Saturday, 9 August 2025

NANCC Nights: Friendship, Romance & The Art of Not Failing Your Exam (Probably)

 In the glamorous, adrenaline-filled world of Neuroanesthesia and Neurocritical Care (NANCC) at Artemis Hospital — where the air smells like antiseptic and despair — two residents have cracked the code to survival:

Step 1: Make a best friend.
Step 2: Study together.
Step 3: Lower your expectations for Step 2 immediately.

Sheen and Laila started out as just two tired souls trying to navigate residency. Somewhere between night shifts, endless rounds, and trying to find a pen that actually works, they became inseparable.


The “Study Sessions”

On paper, their study plan was flawless.
Reality check:

Sheen: “Okay, today we’ll cover ICP monitoring.”
Laila: “Great, but first… snacks.”
Sheen: “We just ate.”
Laila: “That was pre-study eating. This is intra-study eating.”

By the end of the night, they had covered:

  • 2 paragraphs of the textbook

  • 3 packets of chips

  • 1 emergency meme break

  • And the entire medical gossip circuit of Artemis Hospital


The Love Life Intermissions

No NANCC story is complete without unnecessary romantic plot twists.

Laila was steady with Javed — charming, loyal, and the kind of guy who’d bring her chai at 2 AM. Unfortunately, her parents treated his marriage proposal like she’d announced she was quitting medicine to become a street magician.

Her mother: “Beta, you can do better.”
Laila: “Better than a man who knows my favorite paratha order?”
Her mother: horrified silence

Sheen, on the other hand, dated James — a charming guy who turned out to be significantly younger.
How much younger? Let’s just say she had more clinical experience than he had years on the planet.

Laila: “What’s the age gap?”
Sheen: “Let’s just say his first phone was an iPhone 14.”


The NANC Crew — Our Chaotic Cheerleaders

Their department crew was like a poorly funded Avengers team — strong in spirit, weak in common sense.

When Laila was sulking after another “parental disapproval” dinner, the crew held an Emergency Happiness Code:

  • Dr. William ordered samosas.

  • Dr. Brad Pitt started singing “Pehla Nasha” off-key in the ICU corridor.

  • A confused patient in bed 6 asked if it was visiting hours.

When Sheen broke up with James, they threw her a mock graduation ceremony. The certificate read:

“Successfully Completed the Course: Dating Someone Who Still Uses Their Parents’ Netflix.”


Hospital Moments That Deserve a TV Show

Of course, life in NANCC came with… incidents:

  1. The Time Laila Spilled Coffee on the Ventilator

    • She claimed it was “part of humidification therapy.”

    • The machine disagreed. Loudly.

  2. The Time Sheen Fought the EMR System

    • She typed the wrong password three times.

    • Got locked out.

    • Sweet-talked the computer.

    • It let her in.

    • Now the IT team thinks she’s a witch.

  3. The Time The Crew Tried Group Yoga in the ICU

    • Lasted 4 minutes before a Code Blue ruined the vibe.

    • Patient was fine. Downward Dog, less so.


The Bigger Picture

For all the snacks, gossip, and tech disasters, Sheen and Laila had one thing locked: ambition.

They quizzed each other at ungodly hours, held each other together during brutal shifts, and celebrated even the smallest victories — like remembering the GCS scale without peeking at the back of their ID cards.

One night, mid-study, Laila looked up and said, “We’ll laugh about all this someday.”
Sheen: “I’m already laughing. At you. Because you’ve been highlighting the same line for 25 minutes.”


Conclusion: The NANCC Friendship Survival Kit

To survive this department, you need:

  • A friend who knows when to hand you coffee

  • A crew who’ll throw you a fake graduation when your relationship tanks

  • And the ability to explain brain herniation at 3 AM while eating a samosa

Sheen and Laila aren’t just surviving residency. They’re building the kind of friendship that might actually get them through exams… assuming they eventually get past Chapter 2.

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