Highlight from long-call night on Trauma:
We got a page about a 17-year-old kid coming in with a gun shot wound. It said traumatic arrest, and Michelle told me to get ready for an ED thoracotomy.
"How do I do that?"
She made a slicing motion from the sternum to the side. Piece of cake.
So I opened up his chest in the Emergency Room as controlled chaos swirled around me - IV lines being placed, monitors being set up, noise and motion. I pumped his heart with my hands, as what little blood he still had leaked out around my fingers.
It was a long night. Two deaths, zero sleep, a few very sick people. Before I started the rotation, people told me that Trauma is fun, but tiring. I guess they left out the "sometimes" and the "very."
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
2 comments:
remember how i said you're going to treat my stab wound? i guess the time for me to get stabbed is now while you're still in trauma.
in the words of JD to Turk, "i want you inside me."
ahh mann cha cha... major trauma in the ER. my friend matt rhee was doing ER residency at cook county. craziness... well i'm glad you're doing well and handling your rotations. figured out what you're doing yet?
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