I'm a Doctor, Mr. Spock, not a Surgeon!!

True or False? Surgery = Medicine.

Answer: False.

Don't forget that.


I got to scrub in and actually DO stuff today! Now, today, it was exciting, but I think it may get old after... oh... tomorrow. First: I pulled a femoral line and held pressure. For 20 minutes. That's twenty minutes of me standing in the OR with my hand dangerously close to some guy's crotch. Isn't 'crotch' a disgusting word??? Second: I held army/navy retractors. At least, I think the doctor called them army/navies. And I was using them to retract. Remember the little hole I referred to yesterday? Today, I got to hold the hole open. It was a much better view!

After that, I admitted a patient who is going to have surgery tomorrow. I must admit (oh so humbly) that I've gotten a heck of a lot better doing patient interviews and physical exams and writing up H&P's (history and physical). I hadn't really realized that I'd improved, but after two weeks away, everything feels newish again, but much, much easier.

We get to start planning our fourth year soon. Supposedly fourth year is relatively easy. We do a month in the ER, a month in the medical ICU, two months as acting interns (playing doctor even harder) and then kind of whatever we want to for the rest. What do I want to do? I want to do a rotation at home in Portland, AND (this is the exciting part) I want to take a month off to study for the boards - in Alaska! My friend at Yale is thinking of doing the same thing. Much fun would be had.

Plus, I'd get to meet my ex-boyfriends new wife.

Study, study, study.

Life in a well wouldn't be so bad...

Ack. So, today was the much dreaded First Day of Surgery. Apparently, there are only 38 more mornings left. I did not count the mornings - it was one of my fellow non-surgeons-in-the-making. See? We all were dreading surgery rotation.

What's my verdict? Well. It has only been one (long) day so far. So, I guess I can't give a really thorough judgment yet.

I'm on the vascular surgery service. You know: arteries and aortas and veins and stuff like that. I was told by both interns (completely independently of one another, without my asking) that the attending I have 'likes to ask questions.' That is their diplomatic way of saying 'pimps the heck out of ya.' I haven't experienced it yet, but I guess it is better to be prepared. There are two other (good, nice, happy) students in vascular right now, so at least I have some partners in crime.

I scrubbed in for the first time today!!!! That was definitely exciting. It involves scrubbing every possible surface of your arm (up to two inches above the elbow) until the skin falls off. Longer on the fingers. Then you use your butt to open the door, do a little magic towel dance to dry your hands, let the nurse put on your bathrobe (backwards), then cram your hands into some gloves. That's what you do when someone is helping you anyway. You get to add the magic gown AND magic glove dance when you're doing it on your own. But I had really nice nurses today.

The case I scrubbed in for, I was late to, so it ended 5 minutes (literally) after I was done scrubbing. Actually, I was on time, but the case was early. My brain is not yet hooked up to the ESP line for surgical services. I think we get that Week 3.

I joined my other 3rd year students for another case. Nicole scrubbed in and Charlene and I watched. It was interesting. At least, I think it was. I couldn't see much. They cut holes, and then play with arteries and veins in the holes. It's what I imagine it was like for the new firemen when they were watching the more experienced ones get that little girl who fell in the well out. Of the well. Into which she had fallen.

Remember the little girl in the well??? Okay, I just Google'd it. It was 17 years ago. SEVENTEEN!!! And I remember it! HOW am I old enough to remember things on the news from SEVENTEEN years ago?!!? That doesn't seem right. Egads. Call the frickin' coroner, and get me a casket of pine. Or maybe glass. Like Snow White, but blonde. You can skip the dwarfs, though. But definitely serve apples.

Okay...a bit punchy am I. I need sustenance. And sleep. Gotta be here at 5ish tomorrow. Better than some services, but not nearly so good as psych.

This weekend is Labor Day Weekend. I shall write about the cruise then.

Where to Start?

Phew. What a two weeks that all was. In a most definitely good way, of course! It was nice to have the internet in New York, so I could update my blog during that time. No such luck for the last week and a half, so I will do what I can...

8/19: Susan and her dogs picked me up and we drove to Charleston. I 'heart' Charleston. It is on my personal list of places I'd like to own a house some day. But I digress, and time runs short (I intentionally left my power cord at home, so I'm limited in internet time today) It's about a five hour drive from Winston, and we filled the time by listening to various musicals. Much fun. Better than any old back o' the seat DVD player, says I. We chilled poolside for a few hours (okay, we didn't actually 'chill' - we spent the time doing underwater handstands and somersaults...) and then Susan's madre joined us. We picked up some food, and watched the Olympics.

