Saturday, December 4, 2010

Breathing a Sigh of Relief

***Warning - incredibly boring post ahead***

Made it through November and House Medicine. There were some days that were touch and go though. Had an average patient load of 16 throughout the month, only finished rounding before 11:30 1x the entire month. That doesn't mean we finished work at 11:30 for the non-medical people. The real work begins after you finish rounding. And of course you can't get anything done from 12:00-1:00 because everyone you really need to talk to (ahem, specialists...)is at lunch. Several of our patients were of the chronic "fill in the blank" pain variety which really try my patience. Kept reminding me of Law #8 of Samuel Shem's The House of God. Also, #5 was a recurring theme. Here are the laws, in case you aren't familiar:

Laws of the House of God
1.GOMERS DON’T DIE.
2.GOMERS GO TO GROUND.
3.AT A CARDIAC ARREST, THE FIRST PROCEDURE IS TO TAKE YOUR OWN PULSE.
4.THE PATIENT IS THE ONE WITH THE DISEASE.
5.PLACEMENT COMES FIRST.
6.THERE IS NO BODY CAVITY THAT CANNOT BE REACHED WITH A #14G NEEDLE AND A GOOD STRONG ARM.
7.AGE + BUN = LASIX DOSE.
8.THEY CAN ALWAYS HURT YOU MORE.
9.THE ONLY GOOD ADMISSION IS A DEAD ADMISSION.
10.IF YOU DON’T TAKE A TEMPERATURE, YOU CAN’T FIND A FEVER.
11.SHOW ME A BMS (Best Medical Student, a student at the Best Medical School) WHO ONLY TRIPLES MY WORK AND I WILL KISS HIS FEET.
12.IF THE RADIOLOGY RESIDENT AND THE MEDICAL STUDENT BOTH SEE A LESION ON THE CHEST X-RAY, THERE CAN BE NO LESION THERE.
13.THE DELIVERY OF GOOD MEDICAL CARE IS TO DO AS MUCH NOTHING AS POSSIBLE.

My residents and attendings were really nice thank goodness. That helped move the month along some.

Other fun things that happened in November - a few residency interviews, including the one at UMC. It went well, as far as I could tell. I left there in a great mood and feeling pretty relieved so I think that's a good sign. Have 5 more scheduled for December and 4 in January. I finally got them all scheduled how I want them and am quite relieved to have a few days to relax in between each of them.

I finally got my car back. It looks better than it has for the last several years thanks to the new paint on parts of it and fancy clean and wax job. At one point during the month we had 4 cars in our driveway everyday. It's a long story, but basically Kris's car quit. He bought a new one before sending the old one away to get fixed up. Then we had the milieu of rotating cars for me to drive while mine was being repaired.

Also in November - we now have 2 nieces! Kris's youngest brother and wife had their first baby. She's quite the cutie. I wish I could say this was taking the pressure off us to have one for a while, but lately it's turned into "Now it's y'all's turn!!!" and "You're the last ones without a baby!!!!" Oy vey...


Now it's December though. The 1st was such a great day. We had been on call Nov 29th and didn't leave the hospital until 2:30 pm Nov 30th with no lunch break. This was pretty much par for the course our entire month on call and post-call days, so I can't say I'm surprised. Just exhausted. The one good thing about that many patients is it teaches you to be efficient. By the last morning I saw 6 patients in a little over an hour, a personal best for me. Anywho, December 1st is my sister's birthday so after sleeping in until 10:30 or so I ventured out with her and my mother on a little shopping trip. Or vicarious shopping trip? I managed to keep my purchases down to $30, which included her birthday present. I'm incredibly broke right now, so every dollar counts. These hotels and interviews don't pay for themselves!

As for the December 2nd, Kris had the day off so we ventured around town together running errands. It was nice. We haven't seen each other that much for the past few months so even getting to hang out doing mundane things like getting a new car tag was a treat. Seems every time I was getting off work the last 2 months he was heading in. We grabbed a bite at 5 Guys over at Renaissance, always delicious. Then we came home and played the Kinect for the XBOX. Not gonna lie - I broke a sweat. It's really fun though. It's like any other game except your body is the controller. If your character needs to jump, you have to jump. Pretty cool.

Yesterday was my grandmother's 82nd birthday so I spent the morning baking her a diabetic-friendly egg pie. Sounds gross, but was pretty tasty. Drove down to Durant to visit with her a bit and then came home for my sister's "Totally 80s 30th Birthday Party." It was so fun. Everyone's outfits were great. She even had slap bracelets :)

And that has been my November and December. Heading out to South Carolina tomorrow morning for an interview and have a few books on tape/CD to listen to on the way. While Kris and I were running errands we finally went and got library cards and learned all about the local library. I was pretty impressed. They now have books on mp3 online that you can download to your iPod/iPad. Also have a wall of books that people have read 1x and donated that they sell for $3. Great Christmas gifts if you're as broke as most of us are right now. Happy December and Happy Interviewing to my fellow classmates!

Also - congrats to my bestie Julz who has just completed Law School at Ole Miss in just 2.5 years. Good job Julz!!!

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