Beast of the Big East

My cardiology rotation is going well. I particularly like the part where I get to leave around 1:00 every day. I can handle a 5 hour day. This week I followed a CABG x 3 patient from recovery to discharge. It was pretty awesome - and my patient was hilarious. The day after surgery, we were sitting in his CVSICU room discussing his surgery and the discomfort of the chest tube when he says to me, "So can I go home today?" This guy was incredible. Less than 24 hours before, he had his rib cage sawed open and his heart stopped. He was ready to go - he was up walking around dragging his IV pole and chest tube bucket all through the CVSICU. The nurses were finally like - Get out! Ha! He was discharged to the cardiac floor for 4 more days of recovery. I saw him 2 days post-op and he was kind of glad he didn't go home. His epidural had faded away and he was feeling some pain - but nothing a little Lortab 7.5/500 couldn't handle. I was pretty impressed that he was comfortable with ketorolac IV (an NSAID like ibuprofen) and Lortab po as needed. After surgery, all CABG patients get a huge red, heart shaped pillow to put on their rib cage when they cough. When they are impressed with someone's care for them, they ask them to sign the pillow - I was the first to sign his. I was quite honored. He's going home Sunday, so I had to say my goodbyes today. He's doing great - and wouldn't be surprised to see him back to normal in a few weeks. So enough about my rotation...

HOW ABOUT THEM MOUNTAINEERS!!! I left my rotation early (or should I say earlier than normal) on Wednesday to head to Morgantown one final time this season. As always - Morgantown was awesome. It was 41 degrees and quite chilly - but nothing a few beers and shots of schnapps couldn't fix. I also accomplished something that I have been promising to do for two years - watch Brandon Barrett play at WVU. Brandon went to my high school and was quite the football star. A two time Kennedy Award winner, he finally got his first playing time at WVU. His dad and I worked together at the cement plant a couple summers ago. (Kevin Pittsnogle, the center for the WVU basketball team, is also from my hometown - his sister and I played basketball together in high school) WVU moves to 5-0 in conference play and 7-1 on the season. We got back Wednesday night, or I should probably say Thursday, at 1:45am. I was on cardiology rounds at 8:00am - 4 hours of sleep is painful. But it was totally worth it. :) Let's go Mountaineers!