Ortho

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At part time work there is a ski resort in our first due. From day one of opening our ER there is flooded with injured skiers and snowboarders. The medic unit treats a fair few of them as well, usually the head injuries that will be taken to trauma centers.
The other day I was there and the ambulance brought in a wrist injury. This poor soul had taken a fall from his snowboard (the details of which I'm unsure of.) When we took off the splint, his forearm had an extra joint and his wrist made a nice s-curve. Ew.
When the ortho guy came to set it, I asked if I could observe. He said sure, and asked me to get him a bucket of water that was exactly 101.4 degrees. I was a little afraid of him, and alas, he merely wanted to see the confused look on my face and to watch me hurriedly look for a bucket and then ask around for something to test the temperature of it.

We chatted about fractures and such while the patient was lulled into la-la land via morphine and versed. Then I took the guys elbow, and the doc grabbed his wrist and manipulated it in the most horribly awful way. I wanted to scream and shout and dance around and it wasn't my wrist. The patient barely noticed as it cracked and popped disgustingly until the doc found a fairly happy place to leave it in. Then we casted it up and he was on his way. I always thought being an orthopedist would be cool, but I'm not sure I could do that all day.

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