A Call From 911

Feb. 3rd

 

                As of now, I have yet to see any surgeries that required immediate attention.  Thanks to our friends at Provena, Mahmoud and I are robbed of our experiences because we are seen as "liability".  Of course this affects Mahmoud a little more than it does for me because Dr. E always does surgeries within his department however I could never see any emergencies….till today.  It started off as a very slow day, no patients were scheduled because Dr. E was moving in and out of the building because of Provena calling him for surgeries.  Around two or so we started to pick up business, we had two surgeries.  These were just regular surgeries, just tooth extractions because of decay.  These surgeries are very common, and some of you may think "wait don't dentists do this"?  It turns out that dentist do not have the necessary equipment to do such extractions, of course they can try.  However 9 times out of 10 they do not get the job done, in which Dr. E has to go in and finish the job.[D]  Anyways, today we only had tooth extractions and I will admit for once I was genuinely bored.[F]  This was a good thing though, because it gave me a perfect opportunity to practice other skills, such as assisting, learning how to use our new x-ray machine, and prepping trays for surgeries tomorrow. [A]  I learned to appreciate these down times, because it gives you a break from all the craziness of patients and provides a nice time to recollect your thoughts.[A]  towards the end of the day there were no more surgeries and everyone was planning on leaving early until we received a call from Provena Emergency.  I was ecstatic about this because I would be able to see what happens when the hospitals call Dr. E in for emergency surgeries.[F]  This was not a normal call though, it turns out it was an emergency but Instead of going to Provena, he did the surgery in his office.  It turns out the patients was only 18 months and it would be harder to perform surgery on the poor kid in the emergency room.  I couldn't help but feel sympathy for the little guy, he was playing with his sister when he tripped and hit his tooth on steps.  The tooth instead of breaking, tore out of his gums and was hanging on the gum.[D]  It took 3 of us to secure the child and keep him held down while Dr. E pulled the tooth out.  It was very loud because all you could hear is the kid screaming and crying.  It was worse when Dr. E put stitches into him; it seemed as if his cries amplified 1000x.  However everything went smoothly and the kid was ok after his mom gave hima hug.  This was a very unique experience and I was able to see what happens during an emergency even though this was only a minor one.[A]