How has it been a month since I last posted?
I know how: 6 days a week for 12-16 hour days with really sick patients with intense and life-altering has taken over my free time.
I finished my time on the gynecology oncology service. I won't go back to that service until my third year of residency, and when I do, it will be in a totally different role. As an intern, my job was somewhat like a glorified secretary. I managed the patients in the hospital while the rest of my team was in the operating room generating new post-operative patients for me to manage.
Here was my typical day in the month of January:
4 AM - wake up call
4:30 - Out the door to the hospital
4:45 - 5:45 - learn about the overnight events of each patient, put in orders in the computer, and start writing the progress notes on each patient in the chart
5:45 - 6:30 - round with the team
6:30-7:30 - one hour lecture for all residents
7:30-8 - "table rounds" with the case managers and social workers about the patients and what they need prior to being able to go home.
8 - 9 - put in orders, follow up lab values and respond to approximately 4 pages/phone calls every 10 minutes or so
9 - "nursing rounds" - update the nurses on the plan of the day for the patients and make sure we're all on the same page
9:30am - 4pm - Respond to pages, call consultants, update the patients charts, go see and evaluate any oncology patients that come into the ER and admit them to the service if they need to, and get to the OR as much as I can to be able to meet the patients I'll be taking care of in the hospital and learn the skills of gynecologic surgery.
4 - 5 Do post-operative checks on all the patients that had surgery earlier in the morning.
5 - Start trying to "tidy up the list" of patients so I can sign out to the oncoming resident.
Somewhere between 5 and 7:30 - sign out the service to the oncoming resident and get home to enjoy some dinner with Tom before go to bed!
I saw patients come in with cancer and leave the hospital without it because we took it out of them. I saw women coming to grips with their diagnoses and processing what is most important to them in life and making hard decisions about what they wanted with what was left of their time on earth. I saw patients die of terrible, terrible disease with a sort of poise and grace that I didn't think was humanly possible.
I saw social workers who just give and give and give to the patients, never receiving the thanks and appreciation they deserve for sacrificing so much of themselves to help patients and their families. I battled the bureaucracy of the hospital when we were faced with making decisions based on reimbursement, or insurance coverage, or ICD-10 codes rather than what is BEST for the patient.
I cherished the small moments of the day when I got to do something one of the third year residents called "people rounds." It seems like all I did all day was round since I rounded a total of 3, sometimes 4 times, with different team members. But my favorite thing was to round on my own. To go in and talk with these women. Sometimes, about anything but cancer. I got to learn of their stories, their hopes, their dreams, their memories, their goals, and sometimes just about what they crave most from home rather than the cafeteria. Those moments made the patients real again. Instead of my day just consisting of another box to check off, another page to answer or another phone call to make, I got to sit and be with a patient. It's incredible how rarely this can be accomplished in a hospital in the 21st century.
One thing I know for sure: gynecology oncology is a stressful, busy, and emotionally intense line of work. But despite the hours, the fatigue, the sadness of some days, there were also days of triumph and joy, and moments of realism and genuine heart that made me often stop and truly consider it as my future career. ... we'll see how that thought evolves over time.
I did have some great times mixed in with the month of January though. And now that I've written too much, I'll share some photos.
Well, I guess I should clarify my statement that I've been able to sneak in some fun in the month of January, just not as much fun as my parents! They've been in Turks and Caicos and California for vacation and innkeepers conventions and my goodness do they may it look like they are living the dream! Here they are at the finish line of the half marathon/10K that they just decided to do on an impromptu whim. Who are these people?!? So proud of and happy for them!
We've got to be a part of a lot of firsts for little baby Ali. We went to happy hour together and she loved the view of the oyster bar. These guys were shucking oysters and it was better than TV for her !
One of the weekends I had to take a standardized exam called the CREOG's. It's a test I have to take every year throughout residency, that all OB/GYN residents take during residency. Why not have another 7 hour multiple choice computerized exam to sit through huh?
Well, when it was over we were ready for a break and we finally knocked something else off of my bucket list- going to a place called the Duck and Bunny in Providence. It's self-advertised as a "snuggery" which I still don't know what it means but they serve tea, crepes and adorable little sandwiches and scones. Ali got to join me and the girls for this bucket list item. Her face summarizes my feelings about the tiny sandwiches too!
Look at the spread! Don't worry dad, your scones still take the cake!
You can see the post-exam exhaustion on our faces, but it was a lovely afternoon of celebrating one more test in the books.
Now I'm on my emergency medicine rotation and my hours are STARKLY different than what I was just doing.
Also, I have had the pleasure of working on a little something for my cousin Kaylee's upcoming wedding. Now, I don't want to spoil it so let's just say I am having a lot of fun busting out the beading tools and re-purposing some of the accessories from the mother of the bride (aunt Vicky)'s wedding!
Getting some time for the creative juices to get flowing again feels so good!
It also feels good to be back in the ER and really interesting how life goes full circle. Last night a scribe came up to me and said "hey, do you want me to go see that patient with you?" I smiled, and said, "yes, yes I would!" I left the room after taking the history and examining the patient, and got back to my desk to a nearly completed chart and I realized felt an overwhelming sense of gratitude for the scribe and also for my own journey to where I am today, on the "other side" of scribing. What a journey it has been!
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