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15:39 No more Medicine! I'm off to the Spotted Pig!
Automatically shipped by LoudTwitter16:44 Would somebody please make me care about the Shelf exam tomorrow?
Automatically shipped by LoudTwitterI've bolded the ones I've eaten. That's 64/100. Not too bad.
( My 100 )
09:56 Three day weekend. I may actually get some work done.
Automatically shipped by LoudTwitterIt's especially good, because I have some papers to write and the Shelf exam to study for, but the real question is this:
If I were to make cupcakes this Monday to bring to work Tuesday, what flavor should I make?
I've been thinking about trying my hand at making PB&J cupcakes, which are vanilla with peanut butter frosting and strawberry jam inside. Alternatively, I could try something like cookies and cream. Or staple flavors, like red velvet or chocolate or even plain old vanilla.
What do you think?
06:25 Call yesterday: 6am to 9:30pm. Then paper writing until midnight for today's presentation. I am so tired.
Automatically shipped by LoudTwitter05:38 Off to the wards. I hate leaving when it's still dark out.
Automatically shipped by LoudTwitter:)
09:36 Switch weekend! Three whole days off!
Automatically shipped by LoudTwitterI had the weekend off (both days!) so I was totally rested going into this morning's call day. Well, not totally rested. I didn't sleep well last night, for some reason. But I was about as rested as I ever am when that alarm goes off at 5am.
Got to work at 6am, saw a patient, wrote a note, got some stuff done, and then it was time for 7am morning Chief's teaching rounds. One of my fellow med students was giving the patient presentation, and he was doing a fine job, when all of a sudden, I felt totally nauseous. I was wondering if I should excuse myself, when suddenly my head began to spin. "Wait," I thought, "I've read about this. This is what it's supposed to feel like when you're about to..."
The next thing I remember, I was coming to on the floor, with the Chief of Medicine cradling my head, my third year resident taking my pulse, and the rest of my colleagues hovering around me. All of them. Hovering. Also, my lip was bleeding from where I bit into it when I passed out.
Great.
Now, normally when something like this happens (and it happens to medical students pretty often actually), it's because the student is hypoglycemic, tired, and has been standing for too long. Usually, one is given a glass of orange juice, sits in a corner for a bit, and then gets back to work after a bit of a rest. I? I was sent to the ER for a full work up. They put me on a stretcher, brought me to the ER, where I was registered as a patient, given an EKG, had blood and urine taken, and was thoroughly examined by the head of the Emergency Department.
On the plus side, I got to finally read my own EKG.
I wouldn't be posting this so glibly if I weren't absolutely fine, which I am. No abnormal test results, no crazy hypoglycemia, and I'm not pregnant (um, yay?), so I'm totally fine and was able to get back to work by the time they let me out of the ER at 9:30 or so. Told to eat more breakfast and if I think I've been standing too long, then sit. My lip is a little cut up, and my teeth actually hurt quite a lot. I must have bitten down really hard. But other than that, totally fine.
So I'm fine, but still utterly and completely embarrassed.
My productivity was pretty much crap for the rest of the day, and everyone was really nice to me and told me to go home early, so I ended up leaving at 5 and not really sticking around for my call. I plan to sleep a lot tonight and try to get back on schedule tomorrow.
Hell of a day.
As some of you know, I started my third year of med school about a month ago. Third year at my school is also called the Major Clinical Year (aka the MCY - doctors love abbreviations), and it is the time when we finally put on our white coats and get thrown into the hospital setting at long last. I've spent the first month, with another six weeks to go, rotating in Medicine. It's really been pretty incredible. I've followed several patients over the course of their hospital stays, many of them from their very first history and physical to their discharge papers. Some of the time I'm just following an intern around, some of the time I'm bored to tears because no one has any work for me to do, some of the time I'm actually making relevant clinical decisions, and once or twice, something I've done has actually made a difference. I've had my intern tell me, "you know this patient better than anyone; what you you think we should do?" and when I decided what we should do, we did it. I drew my first arterial blood gas (got it on the first stick - that patient officially loves me now, since my intern took three tries to do it the day before). I've learned a lot about hospital politics too, and how frightening that can be.
I'd like to post stories about life in the hospital, and how my patients affect me, and I'm deciding how to go about doing that in a completely HIPPA compliant way and in way that I feel is the most appropriate. I haven't decided what that way is yet, but I'm thinking about it.
The thing I've learned for sure? I am going to love being a doctor.
ETA: oh, almost forgot to mention. I passed the Boards! Huzzah!
16:22 On call since this morning and I haven't been paged once. And to think I was worried about weekend call being really hectic.
16:22 On call since this morning and I haven't been paged once. And to think I was worried about weekend call being really hectic.
Automatically shipped by LoudTwitter19:18 Back from Alaska! And I no longer smell like fish.
Automatically shipped by LoudTwitterFirst I had a day of relaxation and beauty with my sisters. Mani/pedis and haircuts at a salon downtown called Devachan, which specializes in cutting and styling curly hair. Why had I never been there before! It is easily the best haircut I have ever gotten. My hair is all short (but not too short) and fun and bouncy! My nails are bright, shiny blue! I decided I needed to do something just a little different and funky before I start work at the hospital. I imagine they frown on blue fingernails there. I hope the haircut awesomeness persists after I take a shower this morning. Crossing my (blue) fingers :)
So that was awesome in itself. Sister time, salon, lunch, Sephora; man, I was totally beautified. It was nice to, as Martin put so sweetly, "get rid of all that exam study funk." Yes.
But then! Then Martin and I, who are serious foodies, went to dinner at wd~50! It's the restaurant of molecular gastronomist Wylie Dufresne (you may know him from guest judging on Top Chef). Anyway, I am a massively huge fan of molecular gastronomy, so this was a real treat. Twelve courses, plus wine pairing, and it was all absolutely heavenly. I love food so much! I'll post the menu and a meal description later, because I want to break it down a little and it would make this post way too long.
And the best part? Well, the Beard awards were Sunday, and I happened to know that Mr Dufresne was nominated for Best Chef New York. David Chang won, but I can't see myself getting into Momofuku anytime soon. I asked our (fantastic) waiter to please congratulate the chef on his well-deserved nomination. And do you know what he said? "Tell him yourself! How about a kitchen tour after your meal?"
EEEEEEEEEEE!
So, after the meal, we headed back to the kitchen, and our waiter gave us the rundown on what happens where. We met the pastry chef, who apparently was recently stolen from Alinea (Grant Achatz' restaurant in Chicago, at which I am officially *dying* to eat). And Wylie Dufresne was right there running the appetizer station! He took a minute to come over and say hello, and I managed to avoid gushing like a foodie fangirl while I shook his hand and thanked him for our meal.
EEEEEEEEEEE!
Best. Day. Ever.
08:54 @certraline Wooo! Also, I want to call you either today or tomorrow. When is the best time to do so?
Automatically shipped by LoudTwitterSo done!
All done!
This most horrible and stressful month is over at last.
And you know what? I think it went ok.
:)
Today is my day off. No more studying for me. If I know it, I know it at this point, and if I don't nothing will really change that, so.
Tomorrow night is going to be so sweet.
