Estoy ilesa.....por el momento.

I've emerged from another week still intact.  It makes me smile; to have survived another week.

A friend asked me how I was this week.  My response: I am well.  Some days are bad.  Some days are worse.  But I'm hanging in there.  Once in a while I do something right.  Few and far between, but occasionally it happens. 

This past week was difficult.  Niu was on nights meaning that I was doing the intern job by myself during the days.  Math tells us that my work load was doubled this week as compared to last week when both Niu and myself were working days.

Every morning, post verbal lashing by the chief:
I'm trying to write the daily notes that really have to be written before the attendings start asking where their patient's daily notes are, which of course was 30 minutes ago.
At the same time, nurses are approaching to discuss concerns they have for their patients.
At the same time, one attending shows up on the floor and wants to round on his patients.
At the same time, another attending is either calling or texting wanting to discuss his patients.
At the same time, my pager is buzzing and the pages are backing up.
At the same time, multiple patients are ready to go and pending discharge paperwork/orders.
At the same time, the rest of the team is demanding for my communication as to what's happening with the floor patients, and that all consult requests get passed on to them.
At the same time, the 'list' has to be updated as often as possible.
At the same time, patient's are requesting that their various personal physicians be contacted to be consulted on their care while in the hospital.
At the same time, medical students are floating around asking what they can do next.
At the same time, a trauma code gets called and we all rush to the ED.
AND of course, all the while trying to take the best care of these patients as possible.

5 seconds waiting for an elevator is 5 precious seconds wasted.
You don't drink anything all day long, because two minutes to go to the bathroom is two precious minutes lost.
You have no clue if the day is bright and sunny or if it's a horrendous storm outside.
Any paperwork that doesn't have to be done at that exact second, gets done late at night when I've finally passed off the pager to Niu to carry it for the night.

Take a Deep Breath Christy.

Somehow....
The notes get written.
The nurses concerns are addressed.
Rounds with the individual attendings happen either physically by walking to the rooms or via phone.
The pages all get returned.
The patients ready to go get discharged.
The consults and patient plan changes get texted to the team.
The 'list' gets updated.
The various inter-physician communications occur.
The medical students get the attention they need/want.
The traumas get attended to.
The patient's are cared for.

AND THEN. As an added bonus, yesterday, I did my first surgery all by myself.  Granted it was about one of the simplest surgeries out there, an axillary lymph node excision biopsy.  But from the cutting of the skin to closure of the skin, I got to be the surgeon chief (ACGME term).

HaHa, perhaps if my friend had asked me how I was doing after that my answer would have been a bit different: I am well.  Some days are good.  Some days are better.

Either way, it's all just one day at a time.

Much Love.