Island Med Student

Life has been a blur lately. I drove down to Baltimore on Friday night, incredibly sleep deprived and tired. I woke up Saturday morning, drove to Virginia, rented a Uhaul truck, and with the help of my parents and Micah, loaded up most of my items out of storage on the farm into the truck. Micah and I set sail from the farm around 3:00 p.m., and stopped once in Baltimore. By midnight, we were back in Brooklyn. We unloaded all of our stuff from the truck into our apartment.

Everyone always told me “just wait until you do peds…you’ll get sick!” But I thought I had been incredibly lucky and superhuman. I didn’t get sick one day during my peds rotation. However the day AFTER the last day of my rotation (Saturday), I noticed that I was developing a sore throat and dry cough. By Sunday, it had developed into a full blown cold. I feel like a steaming pile of poo.

I’ve been hopped up on cold meds for several days now. It’s been non-stop raining for several days now. I’ve been unpacking and arranging for several days now.

I just now got to a good stopping point, so I decided to eat some veggie chili. Somehow, the chili, combined with the fact that I’ve quit taking the damn cold meds, has made me feel a lot better. The medication-induced haze is beginning to lift. Now if I could just coax the sun to come out long enough for my doggies to take a poop.

Photo is the beginnings of my new “office space.” It’s so good to finally have a desk again!

Check out my post on Medscape to read how happy I am to have a taste of permanence in my life.

Click Here To View the Entry

Ever have just one of those days? Well I’ve had just one of those weeks. I learned a lot during my pediatrics rotation, but man did I work my butt off this last week.

Last night, after my 17-hour shift I came home and went to sleep on my hardwood floor. Several hours later I woke up to go to the hospital for my final exam and sign out. I got ready, walked the dogs, and then left my apartment to drive to the hospital. After walking for over a mile, I realized that the worst possible situation was upon me: my car had been towed. I was soooo tired the night before, that I parked in a spot in which my car needed to be moved 20 minutes prior to the current time.

I was so screwed.

It was now rapidly approaching exam time. I knew that if I tried to subway, I’d likely not make it in time. My car was towed. So I decided to walk and try and catch a cab. Several gypsy cabs pulled over, as my hand flagged them down in the cold air. “Where are you going?” they asked. “To the hospital,” I replied. The drove away. I had cabs REFUSE TO DRIVE ME SEVERAL MILES TO THE HOSPITAL!!! I even flashed my white coat and stethoscope, trying to impress them with a sense of urgency. But I failed.

Finally, after walking for nearly two more miles, a gypsy cab pulled over and agreed to take me to the hospital. “You look upset…what’s the matter?” the taxi driver asked me.

It was at this point that my week of stress, morning of hell, and dread of my upcoming exam (for which I had not the time to study) all came down on my like an emotional pile of bricks.

I started crying. I tried to hold back the tears, but I simply couldn’t. I had reached my maximum capacity. Lack of sleep, lack of food, lack of everything drove me to weeping.

And then I had the coolest 20 minutes in the world. The cabbie literally provided me with free of charge psychotherapy. He told me to take a deep breath in, relax, and tell him all about my troubles. So I did. I let it all hang out. And he listened, and he listened.

New York City may suck for many reasons. But having a random stranger from Bangladesh listen to my personal woes and console me with his words is something truly special and wonderful about New York. And even though the city is full of anger, hate, and frustration, there are those moments where it shines. Where the city/world suddenly seems so small. And for a moment, you connect with a stranger, and everything seems okay again.

I made it to my exam with several minutes to spare. I gave the taxi driver a huge tip. And I finished my exam in record time.

Miraculously, I found out an hour later that I did very well on the exam. And I received an “A” as my final grade for pediatrics. Some things do work out.

After a ride to the impound lot from a wonderful friend in pediatrics, standing in line for over an hour listening to someone cussing out the person behind the bullet-proof glass, and giving $200+ to the city of New York, I had my little Honda Del Sol returned to me. Dirty, and with grease pen scribbled all over the window. But I had it back.

I’m now home. Starving. Tired. But surprisingly, mostly unscathed. Life does go on.

And I’m supposed to drive down to Baltimore in several hours. We’ll see if that actually happens. But at least I have my dogs to lick me. And the business card of my new favorite NYC taxi driver.

Well, last night call for med school, at least. I am sooooooo tired, even my fingers aren’t working properly. Just got home from a 17-hour day of pediatrics floors. I was technically supposed to stay until 9 a.m. tomorrow, but since we have our final exam at 9 a.m., and have to work the rest of the day, our residents took pity on us and allowed us to go home “early.” 17-hour shift versus 36-hour shift = “early.” I guess I should be happy. I will get all of 4 hours of sleep tonight on my hardwood floor (dear Santa Claus, please bring me a bed!), and then tomorrow my pediatrics rotation will be over. Only have a 2-week elective left. And that’s it for medical school for Kendra. Time to poop and pee my “pissed off” doggies. I “could” study for my final exam after that. Ummmm, yeah…..

Photo: Sunrise over NYC this morning from the hospital window.

