clearly, that was nothing.

come august 14, 2009. the obas duty team consisted of residents dr. lopez and dr. tan, clerks gen and cheska, interns rj, geno, joy, and me. the morning started with non-stop charting because, as we all know, the philippines never runs out of pregnant patients. and incidentally, all of them want to deliver at pgh. *eyeroll* anyway, it was way past lunchtime, the interns stomach’s were growling, and the patients kept coming. “no prob,” i thought. i’ve survived duties without lunch. so I kept charting, my patience i carefully nurtured since commed slowly dissipating in the steaming, thick atmosphere of the OBAS. i kept running back and forth from the labs (circulating!) when i wasn’t charting. by 7 pm, I was already starving, but guess what? more pregnant patients! “guys, kaya natin ‘to!” encouraged geno. then with a sarcastic tone, he reminded, “nangangalahati na tayo.” kalahati pa lang?! eh parang isang taon na akong nandito! sheeeeeeeeeet…

it was a few hours past midnight when i was asked to push a stretcher bearing two huge, pregnant mommies to the imu for tracing. rj gently scolded me for not calling their bantay to help me. oo nga no? sorry boss, mabagal na utak ko nun. hehe. then, more mommies to push and trace for the conduction intern/clerk (ako yun from 1:00 to 6:59 AM). the clerks still haven’t eaten dinner. the interns were running on energy from God knows where because we were still lunch/dinner/snack-less. an intubated patient coded. i did cpr with what little energy i had left. geno looked like he was about to code next. joy squirted blood and ETA on the nurse due to vigorous chest compressing. wahehehe. panalo ka ate. a myasthenia gravis patient in crisis, 18 weeks pregnant was intubated in the OBAS. i still can’t figure out why she was with us and not neuro. my ACR apparently agrees.

5 AM: i still had a handful of mommies to trace. i haven’t had a wink of sleep. my stomach contents were a bottle of c2 and hydrochloric acid. the other interns were still charting. i was silently repeating my mantra: ilang oras na lang…

it was 7 AM and the duty team was still missing. people from inside were calling for the circulating clerk/intern. “sorry kids, post-duty na kami!” we called back, very much drained thanks to 24 hours of torture. i still had to do my IMU admission’s papers and referrals. i arrived at the unit at 9 AM, still hungry (my last meal was 6 AM the previous day), sleepy and oh so stinky. sleepy won out. i collapsed on my bed, dead to the world.

highlights:
1. dr. lopez: nasan na yung mga interns? clerks? bakit wala na akong mautusan?!
intern tara: si cheska po, nasa OR. si gen, nagdala sa perinat. si rj, nag-run ng abg. si joy, nag-conduct. si geno, may pasyente. sir, papunta po ako sa labs ngayon so wala na pong matitira sa OBAS. na-stress si sir. inubos ng buntis ang duty team!

2. tara's ranting
tara (pissed): ang ayaw sa reproductive health bill, ipag-duty natin ng 24 hours sa OBAS. tingnan natin kung hindi magbago isip nila!
dale: *lol*

3. on distinguishing between the two boys
patient 1: lalaki po yung tumingin sa akin.
tara: sino dun? yung maitim o maputi?
patient 1: yung maitim po.
tara + joy: genoooooooo…

patient 2: “hinahanap ko po yung duktor. yung lalaki.”
joy: “alin dun?” (dalawa kasi sila, si geno at si rj.)
patient: “yung ano… gwapo.”
joy: iniisip na si geno siguro yun. “siya ba?” sabay turo kay geno.
patient: “hindi. yung naka-salamin.”
sorry dude, ikaw pala yung hindi gwapo sa duty team natin. bwahahaha!

wasak ang duty team!
[l-r: int. tara (yung masungit), int. joy (yung maliit), int. geno (yung maitim/yung walang bigote/yung hindi gwapo), missing-in-action, senior int. rj (yung maputi/yung may bigote/yung gwapo)] wahahaha! wards na ulit tayo!