Today I slept in

Today I slept in until 11 am. It was amazing. Since my last weekend of my medicine AI was my "black" weekend (on call from Saturday morning to Sunday afternoon), I have not had a day off in two weeks. Also, I didn't sleep post-call last weekend because a friend was in town (hi, Alex!) and I had coffee with him. It was worth it, but did not help the sleep count.

But, guess what! My medicine AI is over! Yay!!! (Note the appropriate spelling of "yay," Jan.) Now I'm back on pregnancy and babies (maternal fetal medicine elective) for two weeks. On Monday, the first thing I did was a C section at 7:30, and as my scalpel hit skin for the first time in months, something inside me breathed a sigh of relief. That's right. I hated last month, not because I hate medicine, but because it is not the sort of medicine I'm supposed to be practicing. This is. While I've been getting up at 4:15 most mornings, I don't care. This is better.

And now, three day weekend! I'll probably go in at some point today because my attending has a patient delivering, and he usually calls his students to come in for the delivery. But, still, three days in a row to sleep in. It is amazing. And he usually lets me do the delivery practically on my own, so it is totally worth it to go in.

Oh, and by the way, I'm applying to residency in, um, three days. The real action doesn't get going for a bit longer, but the application will be submitted. Whee! Or something.

...

Stephanie Tubbs Jones died today of a ruptured brain aneurysm. She was driving in Cleveland Heights when that errant vessel gave way; that's how close to home this is, literally.

Just like with Wellstone, there isn't a lot to say that would be appropriate. Cleveland, Ohio, the U.S., anyone who calls themselves a liberal... We are hurting today.

For those of you keeping score, I have 11 days left of this rotation and 3 more calls. Call = staying overnight = 31 hour shifts (oops! I mean "30" hours, ACGME). Last time I was on call I got 45 minutes of sleep. And during those 45 minutes the Family Medicine resident in the call room next to mine was doing a pretty poor job of answering his pages promptly, so his pager kept beeping and beeping.

So far, I haven't actually lashed out at anyone, but let me tell you something. There is very little that makes me angrier than when I am post-call but still about 6 hours away from going home and I am on the elevator with people who are not physicians or medical students and they are complaining about having to work a 12 hour shift that day. Come on, I worked 12.5 hours today and it was my short day. I never express that anger, because I know this schedule is my own fault. Yes, I'm paying for the privilege to work like this. I chose this. But, still, could you people wait to complain about your tough schedules until there is not some half-dead medical student slumped against the elevator wall? You've been around. You know the signs of post-call misery. Show some tact.

Today my intern said that he sensed some frustration and anger beneath the surface in me. I wonder what he meant.

Compromise

Or...I can do a different style. Instead of "information" and "updates" and "pictures," this blog will maybe be a place to whine, short form style. Yes?

(Okay, brief update: went to T&J's wedding (awesome! beautiful! yay, T&J!), studied for Step 2, took Step 2, went to California, ate at the French Laundry (oh.my.god.), met Brandon's extended family, came back, started my Internal Medicine Acting Internship, cried a little.) More on all that later. Maybe.

So, someone in the Ravelry wedding forum mentioned that white dresses for weddings were for people to show off their wealth, in that they can afford a seriously impractical and easily made dirty garment. White is not a practical color when around mess. So....why the white coats for doctors, people? Seriously? Gross.

Also, when you give a guy a hefty dose of narcotics and then wake him up from a deep sleep, and he can't remember your name, but pretty much knows where he is and what's going on, do not page me worrying about his mental status. Trust me, when you wake me up, that patient is going to be a lot more oriented than I am. Then, I will drag myself across the hospital to go see said patient, and (with my senior) give him the life-threatening diagnosis of "sleepy."

See you in a month

I can't pretend. This isn't happening right now. I'm on my medicine acting internship and it is EATING MY SOUL. Luckily, I have a plucky little soul, so I expect to make it through okay, but there will be no blogging in the meantime. Probably. See you August 25th or so.

In the meantime, entertain yourself with this:

http://www.feministing.com/cgi-bin/movabletype/mt-search.fcgi?IncludeBlogs=2&search=Sarah+Haskins

I remember this feeling...

