Hey y'all. Just made this banana bread recipe and it turned out pretty decent so I thought I'd share:
Ingredients
* 1/3 c. natural applesauce
* 3/4 c. brown sugar
* 3 egg whites
* 2-3 bananas
* 1/3 c. water
* 1 2/3 c. wheat flour (I used whole wheat pancake mix - cause I didn't want a huge bag of wheat flour that I wouldn't have time to use before it went rancid...)
* 1 tsp baking soda
* 1/4 tsp baking powder
*OPTIONAL - chocolate chips, walnuts, dried cranberries, etc... I added chocolate chips and it was pretty dang delicious. Other than that I don't think this bread has much fat/cholesterol in it at all.
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Mix applesauce and sugar.
3. Stir in eggs then bananas then water.
4. Stir in dry ingredients.
5. Pour mixture into a loaf pan and bake ~35 minutes or until knife comes out clean.
This bread was a tasty end to a not so awesome day on Endocrine. I just don't really "jive" with the people who have chosen to do endocrine as their careers. It's not that I don't like them or respect them. We don't fight or disagree or anything. They're just kind of... different. They definitely don't have the same sense of humor as me and my partner. I'm not sure if I've ever seen one of them laugh - ever. They do stare a lot though. Here's a few reasons Endocrine is just not jiving with me:
1. We round at 2:30 in the afternoon, mostly because our attending is semi-retired.
2. They're big THINKERS; not so much DOERS. They're very nice, but I'm more of a doer for sure.
3. Today we met to round/have a case study with our attending at 2:30. He gave us the case, we all pondered it. At one point my partner and I were discussing what hormones were secreted from the anterior pituitary vs the posterior pituitary. It was all pertinent to the question he had just asked us. At that point he says, "Girls, pay attention now..." as if we're his 5 year old great-grand children or something. (He graduated from med school 50 yrs ago, literally. He told us so.) I really had to bite my tongue.
4. After berating us for discussing the pituitary gland, he then asked me a question and when I had to think about it for a second he said, "Come on Ashley, give us an answer." Is my name Ashley? No. thankyouverymuch.
5. About 30 minutes into our case study some nice gentleman came into our room and stated that all the students were to be dismissed because of the bad weather and that only the department heads had gotten the e-mail. Our attending stated that he saw that, but didn't think it mattered. He then proceeded to keep us for the next 45 minutes before letting us go to "do whatever it is we do all day." Yeah, he said it.
Can you tell someone's made my sh*tlist???
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Saturday, January 2, 2010
2010
I've read a lot of posts about new year's resolutions, summaries of the last decade, and what's to come in the next decade. I probably should have been thinking about these things more but I've figured out that I'm more of an "in the moment" type person. You know how some people live in the past? I'm definitely more involved in what's happening right now. I think my friends will agree with this.
My one good friend J can tell you exactly what she was wearing and everything she did last Tuesday and how she felt about it all. I usually cannot even tell you what I did 2 days ago. I used to be able to do that. Maybe the mind is slipping? Maybe I should start quantifying things like that? Who knows. It's probably not ever going to happen though. My other good friend A will ask me about plans for the weekend or plans for next year, etc... and my answer is almost always "Oh, I hadn't really thought about it yet." So, with all that said, here's some resolutions for 2010:
In 2010 I would like to:
*run/walk at least 300 miles (treadmill or outside). I think this is a very realistic goal. Keeping it all recorded, on the other hand...
*quit being so self-centered. Maybe it's part of living in the moment, but I often forget things people tell me, not about themselves but mostly in reference to time. I forget that a friend will be coming into town or that my husband has to work all weekend.
*get this house organized so there's a place for everything and everything in its place. I'm getting closer every day, but there's always more to be done. I joke with K that as soon as I have everything just like I want it, it will be time to move.
*watch less tv. A friend of ours in class, S, who just had a baby has one night per week with no tv with his family. He was my partner for part of the psych rotation and he claimed after trying it out the first night that he felt like he's been cheating himself for years. That kind of stuck with me. Think of all the things you could do if not glued to the tv. Granted, I usually am folding clothes or doing sit-ups or painting my nails while watching tv but you get the point.
*Eat more steak. Probably sounds like a weird resolution, but it's one of the few meats I know how to cook decently that doesn't ever really disappoint. It's lean, it's fast, and it feels like an indulgence for much, much cheaper than even a meal at McDonald's.
*Cook more - kind of goes along with be more organized. Ideally I'd like to cook 2 days a week (Sunday and Wednesday) and eat leftovers all week. It would be such a timesaver. Also, related - I'd like to pack my lunch more often. That would save tons of moolah.
I could keep writing forever, but I need to get off my sniffly little butt and get some things done around this place before the hustle and bustle starts back on Monday. K and I both have moderate cases of acute sinusitis right now which has resulted in lots of lounging, reading, and movie watching together over the last few days. I guess if you're going to get sick, it's nice to have someone there with you. While other people were toasting champagne and kissing at midnight on New Year's we were popping Aleve-D out of the foil backing and washing it down with water. Such a glamorous life...
My one good friend J can tell you exactly what she was wearing and everything she did last Tuesday and how she felt about it all. I usually cannot even tell you what I did 2 days ago. I used to be able to do that. Maybe the mind is slipping? Maybe I should start quantifying things like that? Who knows. It's probably not ever going to happen though. My other good friend A will ask me about plans for the weekend or plans for next year, etc... and my answer is almost always "Oh, I hadn't really thought about it yet." So, with all that said, here's some resolutions for 2010:
In 2010 I would like to:
*run/walk at least 300 miles (treadmill or outside). I think this is a very realistic goal. Keeping it all recorded, on the other hand...
*quit being so self-centered. Maybe it's part of living in the moment, but I often forget things people tell me, not about themselves but mostly in reference to time. I forget that a friend will be coming into town or that my husband has to work all weekend.
*get this house organized so there's a place for everything and everything in its place. I'm getting closer every day, but there's always more to be done. I joke with K that as soon as I have everything just like I want it, it will be time to move.
*watch less tv. A friend of ours in class, S, who just had a baby has one night per week with no tv with his family. He was my partner for part of the psych rotation and he claimed after trying it out the first night that he felt like he's been cheating himself for years. That kind of stuck with me. Think of all the things you could do if not glued to the tv. Granted, I usually am folding clothes or doing sit-ups or painting my nails while watching tv but you get the point.
*Eat more steak. Probably sounds like a weird resolution, but it's one of the few meats I know how to cook decently that doesn't ever really disappoint. It's lean, it's fast, and it feels like an indulgence for much, much cheaper than even a meal at McDonald's.
*Cook more - kind of goes along with be more organized. Ideally I'd like to cook 2 days a week (Sunday and Wednesday) and eat leftovers all week. It would be such a timesaver. Also, related - I'd like to pack my lunch more often. That would save tons of moolah.
