Murdercycles

I'm back in the trauma world for another final go round this month. Next year I'll be in my final year of residency, a so-called chief resident, and won't have to do trauma.

I have mixed feelings about all of that. I have generally enjoyed being on the trauma service. The cases are intriguing and stimulating. However, they are really not scheduled, and therefore occur whenever some poor soul decides to fall victim to trauma.

The four calls I've had this month have been the usual mix of folks, though we've had a lot more motorcycle accidents lately. I guess the arrival of spring has given people the urge to strap their rather fragile bodies until two wheels and an engine. Numerous such experiments have proven that people who leave the murder-cycles (as we call them) mid-trip don't tend to fare too well. Leave such antics to the people in the movies who are actually indestructible.

The most difficult thing about being on the trauma rotation is operating on someone for hours and then losing them. It really leaves you wiped out physically and emotionally. However, the payback comes when you watch someone walk out of the hospital who you know would have died were it not for what you did for them. So I'll enjoy my last month of trauma, and hope that the weather gets cold and keeps all of the would be murdercycles inside.