Summing up my night thus far in one phrase (this is what show sup on my pager):
Gunshot wound to the face- ETA 7 min.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Friday, July 25, 2008
A day in my life
My day begins with waking up at 4 am. After taking a shower and downing a cup of coffee (Starbucks Pikes Place roast), I'm off to the hospital. I'll spare you the boring details of asking patients about bowel movements and farting, and jump to the more interesting. So far today I've spent 9 hours in surgery. In one surgery, the attending nicked the femoral artery, and everyone got showered in blood. I'm talking horror movie style blood spurts. Later on tonight I was taking out a thing that is basically an iv line in the femoral artery in the same patient, just the other femoral artery. What's supposed to happen is we pull this out, and I hold pressure for 10 minutes and we're done. What actually happened is that we lost the hole in this obese lady's fat rolls, pushed in the wrong place, and 30 seconds later this lady is laying in a pool of her own blood. Seriously, a pool of her own blood. after a couple of more minutes, we finally realize that something is wrong, and get pressure on the right spot. Don't worry, she's fine now. Also, I've given a rectal exam, placed a catheter, and started an IV tonight.
There's also non-blood and guts stuff. Today the kindly old lady whom I've seen every day since I started was discharged, and I never knew, and so never got to say bye. It's a weird feeling. Also, I met a lady with ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease) who lost the ability to talk 2 years ago. She now communicates with her family via text messaging. We had a text message contest, and this tiny little lady destroyed me. It was glorious.
Welp, it's now 2 in the morning, and I just heard a Life Flight helicopter fly in. It's too bad, because I could use a nap. I've already been interrupted three times since i started this. Anyway, I start rounds again at 4:45, and the day starts over from there.
And that's my life right now.
There's also non-blood and guts stuff. Today the kindly old lady whom I've seen every day since I started was discharged, and I never knew, and so never got to say bye. It's a weird feeling. Also, I met a lady with ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease) who lost the ability to talk 2 years ago. She now communicates with her family via text messaging. We had a text message contest, and this tiny little lady destroyed me. It was glorious.
Welp, it's now 2 in the morning, and I just heard a Life Flight helicopter fly in. It's too bad, because I could use a nap. I've already been interrupted three times since i started this. Anyway, I start rounds again at 4:45, and the day starts over from there.
And that's my life right now.
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Surgery
I start my third year of medical school with a surgery rotation. Right now it's 4:05 am, and I'm eating a quick breakfast before I head up to the hospital. I don't expect to get home today until sometime after five. Tomorrow is even better. I'll be leaving at the same time, but instead of getting to come home, I'll be staying up at the hospital all night as I am "on-call," and then I'll put in another full day, hoping to get home around five on Friday.
So, this will be my life for the next seven weeks. Don't you wish you'd gone to medical school?
So, this will be my life for the next seven weeks. Don't you wish you'd gone to medical school?
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
No rest for the weary
First, we moved, and it's awesome.
Second, we went to Chicago and then Oregon with Joe and Meg, and that was also awesome. We went hiking around waterfalls, went wine tasting through the Willamette Valley (and got a free bottle of pinot noir!), went to the beach, went for a night on downtown, ate seafood till we almost puked, etc. Here's my great story from the trip though: we were flying out Saturday afternoon, and the REI used gear sale (which is where I got my Chacos for $2.83) was Sunday morning. We sullenly got on our plane, and then Jesus Christ himself came down and broke our plane. Seriously, they got on the intercom and said, "Sorry, but the plane is broken." I guess they didn't mention Jesus because it's not PC. Anyway, I got to go to the used gear sale after all, and my life was complete.
Then I came home, and spent the next two weeks studying for the United States Medical Licensing Exam, Step 1 (I have to take two more of these before I get my license. Step 3 is two days long.). If you know me, you'll understand that having to spend two weeks studying was the worst experience of my entire life. My only consolation is that most people spend 5-7 weeks studying. Of course they'll do better than me, but I got to go the REI used gear sale and they didn't. Anyway, I finally got the test over with, and that's amazing.
Fourth and finally, I know have this one week to do all the projects on our new house. My projects include: putting in new fans, putting in a garden on the side of the house, putting in a garden with a pond and waterfall in the back yard, replacing some of the siding on our garage, rewiring the lights in our garage, painting, and planting a crap load of bushes.
Anyway, my two favorite things about our house right now are 1) last night Laura and I drank some port in our library and 2) right over where our waterfall garden will be, there is a mimosa tree which is blooming right now. Our entire yard smells like a flower garden. It's unreal.
Second, we went to Chicago and then Oregon with Joe and Meg, and that was also awesome. We went hiking around waterfalls, went wine tasting through the Willamette Valley (and got a free bottle of pinot noir!), went to the beach, went for a night on downtown, ate seafood till we almost puked, etc. Here's my great story from the trip though: we were flying out Saturday afternoon, and the REI used gear sale (which is where I got my Chacos for $2.83) was Sunday morning. We sullenly got on our plane, and then Jesus Christ himself came down and broke our plane. Seriously, they got on the intercom and said, "Sorry, but the plane is broken." I guess they didn't mention Jesus because it's not PC. Anyway, I got to go to the used gear sale after all, and my life was complete.
Then I came home, and spent the next two weeks studying for the United States Medical Licensing Exam, Step 1 (I have to take two more of these before I get my license. Step 3 is two days long.). If you know me, you'll understand that having to spend two weeks studying was the worst experience of my entire life. My only consolation is that most people spend 5-7 weeks studying. Of course they'll do better than me, but I got to go the REI used gear sale and they didn't. Anyway, I finally got the test over with, and that's amazing.
Fourth and finally, I know have this one week to do all the projects on our new house. My projects include: putting in new fans, putting in a garden on the side of the house, putting in a garden with a pond and waterfall in the back yard, replacing some of the siding on our garage, rewiring the lights in our garage, painting, and planting a crap load of bushes.
Anyway, my two favorite things about our house right now are 1) last night Laura and I drank some port in our library and 2) right over where our waterfall garden will be, there is a mimosa tree which is blooming right now. Our entire yard smells like a flower garden. It's unreal.
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