I could keep writing forever, but I need to get off my sniffly little butt and get some things done around this place before the hustle and bustle starts back on Monday. K and I both have moderate cases of acute sinusitis right now which has resulted in lots of lounging, reading, and movie watching together over the last few days. I guess if you're going to get sick, it's nice to have someone there with you. While other people were toasting champagne and kissing at midnight on New Year's we were popping Aleve-D out of the foil backing and washing it down with water. Such a glamorous life...
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
OCD
You know you're OCD when your favorite part of New Year's is not the celebration, but rather the anticipation of scribbling lots of engagements and to dos in a brand new blank planner.
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Holiday Highlights
We've already celebrated 3 out of 4 times for the season. Here are some of my favorite moments:
*My mother cluing me in on Lady Gaga after I claimed I didn't get her.
*Kris's father lecturing me and my sis-in-law on the merits of pearl earrings and how you can wear them with jeans or "dressy clothes."
*Getting not one, but two digital picture frames at two separate dirty Christmases.
*The Speedy One and I trying to survive lots of socialite ladies and oohs and ahhs at the Christmas shower I hosted for my bestie J. (It was a success I think!)
I'm sure there's many more that I'm forgetting, but these were all I could think of right now. I'm about to head out into the rain and crowds to pick up a few last minute goodies. Merry Christmas everyone!
*My mother cluing me in on Lady Gaga after I claimed I didn't get her.
*Kris's father lecturing me and my sis-in-law on the merits of pearl earrings and how you can wear them with jeans or "dressy clothes."
*Getting not one, but two digital picture frames at two separate dirty Christmases.
*The Speedy One and I trying to survive lots of socialite ladies and oohs and ahhs at the Christmas shower I hosted for my bestie J. (It was a success I think!)
I'm sure there's many more that I'm forgetting, but these were all I could think of right now. I'm about to head out into the rain and crowds to pick up a few last minute goodies. Merry Christmas everyone!
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Lucky?
Anybody who knows me and my medicine partner, A, knows that we like to gripe. It's mostly out of habit and we're never 100% serious. I feel like on most other rotations we've had it a little harder than some others or either we feel compelled to do more and not be lazy (I'm not talking about anyone who reads this blog, obvs; those girls WORK). So we do our stuff, but we gripe about it the whole time - and afterwards :)
Why am I saying all this? Because I feel like we've gotten pretty lucky on Medicine so far and I just wanted to put it out there. Don't want to ALWAYS be a griper for no reason at all. Here's where we've lucked out that I want to acknowledge:
1. We've only had to take 2 nights of call (since our very 1st day on medicine was our team's post call day), even though we did work our little tails off during them. Other classmates have had 3 or 4 and some of them will be post-call during our midterm on Friday [sorry Ewok :(]
2. Our residents and attending are very nice, maybe a little organizationally challenged at times, but very very nice. I'll take a good attitude over OCD organizational skills any day of the week.
3. We both only see 2 pts daily and that's all our residents/attendings want.
4. We've gotten 30 minutes to 1 hr for lunch every day. Have never gotten a chance to eat dinner while on call, but this is supposed to be a positive post so pretend you didn't hear that.
I'm sure I'm forgetting something, but oh well. I should be studying anyway. Hope everyone's had a good week so far. 3 more days of waking up early for those of us on Medicine!!!
Why am I saying all this? Because I feel like we've gotten pretty lucky on Medicine so far and I just wanted to put it out there. Don't want to ALWAYS be a griper for no reason at all. Here's where we've lucked out that I want to acknowledge:
1. We've only had to take 2 nights of call (since our very 1st day on medicine was our team's post call day), even though we did work our little tails off during them. Other classmates have had 3 or 4 and some of them will be post-call during our midterm on Friday [sorry Ewok :(]
2. Our residents and attending are very nice, maybe a little organizationally challenged at times, but very very nice. I'll take a good attitude over OCD organizational skills any day of the week.
3. We both only see 2 pts daily and that's all our residents/attendings want.
4. We've gotten 30 minutes to 1 hr for lunch every day. Have never gotten a chance to eat dinner while on call, but this is supposed to be a positive post so pretend you didn't hear that.
I'm sure I'm forgetting something, but oh well. I should be studying anyway. Hope everyone's had a good week so far. 3 more days of waking up early for those of us on Medicine!!!
Monday, December 7, 2009
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!
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!
Quotable Quotes
Just got off the phone with my dear grandmother who turned 81 a few days ago. I was calling to wish her a belated happy birthday and we got to discussing my cousin A who recently ran her first marathon. Here's how it went:
Mam-Maw: You know C (another cousin of mine) ran that same race A ran in?
Me: Yeah, and M and D ran the 1/2 marathon. (M and D are C's parents.)
Mam-Maw: We've got some nuts in this family!!!
Me: Yeah, I know :)
Mam-Maw: I'd be bitching and complaining the whole time if I had to run that!
(This is the first time I've heard my grandmother say the "b-word" and I almost can't contain my laughter. Who am I kidding - I never contain my laughter.)
Me: Yeah, I imagine so.
Mam-Maw: I think A was sore for a whole day afterwards. I would have been sore for a whole year!
Gotta love it. I'm very proud of all of my running cousins. Not sure if I ever want to do a marathon. We've been studying a bit of nephrology on Medicine and knowing that bits of muscle that have broken down get all clogged in your kidneys is really not making me want to do it.
Mam-Maw: You know C (another cousin of mine) ran that same race A ran in?
Me: Yeah, and M and D ran the 1/2 marathon. (M and D are C's parents.)
Mam-Maw: We've got some nuts in this family!!!
Me: Yeah, I know :)
Mam-Maw: I'd be bitching and complaining the whole time if I had to run that!
(This is the first time I've heard my grandmother say the "b-word" and I almost can't contain my laughter. Who am I kidding - I never contain my laughter.)
Me: Yeah, I imagine so.
Mam-Maw: I think A was sore for a whole day afterwards. I would have been sore for a whole year!
Gotta love it. I'm very proud of all of my running cousins. Not sure if I ever want to do a marathon. We've been studying a bit of nephrology on Medicine and knowing that bits of muscle that have broken down get all clogged in your kidneys is really not making me want to do it.
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Catch Up Post
Runner's Log: ran/walked ~15 miles in the last week in 2.5 hours. No clue of calories.
Now for the revelation:
I DON'T hate Medicine so far. What's wrong with me? Everything I've ever said or thought goes against this. Maybe it's because our team is really nice. We just have an intern, upper level resident, and then the attending. I was expecting really "anal" people but they're nice. They give us actual responsibilities which I enjoy because I don't feel my day has been wasted and it makes the time go by faster. Then, after we do our work - they are APPRECIATIVE. It's the first time this has happened this year I think. At least I know it's the first time residents have ever vocalized gratitude so often.
What I like about medicine:
1. It's organized. Patient presents with problem. You acknowledge problem, determine BEST treatment plan based on evidence, and then treat them. They get better (usually).
