Thursday, April 07, 2005

M'aidez!

Thursday at 12:45pm. At my desk at work, taking a breather. No guilt for blogging at work as I haven't taken a lunch break today. Come to think of it, the last time I took an actual lunch break was two weeks ago. (I'm afraid that's actually true.)

My plate seems so full today, the phone and beeper and cell-phone going off constantly since my arrival just after 9am. A patient with acute pancreatitis, long history of AIDS and new-onset dementia---now on his way to the ER for admission, his pancreatic enzymes are sky-high. Another patient with Hepatitis C and chronic pain hasn't moved her bowels in nine days---she's also on her way to the ER. The next call is from a patient with chronic asthma who calls me in distress--she's over 350 pounds and so deconditioned that her asthma just can't improve. I ran over to her house and we gave her a prescription for some prednisone. I have to work on getting her admitted to a rehabilitation facility for a few months of pulmonary rehab.

Then another patient calls---she was feeling suicidal, so her therapist told her to go the ER and tell them that she was an alcoholic and needed detox, why I can't imagine. So they sent her to detox for four days and she should've been in the psych unit. I must have a word with that very irresponsible therapist of hers.

The fun just continues non-stop. Must gallop off to put out the next brush fire. As Bugs Bunny would say, "it's a living, doc."

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