I had sumptin’ real nice cookin’ for ya’ll today.  It was so clever, and interesting.  But I’m on call today for the hospital, and the day got out of hand.  Not much time to catch my breath.  So instead I’m putting that on the back burner, and changing gears.

You have to understand, I am literally making this up as I go.  I pray each day for inspiration (not really).  Someone told me today it would be a good idea to stockpile 20 stories or so, have them ready ahead of time to distribute throughout Lent.  That is a really good idea!  (Thanks, R!) I think I’ll try that next year.

Today looked like this:

Check on Daphne, who unfortunately is slowly dying.  She is in the inpatient ward, and I keep expecting a call to come down and be with her in her final moments.

We decided today that Elsa needed to go to the OR, so there she went.  Dr. Alex and Ivan drained purulent liquid (pus) from her psoas muscle (the tenderloin, for you cooks/hunters out there).

Played with the twins for awhile.

I have a woman in labor today, it’s her first baby so it’s a long Laborious process…  I predict she will deliver at 2:39 AM, the exact hour that I enjoy getting up from sleep and going down to the hospital.  She is telling me that she can’t stand it, and can’t do it…  Oh, honey.  This is happening.  It’s hard now, but just wait till that giant noggin comes on through.  (I have personally gone through labor (myself) 12 times, so I am justified in passing judgement on this.  Oh wait, I’m a dude.  But I have birthed a kidney stone…

I had to skip church and bible study today, just too busy.  Hey, Jesus worked on Sunday too…

I took care of my 84 yr old fellow who just had a heart attack and now has an uncontrolled heart beat.  He wants to leave, and I’m having to twist his arm to stay a tad longer.  On the other hand, he’s 84.  At that age, you can do whatever the hell you want, right?

Hei Hei (not his real name) is a 24 yr old who suffered his 2nd Moto accident in 3 months (time to ride the train, Hei Hei), has cuts and scrapes everywhere, and a mild concussion.  Ankle is injured, and big contusion on his head.  But so far, nothing looks broken.  Sorry buddy, you are incorrect, it’s not February, and since you don’t remember yesterday either, you are staying the night.

A fellow came in with a giant mass on his neck, which was an abscess.  Dr. Alex, Dr. Ivan and I drained it.  Oh, the glorious pus that came out.

Moana (not her real name) came in to check on her thumb.  She sustained the infamous ‘Coco dedo’ injury (coconut thumb).  I’ve seen this type of injury 4 times now, where a person is cutting a coconut with a machete, and the knife slides of the coconut and chops (or almost chops) their thumb off.  In Moana’s case, it was chopped off completely.  We reattached it in hopes that it would ‘take.’  So far, it doesn’t look promising, but we have been amazed by some of the fingers that have survived.  See below (if you have a strong stomach).

I drank some coffee at home for 20 minutes, and ate.

Then, Dr. Alex gave me more coffee.  Mmmm.  I like coffee.

Tamatoa (not his real name) breaks my heart whenever I see him.  He is a little guy, 6 month old, with sever hydrocephalus.  That means his head is way too big, full of fluid.   Our team put a drain in it recently.  He has had multiple other surgeries.  His mom is about 16, and tasked with taking care of this very high maintenance child.  In the states he would have a sophisticated multidisciplinary team caring for him, with opportunities of respite for mom.  Here, she is all he has (and grandma).  He is hard for us to care for, as well.  The prognosis for these little guys is not very good.

20 yr old gal came in with abdominal pain.

5 yr old Kiddo with recent elbow surgery came in, with new pain.

A sweet older lady with recent leg amputation came in for Chest pain, leg, pain, numb arms, etc.

Hey the night is still relatively young, and I’m on the hook until 7 AM.  I’ll keep you posted.  Shoot, just heard the front gate calling the nurses about another one.  gotta go…

Photo of the Day:

This is Moana’s thumb.

See you tomorrow.