My first code blue of 3rd year that I was in and got to see from start to finish was on my neurology rotation. It was a friday night and I was on call, which means I had to stay till about 8:00pm. I was dreading staying, but started studying to use the time wisely. All was quiet until about 6pm the over head system said Code blue 12th floor, Code blue 12th floor. I knew that was us and I ran to the code blue with my team, my heart pumping. We got there before everyone and got to see the start to end of the code. The process was awesome.
The controlled chaos of 20 people in one room working smoothly to get this guy revived. He had a brain bleed initially for his reason at the hospital. He also had kidney failure and had to get dialysis every day, and he became unresponsive during the procedure. It was cool to see the doctor standing at head of bed coordinationg everyone, telling the nurse to push epi, and to push magnesium, and to push bicarb. They stopped every 2 minutes or so to check for a pulse and a shockable rythm and would do CPR. I almost did chest compressions, but I stepped back and just watched the process. Next time I will do compressions. The guy made it. It was super cool to see the process. It made me realize i really want to do ER. I love Codes!
-MD in 14
Saturday, January 19, 2013
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
First post of 2013 (3rd Year Impressions)
It has been literally months since I last wrote. My main excuses are I am too tired or I need to study. This is a major lol, since I still find time to play Call of Duty and watch TV for a little every night. Ha ha! Anyways, I am at home today, it is January 2nd 2013. I am cleaning up my papers from my last rotation and getting organized, and opened my "Internal Medicine" notebook to find something I wrote on the first day of the rotation of Internal Medicine. This was my last rotation of 2012. I have done 3 rotations thus far, they are in order, Surgery (July 2012- Sept 1 2012), Pediatrics (Sept 2012-October 10th 2012 or so) and then my last rotation was Internal Medicine which lasted until Christmas break. Anyways, my note I found was:
First Day patient rounds at cook county-
-1 patient with crack/cocaine abuse
-1 heroin user
-1 women just out of jail 1 month ago
-1 man who is currently a prisoner and has possible TB
-2 patients who do not speak a lick of english
I'll never forget that. It was the 2nd half of my internal medicine rotation. I had completed 4 weeks at Rush, and just started Cook County. I had heard it was different and eye opening, but that was far from what I imagined. I have never seen any of those at Rush, besides some non english speaking patients. But, this was crazy. Cook County was eye opening. It was foreign, it was scary that first week.
Then, I got used to the system, but not entirely. It's mainly poor people who cannot afford healthcare, and many, many prisoners. It was sad because many of the people were in really bad shape by the time they got to the hospital because they let the diseases go for a long time since they cannot afford to pay for anything. The patient that left the biggest impression on me, and it is hard to type this without some tears in my eyes, was a young women, I would say she is more of a girl, she was close to me in age, if I remember right, around 24 or 25. She had blood cancer called leukemia. She had it treated several years ago, but it had come back, and much stronger this time.My team told me that she was not going to make it.
She was going to die, and they said they said it was because no one would treat her, and the treatment available at cook county could not help. She needed a bone marrow transplant, and cook county does not do that operation. I remember the moment I had to go draw her blood one day, and her arms were black and blue from the constant blood draws. They were checking her antibiotic levels since she had something called neutropenic fever. I was the one that went and drew the blood for these levels every day. One day, her mother just broke down in a stream of tears as I was telling A, the patient, (cant say her real name, so A will have to be it) that I was drawing her blood. So, I put my supplies down and walked over to her, and hugged her. She cried some more, even more heavily. She was spent.
Her mother had been at A's side every day, almost every hour of the day. I had never seen a time she was not in the room. I'll never forget that hug. It took all my might not to cry. That hug had an impact on her, and a major impact on me. This woman's daughter was dying in front of her. Every time I went in there she struggled to eat because the cancer had messed up her esophagus. She was also constantly in sweats and always looked uncomfortable. I am crying as I write this. She's 24 years old and dying. The few times she smiled really made me realized how precious life is. That is the most profound memory I have at county hospital. It makes me realize how small my problems I have are. This profession really humbles you. I complain about having to study or long hours at the hospital. It is nothing compared to the people we take care of.
Anyways, rotations have been going well. It's hard, but very cool at the same time. I start neurology next Monday. It will last for one month. I only have 3 rotations left this year, and then I am done in April. It has gone FAST. so fast. I cannot believe I am almost a 4th year. I have really enjoyed it.
-MD in 14
First Day patient rounds at cook county-
-1 patient with crack/cocaine abuse
-1 heroin user
-1 women just out of jail 1 month ago
-1 man who is currently a prisoner and has possible TB
-2 patients who do not speak a lick of english
I'll never forget that. It was the 2nd half of my internal medicine rotation. I had completed 4 weeks at Rush, and just started Cook County. I had heard it was different and eye opening, but that was far from what I imagined. I have never seen any of those at Rush, besides some non english speaking patients. But, this was crazy. Cook County was eye opening. It was foreign, it was scary that first week.
Then, I got used to the system, but not entirely. It's mainly poor people who cannot afford healthcare, and many, many prisoners. It was sad because many of the people were in really bad shape by the time they got to the hospital because they let the diseases go for a long time since they cannot afford to pay for anything. The patient that left the biggest impression on me, and it is hard to type this without some tears in my eyes, was a young women, I would say she is more of a girl, she was close to me in age, if I remember right, around 24 or 25. She had blood cancer called leukemia. She had it treated several years ago, but it had come back, and much stronger this time.My team told me that she was not going to make it.
She was going to die, and they said they said it was because no one would treat her, and the treatment available at cook county could not help. She needed a bone marrow transplant, and cook county does not do that operation. I remember the moment I had to go draw her blood one day, and her arms were black and blue from the constant blood draws. They were checking her antibiotic levels since she had something called neutropenic fever. I was the one that went and drew the blood for these levels every day. One day, her mother just broke down in a stream of tears as I was telling A, the patient, (cant say her real name, so A will have to be it) that I was drawing her blood. So, I put my supplies down and walked over to her, and hugged her. She cried some more, even more heavily. She was spent.
Her mother had been at A's side every day, almost every hour of the day. I had never seen a time she was not in the room. I'll never forget that hug. It took all my might not to cry. That hug had an impact on her, and a major impact on me. This woman's daughter was dying in front of her. Every time I went in there she struggled to eat because the cancer had messed up her esophagus. She was also constantly in sweats and always looked uncomfortable. I am crying as I write this. She's 24 years old and dying. The few times she smiled really made me realized how precious life is. That is the most profound memory I have at county hospital. It makes me realize how small my problems I have are. This profession really humbles you. I complain about having to study or long hours at the hospital. It is nothing compared to the people we take care of.
Anyways, rotations have been going well. It's hard, but very cool at the same time. I start neurology next Monday. It will last for one month. I only have 3 rotations left this year, and then I am done in April. It has gone FAST. so fast. I cannot believe I am almost a 4th year. I have really enjoyed it.
-MD in 14
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