A great day in surgery

My last day on the trauma service has turned out to be what you could say is one of the best days any physician could ask for. It started with patient C (a kickboxer who got rhabdomyolysis – where his muscles broke down and put him into multiple organ failure including a failing heart) whose tests showed he was finally stabilizing after almost a week of acute resuscitative efforts, he’s a long way from “stable” but doing a lot better than when he came in.
Then the shocking highlight of my day when a woman came in literally having had her hair caught in a mail sorting machine and being scalped and me and my resident spent a good 20 mins washing clots from under a loose hanging scalp and wrapping up her head while she was fully conscious talking to us.
There was the 2AM trauma case of a guy whose tractor flipped over onto his leg followed by the highlight, a 16yo who killed a horse by ramming into it with his ATV with a intracranial bleed who we took into the OR and evacuated. I ACTUALLY GOT TO CLIP OFF PIECES OF HIS SKULL with a bone cutter. I think we saved his life, he went from appearing to be dead on a ventilator to breathing on his own after the surgery. I hope he does well.

Finally eating breakfast with my residents who all complimented me on the good job I did. Definitely a sense of satisfaction and even a little pride. In particular Josh, my chief resident and someone I really look up to as a physician told me “you are one of the best medical students I have worked with”. All in all, a great learning experience