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!