Island Med Student

Check out my post on Medscape to read about my very first residency interview.

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I just got home from my very last day of ob/gyn. I’m dreadfully tired. I’m sure all of you are sick of reading my endless posts about how fatigued I am from working long hours at the hospital. My apologies. But I write about my life, and the past 6 weeks of ob/gyn has involved many long hours of work.

I always promise to write about what I’ve learned during a rotation, but end up too tired to write very much. Instead of writing a nice list, with links and great information, I am going to once again make a very brief list of some “stuff learned” during my ob/gyn rotation. Here goes:

how to deliver a baby, when to induce labor, how to induce labor, how to perform a proper pelvic exam, how to work various speculums, how to do a pap smear, how to do a D&C, when to give antibiotics for women in labor, the beauty of birth, what trichomonas looks/smells like, how to measure fundal height, how to discriminate between the sounds of a placenta and baby, post-op orders for a c-section, the importance of wearing the big plastic booty covers during a c-section, how to perform an episiotomy, how to suture up a torn vagina, what drugs you can give to a pregnant woman, the importance of drinking water during pregnancy, how to perform a circumcision, how to catch a flying baby, the importance of asking the woman, not the father, about desiring pain medications, how to place an epidural, how to obtain cord blood, what pre-eclampsia looks like and how to manage/treat it, all about myomectomies, what bacterial vaginosis looks/smells like, what tests to perform during pregnancy, the importance of counseling on birth control, that some students need sensitivity training, how to read a fetal ultrasound, how to perform tubal ligations, how to differentiate between ectopic pregnancies and missed abortions, and much, much more…

I fell in love with my ob/gyn group. What a great group of people to work with. Unfortunately, med school is a crazy place where you spend crazy hours with a small group of folks for 6-12 weeks, and then start the whole process all over again. It’s kind of like prolonged speed dating, without the option to pick someone you like after it’s all over.

I had a wonderful last shift. 12 hours of labor and delivery, with no deliveries today, but a bunch of running around helping out with ob and gyn patients. At the end of the shift I ended up in a long, philosophical discussion with the head surgeon, a midwife, and another student. It was all inspired by the photos above. I was drawn to the view from one of the birthing rooms on the 12th floor of the hospital. When I arrived in the room, I found the surgeon and the midwife admiring the view as well. I snapped two photos and ended up in a 2-hour discussion with them. It’s funny and wonderful and beautiful how things bring people together. It makes me realize that there really are no coincidences. Life is a beautifully orchestrated sequence of events. And my last night of bringing new lives into this world ended with a bang. Just as it should.

Just got home from a terribly long day at the hospital. Way too tired to write coherently. Scrubbed in on a delivery today. Also held someone else’s uterus in my hands while my own was in terrible pain. I promise to write more good stuff soon.

In the meantime, please enjoy the above blurry photo. The hospital cafeteria served sushi the other day, which I ate quite happily. Those small little rolls brought me the greatest joy. Was like Taste of Japan Day all over again. Only 364 more days until the next hospital cafeteria sushi day.

Seriously, I do. I just got home from a very, very long day at the hospital. I would love to share all kinds of cool stories and insights, but I seriously don’t have the time or energy to do so. I’m on labor and delivery all week. It’s my last week of ob/gyn. I scrubbed in today on a very awesome case. I can’t give the details but I can tell you that it was a once in a lifetime kind of experience. Very rare case. And I got to hand the baby from the mother’s uterus to the neonatologist. Amazing, truly amazing.

Anyway, I basically live at the hospital because of the hours I work. When I come home, I eat a small snack, take a shower, and head to bed. Every once in a while I get a night off. Last Friday, I celebrated my night off by going out to an all you can eat sushi bar on the Lower East Side with my ob/gyn group. Much fun was had. Much sushi was eaten. Enjoy the photos! G’nite sweet world!

Today started out with obstetrics rounds at the hospital. Around noon, I left early to take care of errands in the name of residency and med school.

