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25th March 2007

Hmm

8 second spoiler for Dr. Who:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frGVZdl4q2Q

Waiting until I can see it in context before I jump to conclusions, but really, what I want to know is why nothing like that happened to me as a medical student. *pout*

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20th March 2007

Cuteness update….

Btw, yahoo has more pictures of that adorable polar bear. Apparently, animal rights activists are all upset that when the cub’s mother abandoned the baby, instead of letting him die the zoo keepers’ feed him and played with him.

They’re really just a bunch of meanies.

I mean, who could resist such a cutie?

For the whole story: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070320/od_nm/germany_polarbear1_dc

(never did get my cute baby animal icons….:( )

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20th March 2007

technologic

Did I tell you all about the latest development in my life? No, well guess what? I had a very sweet man propose marriage to me.

He’s 91. Do you think the age difference might be too troublesome?

This is why I love being at the VA. There’s the perks of he slower pace of life, and men constantly telling you that you’re pretty. Flattery, my friends, is a heady thing. (Don’t worry, it was very quickly tempered by being called nurse after introducing myself as Dr. D****** every single morning. Bah).

My patients, for the most part, are sweet and genuinely thankful for the care that they receive. It’s like watching Miss Manners in action, why she preaches on minding your manners and saying please and thank you. Because they are more appreciative, I have more satisfaction about my job, and while I might not provide any different care in the way that I work them up or think about their issues or provide medicines, because I’m happier, they perceive that they are getting better care, so they in turn are happier, which makes me happier…

And it’s nice sleeping a little on call. Last night, I was in bed a little after midnight. My pager went off once at 6 am and I woke up at 7. That’s 7 hours of sleep. Granted, I was waking myself up every hour to make sure that I hadn’t overslept a page, but it was still rest and sleep, more than I get at the Big Hospital down the road.

And can I just say how much I love my cointerns?? I work with some fantastic, humorous, smart, fabulous people and I can’t imagine how more difficult this would be without them in my life. Someday, I’ll share the stories, someday. See, sleep makes me a big softie. 🙂

*****
I really can’t figure out the fascination with MySpace. Ads sprinkle every page, which have clashing, difficult to read color schemes. Loud, annoying music blares whenever you, poor sap, make the mistake of clicking on someone’s profile. And I have yet to figure out the allure of adding “comments” to each other profile, which basically turn into instant messaging tag teams, and if you happen to be a stalker a curious bystander, you have to click on all of those profiles to get the whole story.

But I have run into some old friends of mine. A classmate from high school who’s now a nurse, a fellow Access girl who just completed medical school, Sam and her husband and her sister and her mom (*g* Sam, we should just give it up and become blood sisters. We practically are.), a college roommate of my sister’s, etc. And today, one of my medical school classmates… who actually moved out here with his wife to do residency. Besides the month that I worked with Ann in the ER, I’ve barely seen her or Aaron. We live approximately 10 miles apart and it takes a webpage to reconnect us. Yep, that’s the technological world we live in.

OTOH, it is because of technology and the wonderful invention of cell phones that I had a fantastic call last night from Kenya. 🙂 That’s one way to brighten up a call night.

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18th March 2007

Music rec…

The iTunes Single of the Week is a MUST HAVE.

I first heard Brandi Carlile’s “The Story” on Milwaukee Public Radio’s “Cafe Tonight” (still the best music on the radio in Milwaukee *sigh*) and I almost swerved my car off the road, I was so intent on finding out who sang this song (it was a dangerous drive that night. First time I heard “Chasing Cars” by Snow Patrol as well). Strong, raw vocals and powerful, yet slightly whimsical lyrics. I bought it on iTunes that night.

Lyrics for The Story

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15th March 2007

Protected: happy dance

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14th March 2007

sundry

I spent my day off… updating my journal design.

Well not entirely. I did apply for my temporary license where I had to vow with my soul and with blood (okay, with just a notary public) that I was telling the truth and the whole truth that I spent 5 weeks after graduation last year lazing around and moving, instead of doing medical stuff (because heaven forbid I should ever take some personal time and not let TPTB know).

I’ve been wanting to revamp the journal for a long, long time. My beloved Anne layout had been used for over a year, and I just kept looking at it, longing for something better. It’s nowhere near what I want (I gotta figure out how to customize Flexible Squares), but it’s a new pretty background that makes me happy. I had really thought about doing a non-fandom layout, but I couldn’t resist. It was so bright and cheery.

Tell me how it looks for y’all. Not too fuzzy? Doesn’t take too long to load? No white areas? Color okay?

In other news, my patient survived and is doing better. So I’m sleeping better and not being haunted by dreams.

