That would me.
I had told DH last night, since he had an early morning meeting, that I could easily get the kids off to school since I had no office and only a PT appointment at 9. Other than that, a wide open calendar until my hair appointment in the late afternoon.
Remember the previous post about the GDER? It ended up being a torsed ovary in a pregnant gal. Initially thought to be an appy by the ER doc, but since she was pregnant, I got to admit her and promptly consult general surgery.
I quick get the kids hustling to get dropped off at school (forgetting my cell at home in the process and needing to go back to get it). I gimped onto L&D, where the surgeon has beaten me into evaluate her. Quick dictate the H&P.
Eric (the surgeon) looks at my crutches and starts in on me. First words out of his mouth : "I heard from Jeff (the orthopod) that you aren't supposed to be working!"
L&D nurses lean in to hear my reply. I admit that I am not the best patient, but that I need to take of my patients. Eric arches his eyebrow, but doesn't say anything.
Eric and I then go into the patient's room. By this time, I've left the crutches at the nurses station, since there's not much room in triage. And Eric looks at me, big ole gleam in his eye and tells the patient "Dr. ER's Mom really likes when patients do what their doctor says. Compliant patients heal better." The nurse in the room bursts out laughing. I'm giving him the strongest stink-eye that I can give.
He ended up taking her down to the OR, agreeing with the ER doc that it was an appy. I offered to assist, but he said he would call me if it was a GYN issue. So, I looked for my phone (DAMMIT! Left it in the car!!!!) and told him that I would stay on L&D and round. By this time, it's 10 minutes before my PT appointment, so I call and cancel, apologizing up the wazoo.
15 minutes later, I'm in the OR dealing with a torsed ovary.
AURGH!
4 comments:
Torsed ovary? What is that please?
When the ovary twists around its blood supply, cutting off blood flow to it. If caught early, we can untwist it and potentially save the ovary by restoring blood flow.
Left alone for too long, the ovary becomes gangrenous and we remove (as I did here) it.
I have some great pix from another case of torsed ovary that I should post (HIPAA compliant, of course). That case was several years ago, and we were all impressed with what we found.
Doesn't pay to make plans for self when your job is as unpredictable as ours, huh?
Do you find that you almost always take out your torsed ovaries? I have read a few papers advocating untorsing and leaving the ovary, even if it looks dusky, but I can't quite bring myself to do it.
I do wish, however, you were taking better care of yourself. You are going to do more damage than good! Take care of you, ER's Mom.
Yeah, so far I'm 100% removal, since I'd rather not do a return trip to the OR later that day...
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