Surgical Day #5

I got to sleep in and do a late shift today.  Went in at 2PM to assist with new post operative admissions, get them settled, and leave after the last case with the OR team. 

It was nice to sleep… I think that I have finally run, face first, right into that wall of exhaustion.  I’m still sort of wasted in fact (not that way though, it’s a dry country remember).  So it was also nice to come back to our guesthouse after only eight hours. 

So not a TON to report. 

However…I DID assist a mother in breastfeeding her infant five hours postoperatively, two hours post extubation, with one mediastinal chest tube, one pleural chest tube, one triple lumen IJ line, pacer wires, and an art line….I think we had weaned off pressors at this point, but not 100% sure on that detail.  Definitely still on milrinone…

So, there we were…in a Muslim country I would just like to add for anyone who might have forgotten…and we pulled the curtains, scooted the baby to the edge of the bed, I leaned over one side to support lines, drains, baby, etc and the mother leaned over the other side in the most awkward breastfeeding position I think humanly possible…

…and together, we fed her crying baby.