Traumatic call

Goodness gracious. My call last night was a nightmare.

First case was one in resus...extremely ill +++. One look, and I knew the ending point for this poor patient is nearing. Pupils were dilated and hardly even reacting. 5.5L of fluids poured in like there's no end to a "drought" with an effort to bring up the urine output was to no avail. Instead, he turned "gurggly".

I've seen a pretty reasonable number of very ill patients whom I know will go off within a short period of time, and most of them turn "gurggly" before they arrest.

Spent a great amt of time updating the family and reinforcing poor prognosis as well as the decision to not intubate or send the patient to ICU due to his poor premorbids. The family's response came as a surprise for me, as I thought they would have expected the worst outcome by looking at the patient, and knowing the underlying condition.

But apparently not.

I guess it's understandable that family members would want the best outcome for their loved ones, which sometimes the route they choose to reach the "ending point" might not necessary be the wisest one.

When my fellow partner informed me that one of the patients arrested, I knew on the spot who it must be.

Anywayz...

I spent the ENTIRE night clerking. No sleep. And still, unable to finish clerking all the cases. Bah!
The situation got so bad, that at some point, I just gave up tracking how many are pending, and how many I've seen. I think one can tell that I'm rushing through (yet trying to maintain patient safety to the best of my ability) frm my scribbling. The handwriting just got uglier and uglier, and I'm amazed when my ex-Senior from A&E could still say she loves my handwriting...gosh.

Should be doing revision now whilst waiting for exit ward round, but my brain's going on strike. And I still got a 5.30pm transplant meeting to attend, since I'll be presenting my cases to a big crowd.....sigh...that's life of a pathetic MO...