26 DEC 2007 Tween Calls

"Yesterday I was backup call (and did nearly nothing, shhhhh!) Tomorrow I have my 24 hour shift on duty in the hospital. Today was calm. I started the day by putting a feeding tube in a baby who had been shot in the head. He has been in our hospital almost a week. The day he arrived, Neurosurgeon M. removed part of his skull and controlled the bleeding in his brain. He removed the bullet. He washed the brain gently. He reattached the panel of skull he had removed with short braces and screws. He left a tube in the brain to drain excess fluid and measure the pressure. That makes it sound like mechanic's work. It actually sounds more mechanical than what I do, and he's a brain surgeon! It may be fluids and screws, but yes, it is brain surgery. It's amazing what they do. The baby has survived this week, but still is deeply sedated. He's not quite in a coma, because when his sedation is lightened, he becomes upset and moves around in a disoriented fashion. This is good, because it means that part of his brain is alive. This is bad, because the agitation makes the pressure in his brain rise to a dangerous level. Time and gentle nursing is what he needs most.

A few days ago I put a breathing tube through the front of his windpipe. That day he was swollen tight and shiny. Today I was happy to see that he had regained some of his babyish features. His is such a sweet face. Little mouth and nose resting under long dark curly eyelashes. He will look a lot better running around than he will motionless in a hospital crib, sprouting tubes from every orifice."
Made a difference for that one

I can't keep up with this guy, he's posted 4 blogs since last night..where does he get the energy?