30 Something Baby Doc

Merry Christmas All!

It's Friday near midnight and I home studying...very pathetic...LOL. I won't be going home over the holidays. I'm on call on the 26th. I usually prefer to work on Christmas day, because believe it or not ....NO ONE COMES IN!......I swear every pregnant women in the city remains at home with their legs locked while they're opening their Christmas gifts. On the 26th everyone floods into the hospital ....likely at the exact time I'm starting my shift.

I decided to stay in town over New Years too and study for my boards certification exam. It's hard not being with my family over the holidays, but if I fail this exam, I'll be spending alot more time with my family (after I get fired from my job).

On Christmas eve, I'll purchase and donate food to the local women and children's shelter....there seems the be a huge need there during the holidays and on the 27th I'll do another shift in the soup kitchen. Those shift's are kinda tiring, I don't even have time to talk to the patrons because I'm trying to serve food so fucking fast (250 to 300 people are served in just over 1 hour!!!) The only reason I tell you guys about my volunteer exploits is because of the remote chance that you might mistake me for a decent human being. Actually volunteering my times distracts me from how pathetic I am:-)

Everyone have a Merry and Safe Christmas;-)

As a single male working on a floor that is 95% female, I'm always amazed at the gossip that exist regarding myself. It truly makes up for my boring life. So far I've been engaged about 15 times. Changing careers about 20 times. The current gossip is I'm dating some nurse in the emergency room? Why am I always the last to know. All those nights I'm studying alone at the library I could have been gettin busy with some hot modern day florence nightingale.

I know I always complain about my job and getting up in the middle of the night to drive to the hospital and deliver private patients, but, I really feel horrible when I miss a delivery.

I had a very sweet patient in labor tonite, I figured she wouldn't deliver until sometime tommorrow. The patient's sister (who is also a nurse at the hospital) just called me tonite, (excited) to tell me she was ready to push. I told her it would take me only 10 minutes to get there but the patient was very sweet and told me not to bother, realizing I wouldn't make it in time.

Damn, I feel kinda left out:-)

The other night on call was one of those nights I would like to quickly forget....... I was working at the county hospital if that's any indication. The night began fairly uneventful. We had 6 or 7 pregnants patient laboring on the unit and none of them were complicated or high risk.

The action started at about midnight, I was called for a delivery and everthing went very well, the first year resident (intern) did an excellent job, I just stood back and observed (I love not necessarily having to get dirty anymore). Immediately after the first delivery, we were call to a second deliver. This patient was pushing well and the baby was partially crowning but not yet ready to deliver. Suddenly, the baby's heart rate started to drop and would not recover . I asked the intern if she had ever used forceps before and she said, "no". There's a first time for everything, so I asked the nurse to quickly grab the forceps for us. The heart rate was still dangerously low while I was helping the intern apply the forceps. Suddenly the nurse from the triage area ran into the delivery suite and exclaims ..."we need a doctor in triage right away!! there's a patient delivering"
I responded, " I'm little tied up right now!!! where's my other 2 residents?" She says,"The 3rd year resident is off the floor and the cheif resident won't return his page. "

We quickly apply the forceps and deliver the baby and at the same time causing a nasty vaginal laceration. We hand the pediatricians this limp baby, but it quickly recovers and begin to cry...Thank God. I left the intern in the room to repair the laceration

I rip off my surgical mask and bloody gloves, sprint to the triage, and jump over the receptionist desk inorder to gain quicker acces to the examining room. I enter the room, the patient is screaming hysterically and the nurse is doing her best to keep the patients legs open. I grab some gloves and shout over the patient's ear piercing shreaks to request that she push. She quickly delivers the head, then closes her legs again and the baby's shoulders are stuck. Luckily anothet nurse enters the room and with their combined force , they are able to pry her leg open and the remainer of the baby delivers easily. The cheif resident shows up after all the action .