8/20: From Charleston to Orlando, leaving the puppies behind with Susan's mom. We again filled the 7+ hour drive with melodious sounds of musicals. We stayed at the Ramada Inn. The hurricane actually did hit Orlando, but not in a bad enough way to make world news. The Ramada smelled like mildew, though, and our carpet was damp. I guess they were lucky to even have power - parts of Orlando were without it for over a week! It was really smelly, and hard to get used to. I put lotion on my pillow so that I could get to sleep. Only problem? I woke up with my face all slimy in the morning, cause I'd been drooling onto the lotion. Eew.

8/21: DISNEY WORLD!!!!! The Happiest Place on Earth. I love it. I can't express how much I love Disney. Now, I'm not buy-everything-Mickey-(or Donald, Goofy, Eeyore, etc.)-to-decorate-every-possible-surface-in-my-home-and-body crazy, but I am crazy nonetheless. We started at Animal Kingdom at 9 am, when the park opened. It was a great place to start. We rode DinoSAUR, Primeval Whirl, and the Kilimanjaro Safari rides. I highly recommend the safari - they have actual animals on it, not like the Jungle River Cruise thing at Magic Kingdom.

MGM Studios was next, where we did Tower of Terror, Aerosmith's Rock n' Roller Coaster and Star Tours.

And, finally, we ended up in my favorite of all the four lands: the Magic Kingdom. It was POURING rain. Really, really pouring. We were forced to take shelter for a while, which was okay, since we were hungry. Then we ran around and tried to get in as many rides as possible before they closed at 10. We got in Haunted Mansion (a fav of mine), Pirates of the Caribbean, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (three times), Splash Mountain, Space Mountain (twice), Peter Pan's Flight, Mad Tea Party, and the best ride for a good relaxing time - the Tomorrowland Transit Authority.

So much fun. And exhausting. Susan and I decided that Disney should run the world. Or at least airports - they would be so organized and every detail would be covered. I definitely think there should be a Disney Airport.

8/22: Orlando to Miami. We weren't out of musicals yet, but we did change the pace on this day! We stayed at the Wyndham Grand Bay Hotel which promised to be a luxurious accomodation (you can only valet park your car!), but in reality ended up causing quite a bit of grief. I won't go into the details (I'll let Susan do that if she wants to), let me just recommend to everyone out there: DON'T BOTHER staying at ANY Wyndham Bay Hotels or Resorts. Just save yourself the hassle. We just chilled in Miami. "Chill" here is a relative term, as it was freaking HOT. We did some shopping at a rather upscale-looking mall, got room service (the nidus of the problems) and watched a movie.

8/23:We've now reached the day of the big cruise! But this blog is freaking long, my battery is just about dead, I need to do laundry, and I think it is really quite impressive to end the blog with the use of the word 'nidus.' So I'll stop here for now. Did anybody even bother reading this far???

Summation

So, I must finish the Tale of New York.

When we last left our noble heroes, they were about to embark on a journey of great importance: discovering pizza.

Mmmm, pizza. We went to Ray's Pizza, for some good ol' fashioned New York style pizza. I must admit here, however, that I prefer Chicago style pizza. I'll take a good deep-dish pizza with excessive amounts of sauce any day. Not that Ray's pizza was bad. In fact, it was delicious. I just prever Chicago's Pizzeria Uno.

We followed pizza with some sinfully good dessert at Roxy Delicatessen on Broadway. (The link is to the artist whose caricatures adorn the walls)

Our next mission: dancing. Again, I worried that we wouldn't find anything, being Sunday night and all. But I maintained hope that, since this is the City that Never Sleeps, we'd find some of those insomniacs dancing. Hopefully to something other than Pop or R&B or rap. Preferrably house.

We did some research in the book section at Virgin Megastore (and looked at the music while we were there), and decided to try the Meatpacking district. For me, the main draw to that particular location was because that was where Samantha lived in Sex and the City. I'd spent all weekend wanting to be like Carrie, so it seemed appropriate!

