Had some publishing problems earlier, so this is a little belated.

Friday morning shift in resus. So far so good *crossing fingers* The consultation area has been a little scary, though. The list exploded from 8-9am, but after reinforcements arrived at 9, things have settled down. I find it strange for people to show up on Friday mornings -- after all, it's already the weekend, so attendances should be down. I mean, if it's Monday or Sunday, I can understand -- MC seekers galore, or cases which "cooked" over the weekend. Oh well, I've had phenomenally BAD Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays before, so who can really say? :)

The post-Bachelor/Bachelorette showdown last night piqued my interest enough for me to do a Google search on Bachelor #3, ie. Andrew Firestone, or as one stunned hopeful gasped, "Firestone? As in the tyres on my car?" Yes, that's right. He's the great grandson of the company's founder, but now spends most of his time in business or at the family's winery estate. He's even better-looking than Alex or Aaron, but that's because I prefer boyish to beefy. :) A bit Asian, but very tall, with a terrific smile ( my mom picked up on that immediately, like she did with Clay, haha! ). The show ended its run in the US in May, so yep, I know who he chose. No news on whether they're still going strong, but I hope their relationship has a good outcome. This season airs on local TV sometime later this month. My Thursday nights have been so empty post-American Idol and The Bachelorette. This won't be the case for long now. :D

As for Aaron and Helene, I side the latter, and I'm not just saying that 'cos I'm a woman. :) The things she said gave me deja vu, so I don't doubt them. For example, how his calls slowly tapered off, how he seemed less and less eager to see her, how he ( amazingly ) managed to act pretty normal up till the day he broke up with her, and kept saying he loved her to the very last minute. Better still, he dropped the bombshell on her in the most cowardly way possible -- at the airport, an hour before his flight. Tsk, tsk. My ex did all these things ( not the airport bit -- he decided to break up over the phone, haha ), so I empathize with Helene. The poor woman, who was the most bubbly one on The Bachelor 2, and won me over with her good humour and upbeat personality, was reduced to tears a number of times. "I can't turn my feelings on and off just like that. I don't know how he could," she said. Well, certain men can. Just be glad you didn't marry him.

Here's an idea: the producers could put her in The Bachelorette 2, like they did with Trista -- look how well Trista and Ryan turned out. Helene deserves some happiness. I think she'll find it if she takes a chance and follows suit.

We've got medical students with us today. Boy do I feel old! They're fourth years, which makes them 22 - 23 years old. I managed to show one of them an interesting case of hyperkalemia and taught a bunch of them how to read C-spine X-rays, but like I mentioned, the resus area is a little quiet today, so they're basically hanging around watching my reg set IVs. :D When I was at the National University Hospital ER during my med school rotation, I recall one particular day that was so busy I inserted urinary catheters for at least 10 patients, set countless IVs, stitched up around 5-10 people, and assisted in a few resuscitations as well. But I suspect that was my elective posting rather than the usual med student rotation ( there were only 2 of us, as opposed to 10 for the latter ). Anyway, those skills I picked up served me well during my housemanship! Never underestimate the amount of time you can save by doing any of these procedures just a little bit faster. It could mean the difference between getting some rest and getting none.

3:30pm

Half an hour till the shift ends. A 15-year-old girl was brought in just after lunch. Hit by a van and run over. Her friend, who escaped with minor injuries, said the girl was screaming for 5 minutes before suddenly going quiet. 5 minutes after that, the ambulance arrived.

She had no vital signs on arrival, and aggressive resuscitation didn't revive her. Her parents are out of town, so her uncle and aunt had to receive the bad news. It was difficult, even for me ( I wasn't directly involved in her care ). I could hear the wailing from where I sat, and there were objections to performing an autopsy. The main emotion I feel is deep sadness. She was so young, and the school holidays had just begun as of today. She was no doubt looking forward to doing a lot of things she loved this coming week, but crossing the road became a major case of "being in the wrong place at the wrong time". Her friend, who's in the observation ward, still looked dazed when I popped in recently. Hope she'll be okay.