Comedy of Errors

Since time is becoming scarce, this blog is an attempt to keep my friends up to date on the trials and tribulations of this year. Plus some part of me realizes this first year in the hospital is a sort of comedy of errors that I want some record of. So if you love ER/Gray's Anatomy/Scrubs...

this is not those.

Well, sort of. My life right now seems to include all the professional upheaval and funny issues minus the romantic drama of hospital TV. Because while there is lots of scandal in the hospital (neurosurgeons with mistresses, surgery residents hooking up with PA's, attendings hitting on students) somehow as usual I manage to exist completely devoid of drama. bummer.

Well to update on today -
went to work feeling slightly under the weather, and the day only got worse. It began when my attending told me to go ahead and intubate (think ER where the doctor has to stick a breathing tube down someone's throat). I managed to get the patients airway open with some difficulty, only to very carefully intubate the esophagus. Hint: the tube is supposed to go into the trachea. Wrong hole - shit.

Then I was given the simple task of drawing up a vial of medicine (propofol). Simple, right? Somehow I managed to slip the syringe out of the vial and blow white liquid drug all over the front of my shirt.

Finally, it was my turn to put an IV line in a 89 year old woman we had under on the table. Her colon surgery was going on so there I was all hunched under the drape next to her head, trying to stick a vein that seemed to keep running away from me. I finally got the needle into vein (I can't describe how satisfying it was to have that bright red blood come squirting out). I got super excited and my resident came over to say "great job, now comes the easy part, just advance the plastic catheter into the vein." So I push through and manage to drive the catheter out the vein on the other side, puncturing the vein and giving this sweet lady a nice little hematoma (blueish blood bruise).

All in a days work. Time to go dive under my covers!