2. Our residents and attendings have been nice so far.
What I don't like:
1. Early hours - alarm goes off at 4:30 most days and I still haven't gotten in the habit of going to bed before 10:00.
2. I hated rounding multiple times a day at first, but since then we've mostly just run the list a once or twice daily and then had attending rounds once daily. It's not bad if your team is efficient and it keeps everyone up to date.
3. Lack of procedures. I like working with my hands.
4. Lack of time off. We are supposed to get 1 day a week off "on average" which means you can potentially work 26 days in a row, then have 4 off at once. Shoot me.
Another exciting tidbit - on our very first day of rounds at 6:30 we were walking by a room just as the nurse happened to shout "CODE!!!" Turns out our team was the code team that month. It was a little chaotic, but long story short both me and my partner got to do chest compressions multiple times and our patient survived. Pretty exciting stuff.
Now for the revelation:
I DON'T hate Medicine so far. What's wrong with me? Everything I've ever said or thought goes against this. Maybe it's because our team is really nice. We just have an intern, upper level resident, and then the attending. I was expecting really "anal" people but they're nice. They give us actual responsibilities which I enjoy because I don't feel my day has been wasted and it makes the time go by faster. Then, after we do our work - they are APPRECIATIVE. It's the first time this has happened this year I think. At least I know it's the first time residents have ever vocalized gratitude so often.
What I like about medicine:
1. It's organized. Patient presents with problem. You acknowledge problem, determine BEST treatment plan based on evidence, and then treat them. They get better (usually).
2. Our residents and attendings have been nice so far.
What I don't like:
1. Early hours - alarm goes off at 4:30 most days and I still haven't gotten in the habit of going to bed before 10:00.
2. I hated rounding multiple times a day at first, but since then we've mostly just run the list a once or twice daily and then had attending rounds once daily. It's not bad if your team is efficient and it keeps everyone up to date.
3. Lack of procedures. I like working with my hands.
4. Lack of time off. We are supposed to get 1 day a week off "on average" which means you can potentially work 26 days in a row, then have 4 off at once. Shoot me.
Another exciting tidbit - on our very first day of rounds at 6:30 we were walking by a room just as the nurse happened to shout "CODE!!!" Turns out our team was the code team that month. It was a little chaotic, but long story short both me and my partner got to do chest compressions multiple times and our patient survived. Pretty exciting stuff.
Friday, November 27, 2009
What the Hey?
How in the heck did I make it back home with NO leftovers at all? Oh well - maybe my pants will fit a little looser next week...
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Runner's Log
45 minutes; 3.87 miles; 380 calories burned
It wasn't very pretty out today - hello clouds :( but at least it wasn't raining. I knew I was giving Penelope a bath today so instead of steering her around every mud puddle and gutter filled with stagnant rainwater I just went ahead and let her jump in every single one of them. How liberating! She was so tired for her bath that she didn't protest at all. Just sat there with her head resting on the side of the tub and let me bathe her. Guess how many towels it takes to dry a 9 month old cocker spaniel?
5! She completely soaked through 5 towels. Methinks it's time for a haircut.
Today Kris and I plan on getting the house all gussied up for Christmas. I'm hosting a Christmas shower for my dearest friend Julz in less than a month so decorating should be a lot of fun this year. As for the rest of the day - I really need to start preparing for ACLS (advanced cardiac life support). This is also known as "running a code" or what to do when someone's dying. We're being trained and tested this Tuesday and Wednesday and I haven't even begun studying. Yikes. Psych really has made me lazy.
It wasn't very pretty out today - hello clouds :( but at least it wasn't raining. I knew I was giving Penelope a bath today so instead of steering her around every mud puddle and gutter filled with stagnant rainwater I just went ahead and let her jump in every single one of them. How liberating! She was so tired for her bath that she didn't protest at all. Just sat there with her head resting on the side of the tub and let me bathe her. Guess how many towels it takes to dry a 9 month old cocker spaniel?
5! She completely soaked through 5 towels. Methinks it's time for a haircut.
Today Kris and I plan on getting the house all gussied up for Christmas. I'm hosting a Christmas shower for my dearest friend Julz in less than a month so decorating should be a lot of fun this year. As for the rest of the day - I really need to start preparing for ACLS (advanced cardiac life support). This is also known as "running a code" or what to do when someone's dying. We're being trained and tested this Tuesday and Wednesday and I haven't even begun studying. Yikes. Psych really has made me lazy.
Saturday, November 21, 2009
You Know What's Not Cool?
When you've gotten all decked out in running gear, got the iPod at the ready, leash on the dog and step outside to see
RAIN. Boo rain. Go away.
RAIN. Boo rain. Go away.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Things I'm Loving Right Now
1. Berry Berry Good - it's my latest obsession. I've spent $8 on frozen yogurt there in the last week. Today I tried the peanut butter, mint, strawberry & cheesecake (swirled), and plain tart with some strawberries and pineapple on top. (All the flavors were separated by a little bit of room in my cup - I'm not a complete neanderthal) They give you a cup, you run around filling it up, then they charge by the ounce. I want to say it's actual frozen yogurt and not sugary/ice cream stuff but I'm not 100% on that.
2. The fact that psych is almost over. Today my attending (who is triple boarded) asked me why a diabetic patient of his shouldn't have concentrated sweets. Really dude? Really? I was so in shock that I couldn't even blurt out an answer and then he said - "Yeah, I don't know either..." Whoa - talk about making your profession look bad.
3. All the fun flavors at Cups right now. I got the butterscotch blitzen au lait a day or 2 ago and it was fan-freaking-tastic.
4. My schedule/partners/group for Medicine. We start Internal Medicine next week and I couldn't be more excited about my schedule and being (hopefully?) super productive all day. I'm sick of being useless on psych. I'm not loving the q5 call that goes along with medicine :(
5. Recycling old electronics - sounds weird I know. I've just been in a super organizational mood for the last few weeks and it feels good to get rid of some junk. So far I've dropped off 2 huge old computer monitors (from my Mom's house), a printer, and Kris's old laptop at Best Buy. At one store they charged me $10 per item but then gave me a $10 Best Buy gift card in return for each item. At the 2nd Best Buy I went to on a different day they just took the stuff.
6. The fact that my kitchen cabinets are now officially organized. If you've been to my house it's no secret how tiny my kitchen it. I have 2 cabinets for ALL of our food, not including the one above the stove where I keep spices. Up until 2 days ago I just had everything shoved in there all haphazardly and 50% of the time when you opened cabinets something fell out or you couldn't get it shut again. No more my friends. Pictures are to follow because I know you're all just dying to see inside my kitchen cabinets - ha ha.
7. Finally having just the right amount of comfy shoes for trekking around the hospital all day. Here's what I needed to make it work and not feel limited in style options:
a pair of Dansko-ish type clogs to wear with scrubs
2 pairs of boots - 1 black, 1 brown
2 pairs heels - 1 black, 1 brown
flats - lots of 'em. I guess you only need 2 pairs, but I've got quite a few more than that.