• Vital Signs – Disparities – Gay Men and Lesbians Barred From Some Clinical Trials – NYTimes.com
  (tags: interesting)
• Obama Signs Health Care Overhaul Bill, With a Flourish – NYTimes.com
  (tags: new)
• Quantum Physics Leaps Into The Visible World : NPR
  (tags: interesting)
• Scientists Study Dancing Babies … Enough Said? : NPR
  (tags: interesting)
• Sensual Sounds Can Get Lost In Translation – Shots – Health News Blog : NPR
  (tags: interesting)
• Charlies Post
  (tags: friend)

Life has been a bit of a blur for me this week. Combine moving to a new apartment with long hours of pediatrics at the hospital, and you get a somewhat overwhelmed Kendra.

According to the Life Stress Scale, moving to a new home gets me 15 points. Actually, if you add up all the other points for me on the scale, you get a not so good number.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy as can be about my new apartment. But moving never comes without stress. And in fact, I’ve had a few stressors thrown my way.

Note: If you don’t want to read my stupid rants about seemingly insignificant stuff, skip the next paragraph, and read on.

So, I’ve had an issue with our new toilet. It kept getting clogged and overflowing and my cheap little toilet plunger just wasn’t doing the job (even with my partner Micah roasting it on the stove). Long story short, I have finally fixed it (bought a SUPER plunger from a hardware store), but it wasn’t without a great deal of pain, (including, shhhhh using my bathtub for unintended purposes for two days). Then there’s the story of my air mattress. Another long story short, we don’t yet have our real bed, so we’ve been sleeping on an air mattress. All was well in bedland until my doggies decided to rip a hole in the side of my air mattress. Last night, I woke up to find myself laying on the cold, hardwood floor, in a deflated pile of plastic. I re-inflated the mattress, and then woke up 2 hours later to do it again. And so the night went, every 2 hours. I have used the mattress patch, and duct tape, and everything else I could think of. I think the original hole has been fixed, but the mattress is still leaking from somewhere. If I can’t figure out from where, it will mean sleeping on a cold, hardwood floor for the next week. I do hope the air mattress fairies come and save me.

I hate to rant, but sometimes it’s the best way to de-stress. I’ve had a bunch of other assorted issues (including trying unsuccessfully to overcome my made in 1924 plaster walls), but I’m sure everything will eventually work out.

Thanks for allowing me to rant. I do feel better now.

Note: First photo is the testing kit for our hospital’s new heplock system (I forgot the name). I had a lot of fun the other night sticking needles into the rubber vein. The second photo is my first “trashy” pic from my new neighborhood. Blew out a flip flop!

“Trash Talkin” Photo Series

Ok, so I know I keep talking about it, but I just can’t stop. My new apartment is the bizomb. In addition to everything else, I am also a few minutes walk away from an awesome sushi restaurant. I spent the entire day today running errands, but to celebrate Micah’s belated birthday (we were too busy on Friday), we had dinner at our new favorite sushi restaurant. It’s super close. It’s super yummy. It delivers. It’s got what I need.

You may have noticed my absence from the “Internets” for the past few days. Well, I have been one busy bee. I’d guess that I’ve slept maybe 20 hours in the past 5 days. As tired as I am right now, I am incredibly content. I have officially moved to my new 2-bedroom apartment in Brooklyn (Southeast side of Prospect Park). I still have a bunch of arranging and unpacking to do, but the majority of the work has been done. I have been packing, moving, unpacking, cleaning, and in general “nesting” non-stop for the past 5 days. In addition to that, I’ve had to go in for pediatrics emergency room night shifts. So, I basically have not slept or rested until this very moment.

It feels so good to take a huge breath of my new apartment’s fresh air. I don’t have to go in to the hospital tomorrow, and I have a bunch of errandy items to take care of (including changing my address in one million places, getting (non-stolen) Internet hooked up, and the gas and electric put under my name.

I couldn’t be happier right now. I have a wonderful apartment, literally across from a huge park, and within walking distance of my residency hospital. The weather has been GORGEOUS lately. I’m fatigued, fulfilled, and fabulous.

Photo is me in my NEW (literally!) kitchen the day we got the keys.

Tired. Oh so tired (from peds ER). It’s 3 a.m. Partially delirious. Anyway, enjoy the photo. I am happy but fatigued. Good night world!

YESSSS! I just found out that we have been approved for our new TWO BEDROOM (as in TWO more bedrooms than we have now) apartment in Prospect-Lefferts Gardens Brooklyn!!

Not only that, but they ok’d us moving in early. Which means that we will be going to sign the lease tomorrow, I will pack up all my Brooklyn belongings, and hopefully we’ll rent a Uhaul truck and move to our NEW apartment! I’m still deciding whether or not I’m going to sleep there for the coming week (I have a 90+ hour week at the hospital for my last week of peds), but either way it ROCKS!

Soon, my doggies Scope and Molly will be living in style in a 2 BEDROOM (you have no idea how much they hate the studio) apartment! Not only that, but they will be taking daily trips to the park, running around off leash, playing with other doggies, and even SWIMMING!

I’m happy as can be. Finally got my piece of the pie!