Shockingly, at about 4am, it appeared my wish was coming true.  No patients had registered to the ER in about an hour, and I had gotten all my work done.  I allowed myself the thought that had been floating around my subconscious since I had gotten to work, “Maybe I could lie down for a little while. . .”

Almost guiltily, I snuck off to the doctors room to close my eyes.  In about 1 minute I was soundly asleep, dreaming vividly.  In about 2 minutes, the phone was ringing.  “Dr. Evans, you have a new patient.”

Like some kind of zombie, I lurched back to the ER.  My skin blotchy, my hair at all kinds of crazy angles, and my brain on some other planet, I found the exam room and chart.

It was a man about 50, who reported that he was having trouble sleeping that night.  He went into excruciating detail about his uncomfortable bed, his strange dreams, and how tired he was.  I tried to be sympathetic, but in my mind, I was hitting him over the head with an oversized frying pan.

I ended up prescribing him some sleeping pills, and thought I might lay down again.  It never happened.  Another patient came in with a very bad heart attack.  That woke me up faster than 3 cups of coffee.