Milestones

My father would have been 62 today.

Nikki and Gavin, may you have a long and happy marriage. May your troubles be little ones and your little ones be no trouble!

ER's Mom's Law of Ectopics

They are only allowed to become symptomatic after 8 pm so that by the time the patient gets to the ER and the evaluation is complete, it is now the wee hours of the morning.

Quarterly meeting

Let the whining start!

And there are a lot of whiny docs. Sweet Jesus, grow up!

And yes, I realize that I'm whining about having to go to this meeting. ;)

I'm pissed

At a particular patient.

I get paged at 2:24 am this morning (my phone was possessed last night and rang every 90 minutes or so). It was L&D, one of the nicest nurses on the line.

"Doc, one of your patients arrived by squad. She's been here about 20 minutes."

"Why'd she come?"

"She had one episode of diarrhea so she called for an ambulance."

A few choice words left my mouth. Evidently the paramedics were still there because Nice Nurse put me on speakerphone and they were laughing at my assessment (have her take some G--D--d Immodium and go home).

Yes, I work in a clinic. Yes, my patients frequently have challenging social situations. I tell people that my job is like residency but with better pay. I honestly enjoy working with and helping those who need help.

But COME ON! Use some common sense! It frustrates me to no end to see stupidity and waste. One gal I delivered last year used the ambulance so frequently, we called her squad girl.

Tonight's calls

3 calls since 5 pm - all women with nausea, vomiting, diarrhea.

ugh.

What night shift doesn't want to hear:

Me saying "The ultrasound showed oodles of ugliness and she needs a section."

Peds wasn't happy. Anesthesia wasn't happy. OR assist wasn't happy. I wasn't happy either, to tell the truth.

SNOW!

Crap.

I hate winter.