Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Ouch!

I had my first needlestick today and it sucks. First, getting stuck by a needle hurts. Being stuck by a needle that went through a patient with known Hepatitis C hurts even more. And then sitting in the ED waiting for nothing feels like salt on the wound.

Saturday, July 26, 2008

Who ever knew

For the last few weeks, I have lived without TV and internet at home. Never before actually doing it did I think that I could do it. If you think about it, we have become so dependent on technology and stuff to distract us that it's hard to imagine life without some kind of noise or some kind of visual stimulation. However, now that I have lived without these distractions at home for awhile, I realize that my life at home has become much less hectic. Without something to distract me, I have been able to read more than I would (both for work and for pleasure), my place is not an utter mess, and I feel less stupid (yes, I do love TV, but yeah, it can make me feel stupid). All that said, I still have my radio (which is split between NPR and my iPod) and my West Wing DVDs. I will probably change my mind after my West Wing DVDs run out, though (I'm on Season 4, Episode 13 now).

This can also be held as an excuse for my not posting more often.

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Back in the dark ages

I have no internet at home, hence no blogging.  My apologies.  I am trying to fix this, but when you work 80 hours a week and still try and maintain your sanity, you don't have much time. 
 

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

3AM

Keeping my fingers crossed for a quiet night. I have slept 2 hours tonight, which is generous and makes me happy. Or delirious. It's hard to tell at 3AM.

Saturday, July 19, 2008

Long time, no see

My reasons for not posting as of late: I work 80 hours a week, I have no internet at home, and did I mention that I work 80 hours a week? Yeah, those are lame excuses, I know, but when all you do it work and sleep and maybe watch a few hours of West Wing on DVD in between, there isn't much to blog about.

I have to say that my experiences thus far have been pretty cool and very rewarding. I have delivered many babies, experienced the joy of helping women bring babies into the world, and considered the societal circumstances that make 17 year olds mothers. There have been many long hours, many sleepless nights, and hopefully it's all worth it. It's hard to imagine that it's almost a month in, though. On the other hand, it's hard to imagine that I still have 3 years and 11 months of this left - I just don't know how I will have the energy to do anything but sleep and work. Now, I can see how residents have no life.

On that note, I am determined to have a life outside of work, but it's admittedly very hard. Besides the fact that I'm completely spent at the end of everyday and am working random nights and weekends, it's hard to meet people. I have always been in situations where friends were easy to find. From high school to college to medical school, there has always been a network from which I could find friends. Now that I'm "working" (I don't know if I could say that I'm even getting paid - I calculated my hourly pay to be around $4 an hour, at an astounding rate of half the minimum wage in California), there's no network of ready-made friends. Yeah, I can always be friends with people from work, but you have to get over the boundary of seeing them at work, which is effort-free, to making plans outside of work, which is definitely not effort-free. The alternative is to reach out to pre-existing friends, like from high school, college, and medical school. But unless they're a few minutes' drive away, it's really hard to make plans (and if they're also residents, it makes it infinitely harder).

So, now my goal is to find new friends. I don't really have a strategy as of yet on how to do so. I may need to come up with one eventually though, especially if I plan on making friends outside of the medical field, which is a goal of mine.

Saturday, July 12, 2008

Free!

Today is my first day totally free to spend by myself. The few days that I have had off lately, I have been going home. That's great and all, but that can be tiring as well. So, this weekend, I decided to stay home and do stuff I need to do to feel like a normal person. On my to-do list today (I always have to have a to-do list, even on my days off):
  • Clean my apartment, including a good vacuum. I'm starting to see hairballs that look eerily like tumbleweed balls rolling across my floor.
  • Go shopping - not that I intend to buy anything (other than a digital antenna converter - yes, I have rabbit ears for my tv), but just to go exploring a little.
  • Cook dinner. I cooked yesterday and I will cook again today. Both times, I have enough food to feed a family of 6, but you know, I will be eating leftovers all week. One day earlier this week, I realized that I didn't have anything to eat for dinner and grabbed something to eat from the cafe at work. Gasp!
Having some time to yourself is nice, but I realized that I have a very short list of people I can call to just hang out. Not many people here in the South Bay and those who are here happen to be busy all weekend! And I'm on call tomorrow, so it's not like I can hang out and drink all night tonight. Oh well, a good night in is just as great as a good night out.

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Pictures of the city by the bay

My dad and I, on our way down from the Cliff House, San Francisco: (notice, I'm still smiling through the burning I felt in my thighs on the way up)
My cousins, who are no longer as little as I remembered (but just as cute):

Monday, July 7, 2008

Going green

In an effort to a) get some exercise b) have less of my paycheck go to gas money and c) do my part to lessen my environmental impact, I am now riding my bike to work. Albeit, it won't be everyday (I just can't make myself ride to work when I'm on call - the idea of getting on a bike after being awake for 30 hours just kills me), but it is going to be a concerted effort on my part to try and do it as often as possible.

As a bonus, it wakes me up in the morning, because I am still having a hard time with the 5:30 wake up calls.

Friday, July 4, 2008

At a glance

My last two days: Arrive at the hospital at 6am on July 3rd.  Leave hospital at 10am July 4th.  Drive home, arrive at 11:30am. Wake up at 2:00pm to go to a family bbq. 

Yes, I only got 3 hours of sleep and I feel like it.  My body aches. My heart rate is up.  I'm anxious.  I'm grumpy.  I have to get used to this - and so do those around me. 

Ah, the next four years will be fun!