May 13, 2010

As Lindsey stated in the last post we have spent a little time apart so this post is an update on my day and a half or so. Luckily after a lazy day with bad weather and dashed hopes of dunking myself in the local spring I was able to have a fun outing with the group. We went to an authentic Ukrainian restaurant. It was very interesting! Most interesting of all was the stories told by my new favorite person…Arthur. Arthur is an anesthesiologist in his 60s or 70s that has lived! I mean really really lived!!!! I hope someday I can have half as many cool stories as this guy. We were instant pals (well at least I think so haha) because we both have a love of the Masai people. Arthur spent some time with them and we both had stories to swap. Mine was my well known (at least to my family/friends) wedding proposal/free pass not to build our dung hut by the chiefs son and his was of course way better. He said that he not only tried the cow's blood/milk mixture but he loved it…had three cups hahah! He expected me to say that I also tried the blood but I had to admit I was a wimp and passed on that gourd (they use gourds as containers). Guess next time I'll have to try the delicacy of cow's blood! This guy has done it all; he even told a story that ended with him eating warm monkey brain (just a bite so he didn't get killed of course hahahaha!) from a freshly killed monkey! Sooooo cool! Anyways, I digress…basically dinner was not only delicious but filled with very colorful conversation as you can tell! Oh, Dr. D and I got the same dinner…borscht soup, veal with vegetables topped with blackberry sauce, & mashed potatoes with mushrooms. DELICIOUS!!!! My meal cost a little under 25 US $! It would have cost around $80 in the US I think. Also had a Ukrainian beer that was pretty good and was pressured to try a shot of vodka. These people love their vodka! I think Lindsey mentioned that already haha. It was super smooth tho I must say. :)

Today I worked a day shift with Caroline. A nurse from the UK with tons of experience. She goes on several ICHF trips a year! We planned on having 3 cases today but could only manage 2. The first case was a 24 year old female who needed an Aortic Valve Replacement. She had some bleeding in the OR so her case took longer than expected. But, she looked pretty good after arrival to the unit and we were able to extubate her pretty quickly once she woke up. The nurse got to extubate her…I was so jealous! But, I did get to take some pacer wires/chest tubes out today (under adult MD supervision of course ;) )! The second case was a BT shunt on a TET but they were just wrapping up in the OR when my shift came to an end so I'll meet the baby tomorrow night (back to night shift! haha). I also got to meet the kiddos from yesterday. The first was Demi who we de-lined and sent out to the unit early on. Kids walk out of the ICU here! Love it! The second was Kristina; she was feeling better than last night bc she definitely became more feisty haha. I made eye contact with her and she fake slept! The MD tried to say it was the morphine but this little girl was straight up avoiding me haha. Oh yeah speaking of vodka…Kristina got a high fever so we gave her a vodka bath! Yeap we rubbed her down with vodka and fanned her with a CXR! Gotta love a hospital that keeps vodka in the fridge at work! Classic! Anyways, it actually worked really well…perhaps we should think about stocking vodka in the pyxis? Another interesting story involving Kristina is after we got rid of most of her lines we let her go on a walk with her mom. She didn't come back for a while and then one of the russian doctors told me in a giggle that she didn't want to come back haha. So it was just in the air whether she was going to come back to the ICU or stay @ the step-down unit. Basically, a feisty 4 year old was dictating her care :) No one seemed to be concerned but me. Crazy huh haha! She ended up stopping in from time to time for a spot check and assessment haha! And last but not least, little Julia is still in the unit. She looked good today so I'm thinking she'll go to the floor tomorrow. There are 3 cases scheduled for tomorrow. Hope we get through them all. I'll let ya know :)

Thought I was done but gotta add this! Just as I finished my last sentence a wasted Russian guy came and sat next to Scottie Day and I and tried to start trouble. We are harmless individuals! Well we snuck past him and just took the stairs up 9 flights haha! Another classic Ukrainian moment! That's all for now…sure to be more! Goodnight!

-Katie