The snow removal may not have re-injured my back, but my arms have been complaining bitterly. Assigned both days to scrub, now, that didn't help my back. Really tired.
But heard the best OR story ever. Fellow tells of a general surgeon who'd been ill with a stomach bug, but decided to perform surgery anyway. With an IV in, and a bag of fluid running. Ok, never seen that before, bit extreme, but it's a rational plan.
He's mostly through the case, when he says, "I'm going down." And does, collapses on the floor. The paralytic agent the anesthesiologist gave to the patient went in the surgeon's IV tubing by mistake. An understandable one, anesthesia is used to all the IVs in front of them going into the patient, never into the surgical team. They had to intubate him, because paralytics also paralyze breathing. His resident was able to finish, as they carried him out.
There are a number of punchlines and morals to this story, that would take way too much explaining out of context. Suffice to say, this one is a humdinger. The day had laughter, which counts for a great deal.
My arms are nearly useless, thankfully my hands are still functional. As Drill Sergeant Burrell would chant at us as we failed to get out of the deep bunkers, "noodle arms, noodle arms!" Or Muppet arms, the ones without the wires. Useless and limp.
(It's funny, because it's a logical extension into the ridiculous, and in the end, no one got hurt. And it happened years ago, far away.)
5 comments:
i am disturbed by the idea of a surgeon who is so ill he needs an IV working on anyone.
if you are a bus driver or a surgeon or a grocery bagger i want you to STAY THE HECK HOME if you are too sick to function well.
A lot of people feel differently, if they are very ill themselves, have the time off work, and are already hungry and have an IV in. Or at least, that's how doctors see it.
Surgeons are pretty tough, and it takes something major for them to cancel a day of surgery. Pretty rare occurrence. Very much the mindset of the breed. They really do work very hard, very long hours, and often don't live long past retirement.
It is indeed an entertaining story - work stories like that are often best understood by those still doing the work.
We have moments of jocularity here at my work but often it is related to the specific technical issues we are working on, or the people we are working with.
i don't question their toughness, or their hard work.
i do think that anyone sick enough to need an IV may not be sharp enough to be doing his best work, and i would prefer that anyone working on me, my car, or my dinner be fully alert and at their practical best.
even if you are tough as nails and hot stuff, you should not be taking risks like that.
funny story: one time i was ordered by the health department to stay home for some days on account of a teeny thing like exposure to meningitis. my employer gave me a hard time because i wasn't sick.
i was like, really? that's a risk you want to take?
Flask,
You are not wrong. We just have to laugh, because we can't change 'em.
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