Back in the game, Julie.

Coming back to work is always tough after a long layoff. More so when you're in a job where patients lives are dependent on you. Because no matter how long you've worked, after a long stint out of the operation theatre, the doses of those opioids and narcotics get blurry and your hands falter as you try to identify the 0.5cm subarachnoid space adjacent to the spinal cord.

Entering the OT for the first time as the seniormost resident, I'd hoped for a quiet entry back into work - a few minor cases to get the feel of things again, a junior beside me to ease my tensions and handle the cases while I 'pseudo-monitor' and lots of 'sitting down and relaxing my booty' time.

7 days later, I've just returned back to the room after completing my last case for the week now at 6am on a Sunday. Hopefully, there won't be any more for the remaining 3 hours of my duty today before I lay me down to rest.

Looking back over the last week, I find it ironical that I'd hoped for a quiet entry into the operation theatre. My scorecard reads :

- 5 Caesarian Sections

- 4 fractured limbs

- 3 Perforated intestines

- 3 medical termination of pregnancies

- 2 Spine surgeries

- 2 laparoscopic surgeries

- 2 Circumcisions

- 1 Ruptured liver abscess

- 1 Separated skull

- 1 8 hour cosmetic dental surgery

- 1 8 hour upper limb nerve repair

- An octogenarian with a broken leg

& An infant with a deformed heart  

And I have only this to say : All jokes aside, thank God it was a slow week !

Ya sure, I didn't get my relaxed entry into the operation theatre, but you know what ? I realised that some things, like riding the waves of a patient's vitals intra-operatively or handling a sinking patient, comes back to you when you need it the most, no matter how long you've been away from the work place. 

P.S. Of course, one of the disastrous perks of becoming the chief resident is that I've been handed a bunch of 8 newbie residents who ( unfortunately for me ) happen to be college toppers, ex-ICU staff and even a woman who's edited her own medical text book. It's not a pretty sight when so much knowledge comes up against a doctor who has trouble remembering which patient he was looking after before he went for his lunch break. 

To put it in perspective, imagine the Greek Gods being ruled by Shrek !! There's only so many times I can avoid their super-duper questions by 

a) Pretending I'm hard of hearing.

b) Leaving the operation theatre to drink another glass of water.

c) Act as if my patient is in a bad state and much as I'd like to encyclopedia their ass with my insanely vast knowledge, for now I have to focus on the patient. 

d) Scratch my bushy beard, pretending to ponder the answer, then turn the focus to my beard and ask their esteemed opinion on whether I should dye my goatie burgundy.

Sigh. It's gonna be a long year, Julie.