Adult medicine? What's that??

I'm at Ft. Hood in the great little city of Killeen, Texas.  I was here a year ago for my nursery rotation.  This year I am rotating in the ER.  Which means I have to see kids AND adults.  Weird!  I don't remember how to do adult medicine.  I haven't taken care of adults in a long time.  It's all foreign to me.  Fortunately the people I'm working with are really cool and they don't mind letting me see the kids that come in.  No crazy stories just yet.  I had two patients walk out on me, which was kind of funny.  People seem to think the ER is like Burger King - "Have it your way."  Um, sorry to disappoint, but NO.  It just doesn't work like that.  It's so hard to provide compassionate care to people who are so entitled and ungrateful.  Drives me crazy.  But I guess that's what I signed up for.  The good, the bad, AND the annoying.

The calm before the storm

It's a beautiful Saturday morning and I am enjoying a nice warm cup of chai tea, enjoying these last few moments of peace.  In 3 days I will be starting my second year of residency as the senior resident in the NICU.  I'm a little nervous about this new level of responsibility.  It's just so strange... one night you go to bed a clueless intern, the next day you wake up as the all-knowing senior resident.  Yikes!  I'll have three interns to be responsible for.  I will be their direct supervisor, as well as their teacher.  I'm kind of excited about this job, but also somewhat anxious.  I want to do a really good job.  I had excellent second year residents last year.  I have big shoes to fill.

But there's no sense in sitting here worrying about it.  Worrying doesn't add a single hour to the day, as it says in the Bible.  So for now I will enjoy the sunny weekend and get rested before the craziness begins!  :)

17 days and counting...

I'm almost done with my intern year!!!  I can't believe it!  It went by fast.  I'm super excited, and a little nervous too.  I'm not sure if I'm ready to be a second year resident.  But I don't really have a choice because they passed me on all of my rotations this year so apparently somebody important thinks I'm ready.  :)  I still feel like I have SO MUCH to learn.  I think I'm going to be reading a lot more this year.  I feel like intern year was kind of just a time to get my feet wet, to get accustomed to Pediatrics, and to learn the system.  NOW I need to learn the art of medicine.  It's a lot to squeeze into a 3-year residency.  But I know being a doctor will involve lifelong learning.  I'll never be done learning or taking tests.

Top ten memories of intern year:

10. Walking into my first continuity clinic ever and looking at my first patient's chart - former 22 week premie with cerebral palsy, hearing loss, blindness, hypothyroidism, etc., etc., etc.  AHHHH!!!

9. Circumcising a little African-American baby boy who was so large we nicknamed him "Big Dog Duckett".

8. Rounding on patients with the ward team dressed up as the Flintstones on Halloween.

7. Walking with our leukemia patients on the annual Light the Night walk.

6. Telling off a lab tech only to come face-to-face with him several weeks later when I had a needle-stick injury and he had to draw blood from me.  KARMA.

5. Having a ward spelling bee because all the guys on our team were so bad at spelling - taking home the winning ribbon!!

4. Walking into one of the Labor & Delivery rooms with a newborn in his bassinet, giving my discharge instructions and realizing halfway through I'm in the wrong room - receiving blank stares from parents who have not had their child yet.  Oops.

3. Running my first mock code ever on the ward, not just as practice but as the "official" pediatric ward mock code - failing miserably and crying in front of two attendings (including the department chief).

2. Causing a raucous in Fredericksburg during our resident retreat - Sue throwing a bottle of Worcestershire sauce and me dropping and shattering a bottle of beer.

1. Making some great new friends.  :)

There's no place like home

I wish it were as easy as tapping ruby red slippers together and chanting "There's no place like home."  I wish I could be with my family whenever I'm feeling homesick.  Unfortunately it took a very long plane ride and months of planning.  Also money, Air Force leave request, and much preparation.  I spent the last 10 days on the East Coast, and it was wonderful.  I spent the first part of my visit up in Maryland, where I got to see my good friend Kimberly graduate from med school.  I also reunited with some old friends and even went to my old church.  Then I headed to the Outer Banks in North Carolina for some much-needed R&R and girl bonding time with my mom and sister.  Lisa had flown in from Las Vegas.  She is almost 6 months pregnant with a little girl, and definitely has the "glow" of pregnancy.  She has always been beautiful, and is even more so now.  We went to a lesser known area of the Outer Banks called Ocracoke Island.  It's a very small island that is accessible only by ferry, private boat or plane.  It has a population of less than 1000 and has miles and miles of untouched beaches.  Most of the Outer Banks has been built up and commercialized.  But not Ocracoke.  As soon as we drove off the ferry there was a sense of old-town comfort and quiet.  People ride bikes around the small island.  There are no familiar chain restaurants or stores - no Wal-Mart, no CVS, no McDonald's.  Instead there are quaint privately-owned shops, such as "Sweet Tooth" candy store, "The Back Porch" restaurant, and of course the General Store.  We stayed at a lovely B&B called The Cove.  Our deck looked out at the water.  After 3 glorious days at the beach, the girls headed back home to Virginia and I spent the rest of the week catching up with family and preparing for Lisa's baby shower.  We had a mini family reunion for her shower - almost all of the 12 cousins were there.  My last night at home I walked around the farm taking pictures with my new camera, marveling at what a peaceful night it was.  My parents have built their retirement home on a farm and there's a little pond in front that sparkles at night when the sun is setting.  It couldn't be more picturesque.  The next morning was filled with tearful goodbyes - particularly when my sister left.  I almost always cry when we part.  I miss her so much.  And I miss the rest of my family, too.  Coming home from vacation is always hard.  Especially when you've gone home to visit family.  Hence the title of the blog.  Despite the friends I've made here in Texas and the exciting new adventures I've had here, I still feel like a part of my heart is missing because it's with my friends and family in Virginia.  There truly is no place like home.

