Oh House Medicine...

I've been a bad blogger. I'm aware. A lot of stuff's happened. And I'm gonna put it in list format in an attempt to keep it organized.

1. September ended. Mom is making a fabulous recovery from her knee replacement.

2. October started - along with Labor and Delivery. I caught tons of babies, didn't drop any, and got to sew up some subQ fat and skin. I had an amazing month. I even made friends with some of the nurses!

3. Also in October - I learned how to make scrub hats. This might be part of the reason the nurses want to be friendsies. Ha ha.

4. The first Friday in October I got sideswiped by an 18-wheeler while heading home from the hospital. It was incredibly scary. I need to take pictures, but pretty much there's a long green stripe down the L side of my car along with parts of it all dented in and missing and whatnot. The scariest part is the chewed up metal on my hubcap (not the cute, decorative rim, but the actual metal part underneath that that holds the tire). Very scary. Best part - the driver just kept on truckin' so to speak so I get to pay $200 for the repair. Awesome.

5. I had my first interview this past Friday at Ochsner in New Orleans. It was quite the experience. I was on nights the last 2 weeks, so I didn't get home until 2:30am the night before I had to leave. We got into town just in time to get checked in and head to the party. The interviewees seem pretty cool. I even met one girl who is doing an away at UMC right now and she's super nice. As for the next morning, it was a cluster! I left the hotel at 6:15, assuming I'd have plenty of time to make it to my interview 6 miles away by 7:30. I made it, but just barely. The New Orleans downtown area is a little difficult to navigate. It doesn't help that there are 2 Ochsner hospitals on the same highway, 3 miles apart. And both have pianos in their atrium. We were told to meet by the piano in the atrium. You can see where this is going. Long story short - here's what I've learned from my first interview:

1. Wear a watch. Some hospitals don't have clocks abundant as ours do.

2. Take a purse with a pen and some paper. I asked all the girls the night before if they were bringing their purses. They said NO. They all showed up with their purses (those b*tches...). By the end of the day my lips were chapped, I had no pen to take notes with, and felt pretty yucky.

3. Do a night before trial run. Drive to the hospital. Find where you're meeting.

4. Find out about discounts. After trying to make reservations at the hotel on campus and getting no response, I made reservations elsewhere. Morning of I got a confirmation email from the original hotel. It was too late to cancel hotel #2 at this point. While eating breakfast at the interview the unhelpful secretary announces - "Be sure not to let the hotel here charge you for your stay! Show them my email. That should be enough." And boom. I'm out $130 and pissed. Did she mention anything about that hotel in any of her million emails? No. Of course not. Did she mention it would be free. Well no. That would be logical. So pimp those secretaries about free hotel rooms if they're not upfront about them.

5. Don't overdress for the party the night before. I wore jeans, a cute tunic top, and cowboy boots and was on par with the residents. If you show up in a little black dress, heels, and pearls, you will feel really awkward.

6. On a similar note - Ann Taylor Loft is having an amazing sale right now. If you need cute shirts for under your suit - go get some. I got one for $14 last night.

That's all of my interview advice. I'm glad the first one is over with. I have my UMC interview this coming Friday and am pumped. However, I start medicine tomorrow morning. Already have 3 patients assigned to me and notes expected for in the morning before rounds at 7. We have orientation at 8. Oh how backwards...

What a Morning

I woke up at 6:56 this morning. I was supposed to be at the hospital at 7:00 (a late day since we're on call) We usually get there around 5:30. Anyway, this is the 1st time I've overslept this year and it was so not fun. I'm sure I won't have that problem again all year!

As if that wasn't bad enough I got rear-ended on the way to the hospital!!! No real damage, so no big deal. We just swapped a little paint and it came off easily with my fingernail so I didn't even worry with calling the po-po. Once again, this car has NOT been good luck for me!

Ice Ice Baby

Remember how it snowed this weekend? I don't think I'll ever forget it - not because of how pretty it was though. There was lots of ice all over I-55. Fast forward to 5:30 am on Saturday morning and guess who had a run in with the ice on the way to the hospital? You guessed it - yours truly. Here's what happened:

Driving along, not too fast, when I notice 2 sets of blue lights in the left 2 lanes of the highway. What does everyone do when they see blue lights? They SLAM on their brakes. I did not, because I knew there was ice on the road. The people in front of me decided it was a great idea though. So in order not to hit them, I had to slam on my brakes too. Then my brakes completely locked up and my car slid a little to the left - directly towards the cop car. I thought I was going to take it out. Then my instincts made me jerk the wheel to the right, so I went veering across 3 lanes of traffic towards the right. Then I jerked left again. Then right. The last time I veered right I must have really done it good because my car decided to do no less than 3 complete 360 degree circles across 3 lanes of traffic. I was screaming at the top of my lungs. It was NOT FUN.

Then, miraculously, my car stopped. I ended up with my rear left tire slammed against the concrete side wall and facing oncoming traffic. From the sound of it, I thought my whole back end was totaled. I actually braced myself right before I hit the wall and thought I'd be headed to the hospital in an ambulance. Then I realized the police men 3 lanes over from me WEREN'T coming to help me. What was the deal??? I clearly just had a massive wreck!!! So after calling my friend and partner for Internal Medicine, A, and letting her know what had gone down I went outside to survey the damage.

It was insane. The only thing that was messed up was my hubcab. It was wedged in between my tire and the concrete wall. No scratches - no dents. Craziness. So what did I do? I threw that hubcab in the back seat and made it to the hospital only 15 minutes later than I intended to get there. I was pretty shaken up and I'm still convinced that the police actually CAUSED more wrecks than they prevented that morning. But overall I'm thankful. It was very scary, but at least I made it. I guess God wanted me to live that day!

Since med school started this car has not been the luckiest for me. I've gotten 2 speeding tickets (M1 year), sideswiped by a lady and her son during our 1st test week of M2 year, and now sent on the icecapades M3 year. I think I better get rid of the thing before next year. Not sure if I can survive the next one!