Tales from the OR

I wasn't supposed to be on call yesterday, but I switched with one of my coworkers and agreed to cover for him from 8AM-5PM. I figured I'd be at work anyway, might as well be doing something. WRONG. All hell broke loose yesterday...worked non-stop...it sucked. Then, we set up a run for 5:15 PM. So, I called my coworker who was supposed to take over at 5 to tell him to meet at the lab at 5:15. "Oh, I'm sorry Sam. I can't make it." That's right. Totally screwed. I didn't get home until after 1 AM. But at least I was entertained.

• I went to assist in a surgery in another state. I go into the OR to set up our table, and start opening supplies. The scrub tech would take them and put them on the table for me. Rob was about a 6'1 tall white guy. "Hi, I'm Samantha. I'll be assisting the surgeons from Alabama." "Yo, I'm Rob. Just tell me what to do." And that was how I met Snoop Dogg's caucasian surgical tech counterpart. The doctor would ask for a 2.0 silk tie, Rob would say "Fo shizzle." I kid you not. Our surgeons just kept looking at each other...one of them had to walk away from the table for a minute so the guy wouldn't catch him laughing. Our eyes were watering from trying not to laugh at this guy. It was hilarious.
• Bad sign: When you're holding a liver, and a cardiothoracic surgeon looks at it and says, "What's that? The heart?"
• How to tell you go out too much: A surgeon from Florida is talking to me because he trained for a time with Dr. ACP. And he keeps looking at me. "You look very familiar...I think I know you from somewhere." "Well, maybe we've done a case together before." "Hmm...maybe." Then about 10 minutes later, he yells from across the room. "I remember! I have seen you at the Bellbottoms! You were dancing!" Someone from Florida remembers seeing me at Bellbottoms. That's not good.
• On the way back to the airport, we were driven by an EMS had the country music blaring. One of the surgeons starts telling me that it could be worse. He had a friend that was a doctor, married, 2 kids, and always drove around playing Barry White. Non-stop. The surgeon was telling me that he and a friend were stuck in the backseat of that guy's Barry White-mobile one night. "Can't Get Enough of Your Love, Baby" comes on, and the surgeon's friend looks over at him. "So, uh...you wanna make out?" hehehe.
• We finally make it back to Birmingham, and as our plane comes in for a landing the pilots hit the brakes pretty heavily. None of us knew why we landed on the short runway. As we were getting out of the plane, one of my surgeons asked the pilot. "Oh, the tower was shut down on account of methane gas...so we had to land wherever and now we gotta take right back off." Comforting to thing there was no one telling them where to land. Lovely. Next time maybe lay off the Taco Bell, air tower guys.

Tonight's the office Christmas party. Last year one of our lab guys got drunk and played air guitar all alone in the middle of the dance floor. Of course, I didn't exactly behave myself last year either. I'm sure I'll have stories tomorrow...or a drunk post tonight. :) Laters!