Anyway, off to our Psych exit interview. Not real sure what it will entail, but hopefully it won't take too long!
2. The fact that psych is almost over. Today my attending (who is triple boarded) asked me why a diabetic patient of his shouldn't have concentrated sweets. Really dude? Really? I was so in shock that I couldn't even blurt out an answer and then he said - "Yeah, I don't know either..." Whoa - talk about making your profession look bad.
3. All the fun flavors at Cups right now. I got the butterscotch blitzen au lait a day or 2 ago and it was fan-freaking-tastic.
4. My schedule/partners/group for Medicine. We start Internal Medicine next week and I couldn't be more excited about my schedule and being (hopefully?) super productive all day. I'm sick of being useless on psych. I'm not loving the q5 call that goes along with medicine :(
5. Recycling old electronics - sounds weird I know. I've just been in a super organizational mood for the last few weeks and it feels good to get rid of some junk. So far I've dropped off 2 huge old computer monitors (from my Mom's house), a printer, and Kris's old laptop at Best Buy. At one store they charged me $10 per item but then gave me a $10 Best Buy gift card in return for each item. At the 2nd Best Buy I went to on a different day they just took the stuff.
6. The fact that my kitchen cabinets are now officially organized. If you've been to my house it's no secret how tiny my kitchen it. I have 2 cabinets for ALL of our food, not including the one above the stove where I keep spices. Up until 2 days ago I just had everything shoved in there all haphazardly and 50% of the time when you opened cabinets something fell out or you couldn't get it shut again. No more my friends. Pictures are to follow because I know you're all just dying to see inside my kitchen cabinets - ha ha.
7. Finally having just the right amount of comfy shoes for trekking around the hospital all day. Here's what I needed to make it work and not feel limited in style options:
a pair of Dansko-ish type clogs to wear with scrubs
2 pairs of boots - 1 black, 1 brown
2 pairs heels - 1 black, 1 brown
flats - lots of 'em. I guess you only need 2 pairs, but I've got quite a few more than that.
Anyway, off to our Psych exit interview. Not real sure what it will entail, but hopefully it won't take too long!
Monday, November 2, 2009
Runner's Log + Psych VA
25 minutes - probably ~2 miles
The old iPod decided to die 5 minutes into this run and therefore I have no idea of the actual distance run or calories burned. Penelope had fun though. I've been pretty steadily running between 1-3 times a week for the last few months, but I'm beginning to get BORED... I definitely need to switch it up and go somewhere besides my tiny neighborhood.
As for school, I am now in my 4th week of psychiatry. Although they all boast that they are some of the most handsomely compensated doctors I am still not interested. I might have been at first, but that all changed the day a 67 year old lady punched her nurse in the face and then told me I was going to die.
She was "the Chosen One" and we were all despicable and all going to die. No she did not want her Ativan shot and no, she was NOT going to give us a urine sample. Long story short, the police got involved, she got her shot, took a nice long nap, and then got transferred upstairs.
Most of the patients I've seen on psych are either homeless, drug abusers, child molestors, criminals, or sometimes all of the above. They're usually looking for either:
a) a warm place to stay
b) a meal (I was going to say a good meal, but it is hospital food after all)
c) somewhere to hide from the police/gang members/family for a few days
d) more drugs
I don't have that much empathy. I wish I did. I think I used to - but it's all gone now. Now, for happier news:
I spent the last 3 weeks at the ER doing psych. Now I'm in the holiest of holy lands - VA Psych. I was home by 1:00 this afternoon AFTER going shopping at Target on the way there. I was at the VA a total of 2.5 hours. It was a productive 2.5 hours though. I met my attending and his physician's assistant. We ran the list. We rounded on the patients. The PA taught me how to and let me write orders on the patients and told me a few of the more interesting cases from years past. Then I went and hunted down a lady to give me access to the VA computers and that was it! Settling in for a night filled with reading (for fun) and Castle. Woohoo!
The old iPod decided to die 5 minutes into this run and therefore I have no idea of the actual distance run or calories burned. Penelope had fun though. I've been pretty steadily running between 1-3 times a week for the last few months, but I'm beginning to get BORED... I definitely need to switch it up and go somewhere besides my tiny neighborhood.
As for school, I am now in my 4th week of psychiatry. Although they all boast that they are some of the most handsomely compensated doctors I am still not interested. I might have been at first, but that all changed the day a 67 year old lady punched her nurse in the face and then told me I was going to die.
She was "the Chosen One" and we were all despicable and all going to die. No she did not want her Ativan shot and no, she was NOT going to give us a urine sample. Long story short, the police got involved, she got her shot, took a nice long nap, and then got transferred upstairs.
Most of the patients I've seen on psych are either homeless, drug abusers, child molestors, criminals, or sometimes all of the above. They're usually looking for either:
a) a warm place to stay
b) a meal (I was going to say a good meal, but it is hospital food after all)
c) somewhere to hide from the police/gang members/family for a few days
d) more drugs
I don't have that much empathy. I wish I did. I think I used to - but it's all gone now. Now, for happier news:
I spent the last 3 weeks at the ER doing psych. Now I'm in the holiest of holy lands - VA Psych. I was home by 1:00 this afternoon AFTER going shopping at Target on the way there. I was at the VA a total of 2.5 hours. It was a productive 2.5 hours though. I met my attending and his physician's assistant. We ran the list. We rounded on the patients. The PA taught me how to and let me write orders on the patients and told me a few of the more interesting cases from years past. Then I went and hunted down a lady to give me access to the VA computers and that was it! Settling in for a night filled with reading (for fun) and Castle. Woohoo!
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Palpable LN
Oy - came down with a rough case of acute rhinosinusitis yesterday which is being controlled pretty well with Aleve-D, my Neti pot, and lots of hot tea and cold water. I'm not sure of the percentage, but I'm inclined to say >90% of rhinosinusitis cases are viral in origin which is why there's no point in going to the doctor for these things (unless you want a shot of decadron) and there's especially no point in asking for antibiotics. Anyway, all that was to say that I've been regularly checking my supraclavicular and cervical (neck) regions for palpable lymph nodes and wouldn't you know it - this afternoon I found 2! I've been skeptical of my LN palpation skills ever since I read Mom's Marijuana by Shapiro. After his diagnosis with lymphoma and subsequent stays in hospitals he commented on how most physicians never palpated with enough pressure to pick up his nodes, but he always knew where they were.
Fell in love with psychiatry today when the resident realized I was sick and immediately sent me home and told me to come back in a day or 2 when I felt better. Hooray for thoughtful residents. I could get used to this...
Fell in love with psychiatry today when the resident realized I was sick and immediately sent me home and told me to come back in a day or 2 when I felt better. Hooray for thoughtful residents. I could get used to this...
Monday, October 12, 2009
Slacker
Whoa - didn't realize it until today but it's nearly been 2 months since I posted. My sister called me out. Told me that I was still stuck in surgery in blogland. I decided that must be remedied immediately!!! So here's a quick rundown of what's been going on lately.
