Ejections, Staples and Sutures

     Given the circumstances, the game on Saturday went about as well as expected.  Our first real practice of the week was a 'secret' practice on Friday in a gym of a team our Coach had worked for a few years ago.  The team had apparently not changed their locks, so we snuck into the closed gym and got some shots up, attempting to get our wind.
       Thankfully the roof didn't collapse, but the extra shots weren't enough to get our game back. We ended the first half going 1-12 from the three point line, but were still only down 5 at halftime. Marcus also entered the locker room with a technical foul for arguing a charge call. In the second half, he received another call he disagreed with, yelled something, and then shot the ball in a high arc towards the ref. Unfortunately the ref was recording the foul call with the scorers table and didn't see the ball coming his way until it had already hit him on the head and bounced off. He promptly gave Marcus a second technical, and against better judgement Marcus went over to give him a peace of his mind.  Somewhere between the third and tenth, "YOU SUCK REF," the referee lost his patience and gave Marcus his third technical and ejected him from the game.
      As a result of this little incident they got 6 freethrows (2 for the initial foul and 2 for each of the technicals) and the ball back. They converted all the freethrows and scored on the inbounds, completing the unheard-of-but-i-guess-possible 8 point possession. After going to a 2-3 zone (against a very hot three-point shooting team, I am not sure of the logic of this) we were quickly down by 15. To make up for this deficit, our Coach put us in a 3/4 court trapping zone and told us to push the pace on offense. This normally would have been a smart plan, but having not really practiced for 3 weeks, and having only 6 guys left in our rotation, no one was prepared for this kind of running. With tired legs, we somehow bested our first half shooting, going 0-10 from behind the arc, and got blown out of the gym.
     Coach Borris said that after "crawling in the league administrator's butt," he was able to get Marcus's suspension reduced from 3 games to 1. I am not sure what this action entailed, and I am not sure I want to know, but I am happy that I will only be left out there alone for one game.
    Back in the hospital things have been going great. The other day we were operating on an obese ladies leg when the Doctor handed me a stapler. I thought he just wanted me to hold it until he was ready. Then I heard him impatiently exclaim "Haallooo," and motion towards the skin he was holding together with the end of his tweezers. I gathered that he wanted me finish the job, so without further instruction, I began to staple this poor woman's knee back together. All the staples stayed in and they were in a relatively straight line, so I guess it was successful. I am starting to realize more and more that surgery is just an advanced hybrid of arts and crafts and woodshop. I never took woodshop, so I guess it is good that I did kindergarten twice to gain more expertise in the various skills needed to properly operate scissors and staplers. I guess everything you need to know in life you really do learn in kindergarten.

     After the stapler incident, the Doctor asked me what I knew about suturing. I told him I had no experience but that I wanted to learn. He wisely suggested I start practicing on inanimate objects first, and gave me a glove filled with gauze and my first set of medical scissors to take home with me.  After a few youtube tutorials, here are my first few attempts:

The one on the right is the second one, that is what I call progress!

We have a game tonight to make up for the one that was cancelled before Christmas, and while the sutures were OK, hopefully my jump shot is a little more accurate!