OOps, by my "tommorrow" from my previous post...i meant 2 weeks later, but alas here she be, a monstrous update of these past few weeks (It is broken up into three parts, with the other parts to follow this post --> ie. scroll down):
Since this is technically a new month, I normally would be starting a new rotation, but with internal medicine at the VA, they require back-to-back months, so I'll be out here until the end of May. I don't really mind so much, because I hate the transitions every month, getting use to a whole new hospital, system and staff. I'm usually slow to get comfortable with things, and by the third week or so, when I feel proficient, usually it's just about time to go. So I think I'm going to enjoy this month a lot more, now that I've gotten the hang of things around the hospital. The majority of the residents have also switched elsewhere for the month, but I lucked out and got to keep the same crazy "terrorist" resident that I had last month. He's not really a terrorist like Safavi, but he was born in Baghdad, so I still get to give him shit. My attending frequently asks him if he's part of a sleeper cell and one day will come back to hurt us, needless to say, I try to act nice...just in case. Maybe he would get along with Safavi though...i dunno, do Iranians and Iraqis get along?!?!
Anyways, I guess I'll start off with my new happenings for the day; as typical of these last few posts, I'm on overnight call again at the hospital and as of recent, I was deemed the black cloud by my resident because when I was in Seattle last weekend and he was on call by himself, he had only one pt. When I'm around we get at least 5 new admits a night and today didn't appear to be any different. To start off the wonderous day, I noticed "bounce-back," a pt. that was recently discharged, and now for some unfortunate reason is back in the hospital. He was assigned to another resident, and it appeared that he was going to be discharged, ready to go home again for a second time. I remember seing him go down the elevator with his wheelchair, and then several minutes later...I hear a "code" paged overhead. Of course, it was this pt., and by the time I got there, there was already too many people around trying to rescuscitate him. I have never been that close to a code before, but it gets your heart thumping and your mind racing. It gives me a lot of anxiety, knowing that someday, I'll have to run a code. It's amazing to see the organized chaos that ensues between the attendings/residents/nurses that arrived first at the scene. Luckily, the pt. came out of it, and is currently in recovery in the ICU.
My resident finished helping with the code and looked at me to say, "great start to the day...we're fucked tonight." But, thankfully he was wrong, or at least so far he is. We've had two admits today, and they came relatively at the same time, so he worked up one, and I did the other. Both are ICU pts, mainly there to rule out an MI (myocardial infart = heart attack). Plus side to being in the ICU today was watching "The Amazing Race" with some old nurses...that sounds kinda gay... but that's what keeps me entertained. If you watch the show...I'm rooting for the hippies.
After the ICU I stopped by another "bounce-back" who will have his infected foot drained tommorrow. I kept passing by his room all day, and he hadn't had any visitors and was looking quite bored, so I made a social visit. We chatted about his work/travel/previous military service, then watched some of the Wizards/Cavs playoff game. It felt good when I finally left the room, and I realized that overall today, I've been in a different mood. Not that I'm not normally the most pleasant person in the world, but today, when I look back, I've just been going out of my way to talk to people and being jovial. I think a lot of is had to do with going to church yesterday during worship and just getting time to reflect and think about many different things. One of the last things the speaker said before the night was over, was to make it a point to do something this week to make a difference in another person; ie. use what you know, and do what you can to impact someone else. Although it wasn't much, just spending those few minutes to chat with the pt. made me feel like I belonged working in a hospital and that I am on the right path that I was chosen to be on.
Alright enough of the moooshyness...my highlight of the day: plane tickets to Chicago!!!! I cleared the days off with my resident, so I will be joining Dookie and Shader in Chi-town from May 17-->21 for hopefully at least 1 Cubs game, 1 Sox game and maybe even a Brewers game. I'm hoping that James, one of my classmates that is doing his rotations at home in Chicago, and Tricia, will get a chance to come hang out and even go to a game or two.
For anyone out there that may pass by this blog and has tickets or knows of people in Chicago that might have tickets to the Sox-Cubs game...let me know. We do not have tickets for that weekend game yet and if we can't find any, it'll be up to Shafer's scalping abilities.
Speaking of baseball this week:
Fantasy baseball lowlight: F#$K Eddie Guardado... blown save #3!!!!!.
One out from getting right back on track, and ?!?!?!? Pablo Ozuna...you give up Pablo's first career HR!?!?!?!?!? Crap...of course it has to happen on the week that my team is up against another team that has monsters of closers. Holy bunghole.
Fantasy basball highlight: Scott Podsednik --> 4 stolen bases...1 game, 'nuff said
Allright, that's all I really have for now, the following three blogs to follow directly under this one will recap Vegas, Seattle, and my b-day on monday. Since my pics are on my laptop at home, if you are reading this early...the rest of the blogs won't be done until tommorrow night (Thu)
If you guys are still reading this and checking up on this blog even though I don't regularly update it, thank you for taking the time to read it
"My name is Minh Ba, My name is Minh Ba, My name is Minh Ba, My name is Minh Ba, My name is Minh Ba, My name is Minh Ba, My name is Minh Ba, My name is Minh Ba, My name is Minh Ba, My name is Minh Ba, My name is Minh Ba, My name is Minh Ba, My name is Minh Ba, My name is Minh Ba, My name is Minh Ba, My name is Minh Ba, My name is Minh Ba, My name is Minh Ba, My name is Minh Ba, My name is Minh Ba"
-The end...for now
Shaef in fron of Wrigley before the Cubs/Nats game
Heading towards our bleacher seat entrance
Me, Jerry the peanut guy and his VW bus
Shaefer's head is sooo big it's blocking the entire L field
Drenched from the onslaught of rain, but we weren't about to give up our prime seats
A different view of Wrigley
Shaef's glove against the bleacher wall at Wrigley
