Island Med Student

My apologies to everyone for my last rant/post about UPS. I actually had a great day today, save for UPS pissing me off (and I don’t piss off easily).

Anyway, let’s get back to the good stuff.

I will be a doctor in less than one day. Today was a very long day of endocrinology. I had to wake up very early in the morning, and I just now got home (it’s now 8 p.m.). Long day for an elective. But guess what? I learned sooo much. And so I am not upset about the hours.

Tomorrow is my last day of endocrinology. It’s also my last day of med school. MY LAST DAY OF MEDICAL SCHOOL! My apologies if I’m too excited. But guess what, I’M EXCITED!! In less than 24 hours I will have fulfilled all of the requirements to become a medical doctor in the USA. Yes, I will not actually receive my diploma for a few weeks. But that is merely a piece of paper. I am almost a doctor.

It’s exciting and scary and wonderful and terrifying, all at the same time. I’ve worked soooo very hard to get where I am now. And it has all been worth it. All the blood, sweat, tears, and money…. But after tomorrow I will be a doctor. And no one can take that away from me. Eat that, UPS! (Okay, I have obviously not gotten over that yet!)

Photos: I took both of them today. The first one was taken very close to my hospital. I parked far away enough to catch this on my walk. (RIP Kendoggz…one of my nicknames, by the way.) Second one was taken out of my car window on the drive home. Turns out you have to get creative if you’re not a “walker.”

“Yo Brooklyn, Fuhgeddaboudit” Photo Series

“To predict the behavior of ordinary people in advance, you only have to assume that they will always try to escape a disagreeable situation with the smallest possible expenditure of intelligence.”
- Friedrich Nietzsche

“And we should consider every day lost on which we have not danced at least once. And we should call every truth false which was not accompanied by at least one laugh.”
- Friedrich Nietzsche

“I would believe only in a God that knows how to dance.”
- Friedrich Nietzsche

“Sometimes you just have to dance the polka to get things done.”
- Kendra Campbell

There are a million reasons why I love psych. Actually, probably over a million. But don’t worry, I’m not going to bore you to tears with all of them. Instead, let me use an example from today to explain.

As I was just walking onto the floors of the hospital to begin my endocrinology rotation today, I heard the sounds of polka coming from one of the halls. Of course, I had to explore this wonderful anomaly, so I hurried down the hall to find the source of the music. What I found was so very, very extraordinary.

I found three nurses and one physical therapist dancing in the hallway with an elderly patient wearing a hospital gown. One of the nurses was holding out her hand, with her cellphone playing some polka tunes. It was definitely a party. I definitely had to join. Without thinking, I jumped right in and started dancing with the crew. We all had entirely too much fun grooving the the music. Afterwards, I found out that the patient was demented and refusing his physical therapy. One of the nurses knew that the patient used to play in a polka band, so she had the incredibly brilliant idea to use polka to draw him out of his room, and onto his feet. It worked beautifully.

There is so much room for creativity in medicine. But sometimes it seems to me that psych might have the most room out of all specialities. And not only that, but understanding how someone’s mind works can help you in any field. This is the stuff that gets me excited. This is the stuff that drew me to medicine in the first place.

Understanding the human (and non-human) mind and behavior has always been a passion of mine. It’s what motivated me to get a degree in psychology. As a psych tech, I put all of my knowledge and education to good use. You want a very delusional patient who doesn’t believe he’s sick to take a psychotropic medication? You HAVE to get creative. You have to understand people. You have to have a desire to understand behavior and motivation. And this is a worthwhile skill in any profession. And yes, this is why I am so excited to be soon starting my residency in psychiatry. I can’t wait to develop more skills, and more understanding. And I love putting those skills and knowledge to good use. And not just in medicine, but in my daily life as well.

Perhaps we would all be a little happier if we took the time to dance the polka with a stranger every once in a while. It certainly worked for me.

Photos: From my “Improv Thanksgiving Dancing Routine” with friends, two years ago.

So, I know you are all sick of hearing this, but documenting my life is one of my most favorite hobbies, and is therapeutic in many ways. Although I’ve used all kinds of expensive and nice cameras to take photos, I’m currently quite obsessed with my iPhone. No, the quality is not nearly as nice as other cameras. But guess what? Even the best camera can’t take a photo if you don’t have it with you. And I carry my iPhone with me pretty much everywhere I go. Because of that, I take many great photos that would have otherwise gone unphotographed. The quality suffers (in some ways, is cooler, though), but the quantity is much higher.

I could tell you all about my wonderful day today, but I lack the energy to do so. I went for a great run this morning and then I went in for my endocrinology rotation at the hospital. Today was a good day. I drove to the hospital, so I don’t have any great photos from my walks today, but I have some cool ones (in this post) that I’ve taken over the past few days in my neighborhood and in Manhattan yesterday. Enjoy. (And thank my iPhone for them!)

Photos:

1) The cool 3-sided painting beside the subway stop outside of my apartment.
2) Pay phones. They still exist?
3) Same painting, with a person passing.
4) Another pay phone. Think it actually works?
5) Same painting as above, sans person.

“Yo Brooklyn, Fuhgeddaboudit” Photo Series

“Every time I drive in rush hour traffic, I lose a piece of my wings.”

- Kendra Campbell

I’ve learned two important things this week (my first week of endocrinology, and first week of driving to the hospital):

1) I really like endocrinology. It’s interesting and not too complicated and I’ve learned a lot. My attending is the bomb.

