At work: I spent a lot of my time taking care of patients by myself this week. I don't remember having any longer periods of time were I wasn't actively doing something. My work involved doing the admission work for new patients. I'd take their history, physically exam them and then usually proceed with a list of things: accessing the port, drawing blood cultures, drawing routine labs and starting fluids or antibiotics. I also tried to fill out the orders as much as I could by myself. Much of Thursday afternoon and Friday morning were spent writing release letters.
Monday, I was assigned a patient and had to do the whole run down, including a bone marrow puncture! I was a bit nervous considering how the last time went. After successfully accessing the port, I felt a bit more confident. The elective student came and watched me do the puncture. So not only did I have to prove myself to my doctor that looked on but also had to perform well for the student. It...went....fabulously! It was so perfect. We got what we needed, no complications and I did a happy dance in my head! My doctor was rather relieved too.
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| The face you make when EVERYTHING on your to do list works....including bone marrow puncture! |
I felt like I bonded more with my colleagues over the past week. I was not a happy camper Thursday...not at all actually. The night before, I met up with some of the urologists for a scrumdelicious dinner and wine. I really only wanted to drink a glass of wine but the three guys kept pouring more....I was already hard core babysitting my drink but it wasn't doing much for my cause. The boys had their fun teasing me....seems to be a common theme of our meetings. I can handle it though and have my fun with it too. Before we all knew it, it as almost midnight! My brother was hitch hiking from Prague to my town. He didn't have a cell phone, so I couldn't call him and didn't know exactly when he would arrive. The doorbell finally rang around 2A.M. I had enough energy to let him in, give him a towel so that he could shower and told him he could make himself breakfast in the morning before heading out again. I was back in bed and my alarm clock went off 4 hours later.
Usually I do alright with sleep deprivation (I've had quite a bit of training with my night shifts) and this time I also wasn't really tired all day but I was in a terrible mood! I had reflux due to the wine. Everything and anything annoyed me. When I get agitated, I become really quite because I don't want to snap on anyone. At work, I was really quite and went about my business. When I was assigned writing release letters, I had to stop myself from complaining about such a normal task. For some reason, my colleagues at work decided to continue with the teasing my urology friends had done the night before. I took it in more or less silence and tried not to snap. It was a rough day at work for me but I managed to keep it together. After work, I wanted nothing more than to be in my bed. When I got to the train station and found out my train had a 50 minute delay, I really was on the verge of punching a wall and screaming.....I decided not to do that though because I was afraid they'd admit me into psych. Instead, I went to the department store near by and cooled off, bought a bag of candy and browsed clothes. It helped and I spent the last 20 minutes reading my book back at the train station. I was very happy to be in bed that night.
I took Tuesday off. My best friend from medical school got married yesterday. I made a stop in the lab Tuesday morning to get an introduction lesson for the new camera we got. It felt like Christmas! Much better quality! They also replaced the old, fat backed computers with a nice big flat screen one. I'm excited to get some work done with the new system. I just need to practice a bit more so things go quicker.
Afterwards, my friend and I drove to pick up her wedding dress. She looked absolutely stunning in the last fitting. It got me really excited for the weekend. We headed to the church afterwards and rearranged the interior and raked leaves in front of the church. We proceeded to work off a bunch of things off of the to-do list. As her Maid of Honor, it as my top priority to do everything she needed done and to her liking.
This past weekend, it was finally time for her to say "I do" in the church. It was such a fun weekend filled with great moments, laughs, tears of joy, dancing, eating, taking pictures, meeting family and friends and doing everything she needed me to do so that her wedding was exactly how she hoped it would be. I've known her since day one of med school. We weren't best friends immediately but always had the same circle of friends. In the second year of school is when we really found each other and have shared many experiences ever since. I was with her the day she met her husband, I was the one who went with her to an island to meet up with him and his friend which was a weekend that showed me that this thing was serious. I'm honored she chose me to be a part of her wedding as her maid of honor. Med school can be grueling and she and I really went through the good and the bad together. I'm so very happy for her that she found her partner for life a few months before ending med school and that I was around to witness it all!
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| Always have her back |
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| The happy couple |
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| My best and favorite med school girls! |
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| Uh-oh, I caught the bouquet! |
I have one more week of hematology and oncology left. That was quite shocking for my doctor to hear. When the attending asked me if I'd be around next week and I said it would be my last week in the department, the doctor stopped what he was doing, spun around in his chair and looked at us and said, "You're lying". I wasn't but his reaction made me feel good because he sounded disappointed which means it couldn't have been too horrible having me around.
Stay healthy everyone!
V
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