ate a halloween oreo while singing happy birthday with > 100 adults

a little glimpse of peds (pediatrics)...

-my residents: they're awesome. we have an intern (uasom grad, a little syrupy sweet, angelic voice with the patients...), a psych intern who wants to do child psych (she. is. awesome. i want to be her friend in real life. if you have psych after march, she'll be there.), a resident (unmarried and kind of has a complex about it. cute but kind of stand off ish. the least peds-y of the residents i've worked with. very bright, though. and watches "real housewives of ATL," which makes me trust her more.), and my attending, the director of uab's med-peds residency program and the only man on our team, is phenomenal. G, a PGYIII swears she's learned so much just from 2weeks on service with him. He has reasons for everything he does, gives EXCELLENT and constant feedback, and is always encouraging as he tells us how we can improve.

-the environment: let me paint you a picture. Today after being on call, going to morning report (which i'm loving...missed it on surgery), and rounding... we have our "chalktalk" (mini daily informal topical lecture by one attending at a time) cancelled because of what i'm about to tell you about = a halloween recruiting kickoff. scheduled from 11:30-1:00. not for recruits, but to get the residents and attendings excited about recruiting future residents. attendings, residents, interns, and their children were all invited and in costume. There were pizzas, halloween oreos, and other such goodies. Adults and children in costume galore. Residents answered a brief questionnaire giving feedback about their own interviews and dropped these sheets in a pumpkin bucket from which door prizes were drawn. The "kickoff" included skits (both live and recorded on videos...one of which was a project runway spinoff where they designed outfits out of the yellow contact precaution gowns...and they really modeled them for us. there was beadazzling. and fringe. and use of hot glue guns.), costume contests for adults and kids, announcements of where the resident-interview meals will be taking place this year, etc. All was concluded by singing happy birthday to the Pediatrics department head, an attending, and a resident who share halloween as a birthday. Everyone at this event. >100 people (adults) singing happy birthday. not a quiet mouse in the bunch. Un. real.

my partner: kd (for her protection). she is super sweet, we have a great time talking to each other. she is not cut throat in the least but we definitely want to improve. our attending does a great job of setting a tone of "we are not here to compete. there is no such thing as showing each other up." i love him. and i love my partner. could not have lucked out more.

the bad news of all this: we lose our residents like tomorrow, and our attending on monday. We've heard the residents coming on are really nice, but we have no clue who the attending is... nervous. there are some really bad ones.

anyways, my general impression is that it's hard to tell whether or not i like it. the two patients kd and i picked up last night were both wheezers. there is no loss of interesting cases, it has just been a little slow to start. however, the pts and families have all been great. i guess i just hate feeling so thrown -- all #s of familiarity are inaccurate and ever changing as kids grow up: vital signs, lab values, acid/base, rx doses and choices... they're all wrong. that, and the H&P questions are markedly different for peds. also, my residents, b/c we're new and b/c kids are fragile, have been watching me do my h&p's and physical exams. i think that's really really awkward, and have not enjoyed it.

anyways...it's very friendly and i can't wait til i feel like i know a little bit more!

had a burst of insight about wordplay

"Suck it right here, please" is not appropriate in any setting other than the OR.

And even then...questionable.

Glad I did not have this insight earlier in the rotation -- a case of the giggles is not exactly the most professional/impressive exhibition.

was told that my blog was collecting dust, so...

Here goes!

I write to you in the familiar situation of status-post-too-long-accidental-nap. This nap was supposed to be a quick refresher after a long, slow day. Tucked in at 5:30. Woke up at 7. Yikes.

So, though my first week of peds surgery kind of dominated my spirit, God heard my pleas and sent me a fourth-year med student. He started on service the second week, and then the third and final week we got another third-year med student. Oh what a difference company makes! Someone to look at when you feel utterly. ashamed. and. uneducated/inept. Someone to provide a "student presence" when you need to run to the bathroom/eat lunch/sit/other such human things. I am so grateful for these guys who came on service.

After I recovered from my illness, I decided to get all of my on-call experiences out of the way. As much as I feel like I dread being on-call, I always learn SO much and always feel SO much more comfortable in my working environment after being there for a 24 hour period. I regret that I can't recap all the details of my experiences on peds surgery, but needless to say I got to see LOTS of cool-to-see/unfortunate-for-the-patient conditions and operations.

Highlights of Peds Surgery: free limitless soft drinks w/ pellet ice at every nurse's station, patients who would cutely (not creepishly) grab your finger during rounds, plenty of exams on patients who were "resting comfortably in no apparent distress" aka sleeping and did not wake during check-up's, working with some of the brightest surgeons in the field (as I learned that peds surgery is a VERY competitive fellowship, UAB's program attracting many internationally competitive residents), getting to learn my way around children's hospital before my general peds rotation.

Low points of Peds: diagnosing kids with horrible tumors and other conditions that you know are going to drastically change the quality of the rest of their lives, getting relentlessly (and i mean RELENTLESSLY) pimped (see previous entry for definition) on EVERYTHING including the minutiae of classic rock music...DAILY, scrub/circulating nurses with personal vendettas against yours truly, the hours (4:30am - sometimes 6:30pm = not cool), CRAZY mothers/lazy parents.

All in all, I really ended up enjoying my time on their service. The longer I worked with the surgeons, the more they trusted me, and therefore the more they let me do (don't worry -- babies were still getting the best care) and see during operations. The residents, fellows, and attendings were very encouraging toward the end of my time there, and, as much as I hated the pimping, it forced me to study EVERY DAY. And so, I learned a lot as a result.

OK so I'm going to sleep now, but I must say...So far, cardiovascular surgery rotation is disorganized and full of surgical physician assistants, nursing first-assists, and PA students (all sorts of allied health professional peeps) to climb over in order to actually SEE the surgeries, BUT...if you can convince anesthesia to let you stand at the head of the bed and look over the curtain...YOU CAN SEE THE BEAUTIFUL OPERATIVE THEATRE THAT IS CV SURGERY. And, of course, the heart. Personal testimony: it's beautiful. Superior to other organs (although infant stomach's are pretty beautiful, too).

Next update will come sooner, I promise :)