brightlightscoldsteel.blogspot.com
Bright Lights, Cold Steel: am i glowing?
http://brightlightscoldsteel.blogspot.com/2007/12/am-i-glowing.html
Bright Lights, Cold Steel. Tuesday, December 18, 2007. The drive in total for that one case was over 90 minutes of x-ray exposure. That's more than the recommended exposure in one month, someone told me. Not to mention the fact that the hospital does not provide leaded glasses to protect our lenses from developing cataracts, which is a known long-term consequence of x-ray exposure. How is that even allowed? Uhm, no, I'm not a junkie at all. Why are you looking at me like that? December 23, 2007 at 1:45 PM.
brightlightscoldsteel.blogspot.com
Bright Lights, Cold Steel: '07 ---> '08
http://brightlightscoldsteel.blogspot.com/2007/12/07-08.html
Bright Lights, Cold Steel. Monday, December 31, 2007. 07 - - '08. We in the medical field are used to change. We deal with it daily. We expect it. Why else would we admit someone for "serial abdominal exams"? We are ever prepared for the moment when the generalized abdominal pain turns into peritonitis and we're heading down to the operating room. So here's to the new year. Learn what you can from last year and then let it go. Get ready for 2008 - for the planned and the unplanned. Cut on the Dotted Line.
brightlightscoldsteel.blogspot.com
Bright Lights, Cold Steel: what do you say? part I
http://brightlightscoldsteel.blogspot.com/2008/01/what-do-you-say-part-i.html
Bright Lights, Cold Steel. Thursday, January 3, 2008. What do you say? Medical school can teach you a lot of things. Most of what they teach, they do very well: pharmacology, anatomy, physiology, pathology. One thing they don't spend much time on is how to deliver bad news. If they do have a one hour lecture devoted to it, consider yourself lucky. But something like that can't be taught in one hour. For some, even a lifetime isn't enough. Once all those spots on both arms are used up, you can try to do s...
brightlightscoldsteel.blogspot.com
Bright Lights, Cold Steel: hi everybody!
http://brightlightscoldsteel.blogspot.com/2008/01/hi-everybody.html
Bright Lights, Cold Steel. Sunday, January 13, 2008. I'm on trauma call today; I'm about 14 hours in and I've had six already. All moderate blunt traumas. (Meaning not really sick, but needs the activation of the trauma team. Trauma team = surgery trauma service, senior ER resident, x-ray techs. Blunt injury is like a motor vehicle or motorcycle collision. Penetrating is like a stab wound or gunshot wound.). Tonight when they arrived, I exclaimed, "Hi, everybody! January 14, 2008 at 4:41 PM. Be Still, My...
brightlightscoldsteel.blogspot.com
Bright Lights, Cold Steel: what do you say? part II
http://brightlightscoldsteel.blogspot.com/2008/01/what-do-you-say-part-ii.html
Bright Lights, Cold Steel. Friday, January 4, 2008. What do you say? Another patient on my service is also in that proverbial place between the rock and the hard place. He's young as far as our patients go - only 51. But he has the body and face of a septuagenarian. Through a constellation of events, some self-induced, some self-neglect, some medical neglect, he is facing an above knee amputation. We accepted this transfer because he had a huge saddle embolus. I took down the dressings on the leg in ques...
brightlightscoldsteel.blogspot.com
Bright Lights, Cold Steel: October 2007
http://brightlightscoldsteel.blogspot.com/2007_10_01_archive.html
Bright Lights, Cold Steel. Wednesday, October 31, 2007. There are several things that drive me up a wall in my chosen profession. One of them, if not the worst, is the concept of the "VIP." It's the idea that a patient gets preferntial treatment over other patients because they are a professor, or a dean, or own some influential company. Tuesday, October 30, 2007. It was all going well until. Today was a very busy day in the OR. Both of my attendings were operating. We asked for help from some ot...First...
brightlightscoldsteel.blogspot.com
Bright Lights, Cold Steel: grandpa
http://brightlightscoldsteel.blogspot.com/2008/01/grandpa.html
Bright Lights, Cold Steel. Monday, January 7, 2008. Every academic program has at least one. An old surgeon, usually a former Chair of the department, who at one time was a legend. Perhaps even one of the greats of surgery. And if they weren't great, they knew the greats. There is a clinic that he staffs for the residents once a week. (Don't ask me what he does the rest of the week, but he still comes to work.) I wish we could just divide up those patients amongst the rest of the attendings in th...Numbe...
brightlightscoldsteel.blogspot.com
Bright Lights, Cold Steel: the worst complication
http://brightlightscoldsteel.blogspot.com/2007/12/worst-complication.html
Bright Lights, Cold Steel. Tuesday, December 4, 2007. Several months ago, I was on a rotation that dealt mainly with "foregut" surgery and hepatobiliary cases. On this service, that meant anything from the gastroesophageal junction. To just below the ligament of Treitz. Including the liver, common bile duct, pancreas, and duodenum. I got to see tons of gastric resections, whipples. One of the operations we did was a vagotomy. And antrectomy for gastric outlet obstruction. That was done said they could no...
brightlightscoldsteel.blogspot.com
Bright Lights, Cold Steel: December 2007
http://brightlightscoldsteel.blogspot.com/2007_12_01_archive.html
Bright Lights, Cold Steel. Monday, December 31, 2007. 07 - - '08. We in the medical field are used to change. We deal with it daily. We expect it. Why else would we admit someone for "serial abdominal exams"? We are ever prepared for the moment when the generalized abdominal pain turns into peritonitis and we're heading down to the operating room. So here's to the new year. Learn what you can from last year and then let it go. Get ready for 2008 - for the planned and the unplanned. The drive in total for...
brightlightscoldsteel.blogspot.com
Bright Lights, Cold Steel: grateful
http://brightlightscoldsteel.blogspot.com/2007/11/grateful.html
Bright Lights, Cold Steel. Thursday, November 22, 2007. For what I learn from my patients, my attendings, and my students. For being present in people's lives when they are the most vulerable and being in a position to offer comfort. For whatever abilities I have to do my job. To belong to a profession that prides itself in the care of others. To be able to experience life-long learning in an ever changing world. For the health of my friends and family. The available dates are here:. I'm a surgery reside...
