baptism of fire

baptism of fire

any self-respecting nursing student would sooner or later face the perils of the operating room. and if you're kind of squeamish and weak-hearted, this is not for you, i repeat, this is not for you.

just for the record, i do not have any claims to greatness and i'm not pretending like i don't feel like throwing up everytime i imagine layers of skin, fat and muscle being dissected, that i'm strong enough not to feel my stomach do tremendous backflips and somersaults everytime i smell the stench of burnt flesh from the cautery machine, that i do not wince at the sight of tons of sterile gauze soaked in blood and that i feel absolutely nothing when i see surgeons cutting through human flesh as if it were palatable meat. pretense is not mine.

on the first round of clinical duties, yes, we were assigned to the OR. and of course, as it is PGH, the OR would not just be a single room, instead a whole floor, a complex even and i tell you it really does live up to the name "OR complex". i have been to the ORC for about 3 days now, the first day we even toured the whole complex but until now, the slightest change of orientation (e.g. a closed door) would render a lost me. yeah, i have a very poor sense of direction plus the place was a literally a labyrinth. one time, they made me run after a stretcher which had gone from the ob-gyne OR room to the PACU(post anesthesia care unit) to give some stuff and when i turned to go back, i didn't know where i was, and where i was supposed to go. but no, i could not ask for directions. getting lost was not an excuse. through perhaps a combination of luck and (ahem ahem) woman's intuition i was able to go back to the nurse's station all in one piece. the labyrinth failed to consume me. :P

to be continued...