New Years Eve in the ER

Over the new years weekend I had 3 night shifts. My first time working from the new house. I am driving now, instead of taking the train, and taking a winding country road that skirts Oslo, instead of the highway that goes right through it. I figure the country road, while taking longer, will be more predictable, as I don't have to worry about rush hour or tunnels being closed due to accidents.

At one point somebody said: "it's Midnight!" and we all trooped out side, nurses and physicians alike to stand on the ambulance ramp and watch the fireworks. People were hugging each other and texting their family. The mood was happy and expectant. We had all brought something for a potluck which we set out after the fireworks. There was turkey and salmon, waldorf salad, swedish meatballs, lunch meats, scrambled eggs, bread and homemade lefse. It was quite a feast!

It was a fairly predictable night for New Years Eve. In the beginning it was mostly fireworks injuries. Seems there were some defective sparklers out there, and we got 3 cases of 3rd degree burns in the hands from sparklers that had ignited and burned right down to the hand in a flash. Later it was the intoxications. They started pouring in at 2:30 am. At one point we had several John Does, all unresponsive, as well as what seemed like most of the Romerike police department trying to contain the patients that were conscious.

It had started snowing at midnight and continued snowing heavily all night, so I thought it probably would be best to take the highway through Oslo home. Early New Years Day I didn't expect much trafikk, and it would surely be well plowed and salted. Boy was I mistaken. Shortly after I got onto the highway, I ran into a convoy of 4 snowplows driving abreast, with quite a lot of traffic behind them. In spite of their efforts the road was covered with a layer of icy mush, very unpleasant to drive in, especially in heavy traffic. Also the convoy was only moving at 30 - 40 km/h. When I saw the sign warning of the upcoming toll booths I thought: "forget this! I'm not paying to drive at 35 km/h in this mush, when I can drive the country road just as slowly and with less traffic for free!" So I got off at the next exit and went back to where I had got on. The country road had proper winter conditions (snow, not slush), practically no traffic at all - I think I met all of 2 cars - and once I got into Østfold it was even properly plowed. I was able to drive at pretty much normal speeds all the way home.