sitting in atlanta's airport

Well, here I am sitting in the Atlanta airport... mecca of travelers... boring layover prolonger of me... I've spent the night here... not today... it was around Christmas... I missed my connecting flight because of a snowstorm in detroit, and by the time I got here, my flight to florida had gone, and they weren't willing to meet me in a compromise for a hotel deal, so I spent the night in the airport. I wouldn't suggest doing that if you have small children (i've seen several parents do that though). If you pack appropriately (which is hard to do in the age where you can have 3 oz or less of liquids etc) you can totally pull this off though. However, you get in so late, its too late to buy toothpaste or other essentials. But let me tell you why I think its a good idea. You can get the first flight out in the morning, because you never had to recheck in, you dont' have to go through security again. No security line means while they're being hasselled to take off their shoes, you're bugging the person at the gate to put you on this plane!!! hollar! :) it works every time!

Anyway, you don't care about that.... what you care about is what I'm doing now, and why am I in Atlanta airport, I was last in the ER at Toledo hospital... sorry about that... its been busy...


So, I ended up falling in love with ER... couldn't you get that from the post? i had some ridiculous patients... Football testicles. filleted legs. multiple complaints "She's just depressed" oh wait, except that she had a positive cardiac exam about a month ago and no one followed up ... those are highlights of ER... i liked it. I was called the "student plastic surgeon" for my suture skills. I stayed over an hour or so every day to drain one more abscess or throw a few more sutures.


One of my favorite cases was this 28 year old guy who came in drunk who had fallen off a bike head first over the handlebars. He had several face lacerations and they were bleeding still. He was a little bit of a wimp and couldn't handle the blood well, but he was also trying to impress me and not be all "girly" about the blood. He was very metrosexual if you know what I mean, but definitely not into the guys. He took one look at the needle i was going to numb him up with and said "i need to sit up i'm going to throw up" the resident let him sit up and then said "i think we should come back later, he needs to calm down" and she left the room. we had been really busy, and I don't blame her for leaving, beause honestly, I think he was being a bit of a child as well, but if you freak out at needles you freak out. anyway, the rails were down on the bed, which looking back was the only mistake I see, but either way I stayed in the room. I had a feeling if he's going to puke he shouldn't be alone. I was talking to his friend about something when all of the sudden i felt the patient slump into my side. He had passed out! I was like omg! I yelled for the resident and then started shaking the patient to get him to wake up; we laid him back and rubbed his chest and he woke right back up, but it was definitely one of those events I ahdn't seen before. I was like omg! he totally passed out! The nurse then told me I had "done quite enough" and that i "should leave" and i was shooed out of the room. I hadn't done anythign wrong, and I almost started crying because if I hadn't been in the room he would have cracked his head on the floor. So the resident got pissed off and sent me back in the room and told the nurse off.. yay! and I sewed him up and he looked great... but i still like ER better than any type of general surgery subspecialty lol :)

anyway

after ER, I did 2 weeks of ortho in Columbus... I hated most of that... they were very mean to me there. There were a couple of residents who just took it out on me that I was a girl. I got smacked in the OR. And I got yelled at. I don't know what I did to deserve that. I guess I got delt to X chromosomes. I don't know if thats normal or not. At any rate, I wasn't happy there.

Then I went to philladelphia and took my PE. It didn't go very well, I'm really hoping I passed it. I really feel like that test was very difficult, and I know I misdiagnosed a couple of people. I'm just hoping that overall I did alright. We'll see.

Came back, and I moved out of my apartment in Toledo. I no longer have a place to call my own... except my car... lol :) woo hoo! I will now be on the road forever... here goes nothing right?

then I went to florida to visit my mom and study for the written boards... which i spent a good 2.5 weeks studying for, and I think went SUPER well.. so i'm really happy with that... i'll get all those scores at the end of november.

I also visited an ER program in miami MSMC.COM look at it... its on the BEACH! SOUTHBEACH! its freaking awesome. I can't post stuff about the clientel on here obviously, but if you ask me, i can tell you that the people who stay on the 8th floor of that hospital might also be in some of the magazines you read in the checkout at the grocery store... HOW COOL! but yeah, the program's amazing... it really is.. and the director, a lady from OUCOM! and her core site was Toledo, just like me! if the core system was a sorority we'd be sisters!

anyway, I just thought that was awesome... so I think she liked me and I loved it there, so I hope I go there..

and now, i'm flying back, to do 3 months of ortho and I"m not sure if my heart is in it anymore... we'll see...

I need a place to stay in cincinnati the last two weeks of nov/first two of dec if anyone knows of any ideas, i'd love you for it...

thanks!

ER

So, I'm two weeks into my ER rotation... Guys, I love it. Its a lot of fun. I get to do a freaking TON of procedures, which are my favorite thing, hands down. I've sewn up hands, feet etc. I've gotten to incise and drain some really narly abscesses (and let me tell you there is NOTHING like numbing up an abscess and watching the puss fly across the room... further point... don't touch the walls in the ER, I don't know how well they're cleaned...) I've gotten to do just about anything and everything I want to do. It's great. So, now I"m torn because all along, I'm hard-core ortho girl, who was suddenly thrown into the wild-world of ER, and I really like it.

