The Flintstones

In my previous post, I talk about my one ICU patient. The other day he had a visit from Betty Rubble, AND she threw him across the room. I'm quite curious whether it was the cartoon version or the Rosie McDonald version from the movie. Either way, I wish I could have witnessed this hallucination.

In good news, I only have 3 days left plus Jake will be here on Thursday night! Super excited.

My ICU Patient

I have had this same patient since my 2nd day of my rotation. He was admitted with acute respiratory failure and in his time here, other diagnoses have included pneumonia, acute renal failure, urinary tract infection, hyperglycemia, and delirium. Since I've been with him so much, he and his wife have gotten to know me rather well. I spend more time with them than the attending physician so I feel like I have a decent relationship with them. Well, his delirium has gotten worse in the last few days leading to some funny sayings. Today he said to me "Can I interest you in a cold drink at my house, Madame." "It came on me like a panther, and then I was standing on a timestamp." Strange and hilarious at the same time. His wife and I were both laughing.

Hawaii Hawaii Hawaii

I get to go to Hawaii in the spring for one month to do a NICU rotation! I am flippin ecstatic! And I get to stay with my very kind friend Lydia :)

Best news ever!

Getting Sick in the ICU

This last week, I've been the sickest ever since starting rotations. Monday was filled with fevers, sweating, and chills. Literally, I was walking around the ICU wrapped in a blanket. I went home early that day. And crawled right into bed where I stayed until the next morning. Tuesday, I called in. Wednesday, I went back but my voice started to get froggy. Thursday, I had no voice. I was whispering. I whispered all my presentations to my preceptors. I went to the doctor that afternoon and was put on voice rest. So I got to stay home on Friday as well. Now, getting sick is normal. People commenting on how awful you look/sound is also normal. What is not normal is that my preceptors completely ignored the fact that I was sick. I was whispering to them on Thursday and they acted like nothing was unusual about that. The other odd part about this is that I don't really think a sick person should be in the ICU, examining patients. Not a thing was mentioned.  And just as a sidenote, I am absolutely convinced I have serratia, as one of our patients had it. Stupid med student syndrome.

And as for hating this rotation, it is slowly moving its way into the position of worst rotation ever. It's been in second place this whole time, but I'm beginning to think it will be taking first place. Seriously, I'm not sure how on earth I will make it another two weeks. These are the longest days of my whole life. After these miserable two weeks, I'll be on 8 weeks of audition rotations....while exhausting, at least I'll be loving what I'm doing.

ICU-The Rotation From Hell

I'm not kidding. This is going to be the longest month of 4th year. I'm doing this rotation with one of my classmates and good friends Paul. All I have to say, is thank God I'm not doing this rotation alone; I might literally die of boredom. Does that happen? I might have been the first. But, we won't be planning my funeral since I have Paul.

We have to be ready to go at 8:30 for rounds with the whole team (about 8-10 people). But, we have to be ready to present our patients in front of this group and have recommendations on a plan. So during the week, we are getting to the ICU at 6:30. From the time we get there until rounds are over, time flies. It's great. And then, we are supposed to read until the day ends at 5 pm. This can be anywhere from 10 am-1 pm. Seriously, 7 hours of sitting there and reading? While, yes, the study time is appreciated, it's a bit much. And I would much rather be studying at my house. Then we were also notified that we were expected to be there a few weekends. That's working 12 days in a row. Paul and I arrived at the hospital at 5:30 am today. MISERABLE. I had to break out the coffee pot this morning even though it's been so hot here. I didn't care, the diet Dew was not enough to support me through the morning. We were able to leave after rounds today, so it's not as awful. But still, it blows. I am absolutely exhausted. I took a 3.5 hour nap today. So like I said, not my fave. Plus, I'm supposed to take boards a week from Monday. I'm thinking I'll need to push those back since my studying hasn't been so great and I'm just so tired.

The good part is that the patients are mostly interesting and very complicated. Later in the week, I'll add some cases.

Hot Air Balloon Ride

Not medicine related, but I have pictures of something, so that's unusual for me. For my sister, Jake, and my birthdays, my parents got us a hot air balloon ride.I was very very nervous, as the the thought of flying around the air in a flippen basket didn't seem quite so safe. But, I sucked it up and did it. We had a lot of fun. The anticipation was the scariest part. The actual ride was calm and not scary at all. The landing was hilarious. We landed in a field of cows. They freaked out. First they all started running into one big crowd. Then as we got closer, they bolted in the opposite direction. Once we landed, they came charging at us. Thankfully they stopped before they got to us. My favorite part of the ride was the whole landing. The basket slams into the ground, bounces up and slams back down again. This happens a few times and I have the bruises on my knees to prove it. My sister and I could not stop landing. Then, after Jake pushed us into a non cow zone (yes I said pushed), we tip over. As you can see, Laura and I are climbing out. After everything was packed up, we went back to their business and had some champagne to celebrate.

More from Oncology

As I previously posted, my preceptor is flustered by me. It's been an odd interaction, but we came to a "disagreement" on Thursday, and I changed it up on Friday, making for a great day.

Thursday- I was scheduled to go observe an U/S guided breast biopsy at a different center. Dr. O had been on vacation and seemed annoyed that I hadn't gotten more written on my case report. (Hello, I was seeing and dictating all the NP's patients!) So I asked if he'd prefer I stay and work on that. He told me it was up to me. I finally just said I'd stay and work on the research, knowing that was his preference. Well, lunch time rolls around, and this conversation follows:
Him-"Where do you want to go?"
Me-"I don't care. Wherever you pick is fine."
Him-"Jenny, what do you feel like."
Me-"I will eat anything.
Him-"Jenny, why don't you have an opinion."
Me-"Haven't you been a med student? Whatever my attending wants, is what I want."
Him-"You are a 4th year medical student, about to be a physician. Now you should be having an opinion and disagreeing with preceptors. You're not a 1st or 2nd year. Tell me where you want to go."
Me-I finally picked a place and he was happy.
Fast forward to when we're eating....
Me-"Do you like the food?"
Him-"Jenny, haven't you ever been an attending? You like what your medical student likes." Booyah. yeah he totally mocked me.
So, I've recently made my opinions clearer and things are much smoother :)

My funny story of the week. The patient is in her late 90s and was just diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma of the vagina. We walk in the room, and her daughter asks to speak to us outside. She doesn't want her mom to know she has cancer, and they are all using the word ulcer. Dr. O wasn't too pleased, but nonetheless continued with that word. This lady is very hard of hearing....so we think. Dr. O tries explaining things over to her and she just looks confused and keeps saying what. Then he is talking to the daughter, telling her that he will get some testing done for today so that they don't have to go back and forth. And what does Mz. Little Old Deaf Lady say "Oh yeah, I don't want to go back and forth." She totally heard him! He called her out on her selective hearing and she was smirking. The other funny thing about this interaction, was that I was in front of her, while her daughter and dr. O were on the sides of her. She would look at Dr. O and be looking nice, then turn to her daughter and squint her eyes and give her a dirty look. I was trying very hard to not laugh.