"You survived the thunderstorm..."

At least that's what my upper level resident said.  I have been an intern for 3 weeks now.  In three weeks I have taken 10 calls, worked an average of 80 hours a week, discharged 23 patients home, sent 3 people to the intensive care unit and one to the cardiac critical care unit, cried once, and learned that I could push myself more than I ever imagined.  It has been a crazy month and an adjustment to say the least.  I have to say the transition was made easier by the fact that I have an awesome team to work with.  My team consists of an upper level resident (who is a 2^nd year), S, and 2 interns, myself and then another prelim intern, N.  We have a great group dynamic and the word “team” couldn’t be truer. 

I bet you are wondering what the “thunderstorm” was…well it was not just starting my intern year.  On my second day I get a page from the nurses to come to one of my patients rooms STAT because he was having a seizure.   I hauled ass to the patients room to find him vomiting, pale as white sheet, and limp.  There were about 5 nurses surrounding him.  They turn to me and say…”what do you want to do about it?”  Holy shit…they want me to decide what to do with this guy who has 101 medical problems and new onset seizure.  I took a deep breath and spat out the first few things that came to mind in that acute moment of stress.  Luckily my upper level wasn’t to far behind me to check my steps and make sure I didn’t miss a beat.  The patient rebounded nicely and the seizure resulted from his heart rate and blood pressure dropping causing him to have a “presyncopal convulsive episode.”  That wasn’t the last I heard from this patient.  He definitely kept me on my toes.  The next day he decides to develop chest pain.  Just great (I say that sarcastically)!! We drew cardiac enzymes on him and they were all POSITIVE…meaning this guy could be having a heart attack.  The patient was emergently transferred to the cardiac unit for immediate cardiac catheterization. 

The 2^nd rainstorm occurred when I walked into a patient’s room during my morning rounds to find him unresponsive.  I tried shaking him vigorously and nothing.  Shit!! His oxygen saturation was 67% (normal is 100%).  He would not answer questions when asked and he wouldn’t even sit up.  We had to call anesthesia to come and intubate the patient right on the floor and then we sent him straight to the intensive care unit.  What a way to start your morning!

Both patients made it through their health crisis and were discharged home safely.  I guess you could say that "I survived the thunderstorm.”