I finished my final required rotation of medical school. All
that stands between me and graduation are electives. I will be spending the
next several months in a somewhat random smattering of specialty clinics and
hospital locations to include: Neuropathology (which I start tomorrow), STD
clinic, the Medical ICU (aka the MICU) and the neonatal ICU (aka the NICU). It’s
hard to believe that it’s all wrapping up so soon, and yet, it’s easy to
believe because it’s been a long road!
I had an incredible time in the ER and to be honest, I kind
of wish that I could stick around for another few weeks. Yes, the nights and
weekends through off my sleep schedule and time with Tom, but the shift-work
schedule (aka 8-9 hours per day and that’s IT) was really nice. I spent more
time at the gym, cooking really quality dinners and studying in a relaxed
fashion on this rotation than I have on any other! (Maybe it wasn’t the
rotation so much as I’m finally figuring out how to do this whole med school
thing…but who knows).
I thought I’d share 5 of the hundreds of things I learned on
this emergency medicine rotation with you:
1. ALWAYS wear work
shoes to the ER at Harborview.
Don’t worry; this isn’t vomit or some other disgusting
bodily fluid. It’s plaster from the splint I applied to a patient’s broken
foot. How did it break? Let’s just say that semi-truck + feet does not equal
happy feet.
2. Scrubs make sense
in an ER.
On a lot of hospital rotations I was always a little curious
why we all wore scrubs. A lot of hospital work is pretty hands-off and you don’t
really need to walk around in what might as well be your pajamas. In the ER it’s
a totally different ball of wax. Between rolling trauma patients covered in
blood off of the backboard, draining pus from abscesses the size of baseballs,
repairing lacerations, and helping protect the airway of a seizing and actively
vomiting human are all reasons that scrubs make sense! Regardless of whether I
actually got the scrubs “dirty” at work, I would always change them on my way
out the door for a fresh pair so I could greet Tom in clean clothing, and not
bring my plaster/blood/pus/puke stained self home!
3. When you do get
away to study, it’s a lot more fun in a cozy coffee shop than a library.
Why didn’t I do this more often in medical school? Oh right,
because when you go to a coffee shop you generally have to BUY something to
avoid scowls from the shop staff. However, if I bought a cup of tea and a
pastry every time I studied in med school I would not only be about 50 pounds
heavier but I’d be in a lot more debt! But this week, during the blustering
rainy days when I was preparing for my last exam of medical school, it was a
nice splurge. I found a home away from home in this shop called A Muddy Cup. I
felt like I was at a cabin.
4. Life is short and
I am very fortunate.
This one is something I’m reminded of on nearly every
rotation in medical school, but particularly in the level 1 trauma center for a
5 state region. I saw kiddos that fell from heights onto concrete, adolescents
that ran into trees/poles in their cars, elderly that fell and couldn’t get up,
and middle aged people that got down on their luck and wound up homeless
addicts that are desperately needing help. I had some of the most profound
conversations with patients on this rotation.
It’s funny what comes up when you’re sewing up their
arm/face/lip/head or milking pus out of their abscess (can you tell I did that
a lot on this rotation?). I learned of the desperation and sadness that
overcomes someone that is hooked on drugs or alcohol. I was taught all sorts of
new lingo about black tar heroin because I asked and the patient was more than
willing to explain what it is, how he uses it and how it shouldn’t be used. I
found it so ironic that when addicted you learn how to do drugs the “smart way”
and never do something ‘stupid’ like inhale melted heroin off of hot aluminum
foil, “because that will straight up kill you." And yet the same patient recognizes that injecting it through their veins or snorting it off a line isn't
exactly the #1 safest leisure activity out there.
5. Never go in
thinking that you know what’s going on just from the “chief complaint.”
In medical lingo, the chief complaint is the reason that a
patient tells the triage nurse that they are in the ER that day. Often it is
boiled down to “abdominal pain” or “chest pain.” But just because that pops up
on the electronic board DOES NOT mean that the patient has that symptom, nor
does it mean that the symptom is the most important. For example:
- A woman with “Nausea/vomiting” as her complaint
was actually a woman who had recently been evicted from her home. She hadn’t
eaten solid food in about a month given lack of income and she was nearly
hypothermic from being outside for the past 2 days without appropriate
outerwear.
- A man with knee pain wound up having a broken
foot and a much needed trip to the “decontamination shower” that is nearly the
exit of the Harborview ER—something I learned while listening to his lungs and
watched several insects crawl across his chest. You can bet I felt itchy for a
while after that
- A guy
with “nausea/vomiting” came in with a brand new diagnosis of diabetes who was
really sick because of a complication of diabetes called Diabetic Ketoacidosis
(DKA) and ended up going to the ICU.
