Today was a busy day.
In the last few hours of the day, most of us were counting the minutes and seconds till we get to sign off and head home. Everyone had circles under their eyes, and carried a tired shrug in their posture. Our lips were chapped. The medical registrar was clarifying the patient list with me. She had a nude pink tint on her lips - a colour that really matched her warm skin tone. The striking colour only made the dryness even more obvious. It mimicked my own on most days, one that is closely akin to sandpaper. Today I drank more water than I usually do though. Only because I have this horrible and uncontrollable cough that is only silenced by drowning my throat with fluids. On average though, I think I would only drink 1 glass of water a day, which is terrible. Accounting for the amount of steps I take and the amount of conversations with patients I have, most likely, if my bloods were monitored daily, I would be found to be in constant dehydration at work.
I guess other doctors will agree with me on this - there is just no time. When one is busy being pulled in so many different directions by nurses, patients, families, pharmacists, health care workers, matrons and your colleagues, one does forget to take a minute and just drink. However, I confess that even before I got into this profession, my baseline hydration is poor to begin with anyway. Now, I have a semi-legitimate reason for my destructive habits. Not good. I hope it doesn't take another bout of flu or another episode of ailing coughs to make me realise to drink water between seeing patients. Stay hydrated kids, at least to maintain a strong lipstick game!
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