Emergency Surgery

well i am 5 days now post emergency surgery last saturday. i was just released home yesterday and have been slowly recovering. so here is what happened:
last thurs night at work i developed some abdominal pain. i thought it was nothing but a little bit of abdominal colic and that it would wear off soon. it however continued throughout the night. even while asleep i was still aware of the pain. when i woke up it was still there. i thought, ok, all i need is some buscopan. so i ate, (this may be a bit nasty) but i opened my bowels and still had the pain. i made my way to work, which was quite difficult, not feeling right at all. when i got to the train station in Auburn, i decided to take a taxi cause i really would have been late if i had walked as walking was getting difficult for me. on my way in the taxi, i realised that every bump that i was going over, was causing me alot of pain. i thought to myself, that is not good, signs of peritonism. all night i had been ticking off in my head things it could not be. like, ok its not a small bowel obstruction cause of this and this and this.... neways i got to hospital, took a buscopan and it was not helping. i started to also develop a headache. so i decided to call in sick. i told my boss and she said to me well u really have 2 choices- get triaged here and get someone to examine you, orgo home, wait a bit and go to your GP. i decided to go home cause Auburn was just a bit too far from home for me and i knew i would have to be kept in if anything, and also i work with these people everyday, i didn't want to do that. so i went home..... well kinda

on my way home, the trip was just getting more difficult and the signs of peritonism more painful, so as i got off the bus, i decided to just go straight to the GP and not bother to go home. cause you know if i went home, it would have been harder for me to leave and who knows what would have happened. so i went to the GP, could hardly stand straight, still the pain was bearable. the GP saw me and agreed with me that something was going on and that he was not happy to sit on me and just to some blood test. he faxed a letter to RPA emergency room and i called my friend Kem to take me to the ED, since she was just across the road. we got there, got signed in, and they were like, just like a typical doctor to come in late, or oh a doctor, bad prognostic factor. neways they were very nice and pretty efficient. we all thought after examination that it was appendicitis. they took some blood, put a drip in and gave me morphine... that is a whole nother story, seriously. the surgeons saw me, they agreed, said that i would get the best treatment cause they have to get the doctors back to work quickly and i was admitted.

Surgery would have happened that night but there were 5 other emergency cases ahead of me and i was pretty stable. and the poor surgeon was operating all night. when he came to see me in the morning, he did look tired. neways someone else was on at that time and i was taken to theatre that afternoon. all this while the network of friends and church folk were at work and sat morning i had so many people coming to see me and pray with me, it was great. and yes my parents knew as well, so the majority of people that could be contacted were contacted. the church fam was great and i do remember a time when i wondered who would i call if something happened. who would come and see me, who would care and this really showed me that i do have a strong network here.

i'll have to continue this tomorrow, cause really i am tired now. i get tired in a snap now. after a shower even, it is pitiful. so stories of the post op and what the diagnosis was.... was it appendicitis like we all thought? was it something else? was it a combination?.... you'll just have to wait till later.

recovery is going ok, slow but ok...:) later

Mistaken Identity

so i have had a few days off which have been great. i haven't been doing anything spectacular, just relaxing. had breakfast and lunch with a couple of people. other than that, watching movies, the gym and doing housework. i just need to tell you all about a situation that i have encountered. i met this really great British chick at work, also a doctor. she is black, darker than i am with a totally different hairstyle. now it is beyond interesting to have 2 black people working at the same time. they some how can't tell us apart. i can't tell you how many times a nurse would come up to me and ask me about a patient and i have to tell her, that is Julia's patient, not mine. and visa versa with Julia. i mean seriously, do all black people look alike????? it just cracks me up. i have most of the time have been the only black doctor on, so this is my first time having to be mistaken for someone else. even though we have vastly different accents and look totally different. ahhh well what are ya gonna do bout it but laugh......lol

The Longest Sunday Ever

This sunday felt like it just went on forever. i was surviving on about 2 hours sleep.... here is the saga...