Finished surgery, took the test, class average was a 67 - most definitely the lowest our class average has ever been on any test. Very surprising to me.
Started and finished my family medicine rotation. We do 2 weeks at a big hospital with the family medicine residents and attendings. Then we go off to a "rural" location. Most everyone picks their hometown since they have a free place to stay. I did this and the funniest part to me was that 1/2 way through my 4 weeks, one of my relatives (not telling which one, wouldn't want to have a HIPPA violation!) ended up becoming an inpatient. Not just any inpatient, but a patient on my attending's service. That means I had to go see them every morning and afternoon, get the pertinent info, write the note, etc... It was pretty funny. Here's the breakdown of hours for each part for those of you who want to know what you have to look forward to :)
Big Teaching Hospital: arrive around 6 or 6:30. See 2 patients (no matter how many are on the service, which is AWESOME). Write notes. Go to morning conference at 8. Usually a specialist of some sort would come in and teach for 15 minutes. Then we'd head down to the doctor's lounge and run the list/dry round over delicious breakfast. FREE delicious breakfast. They really know how to treat students and docs over there! Then we'd go on work rounds. Then we'd have class. Then free lunch. Then class. Then home by 3ish. It was pretty relaxed.
"Rural" Medicine: Get to hospital between 6 and 7 depending on how many inpatients we had. My preceptor and I would split up the patients or "divide and conquer" as he liked to say. I'd usually see 2 or 3, write their notes, then he'd look it over and tell me what orders to write. Then he'd sign them. I really enjoyed getting to know the entire staff at the hospital there. It's so different from being at a big teaching hospital where noone really knows each other. Anyway, then we'd go to clinic and see about 15-25 patients from 8:00-4:30 or 5:00. Then it was time to head back to the hospital for afternoon rounds. I usually got home around 6. All in all not a bad experience, but I'm not sure it's for me. Think I would approach burnout very quickly. Not so much from the hours worked, but from the patient population. That's a long story for another day though. Let's just say I'll be okay if I never have to hear about low back pain EVER, EVER again... My preceptor was incredibly nice, liked to quiz, liked to teach, and trusted my work which was exciting and scary all at once. I did most of the admitting H&Ps on new patients coming in and a few of his discharge summaries. He'd usually sign orders before I wrote them after going through a care plan with me. Very strange to write orders and have nurses ask you, seriously, what tests you wanted done, IV fluids, etc...
Now for a fun update - this past weekend the stars and planets must have aligned just right because for once:
1) I had no responsibilities, technically (I guess I could have been studying for well, anything)
2) My husband was able to take off Friday, Saturday, AND Sunday
3) His grandparents just so happened to have rented out a 3 bedroom suite overlooking the Gulf Coast.
Fun times ensued. K's grandparents, 2 brothers and their wives, aunt and uncle all ended up staying for the weekend. There was a huge car show so the girls pretended to be interested for a few hours on Saturday morning. Then we split from the guys and headed to the mall for a good long while. After that we all met back up and headed to the beach to play for a while. There were hardly any waves and the tide was so far out you could walk on all the little sandbars close to the shore. K and I were kind of amazed we were still finding debris from Hurricane Katrina so long after it happened. He found a cool little piece of a 2x4 that was smoothed and rounded like sea glass. Sad :( Anyway, after our romp on the beach the 3 brothers and their wives went to a restaurant overlooking the ocean that we just knew would be awesome, but alas (frylime, that one's for you) that was not the case. However, the margaritas I made back at the condo later were quite tasty. The next morning we had to get up and leave, but we stopped at the outlet mall on the way home and shopped our little hearts out.
This post is getting terribly long, and I've got a killer case of acute sinusitis that reared it's ugly head today. (Thank you to Caden, my 2 year old niece who thought it was funny to wipe her boogers all over me this weekend) Those of you who know me well know how much that almost killed me...
Psych started today and I'm really happy with my partners and rotations. Wahoo!
Finished surgery, took the test, class average was a 67 - most definitely the lowest our class average has ever been on any test. Very surprising to me.
Started and finished my family medicine rotation. We do 2 weeks at a big hospital with the family medicine residents and attendings. Then we go off to a "rural" location. Most everyone picks their hometown since they have a free place to stay. I did this and the funniest part to me was that 1/2 way through my 4 weeks, one of my relatives (not telling which one, wouldn't want to have a HIPPA violation!) ended up becoming an inpatient. Not just any inpatient, but a patient on my attending's service. That means I had to go see them every morning and afternoon, get the pertinent info, write the note, etc... It was pretty funny. Here's the breakdown of hours for each part for those of you who want to know what you have to look forward to :)
Big Teaching Hospital: arrive around 6 or 6:30. See 2 patients (no matter how many are on the service, which is AWESOME). Write notes. Go to morning conference at 8. Usually a specialist of some sort would come in and teach for 15 minutes. Then we'd head down to the doctor's lounge and run the list/dry round over delicious breakfast. FREE delicious breakfast. They really know how to treat students and docs over there! Then we'd go on work rounds. Then we'd have class. Then free lunch. Then class. Then home by 3ish. It was pretty relaxed.
"Rural" Medicine: Get to hospital between 6 and 7 depending on how many inpatients we had. My preceptor and I would split up the patients or "divide and conquer" as he liked to say. I'd usually see 2 or 3, write their notes, then he'd look it over and tell me what orders to write. Then he'd sign them. I really enjoyed getting to know the entire staff at the hospital there. It's so different from being at a big teaching hospital where noone really knows each other. Anyway, then we'd go to clinic and see about 15-25 patients from 8:00-4:30 or 5:00. Then it was time to head back to the hospital for afternoon rounds. I usually got home around 6. All in all not a bad experience, but I'm not sure it's for me. Think I would approach burnout very quickly. Not so much from the hours worked, but from the patient population. That's a long story for another day though. Let's just say I'll be okay if I never have to hear about low back pain EVER, EVER again... My preceptor was incredibly nice, liked to quiz, liked to teach, and trusted my work which was exciting and scary all at once. I did most of the admitting H&Ps on new patients coming in and a few of his discharge summaries. He'd usually sign orders before I wrote them after going through a care plan with me. Very strange to write orders and have nurses ask you, seriously, what tests you wanted done, IV fluids, etc...
Now for a fun update - this past weekend the stars and planets must have aligned just right because for once:
1) I had no responsibilities, technically (I guess I could have been studying for well, anything)
2) My husband was able to take off Friday, Saturday, AND Sunday
3) His grandparents just so happened to have rented out a 3 bedroom suite overlooking the Gulf Coast.
