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!
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Sunday, August 22, 2010
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.
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.
Saturday, August 14, 2010
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.
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
Sunday, August 1, 2010
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.
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.
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Oncology
Well, I'm back in WI, starting my 4th year out with Hematology/Oncology, working with the doctor that I previously did research with. I'm already halfway done, and it seems to be crawling by. I will admit this is not my favorite rotation. The days go very slowly. I'm working on some research as well: a case study on a patient. I forgot how much work goes into writing up a research article. My preceptor seems flustered in how to deal with me. And that's how I feel this last paragraph was written: flustered.
I'll just write about a few things that stick out in my head from the last two weeks.
1. I had to tell a patient the other day that his prostate cancer treatment is not working and that his cancer is progressing. It's hard to keep eye contact with the patient, but I did. That way I could see the look of absolute shock in his wife's eyes, yet the careful control in his face.
2. A 40 year old male who was just diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer- Seeing Dr. O for the first time, both he and his wife admitted to still smoking. Dr. O laid into the wife. It actually made her cry. I was actually really happy to see a preceptor spend so much time on smoking cessation. Often times I feel that the doctors get resigned to the fact that patients are still smoking. Not Dr. O. We talked about it after the appt, and he said that he spends at least 5-10 minutes discussing it. When we saw them again 1 week later, she was down to a few cigarettes per day!
3. A bone marrow biopsy. For those of you who have not had the pleasure of observing one of these, I'll describe it here. I actually think this is one of the nastiest procedures I've seen. First, the skin is numbed with some lidocaine, and then a deeper injection of it, all the way down to the bone. Then this hugeass needle is driven into the hip, where he aspirates some bone marrow. Then he starts grinding the needle and spinning it to get a piece of bone. Now, this takes some effort. Dr. O is putting some muscle into it. Then he pulls it all out and cleans up. The noise is gross. You can hear the bone scraping and crunching.
4. Radiation oncology- I got to spend some time over there to check out how it works. I honestly had no idea what to expect. Well, there is this HUGE machine that focuses it's photon beam at, and radiates the tumor. The room is lined by 6 feet of cement and 1 foot of lead. They take radiation exposure seriously. As they were explaining things to me, I seriously just sat there wondering what language they were speaking to me. Honestly, it was like this horrible physics nightmare! This is the first time since my first year of school, where I really felt like I had absolutely no clue what was going on. I couldn't understand what they were saying, I couldn't think of any intelligent questions to ask, fearing that I would look like a complete moron.
Oh, and in good news, I passed those boards I had to take in PA. Phew. Next up, my written boards on Aug. 23rd.
Oh and in some other good news, the program director from my audition rotation invited me to come back and rotate in his private practice. I may or may not have been jumping up and down.
I'll just write about a few things that stick out in my head from the last two weeks.
1. I had to tell a patient the other day that his prostate cancer treatment is not working and that his cancer is progressing. It's hard to keep eye contact with the patient, but I did. That way I could see the look of absolute shock in his wife's eyes, yet the careful control in his face.
2. A 40 year old male who was just diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer- Seeing Dr. O for the first time, both he and his wife admitted to still smoking. Dr. O laid into the wife. It actually made her cry. I was actually really happy to see a preceptor spend so much time on smoking cessation. Often times I feel that the doctors get resigned to the fact that patients are still smoking. Not Dr. O. We talked about it after the appt, and he said that he spends at least 5-10 minutes discussing it. When we saw them again 1 week later, she was down to a few cigarettes per day!
3. A bone marrow biopsy. For those of you who have not had the pleasure of observing one of these, I'll describe it here. I actually think this is one of the nastiest procedures I've seen. First, the skin is numbed with some lidocaine, and then a deeper injection of it, all the way down to the bone. Then this hugeass needle is driven into the hip, where he aspirates some bone marrow. Then he starts grinding the needle and spinning it to get a piece of bone. Now, this takes some effort. Dr. O is putting some muscle into it. Then he pulls it all out and cleans up. The noise is gross. You can hear the bone scraping and crunching.
4. Radiation oncology- I got to spend some time over there to check out how it works. I honestly had no idea what to expect. Well, there is this HUGE machine that focuses it's photon beam at, and radiates the tumor. The room is lined by 6 feet of cement and 1 foot of lead. They take radiation exposure seriously. As they were explaining things to me, I seriously just sat there wondering what language they were speaking to me. Honestly, it was like this horrible physics nightmare! This is the first time since my first year of school, where I really felt like I had absolutely no clue what was going on. I couldn't understand what they were saying, I couldn't think of any intelligent questions to ask, fearing that I would look like a complete moron.
Oh, and in good news, I passed those boards I had to take in PA. Phew. Next up, my written boards on Aug. 23rd.
Oh and in some other good news, the program director from my audition rotation invited me to come back and rotate in his private practice. I may or may not have been jumping up and down.
Friday, July 16, 2010
This Made My Day
And the OB/GYN one is absolutely perfect :)
Someday I'll write a post about my life again.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
