Day 4 ER: My first Spanish Word

We shall not speak of the horrors that happened on my third day in ER (my overnight shift) suffice to say, I'm not looking forward to my next overnight shift, and I can cross ER off of my differential list of possible residencies.

Today for some reason, everyone decided to cut themselves. I had many many patients that needed suturing. Within the first hour, I had a kid who cut his head running into a door, another kid who cut his eyebrow with a fishing lure somehow, and a man who stepped on a broken piece of glass. I guess one good thing about getting this rotation out of the way first is that by the time I get to surgery (which is now top of the list of specialties I'd like to do) I'll be kick ass at stitches.

I know I've mentioned this earlier, but I'm starting to think that rotations are the best kind of diet. Seriously, in 12 hours, you really only have time for a quick snack now and then.

 I am glad I started carrying around granola bars in my pocket. What with all the bloody cuts today, the last think you want to be is lightheaded. The sight of a lot of blood + no food for a long time= fainting medical student. So thankfully I wasn't a cautionary tale to young medical fledgelings and was able to keep from feeling faint all day :).


So ready for a story that made me happy but sad at the same time?

My last patient of the day, was as per theme of the day, a laceration case. He was a young man from El Salvador who was brought in to the ER accompanied by some Police. The poor man, as it turned out, had been beaten and hit with a broken glass bottle by a gang. He was cut and scraped all over. His shoulder was badly hurt, and he had several deep gashes on his hand and forearm where he tried to shield himself from the glass. The gang took the money he had just recieved for a weeks work ($500). He spoke very little english, and at first he was just so upset and shocked he could do little more than sit on his stretcher and cry.

The resident and I brought him into the room and started to give him some morphine for his shoulder and start numbing his arm with lidocane for the stitches. The resident knew a little spanish, mostly the word "dolor" (pain). While the resident was injecting him, I tried to keep him distracted by talking to him. I asked about where he was from, and what he did. He said he worked for a construction company and proudly showed me some pictures on his phone of some tile work he did. I also learned that it was his birthday.

What a day this poor man had!! While we were working on his stitches, I got him laughing by saying that we would give him an extra shot of morphine as a birthday present. He asked what it would do, and I said "much better than cervesas" to which he laughed. Somehow, after such a wretched thing to happen, he was able to laugh and have such a good humor while having people sew him up. We did give him another shot of morphine when we were finished as promised (although the poor guy really did need it).

Anyways, just in that little space of time, I felt that I had seen the worst (gang violence against an innocent) and best (laughter and good humor in horrible circumstances) of humanity.

Thats my two cents for the day. I have tomorrow off, and another night shift on monday..... wish me luck.....

Things I saw today:
-Cuts
-Cuts
-More cuts
-Pseudotumor cerebri (!!!)
-a possible hyperparathyroidism
-Diverticulitis

Things I did today:
-Assisted in suturing
-Followed nurses around to learn the basics of drawing blood for labs, getting arterial blood gases, and refreshing my knowledge on doing EKGs.