Apologies to people who actually bother to read this. I know I was all, "stay tuned...more coming." I forgot that I was about to StudyForBoards. Last time I did this, I pretty much became a hermit. Well, if hermits are allowed to go to coffee shops, that is. But I didn't talk to people except for Brandon, and I spent approximately 16 hours a day in front of my textbooks or online test question bank. So, yeah...that's basically what I'm doing again. People told us, "Oh, Step 2 isn't as bad! You won't have to study that hard!" Yeah...they lied. Brandon and I take the test on Monday, July 21st, so we're both kind of in panic stage, which means no pictures for you. Yet.

But, here's a cute little story. Tonight we ordered takeout from this little Indian place we go to occasionally. Indian food because we deserve a treat, takeout because we still have to keep studying while we eat. So, we went and got our food, but when we got home, we realized the kheer was missing. And I love me some kheer. Half the point of getting the Indian food is the kheer. So B went back. And when the Indian man at the counter realized he'd left out our kheer he was waaaay apologetic. And then he said, "And you are regulars, too! I'm so sorry. Here, I'll give you two beers." And he put two bottles of beer in the paper bag with the kheer. We're regulars! They recognize us at the Indian restaurant! And they love us enough to try to buy our love with beer. It made me feel special. Granted, I'm not all that into lager, but it's the thought, you know?

Okay, off to try to sleep. Sleep is tricky lately, because I have the adrenaline and the palpitations and all of that goodness. But that's what Benadryl is for, right? Haha...no, seriously.

I've actually been living life in the real world...weird

The last week has been long and busy. The last 9 days, really. So, I do want to update, but it's going to have to be in installments. Which means maybe I'll update more regularly? Eh?

Two weekends ago two of my very best friends came to visit - Marissa and Amy. Seeing as how Ris is my maid of honor and Amy is a bridesmaid, I was super, super excited about their timing. I did my best not to be all, "Blahblahblahweddingblahblahdressblahblahcolortheme," all weekend. You can ask them how I did. (No, I don't know how you can ask them, since I'm not posting their phone numbers or anything. Some of you know them, so I guess you could ask them. Anyway.) We ate Turkish food and went to the Cleveland wine festival and ate dinner at Lola and brunch at Tommy's. I think I did a reasonable job of convincing them that Cleveland isn't a total wasteland (which it isn't, but they have recently lived in places like New York and Philadelphia and Seattle, so...yeah.) And then I was sad when they left. Because I love them a lot. Okay, I'm done being sappy. For now.

Besides, there was not time to be sad, because the future in-laws were coming! Wes and Kris are really great people, and I like them a lot. But...this was the first time when I would see them as Future-In-Laws. So, maybe I was a leetle bit stressed. It was completely fine. They took us back for a second Lola dinner (yay!) and were otherwise quite low-key. Wes has learned that I like cheese, so whenever he visits our fridge becomes full of awesome cheese. Today I ate half a loaf of bread with about a quarter pound of cheese and some tomatoes for some sort of lunch/dinner combo meal. I was a happy girl. Basically, I have a future father-in-law who likes to increase my access to cheese and wine. I am more than okay with this.

Then, all of us (Wes, Kris, Brandon, and Karen) drove down to Dayton, Ohio for the wedding of Jeremy and Tamara. Jeremy is one of B's friends from elementary/middle/high school. B was a groomsmen, and Jeremy will more than likely be part of our wedding party. Tamara and I met once in real life before the wedding, but we've become really good blog friends (you may recognize her name from the comments). So, I managed to score an invite to the bachelorette party, the rehearsal dinner, the wedding, and the next-day barbecue! Sweet!


On the way down to Dayton, we drove so close to the house I lived in from age 7-14 years, so I made B stop. So...just so you know, when we lived there the garage was not painted with a giant O. We are indeed OSU fans (both of my parents have multiple degrees from THE Ohio State University), but not that kind of OSU fan. The trees are much bigger, and I'm pretty sure that the hostas in front were planted by my mother about 15 years ago. Kind of fun.

Okay, that's all for now. I leave you with this teaser picture from the bachelorette party. (Note to relatives who read this: only one of those martinis is mine. That's not saying I didn't order a second one later in the night, but I definitely did not have six. Just sayin'.) Come back next time for stories of multiple parties and a wedding and meeting more internet friends (hi, Jennie and Heidi!). You know you want to.