It is the moments like this which remind me why I chose to do medicine, and paediatrics in particular. Some days it seems like all I do is hand out Ritalin and reassurance, but every now and then I really feel like I made a difference to someone's life.
I got the call at a quarter to four in the morning (never my best time) but it was obviously a delivery I needed to be there for, especially since the person calling was my previous resident and knew what he was about. It is always a judgement call as to how much the person on the other end of the phone knows about the condition and what confidence it is possible to place in their opinion, but in this case I knew it would be the real deal.
I always like going to deliveries; all the pain and blood are washed away in joy the moment the baby cries. I suppose the parents must get tired of the sound after a while, but that first cry is always miraculous.
Unfortunately this baby had no cry at birth, being pale and floppy and without a heart rate. We went all out working on him, with tubes down his throat and artificial breathing - in these cases I don't stop to think, I just know what has to be done - and six minutes later he was pink and crying.
Strangely enough, I didn't really think about what we do until the resident pointed out - Wow! He was born with no breathing or heart beat and I thought he was dead and you saved him!
It was only then that I thought - Hey yeah, so I did!
1 comment:
Beautiful Elizabby. Speaking as a parent whose 3rd child was born blue and not crying, I will tell you that you will ALWAYS have a special place in those parent's hearts. Everytime I see 2 particular people (one a nurse, another a doctor) I get very emotional.
Well done and praise God!
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