Exhausting

I started my first inpatient ward rotation last week. I gotta say it's just about as hectic as the intensive care unit. The difference? People really aren't that sick, and I feel like a baby-sitter... a very expensive baby-sitter.

The cases are not fulfilling, and the workload eats up a lot of my time and energy. But then again, so do the myriad of men in my life.

Which is what you're all really dying to know about.

I told the Insomniac that I'd get back to him when my time cleared up... i know i know... I pulled the doctor card. It's just such a fantastic card though!

Blondie came with me to a model casting call. He even walked the runway since they needed men. I'll be kinda upset if he gets the gig and I don't. But we finally had sex and it was sloppy and drunk. I'm sure we'll try again this weekend.

The Author and I have finally settled into an agreeable arrangement. At least emotionally agreeable for me. We have great sex once in a while and we also hang out as great friends. It works.

Did I ever mention the Pornstar? I don't think so... I'll have to give him his own post, assuming he and I ever meet.

Then there's the German Daddy... will he be a sugar daddy? will he become a boyfriend? I have no idea how this one is gonna turn out, but he's hot and blond and very well-off... let's find out if he's well-endowed too.

And that brings me to the title of this post. Doctoring and dating at the same time is exhausting... but I don't think I could function any other way.

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Playing Hookey

I've never played hookey with a job in my life, mostly because I knew I'd get caught. Sure I've skipped school, but this is different.

I decided to play hooky for a few reasons:

1. I was looking at the work schedule today. There would be three students with me during the morning shift. The morning shift is dead, so I'd mostly be sitting around staring at the clock, begging to see a pateint. With 4 of us sitting around, I'd probably see a max of 2 people in an 8 hour period.

2. I actually add MORE work for the other docs. You see, I'm an intern, which means all of my decisions have to be approved by the chief. The chief has to see all of the patiients anyway. With me and three other students on his/her coat-tails, I would be more of a nuisance than an actual help.

3. I'm not compromising health care in any way by not being there. I'm actually losing out on my own education.... but I'm taking a day for myself.... a much needed day for myself.

I just tried to justify a terrible thing, but I'm fairly certain I'm not going to regret it.

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The Missing Tampon

Last night Prosthesis and I went to a bbq at one of my co-workers house. We were having a great time when it was time to go before I got drunk in front of the other doctors. On our way back we stopped at the british pub, looking for a brawl.

That didn't happen, but heavy drinking ensued. And then I sort of blacked out. I don't remember Prosthesis dropping me off or anything, but I do have this flash of yelling at the Author in the hallway. He texted me to hang out. I was on the tail end of my period and ready to get laid, but I guess he wasn't feeling well, and I flipped out on him because I wanted to hang. 

I don't remember what was said. I just know I woke up this morning to 2 texts from him apologizing for not feeling well and then another one saying he's perked up and still free to hang. 

I went to the bathroom to get ready for work. When I went to pull out my tampon, the string wasn't there. I freaked out and reached in... nothing. I didn't notice a tampon in the trash either. The rest of the morning I was so scared that something happened and the tampon is stuck way the hell back in my vaginal vault.

So once I was done rounding on my patients, I ran to the clinic. I grabbed one of my coworkers and asked her to take a look because I didn't want to be a toxic shock patient in the ICU. She went and didn't see a thing. 

I've thought about it quite a bit, but I have no idea where that tampon went.

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Til Death do Us Part

Saturday call was turning out to be great. I was barely getting paged. We only had one admission. Things were looking good. 

At around 10pm, we got the call for a transfer. Apparently this guy was supposed to go home the next day, but he started having difficulty breathing and coughing up blood. A chest x-ray showed a complete white-out of the left lung. Basically it was filled with blood. 

We calmly told him we were going to take him to the ICU. We were also going to insert a breathing tube into his good lung to help him out. We called a surgical team to alert them that he might need to have a blood vessel tied to stop the bleeding.

Things were going well until the next morning, when he coded in his room. The nurse jumped on him to start CPR. My resident started throwing out orders. We gave him meds, continued CPR... did everything we could. His wife ran in and held onto me. We finally got his heart to beat, but it would only beat with help from machines. 

The rest of the family arrived along with a priest. The final decision was made to take him off the machine. I was doing well until the wife looked at me. Then I teared up. I couldn't imagine what they were going through. "He was supposed to go home today" was all they could say.

They all left, heads down. I stayed to document the events. The other doctors were visibly upset too, but sadly this is the reality of the ICU... it's the reality of medicine. I'd say I handled it pretty well... but I'm very thankful that I will only have to deal with it for a year. 

In radiology I interact with images. 

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