaurds with him
"I hate white people. And I especially hate blue eyes"
"Well shoot, I guess I should find you another doctor"
[after seeing my name tag]
"Well shit, my grandmothers name was Dot so we ain't gonna have a problem at all"
"wonderful"