Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Here's to July...

I can't believe I haven't posted for July yet. Not a single post -- until this one and on the last day of month at that (don't get fooled by the date)

It has been a busy, busy, BUSY month for me.

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Doctors have this end of the month thingy called a Mortality and Morbidity Conference where we discuss all of the bad cases and deaths and see where we could have been a bit better to save this patient or that, but mostly really just nitpicking at diagnoses and theoretical/diagnostic dilemmas.

I had the task of presenting that particular case. Oh and what a doozy of a case it was. They say it was a pretty hard case to present -- loaded with cardiology with a dash of infectious disease and nephrology -- and I got roasted at the podium. I was sweating in a fully airconditioned room trying to answer questions from mundane basics to intra-operative cardiac surgery!

Good news, I got through it without them telling me I failed.

Bad news, I have to do it again in a couple of months. Aaaagggghhh.

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A mentor once told me that a back-breaking residency is necessary to getting better in the chosen fields of medicine you want to specialize in (you still haven't told me why Doc Ness....hahaha).

I mean, I can understand the back-breaking part, the physical willingness to do all the legwork to get a few more tidbits of knowledge here and there, and I've always gone the extra mile to get that, but the veiled insults and sarcasm, the stereotyped first impressions, I don't see that helping me any.

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I Love You, Man is a funny, funny movie.

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Imagine seeing a teenager with a double outlet right ventricle and so much future in front of him, undergo a total correction of his congenital anomaly and walk out of the hospital on his own.

Small victories.

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We have to contend with Christie telling us she's not coming back after her scheduled vacation leave.

I meant when I said to her that, if she's better now than when she first came in to this residency, then no one can take it away from her. She's all the better for it. If she stops now, then no one can blame her, because that's a decision she'll have to make for herself. But Ate Christie, no consultant, no senior, no person, nor animal can talk down to you and make you feel any less than what you think you are.

We -- Mush, Len, Ian, Jeff, Gladys, moi -- think the world of you and would love to have you come back, not only because it would mean one more to share this load we have on our shoulders, but more importantly, you are our glue. You keep us together and for just that, we'd love to have you grace us with your crazy, zany humor on August 8.

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Love just gets you through the day -- sometimes you realize it, sometimes you don't. But when you have someone who lets you sleep when you've gone the past 36 hours without it, or helps you with work, well you just can't go too long before you realize how great it is, to have someone love you back.

Thanks hon. I wouldn't have survived July without 'cha.