the underwear drawer

but a cog in the emergency factory

The ER is such a tiring place.  It's hard to say why, probably because the flow of work is so relentless, even during vacation season, that you're just go-go-going all day long.  Even if it's not a bronchiolitis, flu-season ER, there's always something to do.  There's always someone to look in on, something to check.  And the day just goes on and on and on without a break, and by the time your shift ends, you're spent.  You're useless for the rest of the evening.  I know that our ER blocks count as call-free months, in that it's all just shift work, but try working that shift 13 days straight and see how "call-free" you feel.  (Hint: not so much.) 

This morning, as we were driving into work, Joe's consult pager went off.  There was a patient in the adult ER that had been shot in the eye.  Aside from her ruptured globe, the films showed a bullet lodged in the brain, herniation of said brain, and decerebrate posturing on patient exam.  Afterwards, I said that while the eye is important, I sure hoped that Ophtho wasn't the first service the ER had contacted for this patient.  Seems a little bit like calling a Derm consult for a decapitation.

Currently reading: "Dry."  I'm going to need to figure out a new book soon, though, because I'm almost done.

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