Ready or NOT

Mistakes are unwanted but do happen on very critical cases when the pressure is high and time is scarce. Surgeons are trained to be able to  make last minute decisions and to have a sense of problem solving and finding a solution. It was 2 a.m. on a winter morning. I had worked a 12 hour shift with no sleep and only one break for food. I have had cases back to back since I have been lined to take cases in the emergency room. I was in the middle of opening an knife victims abdomen when a women in critical condition was being rushed in. I left the knife victim to the other residence in the room and rushed to the woman being brought in. The first step was to make sure she could breath. She was not oxygenating well so I put an oxygen mask on her. Her air was very low so she needed to have  a breathing tube inserted into her. We could not get it in due to her low o2 sat. We lost her airway which could result in death if not fixed quickly. The only option left was to do a emergency tracheotomy; cutting a hole in the neck and insert a breathing tube directly into the trachea. The lighting was terrible and was not experienced enough on doing this. I was unsure how to make an incision in her neck; vertical or horizontal but I went ahead and did what I thought was best since I was trusted to do this. I made a three-inch horizontal cut and hit a vein. I didn't loose hold of a lot of blood but enough to fill her wound. Ball, the general surgeon walked in and immediately took over. She was with 3 minutes without oxygen and with 4 minutes the brain can be damaged. In thirty seconds ball inserted the tube and got her sat back up to 98. I felt very relieved that what I made a disaster did not turn out to be a disaster. If I could have slept a few hours, ate a meal and had a break before I proceeded with this case, maybe I could have succeeded  in what I failed at. Surgeons are sometimes believed to machine like figures that turn on and work well when ever they are needed. Surgeons are just like everyone else and are under a tremendous amount of stress while being hungry, dehydrated and sleep deprived. Surgeons save lives, and when they cant completely save them they do everything they can to help them. Next time you or someone you know has surgery, take the time to thank them for what they do.