The Morning after the Night Before

Monday 6th July 2020

Figures for 5rd July

UK COVID Deaths 22 / Total 44,220

James Cook Hospital – Total COVID deaths – 254

All COVID cases within South Tees Hospitals Trust – 7

James Cook Critical Care COVID cases – 2 (1 ventilated)

James Cook Critical Care non-COVID cases – 43

Just a quick update about the rest of Super-Saturday. When I left, all seemed fairly under control and I’m pleased to report that things stayed that way.

When I arrived at work yesterday morning we had only admitted one patient overnight for reasons that were completely unrelated to the pubs opening. This was despite my colleague Di being on-call. I have written before about some of the superstition that surrounds on-calls and how some Consultants seemed more ‘unlucky’ than others.

Di has a reputation for being the most ‘unlucky’ of us all. In fact, her nickname is ‘The Magnet’ due to her ability to function as a beacon for anyone in the area who might be remotely unwell. Normally, putting DI on-call on a night like New Year’s Eve or Super-Saturday would be like throwing an extremely rare steak into shark-infested waters.

However, despite this combination, the Gods of Intensive Care Medicine smiled upon us and a quiet night was had by all. It continued to remain calm throughout the following day. Even A&E remained relatively untouched by patients suffering from alcohol or substance abuse.

Yesterday was the 72nd anniversary of the foundation of the NHS and there was a special ‘Clap for Carers’ at 5pm. This rather passed us by on the ICU as we were scrubbed for a tracheostomy which turned out to be rather tricky. By the time we were finished the moment had long passed. To be honest, given the lack of relatives and the fact that we were sealed in our own little world, we would have ended up applauding ourselves which would have felt a bit weird.

At the time this was going on, Nicky and my eldest daughter were at swim-club. Of course, with the swimming pools being closed they are reduced to meeting up for socially-distant outdoor ‘land-training’ in order to keep fit. The training was being organised by Adam, one of our Vascular Surgeons who in his spare time, coaches Stokesley swimming club. It was inevitable that with two doctors present, they would interrupt their training regimen to applaud. This caused my teenage daughter to ‘die of embarrassment’ which is something she does surprisingly easily. For once, it’s for something I can relate to.