My night shift was rather uneventful except for being called mother Mary and then the patient referred to me as her mother and wanted a bottle. It is sad and amazing how dementia effects people at night. The people can be almost normal during the day and then completely spiral at night. I'd be interested why there is a difference in their state according to the time of day and why almost all of them regress to a childish state and ask for their moms.
I often have to remind myself that I am not in a horror movie. When I am sitting in a dark room on my computer next to the patients bed and they are illuminated merely by the glare of the computer screen and I look over and the old patients are just staring at me or groaning or half up in bed just looking at me, it can seem really creepy. When I go over to ask what the patient needs I often just get a blank stare and moan for a few minutes. Creepy. That is why I can't watch scary movies (I made it through all the paranormal activities with moral support....a lot of support and a side of making fun of me because I hid behind my pillow the first two movies (the third and fourth in the series, don't know why we watched them backwards))
After just 1.5 hours of sleep at home (and a whacked up dream) it was off to where I had seemingly just come from. I skipped breakfast to sleep a few more minutes. I was dead tired during the morning discussion and the first thing I did when that was done was buy a coffee. One of the good ones...the expensive 1.70€ kind. I also wanted a croissant but the worker bagged a sweet bread and I didn't notice it until outside and didn't have the energy to go back and switch. So I just ate what I had.
I was afraid I was going to fall over during the operations but luckily the four procedures I watched all only required one surgeon and I got to sit on a chair next to him while he worked (also seated...so it's all good).
TUR-P:
Trans urethral resection of the prostate. So basically a device is inserted through the penis and then what looks like a lemon slicer (the kind that makes the fancy swirls for cocktails) is used to peel away tissue (it has an electric current which actually cuts the tissue).
TUR-B:
Transurethral resection of the bladder. The patient has a bladder tumor that had to be removed. Same concept as above but in the bladder.
Botox:
Botox can be injected into the bladder muscles to relax them. For instance when the nerves aren't wired quite right and send a signal that you have to pee by very low urine volumes or when the muscle spasms itself and causes the urge to pee. This is a quick procedure.
Prostate biopsy:
The prostate is looked at with a transrectal ultrasound and little punches of tissue are removed for further investigation to see if there might be a tumor present. Also quickly done.
I was relieved to be able to sit through all of them and got out of the hospital by 1:30pm. I planned on taking a long nap but had to pack for Hannover. So long turned into 20 minutes and I am now finally (at 2:30AM) going to sleep after only having about 2.5 hours of sleep since 6:50AM two days ago.
Good night
Baci, V
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