Now, let me tell you what I don't like about it so far... drug seekers who cuss me out. I don't like that. I don't like being lied to because they want their drugs. I REALLY didn't like the trauma lab we did today, but I understand the necessity of it. I won't explain it here, but if you have questions please ask and I'll explain it to you. Lets just say, I cried (afterwards) and prayed (during) and wanted to vomit (well, that feeling is still bothering me).

Otherwise, ER is considered primary care, I guess. However, its not primary care like I don't like because there is no real "follow up." I don't like following up on people who don't want to take their medications. If these people don't want to take their medications OH WELL! Well, thats not true, there are a good percentage of people who use the ER as their primary care physician, but I mean, its not SUPPOSED to be that way. I liked Mare's comment that her ER doc said, "What's your emergency today... is your runny nose your emergency ???" hhahaha thats how I feel! WTF! Its an emergency room now an "omg i have a cough and it couldn't wait until I could get into the clinic tomorrow" room!

alright, so here are some fantastic quotes just for you guys! (these should be reserved for eyes 18 and older, and probably not those faint of heart)

"the planned parenthood condoms aren't big enough for my man, thats why we don't use them."

"yeah I smoke, but don't worry its not cigarettes." ** that was supposed to comfort me!?!**

"I'm monogamous with him, but how am I supposed to know if he's monogamous with me" (That was a 17 year old... really, what are we teaching the youth of today.. i feel like we missed a generation!

"We were here when he was younger... i dropped the iron on him..."

"I'm a nurse, I understand, I just did my clinicals, but if you don't get me some F-ing pain meds right now i'm going to f-ing go off on u" riiight... nothing stronger than motrin for one of our finest in that room! *little tip, don't threaten anyone in the ER... that doesn't buy u friends or percocet... lol

"i'm not talking to no med student get out... I know i was at *other hospital name* earlier today, and I know they gave me percocet there, but i took all that already, and I need more!" (u should have stopped at "get out..." lol



alright, and I have a fracture picture to add up here... this little boy was skateboarding and fell...

I want the emphasize the importance of always ALWAYS wearing a helmet, knee pads, elbow pads etc, but i don't think any of that would have helped him...



as you can hopefully see, he broke his radius (bigger bone) and ulna (littler bone) in his left arm... They ended up pulling it to straighten it back out and casting him. Pretty crazy! I thought you'd enjoy (or throw up haha)

anyway, take care!

week 2 of psych...

So... pardon the expression, but the hours of my psych rotation, are crazy!

I work 5:30 am until 8:00 pm tuesday/thursday and 5:30 am until 5 pm mon/wednesday and 4:30 am until 7 am and then come back and work until he tells me to go home on fridays

thats just INSANE! id idn't think they called it psychiatry because WE went nuts lol :)

anyway tho, its a lot of fun, its mostly kids with hyperactive disorders, or kids that are violent, and we calm them down with meds and send them off to talk about it with a therapist... honestly, i don't think i'd do it that way, but i'm not here to critique his practice, I"m just here to write his notes for him... lol I don't think i've fallen in love with any of the patients on this rotation yet, but I do see a lot of little kids that make me sad... I've had quite a few that I've said, 'they just need to play a sport, if they played a sport, they'd have a way to lose that energy and aggression" lol although maybe the idea of them taking it out on the other kids isn't the right answer... lol

I've been waivering a lot lately about the rest of my life... the big thing coming up July first is the opening up of the "match system" for the fourth years (thats us) so that we can apply for our residencies for next year. We start applying now so that we can interview this fall, so that they can pick who they want for next year when we graduate. Its sort of like when you apply for college/med school etc all over again.... it means yay bottom rung again... bring out the ole' suit again... i hope it still fits yay crash diet if not lol

anyway so I've been waivering, because i'm nervous... I'm scared I won't get ortho... ortho is sooo hard to get... and i'm a girl... yay double x chromosomes.. no i'm not blaming this on my father (if you're a girl or a guy... that is the one thing you can blame COMPLETELY on your dad... lol) but i just didn't do well at all on boards, and they usually look majorly at boards... and they look at gender (i know i know they can't write that one down, but if there's ever been a good ole' boys club that's it...) and i dont' know... but i like a challenge, and I knew two weeks into that rotation that I could do that every day for the rest of my life and be happy... and i think that means something...i really just believe that means something...

I don't know... we'll see i guess... if i don't get it... that means I have to punt... I'll have to scramble actually is what we call it, and find a spot somewhere else... if there is no ortho spot, which probably there won't be one... then I will have to take a TY (transitional year) where a do a year just doing like basically another year like I"m doing now... only then i'll be getting paid, then I can reapply... we'll see what happens...


