Tomorrow I start my general surgery month, on call at 5 in the morning. I'm nervous, for many reasons.
I've not yet been on call as a doctor - we don't take call in the ER.
I've never rounded on more than 6-7 patients in the morning; we've got 20 to be seen.
I'll be working 26 days straight, no breaks or days off.
In fact, I have one continuous week of every-other-day call.
It's surgery... they can be kinda intense.
If I stay up any later than 8PM I'll be cutting into 8 hours of sleep... all month long.
Apologies for the pity post. I'm allowed to do that once in a while, right? Cheer me up by forwarding this blog to your favorite friend and/or leave me a comment
October 4th, 2009 - 22:12
Consider yourself cheered. Repeat as necessary.
October 4th, 2009 - 22:56
I like your blog.
October 5th, 2009 - 07:43
Good luck! It will be over faster than you can imagine.
October 5th, 2009 - 08:49
I’d love to cheer you up, but you never cheer me up by replying back to my comments.
Okay, I’m nice, I’ll still cheer you up: You go Doctor! :]
October 5th, 2009 - 17:11
If you’ve done ER then you know what it is like to be on call.
To call what Surgeons do “rounding” on patients may be a bit of a stretch. It’s more “visualizing” patients and briefly touching their abdomens.
Just remember you are not a surgeon. Don’t get caught up in their macho games and you’ll do well.
Good luck, and I’m really enjoying your blog.
October 5th, 2009 - 20:16
Just ask’em if they’ve had a bowel movement and the rest of the month will be a piece of cake. Best of luck buddy!
October 6th, 2009 - 21:16
Thanks everyone (and Mira, I apologize for being so bad at responding to comments… I’ll work on it, I promise!)
Soon as I get some time off I’ll write more.
October 7th, 2009 - 19:13
DFF: YM “passed wind” HTH HAND.
but seriously, compared to emergency, surgery is a piece of cake.
October 10th, 2009 - 01:25
All the Very Best
October 20th, 2009 - 20:14
fyi – that’s strange. I’ll see if I can’t figure out what’s going on. Thanks for the heads up.
October 21st, 2009 - 22:11
Man your blog is beast. Wish more people had your striaght talking approach. cheers
October 21st, 2009 - 22:12
I dont completely agree with what you’ve said but i respect your opinion.
October 21st, 2009 - 22:12
Is this a wordpress or a typepad blog? The theme is real nice.
October 21st, 2009 - 22:16
Zebra – it’s a WordPress blog. The original theme was Connections by Patricia Muller. I modified it a bit.
As an aside, I’m debating whether to switch over to a hosted blog by Blogger for increased networking and visibility… anybody have any thoughts?
I also added an easier “subscribe” button at the top of each post. Input from more experienced webmasters is greatly appreciated at agraphia.mailbag@gmail.com!