Originally published at Perches in the Soul. You can comment here or there.

Former 25 wk premies

bad lungs.

bad gut.

bad heart.

on a ventilator.

cant eat.

…can’t fix the heart. (inoperable)

The heart will be the end of him.

I got a page asking for restraints.

I go and see him

He is waving his little arms and legs.

Looking at the world.

They tell me ( Read more... )

Originally published at Perches in the Soul. You can comment here or there.

Its the middle of the night

when I meet a teenager with a terrible disease

that is a slow, gradual but inevitable death.

Cystic Fibrosis.

She has a giant pneumothorax and a chest tube to let it drain.

Her lung function is 40% of what it should be.

She has done all the right ( Read more... )

Originally published at Perches in the Soul. You can comment here or there.

“We should go until we are called to stay”

“When we lack direction it is because we lack surrender in our souls”

“The place God calls you to is where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.”

This is shat I found when I opened my notebook on Thursday afternoon.  ( Read more... )

Originally published at Perches in the Soul. You can comment here or there.

We got to doors of one of our patients this morning and my co-senior and I turn to the interns and say, “Who saw this patient?”

They all look bewildered….

No one saw this patient.

So we go to the next one I slip in and pre-round and in a matter of about 4.5 mins examine the ( Read more... )

Originally published at Perches in the Soul. You can comment here or there.

Today was my first REAL day of being a second year. Last month I was in the ED, a wonderful place where I thrive in many ways. Now I am on Pulm which of every service in the hospital is the service I most despised as an intern. I despised because I never knew what was going ( Read more... )

Originally published at Perches in the Soul. You can comment here or there.

SO I DRIVE on my day off to Clinic Far, Far Away….

I am ushered in by a nurse who asks about a billion history questions even though I handed her my neatly typed medical summary. Finally Dr. PMR  1 comes in. She is nice, young and I think some what impressed by my medical ( Read more... )

Originally published at Perches in the Soul. You can comment here or there.

SO I called my PMD (a real one who is not a geneticist, does Pap Smears and make me feel not like a pariah) and while I am waiting for her to call me back. One of my classmates over hears me talking in the house staff lounge and suggests PMR (Physical Medicine and Rehab) ( Read more... )

Originally published at Perches in the Soul. You can comment here or there.

For the past 6 mons or really ever since I have moved here I have been trying to figure out a contingency plan if I get hurt or injured here.  I have been told that no one sees skeletal dysplasia here. except the pediatric orthos and genetics. I went to genetics clinic once ( Read more... )

Originally published at Perches in the Soul. You can comment here or there.

My low point of medical school was not my step 1 exam studying, not my surgery rotation or even breaking my arm on the first overnight ED shift (ironic), it was a beautiful September day in my beloved Blue Ridge Mountains.  The next day was the start of my pediatric rotation ( Read more... )

Originally published at Perches in the Soul. You can comment here or there.

There are  147 million orphans in the world.

1 of them is an adorable Kenyan little girl named Hope.

She was born and abandoned. She was a perfectly healthy term baby.  She spent two months in the Nursery while our faithful social workers tried everything they could to find ( Read more... )