A Stitch in Time Saves Nine

Last Friday marked the end of a significant segment of my medical career, my third year surgery rotation officially ended! During three grueling months I slaved and struggled through long hours, difficult cases, demanding attendings and excessive time away from home. For three months I felt like Will Smith in the movie I am Legend, despite my efforts to maintain some normalcy in life there was always a zombie looming in the darkness waiting to attack and make me one of their own. I feel lucky to have escaped unscathed.
Jenny and I felt that such a successful feat as this deserved a little celebration so we ordered up a couple of Vito's, best in Toledo, pizzas and I went to pick up a couple of movies, Enchanted (Jenny's pick) and I am Legend (my pick). I must say that we really would like to have gone out on the town to celebrate but both Jenny and Madison were out of commission with a nasty cold.

We first watched Enchanted, which I loved, because the main character, Giselle, reminds me of my own little fairy-tale princess Jenny. Next up was I am Legend which I also loved because the zombies reminded me of the constant fear and danger that I had just survived during the previous three months.

Thanks to the proper upbringing that my mom and dad gave me, I am always more comfortable sleeping when I know that the day's dishes are washed and the kitchen clean... at least that is what I tell Jenny. In reality I am afraid of sleeping after watching a scary movie, they give me nightmares. Anyway, while Jen went off to brush her teeth, I went to the kitchen to wash what few dishes remained. Among them was a nice tall glass with window pane etching on it. It was the only glass of its kind remaining in our cupboard and comes from the set that I once used while living in Swan Park with Dusty during first year. As long as I can remember it had always had a little crack along the rim but perhaps for sentimental reasons we never thought to throw it out. It is hard to let go of my Swan Park memories.

As I stood at the sink thinking back on my triumph over the zombies of general surgery and comparing myself to Will Smith, I reached for that glass and started scrubbin' away. It was a tall glass, but wide brimmed, so I did as I often had before and pushed with my sponge to the very bottom to make sure it was fully clean. One twist with the sponge, then another and then one more twist of the wrist and then *#^&&#!! "JENNY", I yelled (quietly because the baby was sleeping). After my third time yelling her name she came into the kitchen to see what the fuss was about. She was shocked at the sight of so much blood and the gaping wedge of flesh that had been filleted from my hand. I told her that the zombies had come for one last attempt at my life. We would have to go to the ER... the UTMC ER!

Well, to make a long story short... oops, too late for that. Better stated, to put an end to this story, at around 1245 am we packed up the baby and headed out to the ER. To my, ehhm, surprise, the surgery intern in the ER that day was a guy that I had met and knew to be a excellent candidate for radiology... not surgery, nor even suturing... but for radiology he's top notch. Oh well, what was I to do. He went to work sewing up my hand and my mind went to work imagining if this was every going to work out. By about 215 we were done and ready to head back home... that is as soon as I put on my own wound dressing. The next morning, when I pulled back the gauze to see how we were lookin' I was not surprised to see that a little "tidying up" was needed. It was a fitting end to my surgery rotation. The surgery gods took one last swipe at me before allowing me to move on.