Today Erica and I decided
to get to the hospital a half hour or so later because all we do for the first
hour is wait around anyway. When we did arrive at the hospital, however, I
found out that all of the doctors in general surgery were in a meeting for the
next three hours. I figured I would go to administration and officially get
moved to another department for the day, but the administration is awful and
told me to just wait around for three hours. Therefore, I took it upon myself
to unofficially walk around the hospital anyway.
I saw a group of students in the hallway, and it turns out a lot of the students had a slow day because a lot of main doctors had taken off for some reason. I felt like I somehow got appointed unofficial leader/tour guide of this group, which I wasn't a fan of because walking around in groups in the hospital= not a good idea when you're trying not to draw attention to yourself. Also, the orthopedics doctor who I was about to search for to ask if I could shadow him today walked by in that instant, and I couldn't ask him when I was in a group of five people. I was deeply upset, half because I really want to go to orthopedics and half because I really wanted to spend time with him because he is literally the most beautiful man I have ever seen in my entire life. He could be a Calvin Klein model. Even his scruff is perfectly trimmed. Anyway- Eventually, we finally split up, and I made my way over to pediatrics.
As soon as I walked through the doors, I had mixed feelings of smiles and sadness. The children's ward is decorated with some of my favorite Disney scenes from Hollywood and there are toys and playrooms around. As far as the decorative atmosphere goes, it aims to inspire happiness. But being in a children's ward is just so sad to me. I could never be a pediatrician. I try to think back to my childhood days, and I realized how impressionable I was and how impressionable kids are in general. I feel like a lot of the adults I interacted with at that age had a big impact on who i turned out to be. If I had been sick in a hospital, I feel like that doctor would have had a huge impact on my growth, development, and even just memories because that hospital visit would have been one of the most important pieces of my childhood. I don't want that role on these kids' lives if that at all makes any sense... I also think its just sad seeing kids so vulnerable. When I was wandering the halls looking for the doctor, there was a baby on a bed just crying. No one was around to soothe it. Seeing that baby alone crying, without being able to help it out really broke my heart. It reminded me of that scene in Harry Potter at the train station. I know why JK Rowling chose to write that part. It's complete vulnerability and it broke something inside me.
When I finally found the doctors, I found out there wasn't much going on in this department as well. However, one doctor (who actually turned out to be the neonatologist I met the other day) had three consultations. In addition to being a neonatologist, she's a pediatric cardiologist. Nico (who is in pediatrics) and I got to see ultrasounds of the hearts of two babies who had had some heart problems when they were born. Thankfully, they are okay now. It would be weird having a patient who you couldn't communicate with (like a baby.) I also saw an ultrasound of the heart of a five year old girl and, she was so cute.
After my brief visit to pediatrics, I wandered the halls a bit more. I met a neurologist who invited me to his department some time. I might have to take him up on the offer! Though I'm not particularly interested in neurology. I then visited the mother insane give birth yesterday, though the nurses were busy with her so I couldn't really spend much time there.
At this point, it was around noon and the surgeons would be out of their meeting. When I went to go check on them, I learned that there would be no surgeries today and that had another meeting to go to. Sigh. I then went down to the ER for a bit, but apparently I had just missed a morning full of action. I felt like I was always jut a beat off today. Erica and I grabbed some coffee (am I turning into a coffee drinker?) we were dead exhausted after spending too many nights staying up late blogging (which wouldnt have been a problem if we had kept up with it from the beginning!) Then we went upstairs to OB/GYN. Afte waiting a bit, we got to see a c-section!
The c-section was really interesting. It took a mug shorter amount of time then the natural birth I saw, and it was also a lot less bloody. (Then again I had seen an abnormally bloody natural birth.) First they pulled out the foot, and it was so tiny! I realized how premature this baby must have been! They then got stuck getting the baby's head out for what seemed like the longest three minutes of my life. It was probably normal for c-sections, but it really scared me shitless. Once the baby was safely out, the neonatologist (u saw her everywhere today!) took the baby to bring it to her ward.
I am not kidding when I say that during the c-section, Erica and I were literally falling asleep. It was embarrassing. But we just couldn't stand any longer. I had a pounding headache and my eyes were itching for sleep. We called Alberto to pick us up because we couldn't fathom walking home, and then I took a five hour "nap" (if you can call it that.) Afterward, I got ready for our Fourth of July fiesta!
No comments:
Post a Comment