Study break

So, the good news is I only have 3 more shifts in the ED. This is great because, as it turns out, I don't really like emergency medicine. I like continuity of care. ED is the opposite of that. The other good news is, working in the ED gives the greatest stories ever. My new personal favorite: A teenager came in to the ED stating "there's a piece of chicken stuck in my throat!" This kiddo had no respiratory distress so for a while we all stood around looking at him like "so, should we do the heimleck?" We figured we shouldn't, though, because he clearly could breath so it wasn't stuck in his trachea or airway. There was almost certainly something stuck in his esophagus though, since he couldn't even swallow his spit and everything we tried to put down his throat promptly came back out. We told him he should vomit. He said he knew that. We said, put your finger down your throat and make it happen. He said - "don't you have something a bit more medically advanced than that!?" We grabbed a tongue depressor. He actually managed to throw up gastric contents, but not dislodge the piece of chicken! After that he continued to vom Dr. Pepper, but no chicken. We were starting to think maybe his hot chicken sammie burned his esophagus and it was actually so inflamed it was closing. The Dr. Pepper coming out was so dark we couldn't tell if it was bloody or not, so the doc asked him to throw up in the emesis basin rather than the trash can just in case we needed to test it. At that he promptly barfed up the piece of chicken and asked "so can I finish my chicken sandwich now?"

We have a large, tough, written exam on Friday, so that's a bummer. But as always, I love test days. It's great to have a weekend where nothing is due, there's nothing to study, and you can really, truly relax. That'll be me come Friday afternoon. Then I start surgery.

I'm actually pretty excited about surgery. Do I want to be a general surgeon? NO. But do I think my future career will entail some surgical procedures? Yes. So, it'll be a great learning experience. And let's not forget, it's at Rose!

On the down side, since I've been working nights, I've had hardly any time to do all the fun fall stuff I love. There have been no recent visits to the Farmer's market, no pumpin patch, no homemade apple cider. Three more shifts. I really hate nights. And rest assured, there will at least be apple cider this weekend!