Indok’s Blog

Dear Diary Moments

An update to what I like to call “Dear diary moments”

1) I got my first lumbar puncture and it went super well!!  I even had an audience.  A couple of nurses were watching as well as my intern.  I stuck the needle in her back and on my first try, I saw the brain fluid drip!  My patient didn’t even flinch and one of the nurses even said “that’s the smoothest lumbar puncture I’ve ever seen.”  Yes, this is a dear diary moment!  I said this outloud, but the nurse said don’t say that, cuz no one in S. Africa says that.  Neither do they have refrigerator moments.

2) Went to the Valley of a Thousand Hills where I also got to see different wild animals!  Wilderbeast, giraffes, zebras, and impalas.  Pictures will come soon.  We had the best tour guide.  It’s always nice to have people who are enthusiastic about what they do.

3)  Yes, there are such things as stupid questions. At the cafeteria they serve chicken or beef.  The other night I noticed they never serve pork and then I started wondering if they even have pigs - and wait do they have cows in S. Africa??  So I asked this question to my junior attending (who I admire) and he just laughed at me.

Me: “Is that a stupid question?”

JA:  (big smile) “Yes.”

awesome….

4) There was a young patient who just got diagnosed with AIDS and Non Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.  She was breathing super fast when she came to our floor and we didn’t know why.  While I went to go find a patient downstairs, she apparently died.  No craziness, CPR, or anything. Just an eerie calmness of death.

5) Today on an abdominal ultrasound, the report revealed a small superficial mass on the sternum.  So my junior attending got a 12 in gauge needle and stuck it in her chest to aspirate any fluid.  No ultrasound needed folks, just a needle.  He quoted House of God - “you can reach any body cavity with a 12 inch gauge needle and a strong arm.”  I just looked at him and said “Okay…”  in my Indok way.  He obviously doesn’t know my arm strength or lack there of.