New Shoes

When I arrived at NewTown Hospital, I was issued with non-static shoes to wear in the operating theatres. As an anaesthetist, I don't have to stand up for hours and hours at a time, so although they're not being the most comfortable things I've ever slipped my feet into, I have little cause for complaint.

Except for one thing. The shoes have no backs, so they're more like slippers. As you can appreciate, slippers aren't designed for running in, but this is fine because I never have to run anywhere, or do I?

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I was on call yesterday and I was on the phone to one of the surgical doctors when the cardiac arrest pager went off

"Cardiac Arrest, Ward A2. Cardiac Arrest, Ward A2"

I groaned to myself because ward A2 was right at the other side of the bloody hospital. NewTown Hospital is pretty big, so I estimated that I had about a 2 minute run ahead of me.

I quickly hung up on the surgeon and broke into a jog and soon I realised my error. I was wearing the standard-issue theatre shoes. In order to move at any sort of speed whilst preventing them from flying off my feet, I had to do a sort of run that was part lunge, part shuffle and part waddle. To cap it all off, the only scrubs (theatre clothes) available today were size XXL, so I was trying to waddle with one hand gripping my trousers to stop them falling down. I can tell you I was got some strange looks as I passed the canteen.

Luckily, by the time I arrived on ward A2, the medical team had managed to save the patient and my services were not required. As I wandered back down to the operating theatres I made a note to myself to always, always, always wear my own trainers to work when I'm on call

- Michael