Slightly improved from intern year. Catch less crap from staff and nursing. Probably could write volumes on the latter, but what would it gain? Feelings of animosity, even less cooperation, and other repercussions. It is certainly not a blanket statement referring to all nurses, and there is an element of education mixed in with all the harassment. I just see it as a rite of passage for all new physicians. Live it, survive it, and we will all laugh about it one day.
On a more educational note, R2's start to move into more of a leadership role on different rotations. Cardiology, Trauma, Neurosurgery ICU, and community ER months are all away rotations where we are less insulated from the repercussions of bad medical decision making. Scary, but necessary. I think a lot of why I dislike going to work has to do with not being comfortable in my knowledge base. It also has much to do with the fact that there are lots of frivolous ED visits. But in spite of all this, there is still an underlying satisfaction with the knowledge that "what I'm doing matters," as Mel Herbert usually signs off with each month.
I was watching an episode of the TV show "Mythbusters" recently. The episode focused around duct tape and the myriad urban myths surrounding the amazing product. One of the challenges was to create a 50 foot rope bridge made entirely of duct tape and walk across it. I was fascinated and disgusted at the amount of resources they were using to answer a curiosity, to entertain. Of course, I was still watching this whole time....doh.
But getting back to "what you do matters." I think medicine is one of the purest professions. It not only remains through different eras, trends, technologies, but is shaped and advances with them. Mankind will always need physicians - we are navigators, mechanics, architects, pioneers. When the frills and sparkle of our greatest civilizations are lost, there will still be us. Indeed, we may someday conquer death - and in doing so, lose the very essence of what makes us human. Ambition and imagination are, at once, what will steer us to our greatest achievements and design our downfall.
"Germany"
Spent a week in Germany with Tao and one of his work friends, Austin. Munich, Oktoberfest, driving on Bavarian backroads, sneaking peeks at girls in drndls, sampling varying brands of German brews, and eating lots of meat/potatoes. Stayed in Switzerland one night and dipped over borders into Austria and Italy on our drive. Fantastic time in a new country, but a few words of (self-)warning: 1) learn as much of the language in the time allowed prior to an overseas trip 2) avoid travel with new companions if possible 3) try to build in some solo travel time to take in the sights & culture at your own pace. All in all, a positive trip. Germany merits a repeat visit and still within top 3 preferences for post-residency assignment.
"New roommate"
Brother Ben has been living with me since mid-July and it has been pretty swell. Originally my idea for him to move in for eventual schooling in Sea/Tac, I had just the slightest amount of hesitation (a few grams?) when it started sounding like more of a reality than a possibility. But arrangements have been excellent; he took over the 2nd bedroom which had just been a storage room. After lazing around for a month and a half, he was threatened with deportation back to Chicago and almost mystically became employed as an assistant high school swim coach.
This week marked his first day of school at UW - a little concerning because as a non-matriculated student he gets "nasty lasties," as he so aptly puts it, with regards to class selection. Of course, all the ones he wanted to take are full. Luckily, he had been regularly emailing the prof expressing his undying desire to learn and now is registered. Checkpoint, time extension! And that brings us to.....
"Burgermaster"
Had the day off and decided to drive Ben up to school. As he would be in class until noon, I decided to hit the coffee shop with my laptop like a good little Seattlite - but not before eating a nice greasy breakfast at a place called BURGERMASTER.
French toast, eggs, sausage links and OJ. Mmm. How did I know it was a greasy spoon joint, a.k.a. real good breakfast food? Old people. Exactly. It is usually very difficult to change an old(er) person's habits and food breeds some of the strongest and most irrevocable habits of all. Granted, not many of these old people were fat, but then again, this is Seattle. As I was eating, I had two notable thoughts.
First, it seems I unconsciously pace and portion my eating so that I have equal amounts of foods left on the dish. Case in point:
This was completely not planned. I was on autopilot and looked down to see this. Why was I on autopilot when eating such a delicious meal? So glad you asked. I was watching one of the older people order some food and then do something that instantly dated him: he stepped outside, rummaged in his pockets for some coins, and bought a newspaper from the box. I cannot remember the last time I saw someone buy a hardcopy newspaper from the coin-op boxes. When will the day come when some kid is going to watch me check sports scores on my iPhone 9 and think,"Shit, that old man is actually using his hands to check the news."
Reminds me of this scene:
"You have to use your hands? That's like a baby's toy!"That's all for now, folks.
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