ER Overnights

Just started week 2 of the small animal emergency rotation. I would have written sooner, except for a couple of reasons - the first being that my school computer is dead. HP and I are in a fight over the warranty right now.

Let me take a moment to vent: Last year my powercord broke, which is covered by the warranty. So I call and ask them to ship me a new one. I confirm the shipping address twice since I can't use my computer and I need it ASAP, and end the call. Two days later, I track the shipment - it was on its way to parents house - i.e. the reason that I confirmed the shipping address in first place. I call, pissed off, and place a new order. Three days later, I attempt to track the shipment - no tracking number listed online for the order. I call HP again - turns out no order was placed the second time - even though I went through the whole process, confirmed the shipping address, etc. I place a THIRD order for the powercord - and they have the gall to ask me to send the other one back. Um, no I won't be doing that.

Present day - My computer screen shattered right before finals and I now need to start studying for boards, so I would like it fixed. It turns out my warranty doesn't cover accidental damage - which I SPECIFICALLY ordered when I bought the computer three years ago. I called HP, verified that I was ordering the correct warranty, and placed my order. Three years later when I need to cash in on that warranty, I am told that I was given an incorrect item number for the warranty. I spend two hours on the phone with HP, talking to six different people - one of which was the supervisor of the tech support guy who told me he has no boss and is at the top of the chain of command of HP.

Are you kidding me? I was so livid at that point that I congratulated him for owning HP and running such a successful, customer friendly business.

I finally got routed around to the tech support supervisor's man's SUPERVISOR (weird, the first guy really doesn't own HP?) who at least made an attempt to help me. He said he'd ship me the box to send my computer in and that I'd be recieving it within the next two days. I verified my address and politely told him that I had had issues in the past with things being sent to the wrong address, so I just wanted to confirm the correct one. He read me my address and said nothing else was listed. The next day, I track the package... sent to my parent's house. I mean, come on, is this for real? It's almost funny how terrible they are.

Moral of the story - whatever happens, stay away from Hewlett Packard.

Besides the computer debacle, I'm really just exhausted. Working 70+ hour work weeks is starting to get to me. I am so excited for my next rotation - 9 to 4ish, Monday through Friday. How glorious. ER has been interesting - I've had a lot of cases, I've gotten better at drawing blood, taking blood pressures, pulse ox, ECGs, etc. Just basic, good skills to have for the rest of the my life.

Last night was one of the toughest - a few very critical patients, but we were able to leave at 2:45am. At 4:15am, I got called back in and stayed until 7am. The one I got called back in for was a panting dog. It wasn't heatstroke or hyperthermia, but just a dog that had been lying under the owner's covers, woke up panting because it was warm and was brought in immediately. It stopped panting for us, the rest of the physical exam was completely normal. When the intern talked to the owners, the owner freaked and insisted the dog had hip dysplasia.

... what kind of monkey leap takes you from minor panting to hip dysplasia? She then literally pleaded and begged the intern to tell her the truth - that her little cocker spaniel must have hip dysplasia. Her previous dog - a chocolate lab - had hip dysplasia 15 years ago, so she assumed this dog must have it too. I was so tired at this point that the whole conversation was hilarious to me. That sounds mean, and I'm very sorry, but we never mentioned ANYTHING about her hips or any orthopedic issues. I have no idea how her mind just went there! I know the owner was upset and tired herself, but this conversation got very weird very quickly.

Anyway, today is my day off and I slept until 1:30 - which is only 6 hours of total sleep, but I feel better. I went to the pool and read a book, got ice cream, took the dogs for a walk, and am now relaxing with wine. I blew off P90x today because I was exhausted, but I'll definitely get back on it tomorrow :)