Fun times ensued. K's grandparents, 2 brothers and their wives, aunt and uncle all ended up staying for the weekend. There was a huge car show so the girls pretended to be interested for a few hours on Saturday morning. Then we split from the guys and headed to the mall for a good long while. After that we all met back up and headed to the beach to play for a while. There were hardly any waves and the tide was so far out you could walk on all the little sandbars close to the shore. K and I were kind of amazed we were still finding debris from Hurricane Katrina so long after it happened. He found a cool little piece of a 2x4 that was smoothed and rounded like sea glass. Sad :( Anyway, after our romp on the beach the 3 brothers and their wives went to a restaurant overlooking the ocean that we just knew would be awesome, but alas (frylime, that one's for you) that was not the case. However, the margaritas I made back at the condo later were quite tasty. The next morning we had to get up and leave, but we stopped at the outlet mall on the way home and shopped our little hearts out.
This post is getting terribly long, and I've got a killer case of acute sinusitis that reared it's ugly head today. (Thank you to Caden, my 2 year old niece who thought it was funny to wipe her boogers all over me this weekend) Those of you who know me well know how much that almost killed me...
Psych started today and I'm really happy with my partners and rotations. Wahoo!
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Last Day in the OR
Surgery is almost over!!! The only thing left is the test tomorrow, at 9am. We had today off to study. I woke up at a glorious 10:30, when the sun was already out, and I got literally 2x as much sleep as I normally do in a night. Let's talk about my last day in the OR, shall we?
Here's the good part - I spent all day with the pediatric surgeon who is in charge of the surgery program from our standpoint. He makes the test at the end, is in charge of call, etc... In other words, he knows what's up. He cares about the students. I scrubbed into all 3 of his surgeries Monday. The first was a simple little esophageal dilation. No biggie. They consecutively stick these flexible tubes down little babies esophaguses? esophagi? in increasing diameter in order to dilate their precious little throats so food will go down and stay down. It's pretty fast, relatively painless, good times. The next one was an umbilical hernia repair. Super fast surgery. He let the intern do most of it.
The next surgery of the day was THE BIG ONE. Although it was about the same length of time as most of the cardiothoracic surgeries I scrubbed in on, it was the most physically exhausting. Partly because I hadn't scrubbed on a long one in a while. Partly because all I'd eaten that day was 2 brownies. Thirdly because I was actively doing something the entire surgery. We did a laparoscopic colectomy with ileostomy and ileostomy pull-down. This means the attending and chief resident took out this little girl's colon, connected her ileum to her anus, and also connected part of her ileum to an ostomy - or bag on the outside of her stomach. She had ulcerative colitis that left her colon an ulcerated, bloody mess. Taking it out decreases her chances of colorectal cancer.
Doing a surgery laparoscopically cuts down on healing time and huge scars, but it takes FOREVER. You're working through very tiny holes, which means the tools you put in are very tiny, which means you have to take tiny little bites at the tissue. So essentially they managed to get 95% of her colon taken down this way. It took about 6 hours. Then, for the last little bit, when her colon goes down into her pelvis, they couldn't take it down. Her pelvis was just too narrow. So at this point, at 5:30pm, we have to switch to OPEN. If we had started open, this surgery would've taken maybe 3-4 hours.
On the upside - I learned how to run the camera for the laparoscopic surgery. On the downside, we were in the OR forever. Dr. S did give me a 3 minute water break at one point which was nice since I had the unfortunate issue of food poisoning the night before. Don't want to get graphic here, but going to the bathroom 5x in 3 hours and losing 2 lbs worth of fluid just doesn't make a happy camper! Was definitely feeling a little woozy.
Okay, so we switched to open, made the ostomy, connected the ileum to the anus. I retract like a rockstar, get super sore, get to put in a couple of stitches, and then leave the hospital at 7:30pm. I got home at 8:00. I'm EXHAUSTED. I have less than 48 hours until the surgery test. I could study for an hour before passing out, or I could eat and go to bed. Guess which one I picked?
It was a rough day, but I think it was a good way to end surgery. The case was exhausting for everyone. The attending and I were the only 2 who were there for the whole thing except for our 3 minute water breaks. There's something about tough days in the OR like these that really suck, but it's such a rush when it's over that it's worth it. You really get to know the people you're working with because you're stuck in an area of 3-4 square feet and they can see your work ethic firsthand. They know if you follow instructions, if you listen, if you retract hard enough, how you treat the people around you, if you have a sense of humor, what kind of music you like, etc... I don't think I necessarily want to do surgery because I don't think I could sustain this kind of work ethic for the rest of my life, but I do think I'll miss it sometimes when I'm on services like internal medicine where we hardly touch the patients. Time will tell.
Good luck on the test everyone! I've had little time to study and now I'm wasting it writing this post, so I'm sure I won't do too well. Let's just hope I don't have to repeat this mess all over again :)
Here's the good part - I spent all day with the pediatric surgeon who is in charge of the surgery program from our standpoint. He makes the test at the end, is in charge of call, etc... In other words, he knows what's up. He cares about the students. I scrubbed into all 3 of his surgeries Monday. The first was a simple little esophageal dilation. No biggie. They consecutively stick these flexible tubes down little babies esophaguses? esophagi? in increasing diameter in order to dilate their precious little throats so food will go down and stay down. It's pretty fast, relatively painless, good times. The next one was an umbilical hernia repair. Super fast surgery. He let the intern do most of it.
The next surgery of the day was THE BIG ONE. Although it was about the same length of time as most of the cardiothoracic surgeries I scrubbed in on, it was the most physically exhausting. Partly because I hadn't scrubbed on a long one in a while. Partly because all I'd eaten that day was 2 brownies. Thirdly because I was actively doing something the entire surgery. We did a laparoscopic colectomy with ileostomy and ileostomy pull-down. This means the attending and chief resident took out this little girl's colon, connected her ileum to her anus, and also connected part of her ileum to an ostomy - or bag on the outside of her stomach. She had ulcerative colitis that left her colon an ulcerated, bloody mess. Taking it out decreases her chances of colorectal cancer.
Doing a surgery laparoscopically cuts down on healing time and huge scars, but it takes FOREVER. You're working through very tiny holes, which means the tools you put in are very tiny, which means you have to take tiny little bites at the tissue. So essentially they managed to get 95% of her colon taken down this way. It took about 6 hours. Then, for the last little bit, when her colon goes down into her pelvis, they couldn't take it down. Her pelvis was just too narrow. So at this point, at 5:30pm, we have to switch to OPEN. If we had started open, this surgery would've taken maybe 3-4 hours.
On the upside - I learned how to run the camera for the laparoscopic surgery. On the downside, we were in the OR forever. Dr. S did give me a 3 minute water break at one point which was nice since I had the unfortunate issue of food poisoning the night before. Don't want to get graphic here, but going to the bathroom 5x in 3 hours and losing 2 lbs worth of fluid just doesn't make a happy camper! Was definitely feeling a little woozy.
Okay, so we switched to open, made the ostomy, connected the ileum to the anus. I retract like a rockstar, get super sore, get to put in a couple of stitches, and then leave the hospital at 7:30pm. I got home at 8:00. I'm EXHAUSTED. I have less than 48 hours until the surgery test. I could study for an hour before passing out, or I could eat and go to bed. Guess which one I picked?
