the good, the bad, and the ...

Medicine is strange. We had a patient "code" today. That is, his heart stopped and a bunch of people rushed into his room to try to make it start again. I felt like a hero, because they needed a central IV, and I technically am not allowed to put them in without supervision, but I knew I was better at it than anyone else there, and let's face it - the guy was going to die otherwise. Anyway, I got it in on the first try, and the guy didn't even have a pulse to help me know where the vein was (the vein lies next to the artery, for those of you who think I'm kind of dumb for a doctor).
Anyway, it made me feel like I should be doing what I'm doing afterall. The guy didn't make it, unfortunately, but at least they had an IV to give him serious drugs when they needed it.

That was the highlight - weird highlight since he died, huh? But I'd never met him, so I didn't really feel sad. The nurses were all broken up over it. Later, when I heard how his wife had reacted, I felt sad. That would suck - for your husband to die.

The bad part of the day was when I cut the suture too short for my attending when he had sewn up a hole in the artery. That was bad. He was very grumpy because he had to do it all again, and sewing arteries is tedious to say the least. Yeah. I did not feel like a hero then.