Gunita [EDITING]

treinta y nueve

Almost a week has passed—compared last week na benign, ngayon naman sobrang toxic ng duty. I had enough of the number of patients swarming in our department to distract me from my reality, and it served as relief at some point... I just did not want to face any of it yet.

I still am the scaredy-cat I have always been.

I was exhausted as hell after our last surgery for the 24-hour duty. 4:35 AM na natapos 'yung last procedure which was whipple procedure, that lasted for 8 hours. Kaming dalawang residents na lang yata natira sa loob kay Doc (although we didn't really do much but help finish up the incisions, since surgical interns pa lang kami), tsaka 'yung ibang nurses sa original shift, pero 'yung iba nag-rotate out na since over na sa shift nila 'yung oras.

Feeling ko talaga mukha na'kong zombie kaya ayaw ko na lang tignan sa salamin 'yung mukha ko. We had to stay up all night to watch closely the entire procedure, and in case na rin na magkaro'n ng emergency during the operation—kung sakali lang naman, although, the surgeon who operated was very skilled in whipple procedure. Pagkatapos naming mag-ayos at maghilamos, dumiretso agad kami ng call room since nag-rotate naman na kami sa mga in-patients kagabi.

"Ah shit 'di ko na talaga kaya feel ko babagsak na'ko. Idlip muna tayo, Bran," Tims uttered bago hinatak 'yung comforter sa ilalim ng lamesa. Nilatag na lang niya kahit 'di maayos bago humiga.

"20 minutes?" I asked bago ibinagsak ang sarili ko sa kama. My eyelids felt so heavy na halos hilong-hilo na talaga ako habang nagse-set ng alarm. Tims just groaned his answer. I was still conscious of my surroundings, but I was too tired that I dozed off immediately.

The 20 minutes felt long in all honesty, that it felt like I regained a lot of strength when I woke up—it wasn't enough, pero okay na rin, at least may tulog. Nakakarindi lang talaga 'yung tunog ng alarm clock. Nakaka-miss din 'yung mga panahon na gigising ako anytime I want, but anyway, I chose my field—it's what I love to do.

I got up at ginising si Tims—we're junior residents so we had to do the scut works they assign to us—Tita and her husband said na 'wag na lang i-assign sa'min, but I told them it's best no one would feel like we're superiors; after all, we're juniors. Dalawa lang kami na under neurosurgery residency, pero siyempre, may mga kasabayan din kami na sa general surgery talaga so I can't afford another shit to handle.

I had to follow up on stat labs when we got back to our posts. There were two new patients who were confined kaya pinuntahan muna ni Tims para mag-fill up ng forms. Sobrang helpful din ng existence ng EMR since napapadali 'yung records ng patient info, although sometimes it'd really take half of the day before we obtain information from other hospitals.

There wasn't really much work to do since madaling araw naman na, so I got coffee from the nearest vending machine. Kami na lang ni Tims 'yung natitirang on-call sa mga residents—and just when I thought that the remaining hours would be peaceful, biglang nag-vibrate ang pager ko.

11/21 05:24 N01
GS to VIP 117 – JS

Shit.

Mabilis akong tumakbo papunta sa VIP ward—I almost could not think straight as I was running. It felt like my lifeline's at stake. That is Ali's room! Pakiramdam ko nanlalamig 'yung buong katawan ko habang tumatakbo ako. When I arrived, our chief was already there checking Ali's lung ultrasound.

"Manumbayao, request for an immediate Chest X-ray," he ordered as he finishes up. I nodded. Lumapit naman sa amin si Chen. "Ma'am, it's not that serious, but we'll take full care of what happened. Mr. Ali Juarez might have acquired atelectasis—his lung sacs cannot inflate properly, which can be common for postanesthesia patients due to the recent abdominal procedure. But for this case, it was due to the pneumothorax—the air inside leaked between his lungs and chest wall." Chen nodded and sighed. "His alveoli deflated as the lungs get smaller due to pneumothorax."