I went to a family clinic to get a physical exam for my school records and for applications to elective emergency medicine rotations. They had to draw my blood to get my MMR, Hep B, and Varicella titers. They then stuck me with another needle in order to place my PPD. After this fun visit, I went to FedEx to send in my emergency medicine letter of recommendation. I then stopped by Walgreens to get my required flu vaccination. Yesterday, I donated blood to help others, and for the free cookies and juice, of course. If you are keeping count, that’s four separate needle sticks in a little over 24 hours. I feel like a human pincushion.

Now it’s time to reply to more interview requests and sort through the piles of paperwork for emergency medicine elective applications. Lately, I feel like I’m a professional errand runner and blood giver. Ahhh, the joys of medicine and residency!

Today, as I was walking home from the hospital, a lady approached me and asked me for money. I reached in my pocket and handed her 2 dollars. It took about 1-2 seconds. Then, a few blocks later I was crossing an intersection, and a guy on motorcycle ran a red light and came within a few feet of hitting me. In fact, if I had been coming through the intersection about 1-2 seconds later, I probably would have been run over by the guy on the motorcycle, who was traveling at a very high speed. If I hadn’t stopped to give the lady money, I might be dead right now. Funny how life works in mysterious ways.

In other news, I’m not enjoying the week of sonograms so far. The morning is cool, because we round on the obstetrics patients. But so far the clinic has failed to impress me. I still have yet to actually see a sonogram being performed. But the rest of ob/gyn has rocked, so all is not lost.

My residency app is rocking out. Don’t want to give away all the details, but I have received quite an amazing response.

I have to get up at 4:00 a.m. tomorrow, so it’s beddy bye time for me now. G’nite sweet world!

Check out my post on Medscape to read about my recent experience getting up close and personal with the pro-lifers.

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Quite literally. Today was the first time that I’ve seen daylight since Sunday. I’ve been going to the hospital in the early morning in the dark, spending the entire day in the OR or surrounding area, walking home late at night, and then doing it all over again the next day. Today, we were lucky enough to finish all the cases and get sent home around 3:00 in the afternoon. Sunlight never tasted so gooooood!

Now it’s time to have a life and hang out with my Bindaloo, Micah, and Son. I love the smell of sunlight in the evening. It doesn’t smell like the operating room.

“Yo Brooklyn, Fuhgeddaboudit” Photo Series

Today was an incredibly long day of gyn surgeries. I’m totally pooped. I have so many great topics to write about, but not the energy to do so. I think I will write a coherent post about everything for the Differential soon. Anyway, please excuse me if I am rambling or lack proper grammar.

The gist is that there were many termination of pregnancy (abortion) cases in the OR today. I didn’t really think anything of it until one of my students came to me to tell me that he would not scrub into his assigned case because it conflicted with his moral values. It didn’t even occur to me that a med student would opt out of a great learning experience because of a moral reservation. I guess I’m just so pro-choice that I sometimes forget how many people are not.

Anyway, I performed my first termination of pregnancy today. The case was a very emotional one because my patient and I had a very long talk before and after her surgery. Of course, I can’t share any details for HIPAA sake, but I can say that I was very moved, and felt like it was a huge privilege for her to share her intimate details with me. I spent way more than the usual amount of time with this patient. We talked about all kinds of things going on in her life. She shared a lot with me. And she thanked me profusely afterwards for actually listening to her. I think that I did as much with my ears for her as I did with my hands.

Really, it was just an amazing day, and I feel lucky to be doing something that I love, and something that can make such a huge impact on someone’s life. It’s what makes the 15 hour days worth doing.

where I worked 13 hours at the hospital in gynecological surgeries and then came home to find out that my dog had urinated and vomited all over my bed and that my spare sheets are in another city and as I was walking down my stairs with my dogs in one hand and dirty sheets in the other, my one dog bolted down the stairs, burning my hand severely in the process with the leash and then I thought, this is why beer was invented.

And then I finally had one. It never tasted so good. And it turns out that a cold beer bottle is a great way to soothe the pain of a hand burn. Yeah, that’s my life.