Surgery slumber party

I just finished my first overnight call ever, coming in at 5 yesterday morning and getting home at 9 this morning for a total of 28 hours. Surprisingly, the time went by very quickly. I helped my resident place arterial and central lines, and he let me aspirate a cystic mass. Very fun.

I didn't even feel too tired at 11pm last night when things calmed down and my resident told me to go get some sleep. Even more surprising is that I woke up almost immediately, with minimal grogginess, when I got a text at 5am from my resident to meet him downstairs. Perhaps most surprising to me is that I remained alert and for the most part engaged during breakfast rounds that lasted 1.5 hours.

It seems that a lot of my medical school experience is about dispelling myths that I "can't" do one thing or another, simply by doing them. Last night was admittedly a soft overnight call since I actually got to sleep for a few hours. But I took away from that experience two important lessons: 1) I can do it, and 2) It's not that bad.