*waves to all the readers -- thanks for posting your comments! :)*

Wednesday morning shift in resus.

What was supposed to be a quiet day ( based on previous experience anyhow ) has turned out to be action-packed. The cases came in a constant stream starting from 8am on the dot, and hasn't let up till now ( almost 4pm ). We've had about 3 collapse cases so far. One of them was a 24-year-old Indian male with a gunshot wound to the head. Investigators are trying to confirm whether it was self-inflicted, but from the looks of it, it probably was. He was already pretty bad when the paramedics brought him in, and prognosis is grave, so he was eventually extubated and sent to the general ward after a neurosurgical consult. I didn't speak to his parents myself, but I'm sure they're devastated. His mother's a nurse in our hospital, and told one of our ER sisters that her son had an argument with his girlfriend prior to the incident. Seems the young lady wanted to break up with him. Sigh.

The other collapse case was handled by myself and one of the ER consultants. A 57-year-old Chinese man lost consciousness after choking on a fishball, and the Heimlich manoeuvre failed to expel it. He flatlined soon after, and when I stuck the laryngoscope down his throat to intubate him, the culprit fishball was sitting there like a giant ping pong ball, entirely intact. We fished it out ( sorry, pun not intended ) and intubated him, jabbing in Atropine and Adrenaline in liberal doses. He was down for almost an hour, but miraculously ( and I really mean that ) managed to regain a pulse and a pretty reasonable blood pressure post-resuscitation. He's probably sustained extensive brain damage from the prolonged period of hypoxia, but in most collapse cases, the patient's family just needs time to deal with everything that's happening, so even though this man most likely will NOT make it in the end, at least his wife and children have the chance to say goodbye and grieve. I absolutely hate breaking bad news to relatives. It's distressing to them, and makes me feel awful. Some relatives have turned violent before as well, which then necessitates reinforcements from our hospital security guards, perhaps even the ER's in-house police post. Very unpleasant.

A young Indonesian female was just wheeled in after stabbing herself in the abdomen with a pen-knife. Blood pressure's low, and the surgical team is coming down to see her. I've got 10 minutes left before I call it a day. Getting a little tired, to be honest!

Okay, I don't think I have that much time to go on and on like I always do :P so before I sign off, Clay Aiken fans listen up! The Singapore premiere of the music video for Invisible takes place tonight at about 10:55pm, just after "Charmed". I've got my VCR ready. :D