Constructive vs. destructive criticism

I finished my ward rotation at University Hospital today.  This is the one civilian rotation we have all year.  The purpose is to expose us to another medical system, particularly one like UH that has a lot of pediatric trauma and high-acuity patients.  I was actually pretty excited about it.  A new hospital, new people to meet, interesting patients, and I got to dress like a girl instead of wearing my very unattractive BDU's everyday.  

I'm sorry to say I was somewhat disappointed with the rotation.  Don't get me wrong - I did enjoy the medicine I learned, and I enjoyed getting to know some of the people there.  Unfortunately, my senior resident and I didn't really click.  She's a very serious, smart, efficient resident.  I'm more laid-back, which I think can be perceived as laziness.  I'm not lazy, though.  I work hard.  Granted I have my off days where I'd rather not be there and I probably don't give 100%.  But for the most part, I consider myself to have a very good work ethic.

Unfortunately, this is not what my senior resident thought of me.  I asked for feedback halfway through the rotation and again today at the end of the rotation... and I have to say, it was probably the most negative, unhelpful feedback I've ever gotten.  And I'm not just being defensive when I say I don't agree with it.  I really do think I did a better job than she gave me credit for.  She totally focused on the few things I did wrong and didn't mention any of the things I did right.  It was really quite destructive to my ego, and not constructive in any way.  Apparently this girl did not attend leadership courses like I did in ROTC at good old Virginia Tech.  Hasn't she heard of the "feedback sandwich"?  Positive critique, followed by negative critique with suggestions for improvement, wrapped up with positive critique.  You can give constructive criticism without making someone feel like a piece of crap... which is what she made me feel like.

But I only felt that way for a little while.  Then I decided I'm not going to let her get to me.  I know how hard I worked.  I know the good things I did.  I don't need her recognition to know that.  I'll be honest, I'm still a little frustrated by the whole thing - but I'll get over it.  I'll put a smile on my face and keep trying my hardest.  Only 2 more months of intern year, and then I'm no longer at the bottom of the totem pole.  Yay!!

And I'm BACK!... with a Mac!!

So about a month ago my 5-year old HP laptop decided to die.  It's been a pretty slow inevitable process... little things kept breaking here and there.  Then I got a nasty virus and everything shut down.  I decided it was time to buy a new computer.  My laptop was extremely outdated and worked better as a doorstop than it did as a computer (it weighs about 20 pounds, haha... no seriously, it's ridiculously heavy).  

In the meantime I've been disconnected from the outside world.  No Facebook, no MySpace, no blog, no YouTube.  In other words, I had loads of time to do more productive things.  Like watch American Idol.  Hahah.  But I also spent a great deal of time researching what I would buy to replace my old laptop.  I seriously spent HOURS comparing all the different PC's.  I learned more than I ever want to know about processors, frontside bus (still don't really know what that means), gigabytes, RAM... I had narrowed it down to either a Dell or Sony Vaio.

And then I talked to some friends who made the leap from PC to Mac.  One friend told me, "I will never buy a PC again."  She let me play with her Mac.  It was pretty sweet.  So today - one month after the death of my HP - I bought a Macbook.  It's a pretty big change for me.  I've never been an Apple girl.  Macs always kinda scared me.  And they seem to be for people who are members of some sort of secret elite club.  But so far I'm happy with my purchase.  My Macbook is so pretty and fancy!  I have hours of nerdy enjoyment ahead of me.  And now I'm back in the internet world.  I'll still be watching American Idol, though.  :) 

Back in the NICU

I'm working in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) again this month, so I probably won't be writing on this blog too much. Not that I write much as it is. I have become too busy and too tired to bother writing on here. I cherish my spare time to sleep or attempt to lead a normal life. Last night I actually got away from the hospital and did something fun. I went to see "The Phantom of the Opera" with one of my good friends who was in town. It was the Broadway show - they are on tour here in San Antonio at the Majestic Theater. It was amazing!!! I absolutely loved it. I've been singing songs from the show all day. What a beautiful, tragic love story. I want to see it again.

And now I'm off to bed, hoping to dream of my own Phantom who's madly in love with me. Haha. :)