Success

Haters say my abdominal exam drawing is overly detailed. And by 'haters', I mean 'everyone'. But hey, would it kill you to put a little drop shadow on a hastily scrawled 'vtx'?


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Always the Bridesmaid of Delivery

Another call night tonight. Another promise of hard work, diligent charting, and sporadic sleep. But another opportunity.

I want to catch baby. I think it's a reasonable request. Heretofore, however, circumstances have conspired to not give me that opportunity. I have come close. I've stood next to the doctor, I've delivered placentas, helped dry off baby. But I really think I would like to get one out. You know, to say I did.

I think the placentas are good practice. But nobody seems that interested in what I'm doing. They never have a name picked out, they never want to hold it, they're just never that excited about the placenta. Maybe I should start charting that... seems like it might be relevant - I don't think these placentas that I'm bringing into the world are necessarily getting loving homes.


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Slogans

This started as the idea for a banner over my waiting room if I were an Ob/Gyn. Except lately, I'm thinking rads, so I won't need the banner because:

a) it won't make sense given the context
and
b) I won't have a waiting room

Come to think of it, it might be funnier out of context. Put it up in the neurosurg. waiting room.


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[[[[[[[[]]]]]]]]

There used to be these bills called 'SOPA' and 'PIPA' yesterday. I'd heard about them a little bit, something about using a firewall to unilaterally black out websites accused of copyright infringement. And that was the rub - not 'proved', but 'accused'. That made people kind of nervous, as Big Brother tends too. And it's probably not the best for the sharing of ideas.

Anyway, due to astounding concerted effort by most of the websites you would have ever gone to, support for these bills collapsed yesterday. So that's generally a good thing. The only problem was, when I got curious and went to try to use Wikipedia, it let me right in. I read like 16 articles and clicked a bunch of links. Couldn't get it to turn black.

I really learned a lot.


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Underwater

I'm really courting the technical French/English pun loving demographic on this one.

Spent another day on call this past Friday. It nearly killed me. I've come to the conclusion that medical education is about 10% raw hazing. I did okay, got my notes done, kept my head down. But if they sense a hint of weakness, they will hound you mercilessly all night long.

It was rough. Every time I carved out a two hour block of no notes, in came the ambulances and the triage, and it was a fresh set of H&P's all over again. The actual medicine of Ob/Gyn is okay, but the schedule (and the suing) make it pretty tough. I had this realization when an attending told me how awesome it will be when she quits, opining that late 50's would be a good time to hang it up for good.

Happy retirement. Enjoy sleeping at night.


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Island of Misfit Birth Control

Talked about birth control today. Basically, part of being a medical student is the fact that we get the high-school health talk about every year, and at a slightly higher level of complexity each time. And less taking out a sheet of looseleaf paper and making a list of five reasons why abstinence is the best for me.

I've come to the belief that there are too many birth control options. "Blah blah blah, choice, blah blah -" Unimpressed. People don't need 16 options for their blood pressure medication, they need a few that work. Birth control isn't that different. I am unsurprised that they stopped manufacturing the sponge in 2009, and that the Oby/Gyney giving the lecture hadn't fit a diaphragm in years. I mean, how can either of those compete with the sleek stylings of NuvaRing in the category of 'things you put in your vagina'?


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Need a Little Christmas...

One day a few days ago was Orthodox Christmas. I don't know what the regular Christmas is properly called, so I'm going to go with 'Regular Christmas'. I don't know why I didn't consider this before, but now I'm wondering if there are other Christmases out there. Secret Christmases.

There probably aren't. But there are some other ones of the musical variety. Mame wasn't exactly clear on what month it was, but if it were 'January', that seems a little desperate.


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Awareness

Still trying to get the lay of the land in Ob/Gyn. We have this democratically organized schedule, which is fine and just and all that, but it really does highlight the inefficiencies associated with democracy. If we don't spend another moment, I still will have spent about 2 hours more thinking about scheduling than if a kindly departmental aide had assigned everybody and handed me a color-coded calendar.

I did L&D yesterday, with another medical student. We divided up two patients who came at about the same time. I got to do an L - I auscultated some lungs and noted their clearness for the chart appropriately. He got to do a D - and said there was a lot of fluid involved. More than he had expected. A lot. Of fluid.

I've noticed people don't really seem to talk about the miracle of birth so much as the fluids associated with it when I'm actually down in the trenches. Suffice it to say, I'll be witnessing the miracle through appropriate eye protection, when I get the chance.


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Fresh Start

Happy New Year, Everyone!


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