We ended up (after some drama, which was all my fault) at Lotus. The bouncer at the door was telling the guys trying to get in that there was a guest list, so they shouldn't even bother. So I walked up, and trying to play off my somewhat Southern-ified accent said, "There's a guest list?" and the bouncer-man proceeded to let us in. Now. I really don't think I'm all that charming. I think this 'guest list' just says 'All Females,' so we were in. After we paid the $20 cover, that is.

Ooh! Interjection: The Meatpacking District is where they actually pack meat. For some reason, I thought this was a figurative term, and perhaps at one point in the long ago past (when Irish couldn't find jobs) they'd done a lot of meat packing, but that now this was a fashionably upscale place where rich urbanites lived and played. Nope. There are warehouses. In them are stinky men. Packing stinky meat. And interspersed among these warehouses are the upscale clubs that are renowned for being quite hard to get into... That just seems so odd to me.

Okay. So, Lotus started out okay. There was a DJ and a live drummer (who was really good). It was a pretty narrow place, so not much of a dance floor, especially when it filled up (with the Sunday night crowd!) It got to the point where I was just constantly being shoved out of the way. Then the music switched to a more rap-py type persuasion, which is just not my thing. That, combined with the complete lack of space, convinced us to evacuate.

Now here is where the story gets interesting.

We went to another place that opened at one a.m. We couldn't get in there. (I know! So sad! I think we could have gotten in with a bribe for the bouncer, but...no. Plus, the music there didn't sound that much better to us) What to do? Where to go? We were walking down the street, pondering these age-old questions, when we were waylaid by a group of Indian guys. They were, as it happened, attempting to get into Lotus, but not being on the guest list (aka not female), had been turned away. Would we help two of them get in? (Apparently people on the guest list can drag in a guy with them)

We had wrist-bands, so we could get back in, so we agreed to do it, in exchange for a drink. Unfortunately, there were 6 guys, and only 2 us. They had some female friends who had gone in without them (what kind of friend would do that??), so the one guy called one girl to get them to come back out. They refused!

Never fear. The guys had a back-up plan. They were going to Show, another club near Times Square. We were invited to join them, so we did. Turns out these guys were part of a soccer team, and had just won a game, so were going out to celebrate. They knew someone at Show, so we got in for free, and got free drinks. It was SO cool. They were playing house music, which was what we were looking for. The club was really neat looking, and there were just the right number of people there. Crowded, but not ridiculous. It was apparently open until 8am, but Susan and I left around 3 (I think). The club was only two blocks from our hotel! We'd never have found it alone, though - it was behind an unmarked door. The place wasn't as exclusive as Lotus was at one point (four years ago), but I had more fun there.

Okay. I have more to write about, but I've been on the school computer for an hour, and the time limit is 15 minutes.

We leave for our cruise adventure tomorrow!!!!!!!

Day the Second

For some reason, these posts aren't actually posting. Something is screwy with the way Blogger works here at easyInternetcafe. Eh. Whatever, at least I don't appear to be losing the posts. I hope not anyway.

The spacebar on this keyboard is annoying.

So. Sadly, we did not get tickets to see "Wicked." We tried the lottery three times in two days. I think the guy running the lottery recognized us by the third time. Which is impressive, considering there were over 100 people there each time. I'm not a good judge of numbers, but I'd say there were at least 200. For 28 tickets...

Our second choice was Aida, so we decided to try for that one at the TKTS booth. Thwarted! No Aida tickets either. That bumped us down to The Producers or Bombay Dreams. Apparently, the only Producers tickets left were "limited view." So, that led us to choice #4: Bombay Dreams. We didn't know anything about it, but we both love musicals.

It was SO good! I've seen three Broadway shows now, and this one is definitely my favorite. All the Indian music and dancing, combined with an interesting plot (even kind of meaningful - a major accomplishment for the genre!) AND a very talented leading man. It was so much fun. I left it feeling the way I did when I left Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights. All pumped up, and really wanting to visit another culture. DD:HV as a movie stinks, though, and BN is fantastic. That's a big difference.

Last night, after we left this cafe, we went to dinner. I was really hungry and tired and grumpy, so I made Susan pick a restaurant (the thought of making a decision was enough to drive me to tears!) and we went to Haru, a Japanese sushi restaurant that was divine. We were going to have a 'chill' night, and maybe go see "Garden State." (which I'm dying to see, and is not playing in North Carolina - any where!) I casually mentioned Karaoke, though, and Susan was more than game. So much for the 'chill' night.

