no. 12: the black death.

i walked out my back door this morning with my bike in-hand and promptly fell down the stairs. it was icy. fortunately, my arse is doughy so i was unfazed. i picked myself up and walked down the second set of stairs to the driveway, where i promptly fell again. apparently, some sort of freezing slippery substance fell from the heavens last night. my first thought was not of my ripped pants, the possible damage to my spine, or the future spills i would take while riding to work. no, my thoughts were of the countless rubes who would doubtless be carted into the ED after discovering the invisible but deadly ice covering their front steps. from 717 to 843am no fewer than 8 such people arrived by ambulance with a chief complaint of "fall." 8 might not seem like a lot, but these were only the 8 seen by me. i had to call orthopedics 4 different times: 2 wrist fractures, 1 arm fracture, and 1 ankle fracture. i sent 2 people home with cervical collars for persistent pain despite negative imaging studies. three individuals gave the same story: "i walked out my front door, took one step, and the next thing i new i was on my ass." literally, they all said those exact words.

on a positive note, i had a tasty lunch: kung pao tofu. and someone left some tasty christmas mints in the resident's lounge, which were a perfect compliment to my spicy lunch fare.

i try to make my lunches more enjoyable by reading something non-medical, in an effort to transport myself, even temporarily, anywhere but the hospital. today i read, this, a humorous product review from bike snob nyc. you may or may not find this as amusing as i do, depending on how much you know about fixed-gear bikes, hipsters and their bike culture. but trust me, it's pretty funny; except for the numerous references to his own blog. maybe i'm jealous of his readership. whatever.

but i digress...

my day ended with me putting 47 stitches into a man's leg who had torn it open when jumping off a short wall at a construction site. i had a pleasing conversation, and i think i may have convinced him to stop smoking. that is probably naive, but nevertheless, it was a nice way to end my day, and my last month in the ED for a while.

next up: inpatient medicine.