Who knows.. i have ER left, I could always fall in love with that and completely change my mind.... doubt it... lol :)

anyway... graduation is T minus one year :)

I know that a bunch of other students are feeling like me... but I just get so stinking nervous! Ugh!

Anyway... I hope everythings good on the athens home front... i miss you guys...

I could be a geriatrician

I got an 94% on my post rotation exam.. and trust me, you could too. Geriatrics was pretty much family medicine at a muuuuuch slower pace. And its slower not only cuz old ppl move slower, but also because they have about a million stories to tell you, and you cannot seem to escape.

My personal LEAST favorite patient was the one who made fun of my acne. I believe her exact words were "it disgusts me that professionals in health care can't even take care of their own faces"
well.... If i didn't have the stress of taking care of your decrepit behind I probably would have the amazing skin I had all through my teens... Give me a stinkin break!

Oh, and speaking of stinking, you know why old people wear so much cologne!? Its not because they can't smell it, tis because they can smell themselves but won't take a shower.

No offense to old ppl that I like, and who aren't old mean nasty people. I love you all. But seriously, be nice to the medical student, we are trying to learn. And we are trying to breathe in your stupid exam room.

augh! okay i'm over it


So now i'm on anesthesia. Yep, I'm helping put people to sleep before surgery! I got to put a tube down someone's throat (intubate) yesterday. I was pretty excited I got it. I could see the cords and i went for it... woo hoo!
I also got to push the drugs... it was pretty exciting.

Today we had this ridiculous mom. Now okay let me preface this with, IF I had kids, and my kid had some weird disease that affects 1:20,000 people, I would probably read up on it. And I would probably know absolutely everything there is to know about it... just in case. Wellt his mom didn't do that. She expected us to just blindly believe her. Well, we went and read up on this kid, and apparently his disease gives him a 5% chance just dying right there on the table while under anesthesia. I'm sorry, but if my kid had a 5 out of 100 ppl chance of dying, I'd probably be concerned... oh no, she was all "i have dealt with this kid for 18 years you're doing the surgery" wtf.. u want to risk your child's life when we can just wait one more day and do a freaking echo of his heart and make sure he's not gonna die on us? what the heck!?!?!?!

It's only his life lady, lets make this about you! ugh! bad parents... lol no offense to all the GOOD parents out there


anyway, thats about all the excitement up here.

I'm moving out at the end of august... I'll be living like a nomad until graduation. I'll be back down in Athens around march/april of next year, and I can't wait!!!

Let me know if you want invited to graduation/graduation party, so I can add you to the list and get an address for you. The party will be in Athens, whether my family likes that or not, I feel like thats where I'm from and where all my friends are.

Love you guys!

if you don't have something nice to say...

Sometimes, the lessons we learned in Disney Classics such as Bambi hold supreme even as we venture out into the adult world.

I haven't posted in a while. Basically, its because I didn't want to talk about Internal Medicine. It wasn't at all what I was told it was going to be, and it has almost turned into another pediatrics rotation, only this time I have an amazing co-student, just a resident who is extremely bipolar

However, in the last 24 hours + that I spent in the hospital were truly some of the best I've had on this rotation. I had no idea that we had a spanish speaking only patient, until I happened to just be tagging along w/ one of the interns and he's like "i feel bad, i can't even talk to this woman" and i'm like, dude, I can.... IT WAS AWESOME. Such a great feeling. I can't tell you how exciting it is, when I can finally tell someone "hey how are you feeling? this is what we're planning to do today. I hope that it helps. Let me get you something for that cough" she seemed soooo completely relieved. I can't imagine what it must be like to be in the hospital, with no translator and NO ONE can talk to you. Hand gestures can only get you so far.

My mom had a really good idea, I should make some flashcards for Mrs S and she can hold them up to tell the nurses what she is feeling. I think I'll make them and even if she is gone in the morning, they can possibly help another patient at some point.

Otherwise, I really don't like this rotation too much. I feel like I can't win for trying, ya know?

All I want to do is get through it.

ANyway, its a short post, but other than Senora S I really don't have anything exciting to tell yet... :) I'll let u know if I do....

and i'm back!

I went to Florida last weekend. I needed a break. I spent easter on the beach, yes it was not warm enough to be there in a bathing suit, but I did it anyway! lol

Obviously everyone else in Florida had brains enough to not go but not me! lol :)


Anyway, I needed that break so badly. I started Pain management the week before, and its basically shadowing unless they can do an epidural in the tailbone, which means I get to do it, because there's absolutely NO way to hurt the patient. And to make matters worse, people were just not showing up at all, which as a medical student makes you worried because those make for "great teaching moments" because nothing else is going on. And Thursday was horrible. We were closed friday, so Dr E felt like it was his job to make sure that I learned tons on THursday... and none of our afternoon patients showed up. So for 3 hours he pimped me on Pharmacology and Physiology. I surprised myself w/ knowing something about physiology, but i bombed all the pharm... and he'd asked me a bunch on tuesday but clearly i didn't learn enough in that amount of time. I started CRYING. What is wrong w/ me?!?!?!? how totally embarrassing. I am really mad at myself for that. I need to stop worrying about letting people down. Its not about that. SO that was when I KNEW i had to get out of there.

