Five New Lives

Yesterday was my first day on call.  I knew that the first time would be exciting and that in reality it isn't all it is cracked up to be.  Dr. Hardcore didn't think any of his patients would deliver until the afternoon, so he told us not to worry about reporting early in the morning unless he called.  At 5:45, I heard a familiar sound and jumped to grab my cell.  He had a lady about ready to deliver and we had to rush to the hospital.  I was so excited!  I ran to go wake up Farley so we could change and hit the road.  We were walking to the car by 5:50 and at the hospital by 6:10, which was just in time to miss the delivery.  But, that was okay because he had two other women who would soon be ready to deliver.  We waited while he finished some paperwork then when he was giving us a lecture on fetal heart beats and contractions I got really, really hot.  I was about ready to ask if I could go sit down and the next thing I remember is Dr. Hardcore and Farley kneeling down next to me with the entire nursing staff surrounding me.  Yes, I faint.  That will teach me to get up and moving so quickly without eating anything.  I was lucky enough to faint at the shift change so all of the day and night nurses were there.  It was so embarrassing.  Nothing was even going on at the time.  No disgusting ER/Grey's Anatomy type scenes.  We were just standing around talking about fetal heart beats.  Apparently I moved my hand in a weird way and Farley stepped over (we were standing next to one another) and he grabbed me so I didn't even hit the floor, I was placed there.  Then I was given a wheel chair, orange juice, a donut and coffee.   

After that humbling experience, it was time to deliver a baby!  The first Mom was so quiet and calm (she had an epidural).  She pushed that baby out like she was doing something as mundane as washing dishes.  It was unbelievable.  She had a lovely little boy.  Then we went to the Mother Baby unit and rounded on some patients.  Then the second call came. This Mom also had an epidural, but she wasn't calm at all.  She was screaming so loudly and thrashing in the bed.  The doctor had to clam her down and get her to push rather than twist and turn.  Once he was able to do that, Mom number two pushed out a little girl.

Somewhere in the midst of the rounding and baby delivering, we saw an anesthesiologist who was coming to give a woman an epidural.  The nurses and Dr. Hardcore started asking him questions as to if he was feeling alright, but he claimed that he just had the flu.  He was shaky and Dr. Hardcore ask him to please call one of his partners to come in because he looked so ill, which he promised to do.

After delivering baby number two, Dr. Hardcore let us go home for a few hours.  As we were all walking to the parking lot, Dr. Hardcore informed us that the anesthesiologist had a stroke!  It was a really good thing that he was int he hospital at the time because he could get treatment quickly, but I will be keeping him in my thoughts and prayers.  I hope that he is doing better today.

We left the hospital at about 11:30 and went to Target to grab a few things before heading home (namely, trail mix for the car and powerbars/luna bars for early morning call).   After getting home, I had lunch and took a nap.  I work up in time to take a shower before getting the next call at 3:47 pm.  Farley and I quickly changed and were out the door again.  Unfortunately, we hit rush hour and, probably because it was Friday, everyone and their dog (literally) was trying to get on or off Miami Beach.  It took us 40 minutes to drive to the hospital (we can usually do it in 15-20 minutes and obviously even quicker than that at 5:45).  After getting to the hospital, we had to park (a long ways away because we are the lowest in the hierarchy of the hospital).  We then rushed to the labor and delivery unit only to find the P.A. student.  Dr. Hardcore wasn't there yet.  Another medical student met up with us.  He is rather famous at my medical school because after taking his Step 1 boards, he was diagnosed with T-cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia and was Philadelphia Chromosome positive.  For those of you who don't know, this is a horrible, horrible diagnosis, especially since he was in his mid-20s at the time (in someone younger than 10 years old, it would be better, but still a really bad diagnosis).  Anyway, he had immigrated from Cuba several years ago, but he hadn't been here long enough to qualify for medicaid and our school's insurance had lifetime caps (but no more, Thank you Mr. President and Congress!!).  Anyway, this guy needed a bone marrow transplant to live and was on some crazy expensive drugs because he was Philadelphia Chromosome positive.  I am happy to report that he had his bone marrow transplant two years ago and if you hadn't known that he had been sick, you never would have guessed it.  He has been out of school for two and a half years fighting his cancer.  He is a little nervous because he tried to keep studying while he was treated for cancer but really could not.  I think he will do great in this rotation because he is focused and kind.  He is a super nice guy and I am sure that he will teach us a lot about medicine because he has experiences as a patient that I do not.

Anyway, while we were waiting for Dr. Hardcore and discussing our colleague's story, another OB/GYN asked if we wanted to watch a c-section.  So, the PA student and I went to watch.  It looks to aggressive and  painful.  No wonder if takes at least six weeks to recover....it looked horrible!  After the beautiful baby boy was out, they just lifted the uterus up and stitched it up.  It was so strange to see the uterus out of the body and then they put it back in.  They finished stitching her up and the pediatrician took a look at the baby.  Both Mom and the baby were doing well.

Shortly there after, Dr. Hardcore arrived.  We headed into deliver another baby.  This was the only mother whose significant other was at the hospital at the time of delivery.  I think it was the most exciting delivery of the day because this baby was so obviously wanted.  Mom, Dad and maternal grandma were so excited her for birth.  This little girl was absolutely stunning.

After her delivery, we all headed back to the OR for another C-section.  This time Dr. Hardcore was doing it.  Dr. Hardcore uses a different technique where he has these rubber circles that are attached by what I think is plastic in between them.  basically, you get a tall cylinder without the ends and that is inserted into the surgical site.  It helped open up the area and then he just lifted the baby up through the cylinder.  He then sutures the uterus in the body rather than lifting it out of the body.  Apparently there are advantages and disadvantages to both methods of performing c-sections, but this way sure looked nicer on the mom.  I am sure, in actuality, that they are both as painful post-operative, but it looked nicer.  Dr. Hardcore let one of us step up to the table and we all decided that that should be our cancer survivor since he wants to be and OB/GYN and he is only with Dr. Hardcore on the weekends (he is with a doctor who only does gynecology and so he is with Dr.  Hardcore on the weekends to do the obstetrics).  The cancer survivor looked so happy to be helping with the c-section and then after the c-section, he assisted in the tubal ligation.

So, it was about 8:30 pm and we were sent home for the day.  In summary, I saw five new babies born, three vaginal deliveries, two c-sections, one tubal ligation, there was one anesthesiologist who had a stroke, one cancer surviving medical student, and I was the one medical student to faint.  All in ten glorious hours of hospital work.  This is going to be an exciting six weeks.