A wonderful time was had by all last night before I left for work... more on that later. First I need to bitch a little... as always...
The evening and the day was slow, according to the evening techs... the last one left at 22:00, an hour early. Nothing was going on...
Nothing continued going on for about an hour, and then I started getting busy... and busier and busier.
The hospital gives us a free xmas dinner. I missed it... missed dinner altogether, in fact. Not that I can't afford to miss a few meals... but a free one? I mean, damn...
So, about 03:30, things calmed down enough so that I could get the paperwork caught up. Almost made it... but a young (26YO) very pretty girl (looking at her driver's license... her face was way to bloody to call pretty...) came in... she was pretty intoxicated and had hit a utility pole going about 60, then had to walk about a mile to get help. Fractured her arm badly and lacerated herself a bunch, but OK other than that.
I'd just finished the CT of her formerly pretty little head and I was sending the images to the radiologist when I was paged again... code red shooting. And it was the real McCoy, too... three small-caliber wounds, a=one of them fracturing his arm, the other going through his flank and severing his spinal cord and nicking a few major blood vessels and the third into his knee... he was going to surgery when I left. I have the feeling that he'll be another mean guy in a wheelchair that the public will have to support for the rest of his life...
My relief tech came in early, and I sent him up to do the ICU portables... two hours late.
On my last trip through the ED before I left, I asked the doc, the Ragin' Cajun, if he was coming back tonight or if I was... he's always too damned hard on me... and I reciprocate whenever possible.
And I feel like I've been beat up... and I still have five nights to go... 4 twelves and a ten.
Anyway, back to last night... it was fun. Karen bought me a surprise gift... a MIDI keyboard. I've been wanting one for years, but I could never justify the money for such a plaything... yeah, I've convinced myself that the computers are educational.
And I didn't get her anything, dammit.... I was planning on writing her a poem or two last night... heh... that didn't work out.
Kim brought over a pan of the best Fudge in the world....
OK, shower and bed. More tomorrow....