So down to Florida I flew... Well, i spent 3 extra hours at detroit airport because of the weather, and spent the night in Atlanta's airport and THEN flew to florida, but I did get there. I spent the entire week playing nintendo, going to random doctor appointments (including a root canal YUCK) and going to the beach. It was great. I got bumped off my flight coming back and spent an extra day. It was nice. But now I'm back in crappy Toledo. Weather suuuucks lol

I'm going to Athens this weekend, and I am SOOOOO excited to go. I miss it.

I'm planning to move back to Athens in early 09 to finish up my rotations there. I really just don't see the point of spending so much time here when I am not happy, and I could be really happy there. So thats my plan! :) :)

So anyway, this is a short update but only because I had a week off and I'm just happy to have had a break!

More later!

slept in 5 different beds in 6 nights

no, i'm not getting around lol... unless of course you mean I drove all across northern ohio this week/weekend, then yes you're correct, but we'll get to this later...

So, what exciting things did I do this week... I delivered 2 babies pretty much on my own... Dr K helped out, and showed me what to do, but I had my hands right on those babies as they came out... how exciting!

I also spent the greater portion of last weekend at the hospital, and then monday and tuesday as well. I don't think I got a really good nights sleep until wednesday night.

We were sooo freaking busy this week. We delivered a bunch of babies, then we had to see a lot of patients, not to mention monday's six surgeries.

I saw some pretty impressive things...

Our first case on monday, we had to remove an ovary from a lady because it was really enlarged, and sometimes, we worry about that being a bad thing, so we went to take it out. It was as big as a hmmm I'm gonna say 15 week uterus (so like if someone was 15 weeks pregnant it was about that big... which is, if you've never seen a 15 week pregnant lady , the uterus is still sitting below the belly button and maybe showing a little). This lady complained of occasional pain but no other significant issues. On pelvic exam (where we feel around to feel the size of the uterus and ovaries) we noticed it, and so there she was for surgery. It turned out to have thyroid tissue inside of it. How interesting the body is, because your thyroid gland is infront of your windpipe on your throat! During development strange things happen, and sometimes this occurs... Its not even taht uncommon. So it was not a bad thing, it was not cancer, and it was removed. She should be fine...

our third case was probably one third of the size of the first case's ovary and had a funny looking growth on the side of it, with lots of blood vessels going to it... In medicine, if it is not normal and it has a lot of blood vessels, its probably not good. Turns out, she's a 40 year old woman with ovarian cancer and uterine cancer. It was the first time in a long time I 've had to be there for someone to receive bad news, and I really think it went okay... We set up a time for her to come back in later that week, because once you say cancer, no one hears another word. We referred her to OSU/James Cancer center, and she'll get the best care she can there, since we dont' do oncology.

hmmm, the other case that I was presented with this week, which I had actually seen a few times, but am just now getting really connected to, was a 36 year old woman who was having her first baby. And my first day here, she came in for an ultrasound at 20 weeks and found out that her membranes that surround the baby and come through her cervix (part of the uterus) and that she was in danger of losing the baby. She was rushed to specialists in Columbus who did an emergency rescue cerclage (they sewed up her uterus) to protect the baby and the membranes. They sent her back here, and she had been in a week ago with a scare about the cerclage, and ti was okay. So right after I delivered the first baby I was talking about earlier, I saw "C" come in. She was crying, and I thought for sure she had already lost the baby. I rushed in her room, and tried to comfort her and see what had happened. She said she had strained to poop and when she did she felt " a bag come down between her legs and come back up". She was so scared, and rightly so. We got an ultrasound and it showed teh baby up inside her uterus where it should be, and we got a heartbeat, so we reassured her and had her lay with her butt kind of up in the air to keep the baby inside. I went to see her multiple times that night and then again the next day. She seemed to be doing better, and I just kept praying she'd be okay. I had to leave on Wednesday so I went to say goodbye to her,a nd that I hoped she'd still be there when I got back in town on Monday. She seemed to be in good spirits, and I left. Unfortunately I found out she miscarried on Thursday morning while I was at my test :(. That was so sad. I wish I could have been there for her, but there would have been nothing I could do. That just broke my heart. I hope that everyone can say a prayer for her, because I am sure she needs all the support she can get. She was just such a nice person, and she will be in my prayers for a long time.

Phew, that was rough... on to happier thoughts...

