Reality check

I was sitting in the resident library earlier this week while a medicine resident and attending ran their list.

Dr. Attending: So what's the deal with Mrs. Jones?
Resident: Well, she's still bacteremic,* but ortho doesn't want to remove the infected hardware in her leg. And vascular won't revascularize* until the hardware's out. And plastics won't graft the wound until she's revascularized.
Dr. A: So why won't ortho just remove the hardware?
R: Because she hasn't been taking the antibiotics they prescribed her. So she's still infected.
Dr. A: But if she's still bacteremic they need to remove the hardware.
R: But they don't want to remove the hardware until she's not bacteremic.
Dr. A and R: Sigh.

I sat in the corner with my feet propped up, reading about TNF inhibitor use in pregnancy and smirking to myself. I remember those days, and I'm so glad that's not my problem anymore. And then a thought slapped me in the face like a cold mackerel... They're making me medicine attending for a month next year, so all the above will very much be my problem again. Sigh.

P.S. Can you even believe they're gonna let me be an attending? Crazy, right?


*helpful vocabulary:
bacteremia=bacteria growing from blood cultures
revascularize=surgery to open up or replace clogged/clotted vessels, usually in the legs