Black cloud rescinded

So. We in surgery are a superstitious group of people. Never, ever say that it's going to be a quiet night or that you are bored. Because the surgery Gods will slam you. Never say that everyone is doing fine because someone will tank right then. Never say that it should be an easy op cause they patient will try and die on you on the table. We talk about jinxing ourselves in the same breath as we denounce an old protocol based on hard fact-based evidence.

We are trained to be logical in all things clinical. We do everything for a reason. We have formulas for therapeutic loading doses, fluid resuscitation, vent settings and just about everything else. We've been trained to ignore our gut and go with the facts that are presented before us. But in everything else you'll see us knocking on wood, not saying the dread "q" word (quiet) and wearing our lucky scrub caps.

It's ridiculous, I know it is. But, that's not even the end of it. We are all convinced that full moon nights and Friday the 13th are guaranteed to bring a disastrous workload. Sure, we believe the same thing about St. Patty's, but that makes sense. You've got a lot of drunk people wandering the streets. But, most people don't even know it's a full moon night. So why are we so worried? There is also a general belief that an all male or an all female staff will make the night easier or harder (it depends on which sex you are talking to).

We even have our own equivalents of coolers. These poor people are called black clouds. And whenever they are on they make it rain patients. They've got admits, sick people, consults, lab mishaps, nursing error, physician error and 100 other things that only happen in confluence with them. I am a black cloud.

But, last night I had a great night. Only 1 admit. Nobody signed out the work they should have done over the day to me. I actually had time to sit and study for the in-service exam I'll be taking in January. When my team walked in this morning I told them how amazing it had been and asked that my black cloud status be rescinded.

Unfortunately asking for that angers the Surgery Gods and everyone is convinced that when I start back tonight at 5:30 I'm going to get SLAMMED. They were taking bets on who was going to be circling the drain when I come back in a few short hours. Will it be the patient who has been crapping out every day for the last few days? Will it be the person-the only person-I admitted this morning who might have inhalation burns and renal insufficiency? Or will it be some new patient I don't even know of yet? I guess I'll find out tonight. Till then I'm going to get some sleep cause I'm in for a long night.