So I had my OSCE (Objective skilled clinical exam... or something like that, basically a test where they give us fake patients and we diganose them and decide how to treat them then write our doctor note (called a SOAP note) on them all in 23 minutes) on Thursday... It was kinda hard, but I sorta felt like I did okay. I didn't remember everything and sure I could have done perfect, but if I had been perfect I probably would not need to be in medical school still, so I mean I know now what I need to do to get better. I felt like it really helped. Now I sort of know what to expect in August when I go to pennsylvania for the real test. (yikes)

Then I hung out w/ one of my classmates Cindy who is at Southpointe who I never see now... it was great to catch up with her, I totally miss her so much. And then I went to spend the night w/ Mary Ellen... She has a cat named Maddox, and he's sort of a perv. lol I was wearing a skirt and he kept looking up my skirt, and trying to climb up my skirt... he's all boy as mare said... haha It was hilarious. And he kept kissing me and attacking me... I guess he really liked me... haha he's adorable tho, so after I took the two clariten, i didn't mind that he was all over me lolol

Then I went to Kalahari on Friday with my preceptor and her twin 4 year olds... we had a lot of fun. Kalahari is a giant waterpark up here by Cedar Point. It has lots of slides, and pools, and just fun things to do... it has a hottub where half of it is inside and half of it is outside, so during the blizzard that happened while we were there, u could go outside and it was snowing on our heads! Crazy

And since it was blizzarding, they shut down all the roads and we spent an extra night. It was actually kinda fun, even tho I'd never really spent much time w/ little kids before I think I did okay... she didn't yell at me, so I couldn't have been too bad lol

So then I went to Toleod this morning and did my laundry and checked on my apartment, they finally fnished my ceiling and left soem crap ont he floor, but whatever, at least its done. My frog looks very healthy thanks to my fabulous friend Jen and her 3 year old Jaiden... they are the best!! I am so happy they are watching my frog and my fish and feeding them.

And now I'm back in Lima Land preparing for my last week of OBGYN. I do really enjoy the surgery in OB/GYN. I get to do a lot, and i think that helps. We'll see how this week goes!!!

Take care and keep warm, and please, don't shovel too much, we don't need any heart attacks due to bad weather!!!

week two...

So, I survived my second week of ob/gyn. It has been a rollercoaster. I do think that it is interesting, but I don't know yet... lol

Best story of the week (not for young eyes)

i had an 87 year old woman tell me she liked to do it doggie style because her husband had broken his hip. OMG i almost died trying not to laugh. sooo awkward!


other than that, I have just been working and coming home. I think that I am learning a lot, and I do enjoy getting to spend time in the OR. The doc i'm working for came back on wednesday but was gone again on friday, so I got to spend a lot of time with her partner again this week. She's very nice too. They do have a great staff in their office. The PA and the nurse practitioner are also sooooo sweet. I've gotten to work with each of them there now, and its funny how they all say the same exact things but were all trained at different places.


I have been on call all weekend. I got called in friday evening and saturday morning, but no babies :( just people who were not drinking enough water. If you are pregnant, you need to drink like 2 gallons of water a day... seriously. Dehydration is like one of the most common reasons we see preterm labor around here.

hmmm I really don't know what else to say because nothing really too exciting happened that I can think of other than that, but yeah lol :) its going. I just have to make it through!!!


This coming week I have to go to Cleveland for an OSCE which is basically a test for us. we have to pass it or we have to attend some extra classes. Its interviewing four patients and writing soap notes on them. I hope that I do alright, I always get nervous at those things. We'll see how it goes.

Alright well, here's to another week!

an update :)

Okay Lynn, you harrassed Michelle and then she harrassed me, so now there is a blog update :)

I apologize for my delay in writing, but this has been the medical students week from h-e double hockey sticks.

So, as you know, I traveled to Lima last Sunday to begin my ob/gyn rotation. (If you dont' know, thats women's health, delivering babies, doing pap smears etc).

I had called earlier in the week to confirm that I was coming, get directions, and confirm housing. All of which was taken care of on Wednesday. I was told to come into the hospital, ask for the operator's office, and waiting for me there would be an envelope with keys, a meal card, and some information regarding my stay. So of course, because I have all the best luck in the world, someone dropped the ball, and nothing was left for me. Not to be shaken this early in the game, I recruited the help of the security guards and my friend Jen (over the phone) who'd done the rotation, and we discerned that my house was near Elm Street. Well, the house that the security guard took me to had no ceilings... they had fallen in. We deemed the house not livable and left. I got my doc's cell phone number and called her. She was shocked that something like this was going on, and told me to stay in the OB-Physician on call room for the night (she was the doc on call and she lived close enough that she didn't need it.) So I ran out to my car, repacked my bag in the ER parking lot, and took in what I needed for the night.

Then I met the doc later for dinner. She took me to McDonalds. She's my kind of doc lol :) She has twins that are 4. Blond curly haired boy and girl. Soooo cute. And very smart. They can read, and when we talked, I understood them. I was impressed.

So, Monday morning, we delivered a baby via c-section (cut open the belly and pull out the baby). Yay! that was actually very awesome. I think those have got to be the best surgeries... because you get a baby! But sewing them up takes FOREVER! Closing always takes a long time... especially when you have the med student do it and she's nervous... haha

we also did some hysterectomies, which are wicked. I actually felt kinda sick during them. I don't know if it was just my issue that I've always had working on genitalia or what, but I didn't feel so good during those.

