UAMS Pediatrics

So, I am in the PICU this month, and I have to admit some pretty interesting stuff comes through here.  But check this one out ... There was a toddler who underwent an outpatient CT for persistent breathing difficulty.  While in recovery from his sedation, the radiologist looked at his CT and saw a large posterior mass compressing his airway to the size of a piece of yarn!!  Well, he was sent to the PICU and underwent a battery of pre-chemo tests.  However, in the OR during the biopsy he decompensated and ENT had to come scope him.  And what did they find?  A piece of foil (you know like when what you peel of the top of rubbing alcohol, etc.) in his esophagus and the big ole mass turned out to be a reactive lymph node.  Do you know how the parents celebrated?  They went to the prom!

Lidocaine and Sweet-ease make a powerful combination.  If I am ever in a serious accident please just inject a little lidocaine around the injured area and give me a pacifier dipped in that delectable sucrose solution, because if it works for a circumcision, it might work for an amputated limb.

I've found that the hardest question to answer while working in the nursery is "When can my baby go home?".  I discovered this the hard way in my first week after we had to restart bili lights multiple times on one baby and IV fluids again and again on another. Both were small for their gestational age and just when we thought they were ready to go home, the Tbili would rebound or the glucose would trend down.

The "Mole" they call me.  I'm spending 8 wonderful nights working while normal people are sleeping.  I'm doing my rotation in the NICU this month and instead of taking dreadful overnight call every 4 days, I get to work a string of nights holding down the warmers & incubators.  The first night is usually tough getting used to the new schedule, but I am pretty good at staying up late the night before I start.  The mornings are easy because I can fall asleep anywhere and anytime (a gift I've developed since becoming a resident!).