fun?

being on call in this job is horrific.

so i was first call. front line. taking all the hits. and man, were there a lot of hits. that pager goes off so often it's unbelievable. inconcievable, even. i can't describe it to you. and the time spent on the phone is ridiculous. you get trapped on the phone, incapacitated as your pager keeps going off and phones all around you start ringing for you. it's actually literally impossible to get to them all. and then there's the rest of the usual stuff, with running all over the hospital and fighting for children's lives and whatnot.

you want to know a secret?

i actually kind of had fun the last time i took first-line call.

scary and sick, but true.

i think it was because i was forced to have some personal interactions.

eh?

yeah. usually my time on call is spent with intubated, sedated post-operative patients or with newborns. babies are cute and everything but, as you know, the really young ones are minimally interactive. so what was it this time?

as i left the room in the emergency unit where i'd just spent about an hour counseling a patient (who totally felt bonded to me afterward, by the way), i walked down the hall to see a family encouraging a tiny little girl to walk. they were concerned that the toddler's gait had changed, and that something was wrong with her leg, so they were trying to get her to show the resident who was evaluating her. the problem was that she was just sort of standing there, bewildered, looking upward from face to face as they stood around her pleading, "go, sweetie! show the doctor. walk for us..."

her eyes settled on me as i swept near and she twisted halfway toward me. i was feeling cheery and magnanimous, and i knew i had this one, so i stepped up to help out.

"hey there, little friend!" she stared at my face, and then started to smile behind her pacifier. "come on! walk with me!" i passed her, then turned to face her. i bent down a bit and, taking small backwards steps, opened up my arms.

she turned to face me completely. her big round eyes opened up widely, then looked determined. she toddled toward me with a purpose, opening up her arms too. indeed, her gait looked just the slightest bit antalgic involving the right leg, but was very nearly symmetric, and she covered ground very well.

she walked straight into my arms, and i lifted her up, carefully avoiding her right arm, which was encumbered entirely by an iv and a stabilizing arm board but wrapped around my neck. "doc got more than she bargained for. she jumped right into her arms," said her auntie.

but it was exactly what i had bargained for.

and it made my night.