Destination Medicine

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Stitch in Time

I have placed a stitch in a live human being. And under the VERY close eye of a resident who helped me along, it looked pretty good. It is just crazy to think that I can walk into an ER in this case to shadow someone and get to come out of the shadow and do something. Along those lines, I really like emergency medicine. I think I could do that and enjoy it. I have not seen the truly horrible and tragic, I must admit, but what I have seen has really made me put it higher on my list of possibilities. The ER at Memorial Hermann in the Texas Medical Center is an amazing place. I saw Dr. Red Duke in the ER and after he left, all the doctors were telling amusing anecdotes about what they had seen him do for patients. Just a legend. I bumped into him again today with my red-headed daughter and he commented about her hair and then explained why it is red, the genetic background, the importance of sunscreen and what happens as red-heads age all in the span of about 30 seconds as he waited for the elevator. He is a great Aggie!

With the kids being on spring break, I have continued my own break into this week. I will have to stop that really soon and get back on the studying wagon. Two more blocks and I can finish up for the semester and enjoy sleeping a little more. But I have to be honest with myself, that probably won't happen.

But if you need a stitch placed, I can tell you about some really great people who can do that for you!

Friday, March 13, 2009

Spring Breakin'!

So it has been almost 2 months since I posted. Medical school seems to have that effect on me. I honestly want to post what is going on, but that extra 30 minutes of sleep is far and away more attractive to me. There is also some sort of time warp that occurs with school. Like some crappy '50s movie or here's a better analogy, sliding down an ever steeper slope towards a wood chipper. Oh, and they throw on grease, just to make things interesting. A vortex of doom approaches at the end of each block before tests. There just isn't enough time to learn everything they way I want to learn it. IT'S JUST TOO MUCH! So you do your best, take some practice tests, hone in on the things that seem like they were really important and then march to the room to take the test. By the last test, you really don't care much about anything except getting through the test and outta that room.

So let's get caught up on the events of the last few weeks. I have shadowed a couple of times in the emergency department of the local county hospital and really enjoyed it. I know that seems perverse, but it is gratifying to be able to see the information that you are trying to learn being applied. I also go to put staples in some guy's head. Cool.

So the doctor hands me the staple gun and says to try one to get the feel of it (in the air) for practice. The guy nearly jumped off of the bed, but she said "No, no, it's OK." I suppose all the painkillers that he had helped with his nerves! I also saw a wide variety of common and uncommon ailments. It amazed me several times that people will wait so long to come in to the hospital for treatment. Then I remembered that I was in the county hospital and many of these people don't have enough money for meals and clothes, let alone a physician. I thank my lucky stars my husband has insurance and we can get good preventative care.

The week of tests went OK. I still am not blowing them out of the water by any stretch. P equal MD is my motto, although a high pass in something would be nice, but I won't hold my breath. I am OK with sacrificing a little grade wise to have a semblance of family life. It seems to work right not.

We went camping for break. It was nice to enjoy the LONG days. I still have a paper to write and a presentation to prepare, but it has been nice to catch my breath, have fun with my kids and husband and loaf around for an afternoon. In three days I will be back at it. I am going to make it! I just have to keep telling myself that and studying my butt off!