Yay! Time again for Question of the Month from Mike at A Life Examined! Dang, I love his questions but even more, I love surfing around reading all the answers and discovering more about my virtual companions!
This month's question is a goody!
Mike asks: Have you ever met a hero/ idol/influence/some you really admire? How did it go?
I did! It was sweet! Not the sugary, marshmallow-chicks kind of sweet. It was "Hot diggity dog, this is so cool" kind of SWEET!
It was a hitting-the-Lottery kind of sweet!
A long time ago, in a land far away....at least, that's how long ago it seems to me, I worked on the Orthopedics floor, more commonly known in our hospital as Second East.
We have a neurologist in town who is the most gifted surgeon. He has saved more lives and repaired more 'impossible' traumatic injuries than one can imagine. He was also a bit of an anarchist! He didn't follow 'hospital protocol'! He had his own protocol. He made most of his patient visits at 2 a.m. or 3 a.m. and other non-conformist actions that pushed hospital administrators to the ends of their almighty control issues.
The night nurses would tell us the best stories about his Maverick ways!
I hadn't worked nights for almost a year and when I did it was on the Oncology floor so I had never seen Dr. Numinous Fingers let alone meet him.
The day I did finally meet the myth himself, I had a patient who had been driving a Jeep and swerved to miss a dead squirrel. The vehicle flipped a couple of times and she broke her neck. Not broke broke, but truly suffered a severe cervical spine injury. (You won't believe how many people end up in 3 months traction because they swerve to miss a squirrel or skunk....over-correcting can hurt you bad! Don't swerve to miss an rodent!)
I was in the room with our (yes, I said it) patient when he walked in. I swear, his energy entered the room about 15 seconds before he did! The patient was flat in bed with a cervical collar on. She had come onto the floor in the middle of the night following emergency surgery.
Dr. Maverick was carrying a halo brace. If you are not familiar with these braces, they look a little bit like an Inquisition torture device.
He walks in (and I use the word 'walk' because I truly don't know how to describe him so I guess I'll just use simple, human terms though I would hardly relate the description "simple human" to him). He walks in, introduces himself to both of us. He spoke to the patient about her injuries and the surgery.
He spoke to me across the patient's bed. "Toni," He hands me a screwdriver, "This one is yours."
Yikes!
We practiced turning the screws in diagonal positions until we had the same speed and pressure.
We prepared the patient for the brace. Placed it over her head and shoulders and screwed it in place. The entire time we were securing the halo, the patient told us jokes. It was a jolly little party in spite of the thought of driving screws into someone's head.
When all was done, Dr. Yum and I left the room together. He said some really nice things, we had a great conversation, he recorded his notes of the procedure in her file.
As he left, he shook my hand (shivers) and thanked me for the assist.
He eventually got tired of hospital administration trying to shove him into the protocol box so he built his own hospital...and a damn good one too. It is the cream of the crop!
He is still somewhat of a local hero and whenever his name comes up, I sigh and think to myself, "I once screwed with him!"
This month's question is a goody!
Mike asks: Have you ever met a hero/ idol/influence/some you really admire? How did it go?
I did! It was sweet! Not the sugary, marshmallow-chicks kind of sweet. It was "Hot diggity dog, this is so cool" kind of SWEET!
It was a hitting-the-Lottery kind of sweet!
A long time ago, in a land far away....at least, that's how long ago it seems to me, I worked on the Orthopedics floor, more commonly known in our hospital as Second East.
We have a neurologist in town who is the most gifted surgeon. He has saved more lives and repaired more 'impossible' traumatic injuries than one can imagine. He was also a bit of an anarchist! He didn't follow 'hospital protocol'! He had his own protocol. He made most of his patient visits at 2 a.m. or 3 a.m. and other non-conformist actions that pushed hospital administrators to the ends of their almighty control issues.
The night nurses would tell us the best stories about his Maverick ways!
I hadn't worked nights for almost a year and when I did it was on the Oncology floor so I had never seen Dr. Numinous Fingers let alone meet him.
The day I did finally meet the myth himself, I had a patient who had been driving a Jeep and swerved to miss a dead squirrel. The vehicle flipped a couple of times and she broke her neck. Not broke broke, but truly suffered a severe cervical spine injury. (You won't believe how many people end up in 3 months traction because they swerve to miss a squirrel or skunk....over-correcting can hurt you bad! Don't swerve to miss an rodent!)
I was in the room with our (yes, I said it) patient when he walked in. I swear, his energy entered the room about 15 seconds before he did! The patient was flat in bed with a cervical collar on. She had come onto the floor in the middle of the night following emergency surgery.
Dr. Maverick was carrying a halo brace. If you are not familiar with these braces, they look a little bit like an Inquisition torture device.
 |
| Illustration Courtesy of Mayfield Clinic |
He walks in (and I use the word 'walk' because I truly don't know how to describe him so I guess I'll just use simple, human terms though I would hardly relate the description "simple human" to him). He walks in, introduces himself to both of us. He spoke to the patient about her injuries and the surgery.
He spoke to me across the patient's bed. "Toni," He hands me a screwdriver, "This one is yours."
Yikes!
We practiced turning the screws in diagonal positions until we had the same speed and pressure.
We prepared the patient for the brace. Placed it over her head and shoulders and screwed it in place. The entire time we were securing the halo, the patient told us jokes. It was a jolly little party in spite of the thought of driving screws into someone's head.
When all was done, Dr. Yum and I left the room together. He said some really nice things, we had a great conversation, he recorded his notes of the procedure in her file.
As he left, he shook my hand (shivers) and thanked me for the assist.
He eventually got tired of hospital administration trying to shove him into the protocol box so he built his own hospital...and a damn good one too. It is the cream of the crop!
He is still somewhat of a local hero and whenever his name comes up, I sigh and think to myself, "I once screwed with him!"
Hahahahaha, nice turn of phrase at the end there!
ReplyDeleteThank you, I'm a little fond of it myself!
DeleteI'll never swerve for a rodent again, no want for a torture device haha But hey, at least it allowed you and him to join together and screw away hahahaha Sounds like a great doctor too, those are sure rare.
ReplyDeleteYou can't imagine how rare until you've worked with a bunch of them. At least I can say I've screwed with the best!
DeleteHaha, nice!!
ReplyDeleteSame thing my husband said when he read it....though the words didn't fit the look on his face!
Delete"I once screwed with him!" BAHAHAHA... What a great ending.
ReplyDeleteThanks, but the great ending was when I quit nursing!!!!
Delete