Anybody with a sweet tooth?

I currently "live" in a private hospital doing my 2nd month of Internal Medicine rotation. Life here is pretty good. Being that this hospital is private, they hook up every resident and medical student with goodies. We have a giant 50" widescreen TV, pool table, and ping-pong table in our call rooms. During lunch, pharmaceutical companies would pass out free textbooks and free food. On top of that, medical students get $50 in credit to buy Starbucks coffee and what appeared to be gourmet food, considering it's in a hospital setting. Life is good for now.

My Internal Medicine team takes calls (stay in the hospital for 24 hours) and codes (in charge of performing CPR's) every 5 nights......not too bad..........actually, too relaxing almost. This afternoon while we were eating pizza and discussing patient issues, we all recieve a page for Code Blue. There are many code colors, pretty much any color of the rainbow stands for something. A Code Blue is when someone's heart shuts down for whatever reason, be it a heart attack or being stabbed in the heart.

It was a mad frenzy for 3 hospital residents and 2 medical students to rush to the code blue. It was a fast blur of 5 white coats zipping through the hospital corridors. As we arrive, we see a lifeless, half-naked lady in her hospital bed surrounded by a group of more than 8 nurses and doctors trying to resuscitate her. One of my team members grabs a trachea tube and rushes to establish a patent airway. One of my team members grabs a device and monitors her femoral pusle. Our team leader orders for the nurse to grab emergency medicine. I assume the role of performing chest compressions.

"Give epinephrine now!!!" screamed one of my teammates.

I continue compression on her rib cage at a rate of > 100 beats per minute. I didnt want to press too hard as to fracture her ribs, but that was the least of anyone's worries at this point. Her EKG showed electrical activity coming from the heart, but she was still not establishing any pulses. Her lifeless body continued to quiver with each compression from my now sweaty palms. Fatigue quickly set in as my lower back start to fail on me. Now's not a time to quit. I continued pounding her chest despite my whole body now starting to ache.

"Give amiodorone and epinephrine now!!"

Another 10 minutes passed before her pulse would be re-established. Everyone was tired. We looked at each other with a sense of pride and relief as we congratulated each other. It was a job well done.