SUNDAY, MAY 24, 2009 8:38 AM, CDT

Olin had a good night, last night. He slept well, and was drinking a bottle when we got here this morning. I came in and he immediately started whining, of course, but that’s what mamas are for.
He sat up for a short period, and did well although you can tell it hurts to do so. No change in the plan for today, as far as we can tell. There was a cardiology fellow in here, but they don’t say much except ‘How’s he doing, how much out of
the chest tube?’ They’ll be back later with the whole entourage.
Actually, the progression of doctors through here is sort of amazing. From 7AM until between 11 and 1:30, we get a cardiology resident or two, a fellow, an attending (or whomever), sometimes the odd surgery service fellow, then all the cardiology people back. They all ask the same questions, and then when they come back in a gaggle, they ask eachother the questions, make a Pronouncement, and leave. Two hours later, a harried PA stops by or calls to find out what they
said and what orders she’s supposed to be writing.
Then, closer to noon we start to get surgery fellows wandering in. Eventually, Dr. Burkhart (who is apparently some kind of celebrity) will show up, look at the kid, say ‘looks good’, add some other inane comment, and leave. He always shows up with at least four other people.
An hour or two later, his PA comes around to find out what orders he gave, so she can write them.
Six hours after that, pharmacy (or whoever) shows up to fulfill the order. They do fancier stuff around here, but we actually accomplish stuff a whole lot faster back in Waukon.
That, and the ‘special departments’ thing is interesting to me. Friday afternoon, the nurses decided they should do a spot-check blood sugar to determine if they could take him off D10 and put him on D5. They had to call lab, who came up 45 minutes later with their entire cart. They did a draw off his neck line and put it in a special tube, and the lab tech proceeded to take the special tube out to her cart and… Do an accu-check. Seriously? Could the nurse not have saved herself and everyone else 44 1/2 minutes and done a stupid accu-check?
That sort of thing goes on alot.
The nurse and I just had a conversation about who, exactly, is following Olin.
There are apparently three main services:
Anesthesia is Dr. Schears and his entourage. He also apparently covers the CICUin a general capacity.
Cardiology is Dr. Hagler and his entourage. (Which includes a dude named Poomiporn.) Dr. Cetta will be taking over this service on Monday, I guess. (As an aside, Dr. Hagler is completely cute. He wears little silver glasses, and I can
completely see him in tweed pants and an argyle sweater, putzing around in his garden and thinking it’s 1956.)
Dr. Burkhart I’ve mentioned several times before. He, too, has an entourage. He’s friendly for a surgeon, but he freaks me out because I swear I have seen/met him before somewhere, but I cannot for the life of me figure out where!
Wow, long entry, filled with random.