Saying Goodbye

I have said a lot of farewells lately.

My last day in the office was last week. I had been saying goodbye to patients for months which was very hard. I know they are in great hands with my partners so I was not worried about their care, but I had gotten to be friends with so many of them. I fought back tears nearly every day, just so I could get through the day. I took my office out for happy hour on my last Friday. We had margartias and snacks and told stories for hours. It was a great time and I will miss all of them very much. Rhonda and Terri were the two women I worked closest with over the years and each of them became very good friends.

On Monday night last week, it was my LAST call night ever. Katherine, Madeline and I had planned to make it a slumber party at the hospital. We packed our bags and off we went to Clear Lake. I had a couple of babies to deliver, but was done by about 2 pm. We had a great lunch at Fudrucker's next to the hospital, then went to see Up (which was great). We snuggled up on the couch in the call room and watched TV then went to bed.

Around 2 am I heard Katherine coughing in the next room. I jumped out of bed and realized she was throwing up all over her clothes and sleeping bag. I gathered her up and tried to get her to the bathroom. Madeline heard us and started crying because she was scared. I got Katherine cleaned up and realized she was burning up. Her teeth were chattering and she was crying. I decided to take them home and risk being away from the hospital for a couple of hours.

I got the rooms cleaned up, got plastic bags for the soiled stuff and brought everything down to the car. I moved the car to the ER bay so I could have it right next to the door in case Katherine got sick again. My engine had a little trouble turning over when I moved it. I went back upstairs to Labor and Delivery and got the girls. I had to carry Katherine, which made Madeline pretty upset. I got them downstairs and into the car. I jumped into the driver's seat and called Chris to let him know we were heading home. My car was DEAD. The engine went 'click' and would not turn over. WHAT ARE THE CHANCES??????

I took a deep breath and told the kids to hang on for a minute. Chris said he was heading up to us. It was now about 3am. I was right next to the ER so I ran in there. I know everyone there pretty well, but it did not help that I was in my PJ's with running shoes and no bra at the time. I must have looked a little frantic when I asked for jumper cables because half of the male ER nursing staff came out to help me. BTW, NONE of the male physicians came to help. One of the ladies thought she might have cables and pulled up her huge Excursion. She did not have cables, but one of the guys did.

At this point, Katherine started throwing up again. One of the ladies ran inside and got emesis (vomit) bags for us and stole some Zofran (chemotherapy grade nausea medicine) for Katherine. She finally stopped throwing up, my care was jumped and started, we waved goodbye to everyone and took off for Galveston. Chris met us about half way and followed us home to Firestone where we left my car.

We made it home by about 4 am. I decided not to go back to the hospital and risk an emergency and to stay with Katherine who was miserable. How is THAT for a last day at work. Thankfully, luck was on my side and no one needed a physician for the rest of my shift.