Fourth week has gone!

The following week is my last week on the current ward I am working at. After next week I will be working with the surgeons O__O. That means seeing people being cut open and their guts being played around with. I hope I can keep my lunch down when I see it lol.

The past week was very fun! I am currently in my 3rd year of medicine but I met quite a few 5th years on my wanders arounds the hospital. One in particular was really nice and actually took time out to teach me some stuff. Much appreciated!

I was able to go to the emergency assessment unit to take a history and examine lots of patients. One of the consultants always happens to be there and is always giving me looks of approval when he sees me (which can only be good!). I clerked patients with COPD, confusion, lower passage bleeding, headaches, stomach aches and peripheral limb neuropathy (most likely cauda equina). Very interesting cases.

On Thursday the doctors and students went to a bar and we all had a lot of fun. It was the bday of one of the doctors on my ward too and we just had a blast there. I also came across another girl who told me a funny story. Shes a doctor and one day she had annual leave but came back onto the ward because she had forgotten something. She was wearing heels, a low cut top and a mini skirt. Apparently her appearance provoked an old man to have a heart attack (and also give a few other people erections!!). I was gobsmacked.......and then out of NOWHERE she pulled out a lightsaber and hit me on the head with it!! Fun times =D

In a more dramatic twist I almost saw someone suffer complete heart failure. A patient came in complaining of blood in his poo. My friend and I decided to put a cannula into his arm to give him fluids but my friend missed the vein and quite a bit of blood came out. This upset the patient but he stayed calm. We called a doctor and she tried to fix the cannula but she couldn't do it either. By this time they had been poking around his arm for a good 5 minutes and the guy was becoming more and more agitated and he had lost about 50ml of blood. Both of these combined caused him to have an acute episode where he went very clammy, breathless, confused and scared. We called in a senior doctor who quickly put a cannula into his other arm and talked to him to calm him down. We then fluid resuscitated him (put fluid back into him) and he was much better. The worst part of all this? His wife and 6 year old kid were watching the WHOLE thing. They left when the senior doctor came and it was my job to go tell them that he wasn't critical anymore. A very nerve racking experience.

I also saw a nasogastric tube being put in.....well, it never actually got put in. It is essentially a tube the you push horizontally through the nostril and then curve down the throat and into the stomach. When it reaches the epiglottis you ask the patient to drink some water and swallow both the water and your tube (you have to push it down in sync with the water). But the consultant simply couldn't get it down this patients throat. He kept on vomiting as the tub was pushed down. The vomit was very stringy, brown and extremely pungent. He vomited at least 8-9 times. It was so sad to see him go through all that =[

A frenetic week! Hopefully next week will be even better =D

Thanks for reading!