So Monday I received my keys/mealcard etc. I went to my apartment/duplex/house and met my roommate Kamika. SOOO sweet. I really like her, and I will miss her next week when she leaves. She's a PA student from Dayton. We didn't really get a chance to chat until Thursday because she worked night shift and I worked day shift, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

So Kamika asked me if I'd had a party there over the weekend. And sicne I just got there, I said, No....? And I guess that when she came in (she'd gotten there the week before but went home for the weekend) that there were beer cans all over the place and a lot of dirty dishes in the kitchen. She assumed her roommate (me) had done it. Well, That was weird, and kinda creepy, but we let it go. We also noticed that most of the lights were burnt out in the house. So we made a mental note that one of us needed to talk to someone about that.

After she left, I decided to talk a walk around the house. I noticed in the kitchen that there was a back door... OPEN! I'm like...what the?? It has a small little latch that wouldn't have kept a small dog out if it wanted in, and that was it. There used to be a deadbolt but the key/lock mechanism had been taken off. The bolt inside was still there, and there was a hole to the outside. The screen door was also unlocked. I freaked out. I called my doc again and she said I should call security and get them to send maintenence over. So, here I am, in a house that isn't secure, alone on my first night, knowing that someone else had been in the house less than 24 hours before having a party. I am not usually a pansy, but I am not from there, so I dont' know the neighborhood, but since its literally in the parking lot of the hospital I assume its not safe.

the maintenence guy comes over, and leaves and comes back and leaves and comes back again and decides that he can push the locking mechanism over with his screwdriver to make it lock, then cover the hole with ducttape, to keep it covered. I took a picture of the finished product. I should have taken one before, but I was not in any state to think like that... lol

We wont' even go into how dirty the place feels lol (notice the light switch for instance). don't worry I do have other views of the house.

So That's my security in the back. If someone were to try to attack us from the front door, we have no immediate exit except via windows now, but at least we're locked in. Apparently there is also a door out the basement, but I just keep the basement door locked. I'm not even going down there.

As for the "party" apparently a radiology resident had a key to the house and threw a party or drank herself silly while she was on call... Eitherway, she shouldn't have a key, we should change the locks (or put one in??) and she should not drink while on call... *rolls eyes*

So thats what's been going on with me. I haven't been sleeping well, so when it gets to be around 9 or so, I'm just barely making it... I get a shower (oh, we dont' have a showerhead that works, so we just let the water run out like a garden hose from where the showerhead should be) and then go to bed.... I feel like I am camping in a bad dream... Only 3 more weeks

On a plus side, I've seen a TON of pregnant bellies this week. I had no idea you could actually see the baby move as it got bigger. I was staring at one lady's belly her entire visit. I hope I didn't make her feel uncomfortable.

We delivered another baby via csection on Friday. I really do like Csections... maybe its because I was one, who knows, but I just think they're pretty awesome. And the baby's head isn't all smooshed and funky looking... but they're covered with more gunk because they're not quite 40 weeks usually.

There are other things going on in the office, but for privacy and professionality, I will leave those out of here... Lets just say, Its been chaotic.

Here are some more pics of the house:

The towel rack is one of three things in my room... bed and lamp are the other two :)

Its not that bad really, it isn't an oncall room for four weeks like Toledo Hospital did to me a few years back.... It's just not home ya know?

Anyway thats about all i have for now, I am so sad that I missed senior night in athens, but thank you Michelle for calling me with updates :)

finishing up the best rotation EVER

So, thus ends the best rotation I've had so far. Yes I worked crazy hours... (last week I worked 17+ hours shifts without being on call) and yes I've seen some fairly insane things, but I've gotten to experience a lot, do a lot, and read more than I think I did in some blocks last year...

I am going to Lima for a month for OB/GYN starting on Monday. They said I had four surgeries to do and some clinic monday. They failed to tell me what surgeries they were. This should be interesting!


Highlights from the month of ORTHO:

Just yesterday I got to set a fracture in a lady's arm. That was insane. I was scared to say the least, but I did it (with some help) and it went well. It lined up very well. I also am getting a lot of practice pulling fluid off knees and putting shots into knees. That's good, because I want to get good that before I go on my audition rotations later this year. (those are rotations at potential places I'd like to do my residency).

I got to help put screws into a hip fracture, and I did a lot of suturing. I think overall that I've learned a lot on this rotation.

It's really neat to follow the patients through. I saw some of the patients post-op in the office a few weeks later, and it was really great to see how much better they were doing. It's very exciting to see a field where you can make such a big difference in such a little time.

We've gotten a lot of snow up here in the last few days. I believe that ODOT of toledo has the theory that if you just ignore the snow, it'll go away on its own. Because I-75 had not been TOUCHED at all tuesday when I left work. We got probably 3 inches and it was just all right there to be driven on. They had not done anything in the 12 hours I was in the OR. It took me 45 mintues to get home (usually 20). Pretty pathetic.