I’ve lately discovered that iTunes is now carrying Pod casts of several of my favorite NPR radio shows, namely “Wait Wait, Don’t Tell Me” and “News from Lake Wobegon” (wish it was the entire show of A Prairie Home Companion) and StarDate that have been satisfying my inner nerd. Today, I discovered that they are also carrying another Garrison Keillor program, “The Writer’s Almanac.” I remember listening to this every morning as my parents got ready for school. Plus, I discovered that they have the transcripts online, so I’m very excited at the prospect of introducing some poetry into my daily life again. I’ve missed that.

And lastly, for at least my amusement: Conversation at work yesterday….

MED STUDENT: Yeah, so {patient} thought that Julia and I were twin sisters. I guess we could be fraternal twins.

ME: That would have been one long gestation period!

MS: I’m 24, how old are you?

ME: *pause* *pause some more* Um. I don’t know. Either 27 or 28. I think I’m 27. Wait. No, I’m 27. I think. I had my birthday in November and I’m pretty sure I turned 27. Or maybe it was 28.

MS: You don’t know how old you are??

Yes, it’s true folks, until yesterday, I didn’t know how old I am. Let it be known, that I am officially (according to the computer because I had to look it up on google before I would believe it) 28 years old. In just over a year and a half, I will be 30. Hmmm. I wonder when I’ll ever start acting my age.

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12th March 2007

Protected: helpless

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9th March 2007

Physician, heal thyself… I dare you.

Dear Sore Throat

Go Away. Seriously. You have long outworn your welcome. I want to be able to swallow without feeling fire in my tonsils. I want to be able to breath without coughing hard enough that I actually vomit. I want to be able to sleep and wake up feeling human. And I want to be able to talk. That one’s kinda important; see my job requires that I ask people a lot of nosy questions and I can’t do that now with my little elderly and usually deaf patients.

And really, if you must crash here, you should have brought along your little friends, Fever, Lymphadenopathy, and Exudate, because then, I’d have the chance to take antibiotics and kill you dead. Instead you just leave me with a viral illness, sick enough to be completely miserable, but not sick enough to actually call in sick.

I hate you.

Julia

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4th March 2007

killing me *ded* with cuteness

how blessed the day when the lamb and the lion can lie down together without any ire….

First it was the baby white Bengal tiger triplets

Click for cuteness overload

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2nd March 2007

A day in the life of….

Call:
— Wake up at 6:45
— Shower, brush teeth. Head to work with wet hair.
— Arrive at work at 8:00 am
— Discharge 1 of 2 patients by 9:00 am.
— Cointern is post-call; spend most of morning and afternoon trying to finish up on his work.
— 14 patients to dictate
— 4 completed dictations by 5 pm.
— Eat lunch at 3:45
— First admission at 5:15.
— Second at 5:25
— By 8 pm, am already behind by 2 patients
— Capped with 5 admissions by 10:12
— Supervising resident is busy. We don’t finish seeing my patients until 3 am
— I eat dinner (chili cheese hot dog. I’m sure it’s great for my diet) at 12 am
— In bed at 3:15. Am awoken every 15 minutes by pages. Really, really silly pages
— Wake up at 5:30 to finish admission notes from night before
— Wait impatiently for new intern to arrive so I can sign over the patients and leave
— New intern doesn’t arrive until 7:10.
— I don’t leave the hospital until 7:30.
— Drive through a blizzard to the VA hospital. I have 5 patients to see before 9 am.
— Arrive at 8:15 am.
— Am told by resident that we have orientation to attend
— Am feeling extremely post call and nauseated by the adrenaline rush of the blizzard drive (you try keeping control of your car on 2 hours of sleep!)
— Meeting finishes at 9 am.
— I haven’t seen any patients.
— Excused from first part of rounds to see patients.
— First man is very sick. Was told by last month’s intern that patient was very sick. Thought this was patient’s baseline “very sick but stable” self.
— Fly by other patients and they’re all doing good.
— Meet up with team and start rounding on my patients together
— Patient #1 is very sick. Much sicker than baseline.
— Within a half hour, he’s intubated.
— Finally finishing rounding at 12.
— Finish notes at 1:15.
— Leave hospital at 1:30.
— Blizzard is at least finished
— Get home by 2:00
— In bed by 2:30.
— Wake up briefly at 11:30, fall back to sleep
— Wake up again at 8:25 this morning.

Sum up. Slept : 18 hours (+ 2 fragmented hours). Last ate: 30 hours ago. Last brushed teeth: 49 hours ago. Last showered 49.5 hours ago. # of pages: Filled up pager 3 times (can get 19 pages). And received 3 yesterday when I was comatose.

Had some interested dreams. I dreamed about Dr. Who, tenth doctor and Rose starring and with a small crossover from Everwood (Edna and Harper were in it). I never remember details of dreams very well, (something about a horrible obstacle course, where the contestants were trying to get back home and had to pick the right shoe hanging from a string) but it was very, very dark, and Harper died and Rose was crying. And me…. I was fixated on the fact that my laptop got flattened during the escape.

So, now I’m off to brush my teeth and seek out an IHOP, because man, I’m hungry.

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