Suddenly the charge nurse storms in and says another patient in delivering on the unit. I leave the cheif resident in triage to deliver the placenta and I run the the unit. Luckily, this patient is more controlled and not delivering as rapidly. Unfortunately as I was getting ready to set up to deliver this patient the nurse from triage calls back and say that the patient I just delivered has inverted her uterus, is bleeding out and going into shock. SHIT!!!!!!!! I have the nurse call the 3rd year resident (who was off the floor earlier) and him inform him that he had to do this deliver so I can tend to the patient that was bleeding. The nurse got in touch with him and while he was on the phone with her, she relayed to me that he was tied up and couldn't come up. I exclaimed (unfortunately in front of the patient , her family and nurses...." TELL THAT MOTHERFUCKER TO GET HIS FUCKING ASS UP HERE AND DO THIS DELIVERY NOW!!!" I apologized to the patient immediately after my outburst. She exclaims " I don't care !! As long as someone is going to get this Fucking baby out of me!!" (pregnant women, you got to love em)

I run to the the triage room again and blood is all over the table and floor. There was a huge red bulging mass protruding out the patients vagina. The resident said she tried to put the uterus back in and couldn't. We rushed the patient back to the OR, and put her under general anesthesia. I attempted to put the patient's uterus back in and it wasn't easy. I had to brace myself against the operating room table for torque. I kept losing my footing and then realized I was slipping on blood. Finally I managed to get the uterus back and we were able to fluid resuscitate the patient. Damn !!! This is my third uterine inversion in one year. I must be an unlucky bastard. After several blood transfusions the patient was doing well with her baby at her bedside.

The deliveries continued all night straight thru to the morning....I really need a new job.

My partner call me the other day to personally Cuss me out..... because when he relieved my shift, there was a 500+ pound pregnant woman waiting for him that needed a C-section.

I'm really anxious right now. Theres only 30 days until my boards certification exam in Dallas. I guess all I can do now is study.

I was at the public library yesterday for about 6 hours. During a bathroom break, I was washing my hands and a kid about college age was standing next to me.

Kid - are studying for finals?
Me - no, I'm studying for my Boards Certification Exam
Kid - Board Certification?
Me - Yes, in Ob-Gyn
Kid - What??? (looking puzzeled)
Me - I'm a gynecologist
Kid - (laughing hysterically)

I should have just told him I was studying for finals.

I was leaving the office yesterday, stopped to get my SUV washed then started to drive home. I was driving on a busy 4 lane residential street near downtown. The speed limit was about 30, I was doing twice that. When I saw the cop, It was alreay too late. He pulled out into traffic, followed me for several yards , then turned on his lights and siren. FUCK!!!!

(As a minority male driving an expensive SUV, I still am very fearful when I'm pulled over....regardless of the fact that I'm a physician)

I grabbed my license, registration and proof of insurance and turned down my music (Wu-Tang was the current selection playing). The officer approached my drivers side window and explained why he pulled me over. He asked if I had any violations in the last year and I smiled and said "not to my knowledge, Sir". I politely gave him all the material in my hand and he returned to his cruiser.

He was in the car briefly and came back to my window and said, "Sir, since you are so polite and dressed so sharply, I let you off with a warning, enjoy your evening" (I was wearing a shirt, tie and dress coat).

Strange, If I was equally polite , but wearing urban gear and sportin a gold tooth, would the outcome have been the same??? Or maybe I'm being an over sensitive angry black man. Or maybe I shouldn't have been speeding in the first place so it doesn't really matter. You make the call.

Can't We All Just Get Along....

I was staffing the residents for surgery today. I had never met the patient before but her name sounded remotely familiar to me. I went to the OR holding room to meet the patient (Ms. X) and was shock when I discovered Ms X. was one of my former patients when I was a resident several years ago. She seemed to take an inappropriate interest in me back then and had repeatedly called me at my home address (before I realized that physicians should universally keep their home phone #'s unlisted) . She had left several messages on my answering machine asking me out to dinner and finally reached me one day, asked if she could speak with Dr. tommy. I told her she had the wrong number (I don't think she recognized my voice). She even sent a couples of letters to my office expressing her interest in me. Luckily she eventually transferred out of my care,,,Thank God

I had serious reservations about scrubbing on the case given our past interactions or more appropriately put, lack of interaction. If there were any sort of surgical or post-op complication, would our past interaction have any influence on her decision to seek legal action. I'm very sensitive about this issue because a had another patient in my practice who took an inappropriate interest in me....this patient had a poor outcome. She attempted to use the threat of legal action to manipulate me.

I was contemplating asking another physician to take my place today, but the case was getting started so I felt guilty about asking one of my colleagues to operate on such short notice.

I decided to scrub the case and everthing went well with minimal blood loss. I hope everything continues to go well until discharge.

I bet Richard Gere never had to deal with this kinda shit

I recieved a recall notice in the mail yesterday regarding my Mustang. It pertained to a slight factory defect in the hood latches that needed attention.

It states : At certain high speeds the hood could detach and separate from the vehicle resulting in crash.

I guess I should get that fixed.