Cheers! To Babies

I was at a UNICEF meeting recently where the discussion centered around the continued worldwide prevalence of neonatal mortality secondary to poor resuscitation efforts…so much training and need still exists in this area.

(images courtesy of google)

I’ll soon be starting my final service month in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. The training in the NICU has been challenging but also extremely rewarding. A number of my patients were born as micropreemies (ex 24+ weekers). I am constantly amazed at the miracle of their lives. NYC is one of few places where legalized abortion can take place up to 24 weeks…having taken care of 24-week preemies in the NICU provides a unique perspective to the turmoiled political issue which I won’t delve into here. But I will say that I look forward to working with this organization in the future in hopes of saving lives.

Only A Pause

“…And death shall be no more, death thou shalt die.”

-John Donne

For many reasons (besides the obvious concerns with HIPAA) I have not written about patient experiences – even in general. But because of recent events at work, the topic of death has been weighing on my mind more than usual. I know, really happy post.

Of course, as residents, it’s our job to run codes. (or run away from them, as played out once on an episode of Scrubs). In between “real codes” we practice. We’re supposed to save lives…that’s the point; that’s our job. But even with our best efforts, the end result can be a bad outcome (read CNS damage here) or death. And when it is the death of a child, no matter how ill he/she may have been, I find it extremely difficult to process. But that’s my job too – to process it and keep going. This time, not only did I have to process the unexpected death of a beautiful child, but help my interns to do the same.

The family had a firm belief of an afterlife.

My thoughts turned to the sonnet “Death be not proud” by John Donne.

Death following a comma, is really, after all, a pause…