on my two days of this rotation i had a gentleman who fell 25-30 feet off of a roof... broke his neck, back, pelvis, and acetabulum. he ended up coding and had to be split open mid sternum to his pubic bone and mid axilla left to right. he quite a rough go at it to tell you the truth. when i got him he was two weeks post accident, agitated and thrashing around in the bed. my first shift was one helluva shitty day. he ended up being trached and was a lot calmer. without the ET tube in his mouth he could mouth words to his wife and communicate much better. by the end of the shift he was making silent jokes, both his wife and i laughing away. at one point near the end of the day he waved me over... took my hand and pointed at me, then his wife and then himself and mouthed the words "you, my wife and i... we family. we are FAMILY. " it was just another one of those things that reinforces to me that real family is subjective and not just tied to bloodlines. it exists in the heart and in the head. it's emotional, altruistic and non-judgemental.
speaking of family (biological this time), i spoke with my mommy for about an hour and a half yesterday. my mother is honestly an amazing woman... she always has the right thing to say and but never sugarcoats it. she has this awesome way of putting things into perspective... making shitty things not so shitty and reminds me that i'm strong, i'm capable and i'm adaptable. whatever life throws at me, i'll get through it. she understands me like few people do and believes in me when i lack the confidence to believe in myself. i'm honestly so so fortunate and proud to be her daughter. i'm super stoked to go home at christmas and give her tiny little frame a big fat hug and... then later...make jam. yum.
so now on to the shitty news... we'll not shitty for you... just shitty for me. i got the results of my xrays back. my shoulder is still slightly separated (which indicates that it was initially separated way worse than i was told) AND here's the kicker i have a FRACTURE on the lateral tip of my clavicle that hasn't healed in 6 months. so i have an appointment with an orthopedic surgeon in december to see if we can figure out what the shit is going on in there.
finally, last night i got a really cool patient assignment. this poor lady had to have a flap done on her groin after removing a tumour and having her femoral artery resected. the flap wasn't taking (IE dying) so in order to try and save it, we were doing leech therapy on it. so twice last night i had to apply 4-5 leeches on this groin flap, make sure they attach and wait until they gorge themselves enough to fall off. i was so stoked. everybody else was pretty much grossed out but i have done it before and i just loved it. i can't wait to do maggots. my job is so cool.
hahah yes... i'm gross.
i've also had this song in my head for days.
1 comment:
Almost my entire family is made up of people who are not blood related. Some people who you meet in life, you know you've met for a reason and you bond with. You love them and can't imagine life without them. They support you, teach you and love you just like a family should.
Kinda sucks but on the flip side, you don't pick your blood relates and they can turn out to be pretty horrible people sometimes.
It's a very big life lesson to learn that family doesn't only exist in blood ties. I wish more people knew that.
Now if it only got easier explaining my black sister to people. *LOL
Faye
PS - I would have been fuckin excited about the leeches too!
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