So i went to work on Sat night, my 7th and final night of the night shift. it was like all the others, pretty busy. earlier that week i had learned that i got the part in a commercial and the filming of it was on sunday am. so i had to cart all my clothes with me to work and thankfully my friend Cam was willing to help me out so that i could leave a bit early. what was really a blessing was that we had no major emergencies, so there was nothing really to hand over. i left a bit early but that was still a bit later than i wanted to, so i was late for my call. they did understand though, for which i was grateful.

it was good being a featured on the Ad cause it meant that they rushed me through and even fed me..:) the director and everyone were so nice. i met some really cool people and even the rep from the company for which the commercial was for. so hopefully i will be in the final cut. if i am i'll post it like i did the other one. neways, i thought i was gonna have to be there for around 10 hours, which would mean that i would miss church and the special function we were having. but after 3 hours of filming, we were wrapped. i was so surprised and very very happy.

so i left there, made it to church and then went home. i was able to get about 1hrs sleep before having to get up to head out to my church's 25th anniversary. it was held in darling harbour, with the stage on the water. to get to it we had to travel by boat. it was so cool, a weird feeling but cool to be singing on that stage. the night was amazing, and it was really great to hang with friends and see some people that i hadn't seen in a while. the fireworks at the end were great as well. i just love fireworks... my friends and i were just a bit crazy with the cameras, taking pics and videos before we sang, so here are some pics and videos...lol....more can be found on facebook...





After the program, i was on my way home when i passed my friend's store and saw all the lights on. i was like, that's weird... so i gave her a call. she was on her way back home and was like, hey we are going out for drinks at the Piano bar, wanna come. i thought about it, about the fact that i didn't have work on monday and was like, ok, sure..... we got there about 10:30ish and settled in. the place wasn't packed but once the band started to play, people materialized out of thin air...:) its a very cool venue. a place where one can sit, chat, listen to music, get up and dance if the mood strikes and just chill. it was so what i needed. the group gelled well and i had really good convos with people. the band was also very good. i was up dancing, singing and grooving. Brian Macfaden, a UK singer, was also there. he went up and sang Stevie Wonder's Superstitious, which was very cool. Neways, we ended up staying there till past 3 am....lol. i know, i am crazy considering the week i had, but hey this was worth it. i had a great time. when we left we went somewhere else, but didn't stay for long. i was home in time to watch the formula 1 race. well actually, i saw the beginning but i fell asleep, so really the race watched me. i did wake up at 6 just in time to see Lewis Hamilton make that pass on the last turn and get 5th position which sealed the championship for him, so that was good.

so that was my Sunday.... Monday was pretty chill, laundry and the gym pretty much. tomorrow is work, again......:(

Nights

man, it is so great to be finished with Medical nights. this week was a very long week. i worked out that in this one week i worked 84 hours....lol. well its over. i did realize a few things about myself this week.

1. i have a very, very short fuse... especially at 3 or 4 am in the morning. i have the lowest tolerance for foolishness and for people not thinking before the page me. honestly is it so hard to look at the trend on the bed chart before paging me for a person that is febrile, has been febrile the whole admission and was admitted for the same. they are on antibiotics, have had all the cultures taken and their temp is lower than it was yesterday, but still high. what am i gonna do bout it???? not a damn thing, so why does this warrant a page. it doesn't..... lord those things make me so mad

sigh... ok deep breath.... it's over
lord the stories i could tell you...

2. i can survive on very, very little sleep... and still function pretty well....

3. i dislike it very, very much when nurses leave things to the last minute. just as i finish a round, the last one and i am heading to the RMO room so i can finally have a break, the morning staff call me for a cannula. now this patient was in the ward the whole night, yet it is 7 in the morning, u are paging me to put a cannula in because she needs to go to CT. why was this not on the list from in the night, so that i could put in in when i was there just a little while ago. you wait till i am finished everything, go and sit down and then page me..... not to mention paging me for insulin orders... it just drives me insane..... and they wonder why i get pissed off....

ok i sound like i am always upset and annoyed, which isn't true. some of the nurses really have it together and i never have any problems with their wards. we have very good raport and i am happy to do their things, because they never page me for foolishness. i know when they call, it is really for something serious. they feed me and we got along.....:) they made the nights go a bit better. this time i also had Cammy on the same shift, but doing the surgical side, so i got to spend some time with him which was cool. the other doctors on were nice and we got along, so that always helps.....

so now i'm on to Emergency again... i really don't know if i can stand shift work, so be warned it will probably not be my end specialty....:)