Veterinary Medicine Isn't Always Glamourous

Today was a very hard day for me.  I had another weekend emergency/ICU shift, which is supposed to last for 6.5 hours.  I say supposed to because they never do.  My last emergency shift went from 2pm until midnight.  That's right...you do the math (or count on your fingers if you are like me).  Not that I am really complaining.  After all, it's the way medicine is in real life.  Emergencies don't schedule and treatment and tests take time.  But it does wear on a person, especially if that person is sick and sleep-deprived.

So why was today especially hard?  Because it was another example of how much I hate being helpless.  I can't (and won't) go into the specifics, but I ended up dealing with a patient in respiratory arrest that progressed to cardiovascular arrest...and we could not resuscitate it.  Then my other patient, who was also having breathing problems arrested when we took him to get x-rays.  He was only away from supplemental oxygen for less than 1 minute.  Thankfully both patients died peacefully.  

I was reminded that we can't save all our patients and that those who come into emergency are the most critical.  But that is hard for me to take when I don't want to lose hope that we can make their lives better again.  I guess it's just another lesson I have to take to heart: do what I can to help them while they are here.  It just breaks my heart to be unable to help my patients and their owners when they are looking for help. 

I just hope that they know they did the right thing by trying to help, and I hope that their memories give them the peace that their pets have already found.