One of our most interesting cases this month was a case we had last week. I had been in surgery for about 12 hours and then we got a consult. It was the ICU, they wanted us to come look at this lady's clavicle because it was broken on Xray. So we're going up there, and she had a huge abscess over it. We decided to at least drain the abscess at the bedside so that the infection didn't spread further, and when we opened it up, the clavicle was literally staring us in the face. The resident resisted the urge to just take the broken piece out, and we flushed the wound and packed it. They took her to surgery on Friday morning and when they removed the clavicle, she started oozing blood out. Apparently it fractured and went right through her subclavian vein (very important blood vessel...) They had to hold pressure and get the attending vascular surgeon to come in and sew it up. What a mess! Thank goodness nothing bad happened at bedside! Thats so scary! But it taught me a valuable lesson, just cuz u can't see it on xray doesn't mean its not there lol

So this weekend I have Friday off, and I will be spending it packing for my move to Lima. Other than that I probably won't be doing TOO much since I need to shift gears in my mind away from bones and into uteruses...uteri.... whatever

A few weeks ago I went to so BGSU play (and get beaten by) Notre Dame hockey. The style of play is different from ours back in Athens. There is no fighting. I don't know if its just cuz the rink is bigger, but I feel like they have more room to do plays and they set up well. I still prefer athens hockey any day, but at least it was some hockey :)

motivation!

I was told I was one of the best suturers that they'd seen, as far as 3rd year students go. I got to close some of the cases (stitch up the holes from the laproscopic surgeries) on Friday, and I was sooo nervous. Every time I am sooo nervous. I have these thoughts about how they're just going to take it away from me if I don't do it right fast enough etc, but they are soo patient and they let me screw up, and its okay.

This service is different than my last one, because the continuity isn't quite the same. I might see the same patient for a couple of days but I don't get to spend a week with that patient. I sorta miss that aspect of it. But, I still get some pretty amazing stories from the patients, and you'd be amazed at how attached to someone you can get in just a few minutes. I think thats why I know surgery will be a good field for me. I will still see my patients when they need me, and since I like to help people out and feel like I'm contributing to someone in a positive way, I think this will be a very rewarding field for me. Not to sound like Its all about me, but this is my blog lol :)

I am so excited to get back to clinic tomorrow. I can't believe how much I am learning. I found out today that every one of these residents has gotten in the 90th percentile on their boards. Which makes me wonder how they seem so normal yet study so much. I wish I had that much motivation. I know studying is important, its how I got here, but when do you have fun if you're always stuck in a book? I guess I have a LOT to learn from these guys, not only in the OR but about balancing life too.

In other news, this weekend I went sledding... yes its true, Toledo has hills... 6 of them... and Margaret and I went down all 6 of them... It was great... i dont' think I've done that for a long time... it was me and her and a bunch of kids under the age of 15 lololol i was so scared but those kids were fearless!! headfirst, towards a bunch of trees... god... hahaha but hey i mean we had a good time, no one got hurt, and I wasn't even THAT sore this morning hahaha

I'm starting to feel like Toledo can offer me more than just a medical education here... Its a good feeling...

I still miss Athens, but I know I will be fine :)


Have a good one!

Ortho-ing we go

I have to say, Ortho has been my favorite rotation so far. I don't know if its because they treat me like I have a brain, or if its because its a bunch of people talking about sports and doing joint exams, which I like to do, or if its just the people are nice. But wow, I really am having a great time.

I was in clinic yesterday 7 am until 7;30 pm (not too horrible of a day) then went and saw a wrist fracture get set, then I went over to my main hospital and took call. I got there around 9 pm. (This is typically not what happens, you usually go on call at 5, but I had to finish clinic etc first ya know?) So, they had already done everything that was "to be done" and we got no trauma calls over night, so I slept. I mean, I tried to sleep. Picture sleeping on a board with springs popping up through it, because basically thats what the beds they provide us are. I mean at least we dont' have to sleep on the floor right? I got up this morning and went to see an ankle get set and plate & screws placed. I even got to screw in one of the screws. It was so awesome! I had so much fun!

I am post-call as we say, I was on for 30 hours straight even though I got to sleep, so I had the afternoon off. This never used to be the case in medicine, but new laws protect us, which actually is protecting the patient from medical errors.

I am just a lot happier on this rotation, I can't even explain it.


Anyway, I have another reader! Daydreamer, how did your surgery go? I hope things went well!!!


Thats all for today, just a short update :)

one month later... lol

Okay, so it's been a while... but i have a faithful reader, so now I have more motivation to continue writing! HEEEEY LYNN! lol :)

So i finished out pediatrics. It was a mess. The last blog mentioned that someone screwed me over, it was so true. My last day of pediatrics was worse than any day I had on general surgery, which is supposed to be far worse than pediatrics. By the end of pediatrics, I wasn't allowed on the floor w/o someone yelling at me because I wasn't "doing my job" although I was probably the most consistantly prepared student on that rotation. It was highschool all over again, only worse, because I was well liked in high school lol

I still don't have the official evaluation turned in yet, but I do have one that the family practice resident filled out about me, and she gave me honors. If she doesn't get it in soon, I fail, but she couldn't get one of the attendings to sign it because one refused since he didn't work with me (that's fair i guess....) and she didn't see any of the others. I dont' know what else to do actually. I'm sort of at a loss.