At the Haru hostess' recommendation, we ended up (after a very scary cab ride!) at Second on Second. It was very non-touristy and cool. It is actually a Japanese Restaurant/Sushi Bar as well. There were a bunch of people our age there (I was expecting old white guys and young Japanese girls) and we eventually joined forces with one group of people. I don't know if they really knew each other either, but by the end of the night we were all friends! I even had an Irish journalist (named Richard) buy me a beer. He had a great accent. It was SO much fun. We didn't get to the hotel until 3 (Karaoke was going until 4am!!) If you'll remember, this was after a mere 3 hours of sleep the night before. We were up for 22 hours! It felt like 10 days. This, folks, is how to vacation.

This morning we were up for brunch. I wore pearls. :) I wanted to fit the 'brunch' model I have in my head. So it was a sweater set, a grey pleated skirt and pearls. And my new bustier purse just for fun.

Now it is dinner time again. We're thinking pizza. Then we're off to find some dancing. It is Sunday night, but this is New York, right? There has to be some place that is open...

::Whine::

I think I may have had my entire "New York City" post disappear. Sigh... I can't have as much enthusiasm now. But I am in New York City!!! On 3 hours of sleep...

New York City!

aka The Big Apple. But does anybody really call it that any more? Hmmm. Well, I will. I am in the BIG APPLE.

I saw the Statue of Liberty for the first time. It was from the plane, though, so it looked really small. Like it was made out of Legos.

Our primary reason for coming was actually to see the musical "Wicked." There is a lottery every day 2.5 hours before the show for 28 seats (in the first two rows) for $25 each. We've gone thru two lotteries, and so far, no luck. Bummer. There is one more tomorrow - wish us luck!

We did go see 42nd Street, though, which was SO much FUN. Fun in the Big Apple. So much tap dancing, and shiny costumes, and singing and FUN!

After that, we went to Sephora, where they have scented glitter that is also flavored. Susan has been licking her arms all afternoon... And we went to the biggest Toys R Us I've ever seen. There is a ferris wheel inside. And we sang happy birthday to some kids, and played with some toys. They have a Travel Lite Brite. I want a Travel Lite Brite. A lot. I think it would be fun to carry around in my white coat at school - especially on the pediatric rotation. Who needs a stethoscope when you have a mini Lite Brite?????

We're at an Internet Cafe. I only paid for 17 minutes of internet (it was $1). So that's all for now.

I'm off to have more fun in the Big Apple...

Dance of Joy

Today, I donned my white coat (ugly, boxy garment that it is) for the last time for two whole weeks!! To add to that excitement, when I have to weat it again, I get to wear scrubs underneath - legitamately, (ohmigosh - I have NO idea how to spell legitamately... legitamatly...legitimately...I dont' know! something must be wrong!) as I'll be on my surgery rotation.

We (my partner on the consult psych team and I) went to the VA outpatient clinic today to see one last psych eval. Let me just take a minute to express my appreciation for all of the people willing to devote years of their life to serving the country in this way. I'm admittedly not a huge fan of what the US is doing right now, but I am not nearly well enough informed to rant about it. And I really think it is noble to join the armed forces. I wish I had the guts to do the same!

I digress.

Actually, to digress would have necessitated a point in the first place. I don't know that I had a point.

I did want to mention my current favorite psychological model/theory. Learned Helplessness. Seeing that my test is in a bit over an hour, I don't have time to expound on it...I just think it is really interesting. If you put a rat (or, by extension, a child) in a position where it has no control, and keep shocking it (or punishing/beating/ridiculing), eventually that rat (or child) will learn 'helplessness.' It gives up. Stops eating, stops interacting with its fellow rat-friends. It is a model of depression, that I think is fascinating.

But now, I need to study SSRIs. Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors. Do you realize how much Prozac changed the world???

Goldwhales (of yore)

My last night on call in psych. Whoopee! Though, since surgery is coming up next, I don't know exactly how thrilled I should be... Eh, at least I don't have to take call for the next 2+ weeks. Ain't no one gonna page me while I'm on a cruise ship, baby.

