Day Off!

It's my first day off as a doctor! I was on call Friday night - overnight call. I know that I spent a whole post describing the night team that comes in to cover the nights, but it turns out that the day team still has to cover the weekend nights - Friday and Saturday.

I got home post-call yesterday around 11 am. Not too bad. In all, I worked about 87 hours this week. If you know much about residency work hours, you'll know that we're restricted to 80 hour work weeks. BUT. It turns out that the 80 hours is averaged over 4 weeks. And, in fact, I'm only on the schedule to work about 57 hours this week. Fifty seven! Awesome. What has life come to when 57 hours sounds like part-time work? Hmm.

My night on call went much like most of my call nights as a med student. The whitest of white clouds possible reigns over my work-load. Even on Friday, when I was on with an upper level that is apparently notorious for Friday night black clouds, we got NO admissions overnight. And the sick kids? Not a peep from them. I got like three pages all night. And one of them was for a kid that wasn't on our service...

A white cloud may sound like a good thing, but I find it quite frustrating. I need to prove - to myself and others (mostly myself) - that I can handle the workload. And I want patients! How am I supposed to learn without them?! I'm hoping that my white cloud will start to absorb some of the smogginess of California and become slightly gray-tinged. I'm not wishing for a black cloud. More like a heather to slate gray.

On my post call day, I was so happy to be home with no 'bed time' that I decided to try to stay up. Yeah. I crashed around 4. I did set my alarm to wake me up at 6. Didn't hear it at all. I finally woke up when Ari called around 8 pm. If Ari hadn't called, I think I would have slept all night (thanks Ari!). As it was, I woke up, ate some dinner, and fell asleep on the couch at 10.

I keep looking at the clock today. I feel like I'm supposed to be at work! I am struggling to keep myself from signing on to the electronic medical record to check on some kids' vitals. Being on the wards is quite a pervasive experience - it takes over every thought. And it has only been a week!

As it is, I don't really get to completely enjoy my day off. I am scheduled to take Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS) on Thursday. That's the class where we get taught to save children's lives for real. S.C.A.R.Y. So, I must study today. This is not a med school, "I'll-learn-it-later" type thing. This is me, a doctor, learning how to save lives in emergency situations. I need to know it. Ack!

I am meeting some fellow interns for a movie later, though. So it isn't all work and no play. Just Mostly work. For the next three years anyway. Or 1093 days. However you want to look at it...