Drip,drip,drip

The room was dark and there was the hum of machines working in the background. I was laid on my bed trying to get some rest whilst on call at one of the largest teaching hospitals in Europe. It was about 3am and I was battling between trying to get some sleep and worrying about the different patients I had under my care (these were the days when we did 24 hour shifts and were therefore allowed to sleep if the workload allowed). I was coming towards the end of a 104 hour week and aware that I still had to function in the morning. It was tough in those days, but we had ownership of our patients and that brought immense satisfaction. Medicine was and is one of the best careers you could imagine and I love it! Trying to ignore the hum of the machines in the background I became aware of a new noise, a dripping sound. Drip, drip, drip. It became louder and louder but still I resisted getting out of my bed to look & see where it was coming from. Then the crash bleep went! I jumped out of bed and switched the light on. Simultaneously there was a crashing sound and I turned to see the ceiling coming down onto my bed with a large volume of water following behind. I would have been flattened! I grabbed my stethoscope and ran to the crash call!