Kaylene’ Blog

Wednesday April 15th

Tax Day…

…And I barely thought of America once today; it only crossed my mind as I wrote the date just now. We already had some tasks to do at the hospital this morning, assigned from last night; so we saw a consult on the FMW for abdominal pain and urinary retention, then headed for the CSW to get started. I plastered a couple legs today, and put an elbow and a couple legs in traction. We also had a little bit of fun taking snaps with many of the kids on the ward.

Dr. Johnson had a maternal M&M meeting starting at 10am, so Kim and I entertained ourselves rounding on the FSW, doing the fullest neurological exam ever on our mysteriously paralyzed patient, then roaming the hospital grounds after reviewing the chief complaints of the waiting crowd, triaging for anyone requiring x-rays. Clinic finally got started around 1530 today, and as much as I expected it to go fast, I found myself surprised by the first few patients who required significant time, attention, and explanation. But I see that Dr. Johnson really is perceptive of the individual needs of his patients, and is able to balance both time and empathy, and it works out quite well.

As far as fun procedures today, I did get to aspirate a liter of fluid from a hydrocele, and Kim sutured a really cool periorbital laceration. At 1930 we started rounds in the MSW, and found a lot of work to do, including dressing changes and stoma bag and suprapubic catheter care, a knee joint requiring aspiration, and we spent some time repositioning my patient in traction with the Steinman pin. We arrived home late and very tired, but we had our pumpkin with ground nuts (peanuts) for dinner, and it was delish!