It was a rough day, but I think it was a good way to end surgery. The case was exhausting for everyone. The attending and I were the only 2 who were there for the whole thing except for our 3 minute water breaks. There's something about tough days in the OR like these that really suck, but it's such a rush when it's over that it's worth it. You really get to know the people you're working with because you're stuck in an area of 3-4 square feet and they can see your work ethic firsthand. They know if you follow instructions, if you listen, if you retract hard enough, how you treat the people around you, if you have a sense of humor, what kind of music you like, etc... I don't think I necessarily want to do surgery because I don't think I could sustain this kind of work ethic for the rest of my life, but I do think I'll miss it sometimes when I'm on services like internal medicine where we hardly touch the patients. Time will tell.
Good luck on the test everyone! I've had little time to study and now I'm wasting it writing this post, so I'm sure I won't do too well. Let's just hope I don't have to repeat this mess all over again :)
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Putting My Running Shoes On
I'm not actually going running. Lord knows I haven't done that in 2 weeks. I'm getting ready for peds surgery. I was really excited about it until I found out the other 2 medical students who were supposed to be on the service with me switched off because... get this - "they wouldn't have enough time to study." If you're not ready for a rant, please stop reading.
Here's the thing. On most services, every patient has to be seen in the morning by an M3 BEFORE the intern/resident sees them. You generally meet the afternoon before or the morning of and divide the list of patients to be seen. Since I've just come off an incredibly busy service where I was seeing 6 pts every morning before 6:40am, I really feel I deserve a break. I've had NO time to study - at all. Some nights I go home and don't even eat dinner. I just sleep. And now I'm going onto one of the busiest services with absolutely no help. It would have been fine with the 3 of us to see patients I'm sure. Now it's going to be hell. I'm really not sure how I'm going to survive. This, my friends, is why I'm counting down the days to family medicine. I've already been given the first day off by my preceptor because he'll be post-call and not seeing patients that morning. Gotta love it :)
I think I've decided I'd like to do some sort of primary care when I "grow up." I like the idea of knowing the patients you're going to see and work with instead of hurriedly brushing up on their history in the 5 minutes before you go do a consult on them. So most likely it'll be family med, peds, or ob/gyn. Can't wait to do ob/gyn because I think c-sections would be really fun. I enjoy short surgeries, love opening the abdomen, love closing at the end, but just don't really care too much about the colon or liver. I also enjoy patients who are healthy enough to have walked into clinic to see you that day. ICU patients really intimidate me.
Anyway, on to happier thoughts. I managed to somehow get this weekend off. When I told my 2nd year resident I was leaving Friday afternoon at about 3:00 (the M4 was on call and covering us the rest of the day since she had to be there anyway) he just could not understand why I'd want to go home. He questioned me for 5 minutes. It was comical. Then he got really upset when he realized there wouldn't be another M3 coming onto the service. Ha ha. Goodbye cardiothoracic surgery!!!
Went home Friday night for a birthday diner celebration with my in-laws. Spend Saturday morning moving my grandmother's furniture into her new place of residence. Then spent Saturday night at an engagement party for a friend of mine. Today I plan on doing a little cleaning, a little exercising, a little studying, and definitely dinner out with the hubs and watching Mad Men at 9:00! Hooray for fun weekends :)
Here's the thing. On most services, every patient has to be seen in the morning by an M3 BEFORE the intern/resident sees them. You generally meet the afternoon before or the morning of and divide the list of patients to be seen. Since I've just come off an incredibly busy service where I was seeing 6 pts every morning before 6:40am, I really feel I deserve a break. I've had NO time to study - at all. Some nights I go home and don't even eat dinner. I just sleep. And now I'm going onto one of the busiest services with absolutely no help. It would have been fine with the 3 of us to see patients I'm sure. Now it's going to be hell. I'm really not sure how I'm going to survive. This, my friends, is why I'm counting down the days to family medicine. I've already been given the first day off by my preceptor because he'll be post-call and not seeing patients that morning. Gotta love it :)
I think I've decided I'd like to do some sort of primary care when I "grow up." I like the idea of knowing the patients you're going to see and work with instead of hurriedly brushing up on their history in the 5 minutes before you go do a consult on them. So most likely it'll be family med, peds, or ob/gyn. Can't wait to do ob/gyn because I think c-sections would be really fun. I enjoy short surgeries, love opening the abdomen, love closing at the end, but just don't really care too much about the colon or liver. I also enjoy patients who are healthy enough to have walked into clinic to see you that day. ICU patients really intimidate me.
Anyway, on to happier thoughts. I managed to somehow get this weekend off. When I told my 2nd year resident I was leaving Friday afternoon at about 3:00 (the M4 was on call and covering us the rest of the day since she had to be there anyway) he just could not understand why I'd want to go home. He questioned me for 5 minutes. It was comical. Then he got really upset when he realized there wouldn't be another M3 coming onto the service. Ha ha. Goodbye cardiothoracic surgery!!!
Went home Friday night for a birthday diner celebration with my in-laws. Spend Saturday morning moving my grandmother's furniture into her new place of residence. Then spent Saturday night at an engagement party for a friend of mine. Today I plan on doing a little cleaning, a little exercising, a little studying, and definitely dinner out with the hubs and watching Mad Men at 9:00! Hooray for fun weekends :)
Thursday, August 6, 2009
What a Week...
Here's how my week on cardiothoracic surgery has played out so far:
Mon - arrived at 4:45am. Saw 2 pts, wrote notes, rounded with team at 6:45. Scrubbed into a CABG x 4 (quadruple coronary artery bypass graft) at 7:30. The chief resident becomes ill and has to scrub out. Haven't seen her since Monday. That leaves the 2nd year resident, the 4th year med stud, and me. Snuck away at 3:00p and went home. (The chief states that she would like the 4th year and I to alternate scrubbing on cases)
Tues - arrived at 4:45am. Saw 4 pts, wrote notes, rounded at 6:45. Hung around and waited on CABG X2 to start. A heart transplant bumped it. Heart transplant finishes at 2:00. I was told not to scrub in, but to observe. The 2nd year resident informs us that he would like one of us to scrub, and the other to observe every case. Nice... Left hospital at 8:45pm.