2) I will NEVER drive to work. Ever. Again.

I’m pretty sure that driving is perhaps the worst torture that exists. It beats down your very soul. Traffic can turn the very best mood into the very worst. I am no longer able to take photos and videos along my route. I have no control over how fast or slow I can go. I am at the mercy of traffic. You might think that I’m exaggerating, but I’m not. Driving to work even for one week has taken away a piece of my soul. Now I will have to regenerate that piece via walking for a year.

I have one more week of med school (endocrinology) left. I might decide to take the subway to the hospital (even though it would be a longer trip), just because I think driving is killing me.

Anyway, 5 more days of work until I am a doctor. Yes indeedy.

Photo: Taken today during endocrinology rounds. Infection control does save lives.

“Fire escape gardens are so 2009. Plantar boxes hung from child safety window guards are the new black.”

- Kendra Campbell

I feel very accomplished right now. I managed to get quite a few things done today. I woke up this morning and wrote an article for Medscape (soon to be published). Then I went for an 8-mile run with the doggies in the park. Even at 10:00 a.m. this morning, it was close to 70 degrees (it got up to 86 today!), and the doggies were panting like freight trains by the time we got home. I then managed to plant my new veggie/herb garden. Since I no longer have a fire escape, I purchased planter boxes, which hang from the child safety guards on my window ledges. I planted tomatoes, lettuce, broccoli, mint and thyme. My local nursery was out of basil, but I hope to add that (and more!) soon as well.

I had a very “Kendra moment” when planting this morning. In order to do the planting, I had to put a ladder outside of my window and climb in and out with bags of soil and such. When I was climbing out of my window, I slipped on the ladder and fell down to the concrete below, crashing onto my knees. As if my knees didn’t have enough to worry about, now they are EVEN MORE bruised than usual.

After about an hour, my knees hurt so badly that I could barely walk. I contemplated calling in sick to my endocrinology rotation, but in the end guilt won out, and I went in to the hospital.

I hobbled around and actually had a great time. My attending is so incredibly awesome. He teaches so well and I very much respect and admire him.

When I got home from the hospital, I took the doggies on a nice walk and picked up some grocery items. My new neighborhood is so very awesome. I’m starting to befriend a lot of my neighbors, and I love how incredibly friendly everyone is.

Tomorrow is going to be a long day at the hospital, so I guess I should go to bed early tonight. I’m starving as well, so it’s time to make some din din.

Enjoy the photos of my new “garden” with this post. I hope to take some better ones in the future. (I was in a hurry today.) I think everything will soon start filling out nicely. Something about having a pseudo-garden in the city is oh so very satisfying to me!

Just got home from my first “real” day of endocrinology. I worked at the endocrinology clinic at my hospital, did one consult, and rounded on all the patients. I just got home around 8:30 p.m. No, I really should not be complaining because I didn’t have to go in until 1:00 p.m., but I think I’m just spoiled from certain electives with “cake” hours. I actually learned a lot, too.

Since I moved 2 weeks ago to be closer to my residency hospital, I am now not within walking distance of the hospital at which I am doing my last rotation. This means that I actually have to DRIVE to the hospital. Drive? What’s that?!

This experience has confirmed for me what I already knew: I am not a driver. In fact, I’m not a commuter, at all. I need to walk to my place of work. Not only is it a perfect way to de-stress, but it’s great exercise. Not only that, but I’ve realized that I take all of my best photos and videos during my walks! Who has time to take photos or videos when you’re zooming (or even not zooming) by all the wonderful things on your path?

Because of this, my daily photos have suffered, and so has my “2010 Video a Day” Project. I will either have to scrap the idea all together, or come up with some sort of creative solution.

Only 8 more days of actual work at the hospital, and then I am “qualified” to be a doctor. Life is very sweet.

Note: Photos are all “trashy” pics taken in Brooklyn a while back. As soon as I’m back to my daily walking again, I will post some trashy photos from my new ‘hood.

“Trash Talkin” Photo Series

I’m finally about 90% moved in and finished arranging and decorating my new apartment. Today was home improvement day. I potted plants, hung plantar boxes, screwed in curtain posts, staple gunned all the wires on the floor to the trim (turns out staple guns are my new fave thing), and did a bunch of other small home improvement projects. My new apartment is really starting to feel like a home. Once I have a few more items situated, and all of my pictures hung on the walls, I think I’ll really love my new digs. I’ll also post some photos for your viewing pleasure.

Yesterday I went for a long doggy walk in Prospect Park. Today I realized that you can hear the park’s drum circles from my apartment’s windows. I also am getting to know my new, local grocery store. Today I went grocery shopping and they asked me for my ID to use my credit card. I had forgotten to bring it so I used the “I’m new to the neighborhood, but will be shopping here all the time,” line, and the manager agreed to let me buy my groceries on credit.

Tomorrow I will hopefully start a 2-week endocrinology elective rotation. I say “hopefully” because it’s not actually officially on my schedule yet. I will be going to the hospital tomorrow to beg for the elective (and using the “I only need 2 weeks of electives to graduate”) line. We’ll see how it goes.

More good stuff to come!

Photos:
1) View from my window. The Q train in my backyard.
2) Tower of plants. Created today.
3) Curtain post thingy. I heart power tools.
4) My bathroom orchid.