Visitor

As I mentioned in my first posting, I work part-time at very busy private GP practice. It also happens that this practice is open 24 hours a day and there is at least one doctor present during the night with the so-called student. I normally don't work the night shift unless I really have to or help one of the fellow employees out. Well, this particular night I arrived my usual time, which is about 19, then the shift only ends the next morning 08:00. As soon as I arrived the people I was taking over from informed me, that there was a "visitor" in one of the procedure rooms. I inquired to what they meant by "visitor". They told me that it was an elderly gentleman, without a medical-aid relying and on a state pension,who was brought in by his employers. He suddenly collapsed as the doctor on duty was busy examining him, they tried to resus him but was to no avail. The paramedics(we always call the paramedics out in cases where resus is in progress-as not all of our doctors have their ACLS and the paramedics resus on a daily basis) which were called out declared him dead and told the doctor on duty they would organize for his body
to be collected by the state coroner. No questions asked.

At about 11 the practice has become quite silent and I could finally sit down to eat my supper. About an hour later a guy came crashing and screaming in pain through the door. He had a towel wrapped around his arm. Now any doctor would know that this is usually not a good sign, but I really didn't take too much notice as I've seen very small lacerations been wrapped in huge towels etc. I took him through to our allocated emergency room/stitch room with his mother in tears short on our heals to assess how bad his arm was. The guy was really in distress so I tried to calm him down just bit. As I removed the towel I had to jump back as bright-red blood squirted out. He had made a make-shift tourniquet from his belt to control the bleeding a bit, so pulled it tighter when he saw the blood squirting. I told him we must remove the tourniquet but before my sentence was completed he yelled at me and cursed in true Cape-flats fashion. I ripped of the towel and saw a very deep laceration extending through the muscle layer with the median nerve flowering like a daisy. I ran to the doctor who was busy stitching up a minor laceration on the fore-head from another patient who enjoyed a bit too much of juice, of the fermented kind, that we had a situation on hand and that he'd better hurry up. The doctor soon went as I offered to do the wound-dressing and filling his prescription of pain-medication and anti-septic ointment.(The practice has quite a big dispensary and I have been trained to dispense meds etc.) I went back to the room where the doctor was taking a look at the major gash and told me I must go and fetch a stitch-pack stat. I went to nearest procedure room where the stitch packs are kept, forgetting a little bit about the "visitor" who still hasn't been fetched by the state coroner. I'm not scared of dead bodies as we dissected our cadavers recently and this dead-guy was certainly not the first one I had to deal with. He was draped by a space-blanket(the shiny type paramedics use). I went in and turned my back to him to find the appropriate pack when a heard the space blanket moving!!!!! I almost soiled myself, gave a giant leap for mankind and yelled "wat die f*k?". As I jumped around I saw the blanket was really moving------but the freakin' aircon was not turned off and had blown onto the space blanket!

Needless to say I didn't sleep on duty that night,partly due to my fright and after I phoned the whole city red at 2'am asking who the hell is supposed to collect the guy? The coroner denying that any call-out was made and making it clear they were not going to be called out by me or anyone else at that time, except the SAPS.
Turned out the paramedic making the promises didn't keep them and so I phoned trusty ol' AVBOB.

The guy with the gash was referred to the ortho-pod. He was apparently having a fight with his mother and had somehow managed to get/bash/ram/moer his arm through the glass door of a built-in oven.......ssssttttuuuuuupppppiiiiiidddddd!!!!!!!

A night to remember!
Over and out
Zamalek