So. I must vent for 20 seconds. Maybe more. The last time I was on call, I didn't get dinner. The grumpy resident did buy me a bag of chips, which was really quite nice, but I still blamed her for my hunger. Guess what? Tonight, again, I am missing dinner. And, again, it is GR's fault!! How could such a thing come about? I'm glad you asked. Well, actually, it isn't really all that interesting. We saw that there were several psych consults down in the ED, she said, "aren't you on call?" I (being between the rock and hard place of yore) said, "Um. Yeah." Then she told me to go down to help him. At which point, the nine year old that lives in my head started in "you're not the boss of me!" Unfortunately, I'm 26, and GR does get to grade me, and the attending was in support of the idea. So I went. Hungry.

Actually, I did stop by the cafeteria to grab a snack, so that I wouldn't be stuck at 8pm (when the caf closes) up the creek of yore without a paddle. Of yore. I'm totally on a modified version of the no carb diet for a week (no more than a week - I'd implode) before cruise-time. Guess what? There is no 'snack' sold in the cafeteria that is not made of extreme amounts of carbohydrates (with carb sprinkles) So, I kinda had to break my diet. Darn that GR. I got some trail-mixy stuff from a bulk bin. Lots of peanuts. And rosemary or something. AND goldwhales. That's right - not goldfish. Goldwhales. I thought that was interesting. But then, I'm easily amused. Much like the people of yore.

Anyway, I'm working with accented resident tonight. He's actually eating dinner, but I had my goldwhales, and didn't feel like struggling to make accented small talk over a wilted salad, so I ran away to blog, blog, blog.

Now I have to go help admit a patient. Grrr.

I don't think they did things like this in DOY (days of yore). I wanna go... Anybody gonna come along?

Hmm.

I really have nothing to say, but since it has been so long since I said anything, I thought that I'd sign on to say that I have nothing to say.

I'm going to New York this weekend!

I got my oil changed this past weekend.

Ummm. I did my laundry. And went shopping.

A week from tomrrow, I'll be in Charleston (followed by Orlando, Miami, then CRUISE!)

Then I come back and start surgery. At that point, I'm sure I'll have a lot to say, but I'll be much too busy to say it.

I had an idea yesterday, but I forgot what it was...

I'm giving up carbs for a week. I think this diet works simply because there is NOTHING TO EAT.

I went to the state psychiatric hospital yesterday. It looked like a college campus. Suppose that's some sort of indication of college life?

That's all.

You scurrilous knave

Every day deserves a good insult.

But, no one insults like Shakespeare...: Drunkenness is his best virtue, for he will be swine drunk, and in his sleep he does little harm, save to his bedclothes about him.

Say it ain't so!

I must admit that I did something...horrible today. Almost unspeakable. But, maybe I can absolve myself by admitting this to the internet at large. ::Deep breath:: I went to the library (I know...it's awful...) and I looked up an article (wait, it gets worse) and I MADE a COPY for my ATTENDING. ::Multiple thuds as bodies hit the floor after fainting in horror:: Yes, folks, I've wandered into the Land of the Gunner. I swore this day would never happen. But I couldn't help it! I was just really interested in this case we'd seen. I know...feeble excuse for actually making a photocopy specifically for my attending... I'll just have to make sure it doesn't happen again!

What could be so fascinating, I'm sure you are wondering, that would cause me to stray from the straight (and really quite wide) path of the semi-slacker? Beer Drinker's Potomania. Yup. You read that right. Beer. Drinker's. Potomania. Who knew?!? We saw a patient yesterday who was admitted with a sodium level of 99. Ninety-nine (bottles of beer on the wall...) Normal is 140. People with levels of less than 120 are usually in a coma or at least seizing. This patient's was 99. Lab error? Nope. Repeat level was 105. Granted, the patient was somewhat delerious at first - apparently thinking they were on a game show at some point.

Anyway. I'll spare you all the details. :)

I'm on call! This time with the very soft-spoken resident who I just know has a personality/sense of humor stashed somewhere behind his 1970's too big eyeglasses. I've seen glimpses... He (kind man that he is) let me eat. Mmmm. Food.

I got my dinner at the new Einsten Bros. bagel place that they opened a couple of weeks ago at the hospital. Unfortunately, they seem to have had the screening question "Are you an idiot?" on the application and mistakenly only took people who checked the "yes" box. Or maybe it wasn't a mistake. Anyway...getting food there is always an adventure.

Now I'm watching I Love the 80's on VH1 and just chillin'. Yeah. Chillin'