Dem Bones, Dem Bones...

So, I continue on the night ortho service. It was quite a week back following my wonderful time in New Orleans. I can't even begin to list all of the injuries I have seen so far, but suffice it to say that I have told my husband he's not allowed to pick up any powertools, chainsaws, table saws or use a lawnmower. He's not allowed to ride on a bike, in a car, or on a motorcycle. He's definitely not allowed on a horse. And, he can't go up or down any stairs, any ladders, and under no circumstances is he allowed up on the roof. Seriously, the world doesn't seem very dangerous until you're up all night tending to people's injuries.

Of course, I haven't even begun to list injuries caused by other people... gunshots and stabbings, assaults with hammers, baseball bats, and other metal objects.

I have had a lot of fun, for some odd reason, with amputations. I took off someone's finger this evening and then sewed their hand back together after an encounter they had with a table saw. I had another gentleman on Friday who caught his hand between a chain and the tailgate of a dump truck. It took me almost 2 hours to make his finger look like a finger again. Maybe it's the surgeon in me that keeps popping up. I get a lot of satisfaction in seeing something put back together and knowing that they are going to have a good result.

I have one more week left on this service then I start my elective. For anyone actually reading this, I am going to leave it as a surprise. Let's just say I will probably be doing some cutting... off to go do morning rounds... maybe if I figure out how to post from my iphone I will send tidbits during the next several shifts. It's hard to post because most nights I am too busy, and I spend 7 out of my 10 hours off between shifts sleeping. We'll see if the experiment works. Until then!