Is it over yet?

Busy weekend. I've been on call since 7am Friday and I still have 8 hours to go. Thursday we had 5 consented cases going at the same time(that's a lot) and it spilled over into Friday so I knew I was going to get called out. And we had one team member on vacation. We work in teams of 6, one person does phone triage and the rest of us respond to referrals around the state.

I got called at 6:30 am to go to the hospital furthest South for our area, an hour and 15 minutes away for me, more with rush hour traffic. And I was the last person called out. I spent the day there, everything went perfect, the staff did a great job of treating the patient and supporting the family, the doctors were respectful and kept them informed of everything. Pastoral care was there. And the family was just as nice as could be, given the devastating circumstances they were dealing with. And they said no. For whatever reason, they didn't want to donate this young person's organs. I was pretty bummed. Could you imagine having to make such an important decision hours after receiving the news that your child was going to die? I can't. Unfortunately, if your wishes aren't already known, we have to ask your family around the time of your death if they want to donate your tissue or organs. I'm always floored by the amount of people who take time from their grieving to think of saving another's life.

Saturday I got called at 5:30am to relieve another TC who was out all night and do the OR, which was scheduled for 8am. Of course we didn't get to the OR until almost 9:30. Then we found evidence of possible TB and rounds of phone calls ensued, but in the end the organs got shared(it was old TB and treated). I got home around 5pm and tried to nap but was still receiving phone calls about the kidneys, so no nap for me, sigh. Sunday was blissfully quiet.

Donorcycle is included in Pediatric Grand Rounds over at one of my favorite blogs, The Wait and the Wonder. Moreena somehow takes time out from her busy life to do PGR this month-I've been there sister. I won't be volunteering to host a blog carnival again anytime soon, curse you blogger! And your broken links!