Wed - arrived at 4:45am. Saw 4 pts, wrote notes, rounded at 6:45. Hurriedly changed clothes and went to M&M conference at 7. Go observe a mitral valve replacement from 9-2:30. I didn't get to go to the book club discussion :( because at 3:00 the resident informs me that even though I don't go on call until 7:00pm, I'm "stuck there." Yet he provides no instructions as to what he wants me to do. So I went and got "stuck" in the on-call room and attempted to rest up before call. 7p - call starts. Nothing happens. I study. Nothing happens. I sleep from 11p-1:30am, and THEN the page comes in. *18 y/o fell off his horse. Why was he riding his horse at night? (*info has been changed because I'm afraid of the HIPAA monster.)At 2:15 or so, my fellow M3 on call and I decide to fulfill some of our technical skills we have to do before we graduate. These include things like inserting Foley catheters, starting IVs, venipuncture, arterial puncture, insertion of NG tubes, etc... I'd already done tons of Foleys, but really needed to stick some people. They had the perfect patient for us. He needed arterial blood gases drawn, was comatose and heavily sedated. Awesome. I really didn't want to stick someone's artery that was aware that it was my 1st time and awake. I watched my M3 counterpart stick the artery with incredible ease. Then my turn came. I had to stick twice, along with some rearranging of the needle once inside the skin. Not very encouraging. Then it came time of the venipuncture. Here's how it went down on the very quiet SICU.
Female nurse #1: Well, we don't have any pts that need venipuncture, but *John here has great veins.
Female nurse #2: Oh yeah, they're like ropes. I'll go get some needles. (M3 counterpart and I laugh, thinking they're obviously joking)
Female nurse #1 then reappears, with John in tow. "Here he is!"
Me: You're not serious, are you? Really?
Nurses: Oh yeah, it's fine. He lets people practice on him all the time.
Then my partner and I proceeded to stick this guy 4 or 5 times while sitting at the nurses station with a group of nurses around us in order to each get in an IV and venipuncture. The entire time he was giving us instruction. It was bizarre. Can you imagine telling someone where to stick you? To push DEEPER into your flesh with a needle? He ended up leaving one of the IVs in because he was dehydrated and planned on taking in some fluids.
Then it was 4:00am before we knew it. 2 more trauma pages came in. Old lady with dementia who fell and then young guy who got in a fight. Typical stuff. Overall it was most definitely the lightest call night I've had so far and actually pretty enjoyable.
Then 5:15am rolls around. Time to see my now 5 patients and get notes written on them before 6:45. We go round and the M4 states that she's forgotten to see one of the pts. I have to be in class at 7:00 and she tells me to go do it. NICE... Whatever though. Went and checked on him. Went to class. Decided to stay lost for a while and take a breakfast break. We had another CABG today, but I peeked in and saw 2 attendings, a resident, and an M4 scrubbed in. I refuse to observe another one, especially post-call. I'm about to make like a banana and split! 6 more days of Cardiothoracic surgery!!!
Mon - arrived at 4:45am. Saw 2 pts, wrote notes, rounded with team at 6:45. Scrubbed into a CABG x 4 (quadruple coronary artery bypass graft) at 7:30. The chief resident becomes ill and has to scrub out. Haven't seen her since Monday. That leaves the 2nd year resident, the 4th year med stud, and me. Snuck away at 3:00p and went home. (The chief states that she would like the 4th year and I to alternate scrubbing on cases)
Tues - arrived at 4:45am. Saw 4 pts, wrote notes, rounded at 6:45. Hung around and waited on CABG X2 to start. A heart transplant bumped it. Heart transplant finishes at 2:00. I was told not to scrub in, but to observe. The 2nd year resident informs us that he would like one of us to scrub, and the other to observe every case. Nice... Left hospital at 8:45pm.
Wed - arrived at 4:45am. Saw 4 pts, wrote notes, rounded at 6:45. Hurriedly changed clothes and went to M&M conference at 7. Go observe a mitral valve replacement from 9-2:30. I didn't get to go to the book club discussion :( because at 3:00 the resident informs me that even though I don't go on call until 7:00pm, I'm "stuck there." Yet he provides no instructions as to what he wants me to do. So I went and got "stuck" in the on-call room and attempted to rest up before call. 7p - call starts. Nothing happens. I study. Nothing happens. I sleep from 11p-1:30am, and THEN the page comes in. *18 y/o fell off his horse. Why was he riding his horse at night? (*info has been changed because I'm afraid of the HIPAA monster.)At 2:15 or so, my fellow M3 on call and I decide to fulfill some of our technical skills we have to do before we graduate. These include things like inserting Foley catheters, starting IVs, venipuncture, arterial puncture, insertion of NG tubes, etc... I'd already done tons of Foleys, but really needed to stick some people. They had the perfect patient for us. He needed arterial blood gases drawn, was comatose and heavily sedated. Awesome. I really didn't want to stick someone's artery that was aware that it was my 1st time and awake. I watched my M3 counterpart stick the artery with incredible ease. Then my turn came. I had to stick twice, along with some rearranging of the needle once inside the skin. Not very encouraging. Then it came time of the venipuncture. Here's how it went down on the very quiet SICU.
Female nurse #1: Well, we don't have any pts that need venipuncture, but *John here has great veins.
Female nurse #2: Oh yeah, they're like ropes. I'll go get some needles. (M3 counterpart and I laugh, thinking they're obviously joking)
Female nurse #1 then reappears, with John in tow. "Here he is!"
Me: You're not serious, are you? Really?
Nurses: Oh yeah, it's fine. He lets people practice on him all the time.
Then my partner and I proceeded to stick this guy 4 or 5 times while sitting at the nurses station with a group of nurses around us in order to each get in an IV and venipuncture. The entire time he was giving us instruction. It was bizarre. Can you imagine telling someone where to stick you? To push DEEPER into your flesh with a needle? He ended up leaving one of the IVs in because he was dehydrated and planned on taking in some fluids.
Then it was 4:00am before we knew it. 2 more trauma pages came in. Old lady with dementia who fell and then young guy who got in a fight. Typical stuff. Overall it was most definitely the lightest call night I've had so far and actually pretty enjoyable.
Then 5:15am rolls around. Time to see my now 5 patients and get notes written on them before 6:45. We go round and the M4 states that she's forgotten to see one of the pts. I have to be in class at 7:00 and she tells me to go do it. NICE... Whatever though. Went and checked on him. Went to class. Decided to stay lost for a while and take a breakfast break. We had another CABG today, but I peeked in and saw 2 attendings, a resident, and an M4 scrubbed in. I refuse to observe another one, especially post-call. I'm about to make like a banana and split! 6 more days of Cardiothoracic surgery!!!
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
"What are you on?"
It's the first question all of us M3s ask each other when we pass in the hall or meet in the "student surgery lounge" - aka McDonald's in the hospital. It just strikes me as funny because I'm sure passersby are wondering if we're all asking each other what illicit drugs we're partaking of.
Speaking of illicit drugs... I've joined the M3/M4 book club and our book of the month is Mom's Marijuana. It's written by a psychologist, Dan Shapiro, who was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in his late teens or early 20s. His mother is your typical anti-drug mom, but when she finds out that marijuana will help with the side effects of chemo, she begins growing it in her garden of sunflowers for her son. The book is really great so far. I'm also anti-drug of course, but I think it's really interesting. The best part is that Dan Shapiro is actually coming to discuss it with us tomorrow at 3:00. I hope I'll be able to get out of whatever surgery or clinic they'll have me crammed in.
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