Monthly Archives: January 2005

No one should be up at this hour…

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If anyone is paying attention to the timestamp on this entry, you’ll notice that it is just past 3AM here in St. Louis as I sit in the resident’s room on the St. John’s Mercy Medical Center Labor and Delivery Unit. I am nearly done with my week of nights here (working 7pm to 7am) and it has been…hmm.. what is the appropriate adjective to finish this sentence?

Awesome? It has definitely been that – I’ve seen vaginal births, cesarean births, emergency cesareans, twin births… I’ve gotten to deliver a placenta and co-deliver a baby. It has definitely been awesome.

Exhausting? That it has been as well. Working nights throws off everything about my internal schedule. All I do is work and sleep – because once I get home (by about 8-8:30am) I have to go straight to bed to get my 7-8 hours of sleep before I get up and head right back to the hospital. When I’m working days I can at least watch some TV… have a meal… spend some time with AJ… or at least relax a little before I sleep, but I just can’t find the time to do that right now. At least I only have 1 more night after this one.

Confusing? A little, yes. I really like OB and one of the chief residents here is laying it on thick about how good I would be as an OB – how I really "get" the surgery aspects and how she thinks I would excel in something surgical. I haven’t given up my pediatrics ambitions (and I don’t think I will), but this is the first rotation that has given me a reason to stop and think about what I want to do with my life as a doctor. The residency is longer, the hours would be worse… but would I like it more?

Anyway – tonight has been pretty slow, giving me time to catch up on reading and try to study a little for a quiz I have in the morning (read: at the end of this 12 hour shift when I have to go back to school – without sleeping first – and take a quiz and attend 4 hours of lecture). I will be sad when my 2 weeks on labor and delivery is over, but it will be nice to sleep again. 🙂

Honors all around!!!

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Grades available in medical school: Fail, Pass, Near Honors, Honors

Grades I received (finally) for the first half of my third year of medical school: Honors, Honors, Honors (that would be for Surgery, Pediatrics, and Neurology).

I didn’t totally expect that, but I’m also not totally surprised, since I did have bits and pieces of my grades earlier… but it’s such a relief to finally have some closure on those rotations – I finished Surgery way back in August and just finally got my grade yesterday! That sure motivates me to work hard this half of the year – I’m on a roll!

One Down, Five to Go

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My first week of OB/GYN is over and here’s what I know so far:

1. It’s going to be a great next 5 weeks
2. Even though I haven’t actually delivered a baby yet, I think I’m really going to like it (probably not enough to change my career path – but probably more than I expected to)
3. I forgot how much fun surgery can be – as an assistant though, not as the director
4. Meal tickets are a wonderful thing – they usually cover food and drink for lunch as well as a few snacks for later on

I just finished a week of Urogynecology, which apparently is much easier to understand when read than when spoken – it sounds like “Euro-gynecology” and people get quite confused and wonder what the Europeans do differently to warrant the title. :-) Anyway, urogynecology is just what it sounds like (I mean, just what it reads like), and we mainly worked with middle-aged to older women who were having problems with pelvic organ prolapse and incontinence and we did clinic work as well as OR cases.

Next week I have a variety of clinics to attend… high risk OB, infertility, ultrasound, general gynecology, etc. Then following that is my two weeks of labor and delivery and two weeks of gynecological surgical and I’m done. Time sure is passing quickly this year.

In other news, it’s been snowing here off and on for the past three days, enough to collect on the ground, but not the roads or sidewalks really. And today most of it has melted away as we approach the predicted high of 56. That is one thing I won’t miss once I’m gone from St. Louis – the crazy weather patterns!!

And more other news – AJ and Chris got back last night. :-) Yay! Time to myself is nice and I enjoyed it (and used it to study a LOT) but I much prefer the company. They left Seattle early Friday morning and didn’t stop until they got here Saturday evening. While one drove, the other tried to sleep curled up in the back with the luggage… needless to say, they were ready for some real sleep last night and we all slept in this morning. It’s nice for them now because we all have the whole day off before school tomorrow. I think we have a Costco trip planned, and maybe dinner at the Outback.

