{"id":12856,"date":"2026-04-16T01:02:29","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T13:02:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/?p=12856"},"modified":"2026-04-16T05:27:41","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T17:27:41","slug":"long","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/16\/long\/","title":{"rendered":"Big day at the office"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s one am, and I\u2019m still at work.<\/p>\n

In fact the entire team have been here doing this one operation since before 8. The only one not aware of the passing of time (hopefully) is our patient, who is in the drug induced coma we call anaesthesia. Everyone looks tired, but the two surgeons look absolutely dead on their feet, while still seeming to be doing a good job. I wonder if anyone is questioning their life choices? We\u2019re still a couple of hours away, too. This is the longest anaesthetic I\u2019ve ever given.<\/p>\n

\u2026..<\/p>\n

2 am, and the surgeon has told us we can put some music on. I\u2019m taking this as a positive sign that the fraught stuff is over and the end may be in sight.<\/p>\n

\"\"
All the medications you can see, I\u2019ve used during this case. Not sure how impressive that would be to a lay person? It\u2019s a lot, anyhow.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It\u2019s nearly 4 am and we\u2019re almost done. I feel surprisingly OK. I\u2019m the oldest person here. I never would have dreamt this operation would take so long or that I would cope with it so well. I hardly feel. It\u2019ll be nearly dawn by the time I get home, might need to give the dogs their breakfast before going to bed. I have an office day so I\u2019ll get there when I get there.<\/p>\n

5:30 home in bed. The dogs have been fed. Our patient woke up beautifully, comfortable and oriented (orientated?) in spite of twenty hours of surgery and anaesthesia. Gratifying. I finally started to feel a bit sleepy driving home, which has just now reminded me of my uncle that I never met, he was an O and G specialist who crashed while driving to or from the hospital in the middle of the night sixty or so years ago. There\u2019s no doubt being sleepy impairs your performance in ways we didn\u2019t understand years ago. Anyway, I made it home and am ready to sleep, who knows how long for?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s one am, and I\u2019m still at work.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12856","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/sa8Ukf-long","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":12752,"url":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/11\/antisocial-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":12856,"position":0},"title":"Antisocial","author":"Interloper11","date":"March 11, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"I deleted Facebook and Instagram from my phone and iPad a couple of months ago and I\u2019m suffering very little FOMO. Weirdly, I still find myself staring, puzzled, at my screen several times a day, swiping \u00a0mindlessly through pages of apps. I check my emails and news websites far more\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/accordingtokirsty.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/IMG_5662-265x300.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":11289,"url":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/07\/shallow\/","url_meta":{"origin":12856,"position":1},"title":"Shallow","author":"Interloper11","date":"January 7, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"I just spent the last 18 minutes watching a YouTube video on one Australian woman\u2019s experience of eyebrow tattooing. What is happening to me? The video is four years old and I was the 5476th viewer, so it\u2019s not as if it\u2019s a must watch. And there\u2019s plenty of real\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/accordingtokirsty.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/IMG_1265-225x300.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":337,"url":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/2018\/09\/05\/sabbaticalling-the-kirsty-way\/","url_meta":{"origin":12856,"position":2},"title":"Sabbaticalling the Kirsty way","author":"Interloper11","date":"September 5, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Writing this in bed. It is still cold and rainy outside. Have spend the morning reading in horrified fascination of the latest White House shenanigans. Feeling vaguely guilty that I\u2019m at home instead of at work where I could be doing something useful. However, as I\u2019m on sabbatical, what I\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/accordingtokirsty.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/07BA5100-72C7-4CCB-959C-EB7B3C42F999-225x300.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":11249,"url":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/2024\/12\/27\/limelight\/","url_meta":{"origin":12856,"position":3},"title":"Limelight","author":"Interloper11","date":"December 27, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"I\u2019ve been invited by one of my old colleagues on the departmental newsletter to write a report on my recent sabbatical for an upcoming edition, and I\u2019m in two minds about it. On the one hand, here\u2019s my first chance to remind a mostly appreciative audience of the wit and\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 1 comment","block_context":{"text":"With 1 comment","link":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/2024\/12\/27\/limelight\/#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/accordingtokirsty.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/IMG_0423-300x278.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4240,"url":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/2020\/02\/16\/news-flash-or-times-they-are-a-changing\/","url_meta":{"origin":12856,"position":4},"title":"News flash (or: Times, they are a changing)","author":"Interloper11","date":"February 16, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"A chocolate fish for anyone who figured out my struggles with overheating in bed this summer was an early sign of menopause. 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