I See You - Life in the ICU

I think I finally have my sleep cycles straightened out.  It was a bit difficult going from working nights to working days, perhaps what jet lag feels like.  Anyhow, it's nice to be able to sleep at home, in my bed, with my super-cute and cuddly husband.  And it's also nice to be able to put my little Peanutty girl to bed with a big smooch and hug each night. 

I'm just a few days into my ICU rotation and it has been a whirlwind so far!  On my first day, I got to place an art line, watch a chest tube insertion and see an autopsy. 

I'd never seen an actual autopsy before and it was an experience I felt like I needed to have as a doctor.  We spent a lot of time with cadavers in med school, but they are so altered by the preservation process that they hardly seem like real people.  The autopsy was just crazy because the body was so freshly deceased.   The pathologist had already started the procedure when my senior resident and I showed up.  We walked into a big room, and there in the center, on a metal slab, was the patient.  Chest and abdomen were opened up and all of the organs had been removed.  It looked like something out of a horror movie.  The pathologist slowly and methodically sliced into all of the organs to take samples for analysis.  He looked more like a butcher than a doctor.  It's amazing the things people can get used to after doing them on a daily basis for several years. 

Pathologist: Hey, have you seen the pancreas?

Assistant:  Well, I'm sure it's around here somewhere (rumaging through the abdominal contents which have been placed in a large bucket).

Very surreal.


I almost got to start a central line today but my senior resident beat me to it.  I'm going to have to start being a little more aggressive.  Instead I got to take another stab (quite literally) at an art line.  This one I missed....dogonnit!  Intern fail.  Then the med student came in and got it.  I haven't seen my ego since...last I heard she was in Bermuda. 

Okay...I'm having a really hard time keeping my eyes open.  I'm going to go to bed now.   Then I'm going to get up at 4:30 and go back to work.  Where I live.