Estoy hablando como una tabaquista.

How does a surgeon sneeze?

Trick question.

Same as anyone else. The hardest thing about sneezing during surgery is making sure you don't move your hands. Ingrained in your brain to "cover your mouth" when you sneeze, you try to do that during surgery, and rookie mistake... you've just contaminated yourself.

I've had a couple of cases this week during which I've had snot dripping down the inside of my mask, blood splashed across the outside of my mask; in short I've been an all-out mess. Washing my hands every two seconds doesn't quite cut it. Really feel the need to douse myself with chlorhexidine in an attempt to loose the feeling that I'm a walking petri dish.

I've got some nasty respiratory virus that saw fit to half paralyze my vocal cords in addition to the typical mucous overproduction and cough that usually comes with your common cold virus. I imagine my poor patients feel like their doctor is going to get them sick when I come and ask them how they are doing or does their belly hurt. Ironic that there's no sick days for a surgical residents. If you do call in sick you better be dead or near dead. Exaggeration... or is it?

At least with a virus I can still function appropriately allowing me to do my work. It mainly just makes me sounds awful and causes people to want to walk at a safe distance from me... with reason. I'm not the only one though. For the majority of the month, Clara has been my junior resident on call with me. And it actually started with her. I can blame her for being sick. But now we walk around the hospital on-call both of us hacking up a lung and unable to talk. Talk about the A-Team!! Running traumas, seeing consults, operating when we get the chance... no measly virus is going to stop us!!

It's been a busy last week. I've really needed to, and wanted to, rest to maybe allow by body even a chance to rid itself of this virus. Not a chance. So I am more thankful than usual to have two weeks of vacation time now. I need the break away from the hospital for more reasons that typical. I actually need to rest and recover.

We used to be assigned all of our vacation time together in one lump block. This changed with our new scheduling in July. They split it up for us into two two-week blocks. I was assigned the second two weeks of November as vacation. I flew home to Illinois yesterday in a post-call state-of-mind, eager as I was to begin my rest and recuperation! :)

Much Love.