Today’s post is a writing challenge. This is how it works: participating bloggers picked 4 – 6 words or short phrases for someone else to craft into a post. All words must be used at least once and all the posts will be unique as each writer has received their own set of words. That’s the challenge, here’s a fun twist; no one who’s participating knows who got their words and in what direction the writer will take them. Until now.
At the end of this post you’ll find links to the other blogs featuring this challenge. Check them all out, see what words they got and how they used them.
Links to the other “Use Your Words” posts:
Walking down the corridor to the operating room we could see the group just ahead of us, quickly picking up our pace we caught up with them. Dr. Mallard was the first to speak, now I expect complete professionalism when you go through these doors, you are not only representing your esteemed universities best of the best fourth year medical students, you are representing this hospital and in that room, he paused, you are representing me. I will not tolerate anything less than perfection, or at-least your best damned effort. Are we clear?
Yes sir, we all sounded off like a well rehearsed chorus.
Then, yes there is always one in the group, our wise cracking top student says " Dr. Mallard, does anyone ever quack?" with a snicker, he was nervous and it was making him stupid.
Dr. Mallard spun around and said "DO YOU THINK THAT IS FUNNY SON?" in a booming voice that stopped us all in our tracks and made me want to turn tail and run.
Uh uh um no sir, replied Kent.
Dr. Mallard said, "THIS is no place for joking, you do that on your own time. I will let it go as I'm sure you are nervous, but I guarantee you one thing son, if you EVER do that again, you will be out of this hospital and out of your program. Understood?!"
"Uh um yes yes sir I'm sorry sir."
"Good, you need to be sorry, now let's get in here and save a life. That is what cardiology is about. We save lives and when it doesn't happen, we break hearts with the news. You must be able to balance the compassion with the professional unemotional side. It's a tough balancing act that not many are able to accomplish. So if you are here because you think it will make you rich, do me a favor and leave now. Go into plastic surgery and move to California." With that we followed him into the scrub room, donned gowns, hats, gloves, shoe covers and walked into the frigid operating room.
It was such an honor to watch someone like Dr. Mallard, he was a highly skilled surgeon, a compassionate doctor, held in high esteem by his colleagues and the medical community in-itself.
When the surgery was over and we were all seated in the conference room, Dr. Mallard walked to the front of the room. With a clear voice he said "what you witnessed today was elementary, a simple stint and done thousands of times a day all over this country. What you will not see everyday is the total disregard for life. All lives matter. The patient today was an inmate. The crime he committed means nothing to me, I am bound by an oath to do my utmost to save lives, all lives."
"Now, let me see your first cut skills. We have on these tables behind you, arms, no not real arms, modern technology has given us these prosthetic arms with human like flesh. This helps us help you. It looks and feels like real flesh, it will respond, bleed, tear and even rupture. Everyone walk over to a station, all your necessary surgery garments are on the side table."
Slowly getting up from our chairs we made our way over to the tables, donned our garments then proceeded over to a "operating table". Looking down at the arm, it felt very surreal. I was operating on a severed arm yet it was not real. I shook my head to clear the cobwebs as my granny would say.
Dr. Mallard walked from one table to the next as we each made our first cut.
He was standing beside Sonjay who was shaking life a leaf. What was wrong with him? He was always so calm and confident. First he held the scalpel in his left hand, started to make a cut and stopped, switched to his right hand, holding the scalpel a quarter of an inch from the skin. He was shaking so bad, Dr. Mallard reached over and removed the instrument from his hand. Turning Sonjay by the shoulders so he was facing him Dr. Mallard asked "Sonjay are you ambidextrous? Because if not, you need to make the cut with your dominate hand. Now take a deep breath. Close your eyes. Steady your mind. Now open your eyes." he handed Sonjay the instrument again and said "now, make your cut, steady steady, there. Now proceed." Breathing a sigh of relief for Sonjay I waited my turn.
Your words are:
ambidextrous ~ cardiology ~ elementary ~ quack
