Our Anatomy || Stefanie's Story

Chapter 1; The Interns

4:00 AM, January 1st, 2009
_________

It's my first day as a surgical intern.

That's all I could think of as I woke up from a restless night. All night I was thinking about today. The day I became a surgeon. A Surgeon.

Then, I remembered that I don't have time to lay here and think about becoming a Surgeon, If I want to be one, I have to get ready first.

I got up from my bed, too quickly seeing as blood rushed to my head, but that didn't bother me, the adrenaline of the thought of becoming a surgeon overcame me, and I quickly made my way to the bathroom to begin my day.

4:35 AM,

"Yes mom, I'm on my way to the hospital." I reassured my mother as I got into my car. "Are you sure you're ready? Did you eat breakfast? Have you read over your med school notes?" My mother spoke frantically. "Mom. Breathe, I think you are more worried about today than I am." I said, stopping at a red light. "I'm going to hang up now, I'm driving."
"Oh okay. Wait did you-" I turned my phone off as I took a turn, pulling up to Mayo Clinic's parking lot.

I made my way to the surgical wing of the hospital, "Hello, how can I help you?" Said the lady at the desk. "Can you tell me where Interns have to go on their first day?" I asked the lady. "Oh here, this is a Map of the whole hospital, you need to go here." The lady said, pointing to a location on the map.
"Okay thank you. Have a wonderful day." I told her as I rushed to the place she pointed to on the map.

I'm so going to be late on my first day.

5:00 AM

As I entered the Intern Locker Rooms, I felt overwhelmed by all the commotion the other interns were making as they changed into their scrubs.

Crap, scrubs.

I walked towards a woman who was already wearing her scrubs, she was helping a man next to her set up his locker. "Excuse me, where do I get a set of scrubs?" I asked awkwardly. "Sorry, you don't get them here, you're supposed to bring your own." She said nicely, "But here- I brought spares." She said, handing me her extra scrub. "Thank you." I changed into my scrubs quickly.

"I'm Anna, Anna Babineaux. What's your name?" She said as I was about to choose my own locker. "Oh, I'm Stefanie Blanchard."

"Oh my god, are you related to The Dr. Alan Blanchard? The best Neuro-Surgeon in the whole world of medicine?" She questioned, lowering her voice. "Yep, that would be my father." I said, walking towards a locker, putting all my belongings inside. Dr. Babineaux followed me on my way out.

5:20 AM

"Each of you comes here today, hopeful. Wanting in on the game. A month ago, you were in Med school  being taught by doctors. Today, you are the doctors. The seven years you spend here as a surgical resident will be the best and worst of your life. You will be pushed to the breaking point. Look around you, say hello to your competition. Eight of you will switch to an easier specialty. Five of you will crack under the pressure. Two of you will be asked to leave. This is your starting line. Your arena. How well you play it... That is entirely up to you." Spoke the chief of surgery. Chief Moutton, as we, the interns, entered an OR.

This is the first time I've stepped foot inside an OR. The machines and the medical equipment, the smell of the sterile floors and bed. Wow.
__________________________________
5:25 AM

After Chief Moutton's speech, all the interns, including me, followed him and the Residents to the front desk.

"You will be assigned a Resident. Everything you fail to do reflects on them. Everything you succeed at, reflects on them. Every death. Every surgery. Am I understood?" Chief Moutton explains. We all nod.

"You three interns, with this resident. You four have year 2 Resident, Dr. Alexandrea Robbins. Stefanie Blanchard, Christopher Gray, and Anna Babineaux, you three will have year 2 Resident, Dr. Kristy Robbins."

"Okay, once that clock hits 6:00 AM, you all will now be Interns. The rest is up to you." Chief Moutton said, waving as he left the lobby.

"Okay. I have five rules. Memorize them. Rule number one: Don't bother sucking up. I already hate you. That's not gonna change." Started Dr. Robbins,

"Trauma protocol, phone list, pagers. Nurses will page you, you answer every page at a run. A run!That's rule number two! Your first shift starts now and lasts 48 hours. You're interns, grunts, nobodies, bottom of the surgical food chain. You run labs, write orders, work every second night until you drop, and don't complain!" She said, rolling her eyes at Dr. Christopher Gray, who seemed to be annoyed. I bet he'll be the first one out.

"On-call rooms, Attendings hog them. Sleep when you can where you can, which brings me to rule number three. If I'm sleeping, don't wake me unless your patient is actually dying. Rule number four: The dying patient better not be dead when I get there. Not only will you have killed someone, you would have woke me for no good reason. We clear?" Dr. Robbins said, turning around to face us. Dr. Babineaux raises her hand,

"What?" Says Robbins.

"You said five rules. That was only four."

Dr. Robbin glares and continues walking, "Rule number five: when I move, you move." She shouts as she gets pages to the E.R.

"Move!" She yelled, startling us. We rushed to the ER.

Oh boy, This is going to be... interesting.

_______________________
Authors notes:
AHH First chapter! I know it's short, but to be honest, its a prologue.
Let me know what you think about it! :)