Night Call...DONE

There will be no more kvetching about blurred days, loss of orientation, and perpetual lethargy because two days ago I completed my last shift of four weeks of night call!!!

Just two more...

I'll say one good thing for being awake at 3am and sleepy...I did an entire interview in Spanish...didn't have to search for a word...and didn't even realize I was speaking Spanish until I left the room. Win?

Intense Night

My clock says 1715. I just woke up (from a fuzzy dream) about twenty-five minutes ago after about six hours of MUCH-needed sleep. I had an intense night at the hospital whereby we were on constant call until about 5am. We saw, among others:
A patient with DKA, diabetic foot ulcer, HTN, and an above-the-knee amputation
A patient with radiating chest pain an nausea with a history of three MIs
A patient with vomiting x 3 days, history of pyelonephritis and chronic kidney injury with a BUN of 51 and a creatinine of 3.44. No wonder she was loopy. Nephrology was consulted...
A patient with : SOB, chest pain, back pain a history of (take a deep breath) CHF, COPD, CAD, cardiomyopathy, chronic pain, HTN, depression, and the poor guy couldn't pee. When the patient was catheterized, 1600mL of urine came out of the bladder in about two minutes. Two minutes later there was almost 2000mL (that's a two liter bottle of coke folks!) in the bag. OUCH!!

Night float Update...with some kvetching

Yeah...even I'm annoyed that I keep writing about night float. I'm trying really hard not to be grumpy about it but it's consuming everything. I go in on Monday and Friday nights at 7. And leave the next day. I then have Tuesday and Thursday off. Why the kvetching so you say? Welllll, I also have to be at the hospital on Tuesday morning at 8am, Wednesday at 730am, and Friday at 8am. So, my sleep schedule is all farkakte. I get grumpy. I get disoriented. Days run together. I'm not a night owl. I do not like staying up late. I never have. So two more weeks of this unpleasantness. I am perfectly fine with being at the hospital from 7am to 7 or 8 at night. Not a big deal. Those hours between midnight and six...yeah, we've never been been properly introduced. I don't think we'll ever get along.

I'm not even a doctor yet...

...and I've already got people whom I haven't even met describing to me--UNPROMPTED--in exquisite detail their bowel movements. Do I just have a kind face that needs to be wiped off? Or is it just that irresistible Southern charm, y'all?