Wild weekend

This weekend was intense. I had a lot going on - a wedding and baby shower to attend in different cities. Plus, I rounded on our surgical patients Saturday morning. Someone we operated on had a fast heart rate when I examined her. Other than a feeling bit sleepy and sore, she was fine. I mentioned this to the doc. He checked. We ordered an EKG and got some blood drawn. She was clipping along at 150+ beats per minute. Her primary doc was in the building so we got him involved. She has a family history of atrial fibrillation. He ordered adenosine. It's a drug that actually stops the heart briefly in the hopes that the heart will kind of reboot into a normal rhythm. That didn't really work on this patient because she still bounced back up into a tachycardia. She was given some other medications that eventually got her heart beating at a rate everyone was happy with. So the morning rounds ended up taking more time than I thought. I also got an invite from a Family Practice physician to stick around and watch a birth if I wanted to. I've yet to see one in person - my Ob/gyn rotation is coming. Because of my plans, I declined. If only I could be 2 places at once. There are too many learning opportunities and other events. Who knows how long I would have spent waiting - labor can take quite a while - and I didn't want to miss the chance to see my friends. I was given permission by my preceptor to take the rest of the weekend off to recover from a long, busy week. He's a nice man. PA school zaps one's social life. You pretty much sign your life away for a couple years. So you take advantage of free time when you can. I crammed a lot in over the weekend - seeing friends, attending celebratory life events, and even enjoying a bit of art. I didn't get enough sleep. Never enough time for that.