General surgery was quite an experience. I'm going to be an Osteopathic Physician therefore my initials will be D.O. not M.D., and I was on the M.D. service, and they basically never like the D.O. students because they think they're superior to us. Well I think it goes deeper than that but who knows... I think they're threatened by the fact that we're usually superior to their students with patients and such. In the four weeks I spent there, I had 3 sets of residents (I started before Christmas, then I had a holiday week, and then 2 weeks with the last set of residents.) for the most part the residents were nice to me, but I could tell that a couple of them thought I was a joke put there just for them to laugh at.

While on the rotation, we had some interesting cases.

We had one man come in, he was about 300 + lbs and he didn't look like he'd actually done much walking recently. Well his story was that for the past 25 years he'd had this hernia, which is when your abdominal wall weakens for whatever reason and some of your abdominal contents can come out and form a pouch under your skin. Until Christmas he'd never noticed it being that big, but he got sick and coughed and then it got a lot bigger. What had happened medically is that his small bowel had protruded into his scrotum, and it was the size of one of those small basketballs you win at carnivals. I didn't get to see the surgery, because I was post-call (i'd worked 30 hours straight) but I heard about it, and they made an incision across his lower abdomen and with a lot of manipulation they got it all put back in the right place. Well, a week or so went by and he returned, and it was even bigger. I'm not sure exactly what happened but his bowel was still in the right place, so they think it might have been fluid retention. It just had to be the most impressive case I'd seen.

I had another lady with a large ventral hernia (same idea but this was in the front of her belly and had come through a weakening in her abdominal wall due to previous surgery). I met her before her surgery, explained that I would be watching, and that I would be there to see her the next morning. She ended up staying in the hospital 4 days. I went to see her every morning and spent 3 times the amount of time with her that Id id with any of my other patients. I really felt like she was a family member by the time she left. I was on call one night while she was in the hospital and we had some down-time (very rare) and so I went to check on her. She was up walking around. I told her if she kept acting like that she'd have to leave the hospital. (thats meant to be funny). I was thrilled to see her doing so well, because she had a rough first day post-operation. She introduced me to her family members who were there, and then she stopped the attending physician while we were on rounds and told him how great I had been with her and how much she appreciated me visiting her ever day. It made me feel so awesome to have a patient say that about me, especially when it disproves the attending physicians' theory that we suck at patient care.

The last patient I got attached to is probably still in the hospital. I admitted him (and by I, I mean Vlad and I) while I was on call. He was famous in the surgery department because around Christmas he had had an "insulinoma" removed. (this is a tumor on the pancreas which secretes excessive insulin, which causes your blood sugar to drop tremendously, causing you to change how you act and makes you very very sick). Surgery to the pancreas is very difficult to do, and most people avoid it at all costs, but this one couldn't be avoided. He had stayed in the hospital he had it done at for about 3 weeks afterwards, and had just been released 5 days before he showed up in the ER. he and his wife are the cutest couple. I spent a long time in with them just chatting and getting to know them. I feel like that is the job of the medical student, to make people feel comfortable. He was having a lot of drainage from the drain they had inserted in his belly and he was very nauseated. We decided to admit him and rehydrate him since he couldn't keep fluids down. He ended up staying all week and having some problems with the fluids in his stomach from the pancreas, and they really weren't sure what to do with him. I didn't know what to do either, but I just kept going in every day and seeing him, asking him how he felt, was there anything I could do. He gave me a hug on my last day, thanked me for being there every day with him, and wished me good luck. I still want to log on the computer every day and check his vitals, lab reports etc just to make sure he's okay. Its funny how I can spent 15 minutes or so every day consistantly seeing someone and become so attached.

The first set of residents that I worked with were awesome, as were the last set, (the middle set hated DO students). One of them, Dr Marghni, who is from Sudan, was hilarious. He really liked to teach so I made sure I spent a lot of time with him. When we had to work with the attending who didn't let residents do anything "it might ruin my reputation" he said, Marghni and I would have a contest to see who could have the most blood on our gloves at the end of the surgery. Sometimes, I would win, but I'd never touch the patient. The attending just handed me the instruments so I won on a technicality. It was great to have fun during surgery though, because it was so rare to not feel like I was in a hostile environment.

I never actually got yelled at, which surprised me. I just answered questions the best I could, did what I was told, and made my patients love me. It was all I could do... and it worked. I got Honors on surgery! They appreciated having me on the service because I was "an active participant" in the patient's care. Basically, I was the only one who knew what was going on w/ my patients, so that made me feel good. :)


Today I started Ortho. I had no idea you could do surgery without screaming. It was so relaxing. I got asked a bunch of questions, but I was never once told that I was an idiot for not knowing. It was such a vacation after my general surgery rotation. I have a really good feeling about this!!

We'll see how it goes. :)