Standby

My fingers are still aching from yesterday's case. My gripping ability is impaired and it hurt so much this morning while driving to work.

I had to hold really hard ; gripping the face mask for my 70 year old man yesterday on my urology list. He was scheduled for exploration and repair of his left forearm graft ( used for dialysis ) . He was 120 kg , short neck with small mouth opening.Initially , my specialist thought a brachial block was enough .His blood investigations were not very encouraging for a full general anaesthesia. We had a hard time locating the position ; patient had a subclavian permanent catheter at that very sight !!!! haks.. we managed to locate the point and injected our local anaesthetic. However , after 30 minutes ; eventhough the PakCIk Mat said that he felt tingling sensation all over his arm ; it was not cold and he was able to move his arms easily !!!

So the next step.. laryngeal mask. Hak.. but it turned out to be a disaster ; it was difficult to insert it.. we put it in thrice ; twice we had to pull it out as there was no capnograph reading. ( indicating the airway somehow blocked ). By the third tiem , he developed laryngospasm.. and my fingers were so tired.. having to hold it tightly everytime we bagged him. I was struggling as the curvature of his cheeks and mouth was out as he had only like 2 teeth left !~ i had to squeeze his cheek to the mask.. and my god.. for a chubby 120 kg man... MAN !!!! my hand were trembling once we were settled with it.

With that failure , we had to intubate him. Alhamdulillah , it was not that difficult. He was okay throughout the op.. and managed to extubate him uneventfully. But my fingers... my fingers... habis... menggeletar sepanjang masa !!

moral of the story , it is easier if you have bigger fingers and grip !!!

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miracle.. 

MERCY called me this afternoon. Yup.. its about the Pakistan crisis. I am asked to standby ; to be deployed within 24 hours to help the victims in Pakistan !! They need anaesthetist and surgeons. Though i am not the most qualified person but i guess the experience there will "grow" me up certainly .

They tried to call me on Sunday ; 10 times to be exact but i did not have my phone with me during that time !! I was post call and obviously was very tired to check my phone. I did not recognize the number but according to Azizi ( the mercy guy ) ; it was about joining the SMART team which left Malaysia yesterday... damn !! The blue suits.. i would have looked cool in it wouldn't i ? hehehehehe.. Well , wifey certainly warned me that if i have to go.. to have my niyyat right and not for the glamour !! hahahaha... I don't think i am much of an attention seeker as how she presumed !!

Hmmm.. need to ask my boss about the situation. She's outstation till tomorrow. We'll see whether it will be my destiny to spend my ramadhan in muzaffarabad...