Rollercoaster ride

The ICU is a rollercoaster ride. There are good times, like getting to do a new line and being successful. There are bad times, like not knowing the right thing to do. There are good times, like makeing new friends in the nurses and the other residents. There are bad times, like losing a patient.

The hardest times are when young people come into the unit. Old people you can at least accept that they have had a full life and have their family around them. Young people are just getting started with their lives. Some have family, but they are young. It is so hard to see their family around them. I always identify with them. I think that that could be me or my husband.

The best times are when you finally transfer a patient up to the ward who has been there for a long time and you didn't think was going to do well, but surprises you. It is sometimes amazing how the human body can be so resilient.

I am of the belief that we don't really have a lot to do with what happens to people. Yes, there have been amazing advances in the world of medicine, but I am not sure all of it makes that much difference. If it is your time, there isn't anything that anyone can do. As my father-in-law loves to quote, "the physicians job is to amuse the patient while nature takes its course". So true.

I do like the ICU. There is always stuff to do, always new people and procedures, and always a goal. Sometimes you just have to deal with unpleasantries, but that is just part of the endless circle of life.