Aussies and New Year’s and Flying – Oh My!

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So much to tell for so few passed days…

Late Wednesday evening (Dec 29th), AJ and I trekked out to Seatac to meet our Aussie friends Anna and Jem, just arriving in America from a whirlwind tour of Europe. After a nice slumber, we took to downtown Seattle with what else but a traditional Starbucks beginning. Our next stop was Pike Place Market where we saw flying fish, eclectic shops, fresh veggies, and the very first Starbucks ever. We took lots of pictures, especially of Rainbow Bear and Gloria (she’s a vibrantly colored gorilla travelling with Anna and Jem – and she apears to be quite taken with Rainbow Bear :-)). Then it was on to more downtown exploring along the streets and through Gameworks on our way to the Cheesecake Factory for lunch. Afterwards, we hopped back in the car for a jaunt up to the Kerry park lookout (and more photos), then a quick driving tour of Seattle Pacific University, Ballard, Fremont, and Lake Union on our way back to the Seattle Center. We had our trip to the top of the needle (the Space Needle, that is) and a long leisurely stay at the top with (of course) more photos. We got to the top just as the sun was setting and so were able to see both day and night views of the city. The inner part of the observation deck was beautifully decorated – leftovers from Christmas as well as anticipation of New Year’s. Following the Space Needle, we parked down at the waterfront and explored a couple of the piers. They are much more interesting in the daytime… and even moreso in the summertime… but we did play a couple of games at the Bay Pavilion and bought a pirate sword for Rainbow Bear before leaving. The final events of the evening took us back up to Lynnwood where we saw “The Incredibles” (great, great movie!!) and had dinner at Red Robin. How much more could you possibly fit into one day??

The next day (New Year’s Eve), AJ and Chris took Anna and Jem up to Steven’s Pass, straped snowboards on their feet and turned on the video camera. 🙂 I hear they had fun, and can’t wait to see the videos! Meanwhile, I accompanied my mom and sister to visit Grandma and Grandpa Thomasson at their new home… which actually is brand new. It is very beautiful and quite spacious without feeling overwhelming. There’s still unpacking to be done and some decorating to do, but it already feels homey. I’m looking forward to visiting again sometime soon (maybe when I get back in the summertime). I really enjoyed chatting over lunch, we don’t get together often enough – as is the way it often goes with families.

Once the boarders were done on the mountain, they came and met up with my family down at the Starbucks on Alki. If the Coffee Club is the answer to “Where Will I Meet You?” for Australians, I’m sure that the answer here in America – or at least in Seattle – would definitely have to be “Starbucks!” The only problem is trying to determine which one, since they seem to be ubiquitously located. After some coffee and conversation, AJ, Chris, Anna, Jem, and I headed back up north and watched the Space Needle fireworks on tv before heading off to sleep… except that I stayed up till the wee hours of the morning reading The DaVinci Code. It was fun, and something I haven’t done for a long time. I really enjoy reading for fun, especially when I don’t have much reading for study to do.

Saturday was my last day in Seattle, and I spent the morning… well I spent the morning sleeping, then in the afternoon we drove to Mukilteo to watch the ferries, walk on the beach, and eat Ivar’s fish-and-chips. We also wandered around the new part of the Alderwood Mall, then met my mom at The Old Spaghetti Factory down on the waterfront for dinner. Once back in Lynnwood, we watched “Ella Enchanted” up at the office and then it was off to bed.

That leaves me with today – the flying part of my title, since I had to head back to St. Louis this morning. I just arrived here about 5 hours ago, got some errands out of the way and am getting ready to go to bed. Tomorrow I start my OB/GYN rotation that I was looking forward up until I picked up my syllabus this evening… the schedule is so complicated and there are a lot of assignments… I think the information will be very interesting but I am already tired just thinking about the hours and the work; which I guess means I should think about getting some sleep now (7am orientation tomorrow morning!)