- A man with “whole body aches” wound up getting
wheeled emergently to the catheterization lab where the interventional cardiologist
worked to un-clog the 100% occluded coronary artery in his heart.
And sometimes, the patients “read
the textbooks” before they come in. This is what we say when a patient presents
with all of the classic, textbook symptoms of a clinical problem. Like a woman
who had a sudden onset “worst headache of her life” with associated
nausea/vomiting—that one line along makes anyone in the medical field think
about a subarachnoid hemorrhage. Sure enough, that’s what she had.
I learned so much more, but in the
interest of keeping this blog post from being 2 miles long, I’ll stop with the
long-winded descriptions of life lessons and move on to other fun things.
First off, Tom was surprised by
his classmate with the best, most ridiculous gift ever! As many of you know,
Tom uses an igloo cooler for his lunch box and he has been asked all sorts of
questions in his day like “is there a human organ in that?” or “you headed out
to the construction site?” Well, now he also has a ridiculous “bro-tank” to go
with it.
This Valentines weekend we spent a
lot of great time outdoors having adventures! We met up with Diana on Saturday
for a trip to Steven’s pass for snow-shoeing fun!
We hiked along the “Stomp-n-stoker”
trail which took us alongside the stream with it’s beautiful, calm, crisp,
clean water.
Tom learned that UP hill is much
easier than DOWN hill
We paused half way to dine on some DELICIOUS banana bread that Diana brought as we took in the view of the creek.
For the most part it was a nice
smooth flat trail but we had some hills to discover along the way too.
We got back to the rig just as it
started to sprinkle down rain. We had an eclectic assortment of food as we dined
on some left-over homemade pizza, hot chocolate, mandarin oranges, skittles,
and pretzels.
We weren’t quite all tuckered out
after the snow shoeing so we decided to make a quick stop at Deception Falls
and explore the beauty of the woods under the tree cover as the rain started to
come down even harder.
The colors of green, white, and
grey were breathtaking.
We came across a familiar stump
from hikes of the past
But the falls on this trip were particularly
full and gorgeous!
We stopped in at a very popular
bakery on the way home, the Sultan Bakery for a little warm-up and dry off time
with some of the most delectable treats we had ever seen!
Tom and I split this giant apple
cupcake thing (what else do you call it?) and it was FABULOUS!
We didn’t have our fill yet of the
great outdoors so instead of our traditional walk around Magnuson on Sunday
morning, we found ourselves at St. Edward State Park for a walk through the
woods and down to Lake Washington (from the other side of the lake that we don’t
get to see out of our backdoor).
Well, I can't fail to mention that this walk was fueled by some amazing French toast made by my sweetheart!
Once again I was taken aback by
the beauty that lies just 20 minutes from the city. And, the joy and love I’ve
found in my Valentine!
It was foggy and misty so we couldn’t see much across the
lake, but that kind of made it all the more magical.
The inside of a hallowed out
burned tree felt like a little log cabin on the waterfront.
We added to the pile of pine
needles and dirt in our front entry way and got ourselves gussied up for a night
out on the town. We didn’t plan ahead very well so we were making reservations
for Valentines night with less than 48 hours notice…so that meant we dined
early at 5:15. We had a lovely time at Little Water Cantina right on the water
in Eastlake.
Because we dined so early, it
meant we had time for dessert before the show started at 7! What could we
choose except the delectable Pie Bar for our venue!
Two slices of strawberry rhubarb
ala mode to go was just the ticket!
I have to admit it was the most
amazing dessert in the truck, in a parking garage, I’ve ever had!
Then it was off to the theater for the main event: How to
Succeed in Business without Really Trying—a hilarious satire about the business
world.
As usual, the 5th
never fails to impress with its gorgeous architecture.
Even with our pit stop at the
pie bar we were still early to the event, so we decided to check out the
orchestra pit too.
At intermission we found or usual perch on the stairwell in
the lobby to be the creepers that we are and people watch the masses waiting in
line for their over-priced but delicious snacks and beverages.
What a spoiled day we had! We are so grateful to have each
other! And, we feel a bit old and a bit luckier because this year we were
celebrating our 10th Valentines together! Can you believe it? We
will have to see what next year brings, but for now we’re soaking in the beauty
of the pacific northwest and the lighter schedule on my plate for the next few
weeks before the intense month and half in the adult and neonatal ICU’s before
graduation is upon us.
Happy Valentine’s Day everyone!
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