Sliders

Yup, that's what we are... sliders..

In med talk, "sliding" is defined as going direct from one duty to the other (Duty-From-Duty-From)

And believe me, it hasn't been easy...

Our group decided to slide because of the apparent lack of manpower required when a group rotates to the Neurosurgery/Plastic surgery rotation...

And despite all the sliding, we can't help but feel that it still isn't enough..

But we get by, somehow... We're currently wrapping up the Nuero/Plastic rotation. Two more freakin' days to go. Then we "unslide" and return to the old pattern which recognizes a "pre-duty" status.

Last night has got to be one of the worst days to ever hit a neurosurgery duty team. Grabe, last night, we were undermanned, overworked, and underslept (if there was ever such a word.) as in WALANG TULUGAN!! The day started out neatly enough. Not many ORs since it was a Saturday, however, we had one in the PM when the non-duty people had already left. Not bad, I could handle the ward all by myself for the next couple of hours.. When my groupmates emerged from the OR, I felt such a great surge of relief.. WE only had one more OR to go later that evening which was merely a simple change of dressing for a severely burned electrical burn patient, hence the need to perform it in the OR. This poor guy had his skin burned off his entire back, parts of the back of his head, and even his ass!! Tsk! Tsk! And he already lost a leg during an earlier operation to save his life.

AFter that was over, we preppede ourselves for a relaxing night.. However, our peace and solitude was shattered by a call which told us to proceed immediately to the Emergency room of the Pay hospital (we were in the "clinical" division, a nicer word for "cheaper") to pick up a patient who was to undergo emergency crainiotomy ASAP! And there was another patient who needed to be admitted, but thankfully was in no need of an emergency operation.

Things got pretty wild back at the CD. Rhyan scrubbed in for the OR while Em acted as his runner, getting blood from the blood bank, etc. While little old me had to admit the additional patient and I was again master of the entire ward... plus the ICU, which got kinda spooky during the early morning because of the stories I've heard coupled with my wild imagination.. Lets just leave it at that for the meantime..

The fun never ends if you're in Neurosurgery... i hate it... bah! :P

By the way, belated Happy Birthday to my Mom who celebrated her 53rd birthday yesterday while I was at the hospital taking care of sick people... I love you mom.. :D