Anticipation...and dread

We all love spring.  We're tired of being cooped up in the house with crappy weather, and we want to go out and do stuff.

I'm kinda ambivalent about spring.  On the one hand, the viral illnesses are heading into summer hibernation.  I am SO over RSV and rotavirus.  I would probably lose my shit if I had another outbreak of snot and diarrhea.
But that doesn't mean I get to kick back.  Prom season means I get to see all the teenagers that get mangled in drunk driving crashes.  Summer means that parents start to think it's a good idea to let their kids ride an ATV without protection, and I get to explain to them that their darling's brain is now permanently scrambled.

Trauma care can be very rewarding.  Kids have resilient bodies and heal up from things that would kill old farts like me.  But it's heartbreaking to look down at a kid who has the brain function of a turnip after riding the present his loving, well-intentioned parents gave him.  Or after falling into the pool because everybody thought someone ELSE was watching the baby.  Or was afraid to call her parents to get a sober ride home.

Spring Break

During spring break, we inpatient docs get a short breather.  No one wants to have their kids in the hospital for spring break, because they use spring break as their excuse to go on vacation.  Afterwards?  Time to take the little darlings to the ER or clinic for the crap that's been going on all week.