my life as a filipino-american, newly graduated family med physician

Current Blog
Old Blogs
myspace

Blogs to Note:
gary
tae
kerry
other Dr Blogs:
dr pooh
rand*amok
fam med notes
dr bradley

POWERED BY:
blogger



COMMENT?
sign my Guestbook
View My Guestbook

my day

the bulk of my day is spent waiting for lab/X-ray/MRI/MRA results, waiting for the elevator and waiting for the resident or attending. It's basically a waiting game the entire day. the thing that can test your patience is when you get into the elevator and it stops at every floor and you're waiting to get out on the 12th. People who are too lazy to go up one flight of stairs perturb me (that is unless they're a patient who can't or they just got off a 16 hr shift.) So, b/c I need the exercise, i've decided to go down all flights of stairs no matter how many and go up at least 3 flights. I'm so outta shape i start getting tachycardic and SOB (short of breath) by the 2nd flight, but at least I'm doing it. i'm proud of myself.

family members
when you're in the hosp. it is so important for your family members to be there. not just for your own support, but a lot times, if you're the pt (patient), you're just out of it. Family members can give us a better history or perhaps an additional history that helps us treat you better. for instance, one pt of mine is terribly belligerent and uncooperative. Her sister tells us this is not at all her normal personality w/c signifies perhaps a personality change secondary to her brain lesion. We also like it if people know what meds their family member is taking. all in all, if the family is cooperative and helpful, the pt gets better care.

posted by dinah 9:45 AM

the wall

we have hit the wall as far as renovating is concerned. we are dead tired.
we still need to put one more coat of paint in our bedroom and have only laid out 1/4 of the laminate wood floors in our livingroom. b/c we're so tired, we decided to quit early today and go to my parents to watch TV. fortunately, i have set the VCR to record every trading spaces show this week and NBC's primetime line-up for Thursday. I couldn't miss it of course.

Acutally, I kind of wanted to watch that show The bachelor b/c all of my co-workers have been talking about it. I wonder if "Trista" won since everyone seemed to be rooting for her. I'll have to surf for that info.

It's so nice to have TV and just veg. We can't really call our place "home" yet, cuz we don't even have a bed and most of our stuff is still at my parents. We have no couch, no kitchen table, and worst, NO TV!!!! Am I really that reliant on TV?

posted by dinah 11:00 PM

someone's in the kitchen with . . .

our kitchen is practically done except for the cabinet doors. We have tile, a new frig and a new range. I'm so excited b/c I can actually start unpacking our wedding gifts. yeah!

posted by dinah 4:53 PM

QuizYourFriends.com

Everybody has been sending me these 10 question quizzes about themselves and I've been scoring a measley 50-80% on them. Do I really not know my friends that well? for ex, I didn't know who somebody's first kiss was with or someone's first pet. The thing is I know if i sent out a quiz, everyone would get 100% cuz I tell everybody everything. We'll see.

posted by dinah 10:56 AM

Embarrasing Moments

As much as I love my new presto changos, I think there's something wrong with them. yes, they make me feel like I'm walking on clouds, but so much so that I'm starting to walk really clumsily. for the past week, I have been tripping on my own feet.

My first impulse is not to think,"Oh, thank God i didn't hurt myself," but instead,"Oh, thank God, no one saw me do that."

posted by dinah 10:53 AM

the Last Month

I'm on my last month of rotations and it's taking forever. I'm not complaining that our service only has one patient though, but I just want to go home and paint. On Monday, we'll get some bright new, eager 3rd year med students pick up the slack (not there is any really, but hey, I'm a lazy 4th year). Can't wait.

Good Doctors

If you are in the hospital and your doctor removes your socks to check reflexes, vasculature, or whatnot, s/he is a good doctor if s/he put your socks back on your feet.

posted by dinah 3:03 PM

Why I hate Wallpaper

We have officially begun renovating our "new" home. Last Sat, the previous owners finally gave us the keys and we started tearing off the flowery wallpaper in the kitchen. Under that wallpaper we found 2 more layers and found the original practically stuck like super glue to the wall. What I have learned from this project is: don't buy those nasty enzymes w/c supposedly aid in this wall paper stripping--it doesn't work. In the end, we bought a ~$40 steamer to tediously remove that every last bit of the 3rd layer of wall paper. that process took 2 days.

So how is our progress so far? We've sanded the walls, spackled, textured, and painted them a "basic beige." We've removed all the cabinet doors, sanded them and primed them white. My next task it to paint them white and screw them back on.

Power Tools

I finally got to use a so-called "power tool." the cordless drill certainly gave me more power than a regular screwdriver when I was taking the cabinet hinges off, but it also gave me a sense of authority. No wonder guys like this stuff. also, after killing my deltoid from manually sanding the cabinet doors, my hubby finally decided to buy a sander. what a difference that made.

what lurks behind your oven

No one knows what's behind your oven until you buy a new one. We are removing all the old appliances in our kitchen b/c they are SKANKY. "They ugly" in other words and are a blast from the 70s/80s. After removing the vinyl from the floor (also 70s), Robin found all this gunk as well as childrens toys behind the oven. If you're ever looking for your long lost rubber ball or earring, it may be hiding behind the oven along w/ other things.

I can't wait till the kitchen is done so that we can actually function in our house. We have slept there since Sunday b/c it's so close to my work, but we can't even fix a decent meal there b/c of the mess. lately, we've been scamming off our good friends who live nearby and fortunately, my parents called the other day to treat us to a buffet. We're terrible! But b/c I was feeling guilty, I did make the cornbeef ( a filipino staple that i learned to cook in middle school) last night at my friends. I didn't want her to be making dinner for us while I just sat in her beautifully and newly decorated livingroom so I volunteered. I even washed the dishes, so I don't feel too bad.

posted by dinah 11:52 AM

You Know You're Histrionic When . . .

Rounding on a patient (pt) consists of the entire team (interns, med students, attendings) circling your bed in the wee hours of the morning. We ask the pt questions and eachother questions and then exam the pt in front of everyone. As you can tell, it's a pretty dehumanizing experience.

One of the pt's on our team is status-post stroke x 7 days with decreased motor deficits to her left side, however, she still seems to put on her full head of make-up by the time we get to round on her. blue eye shadow, dark eye-liner, mascara--the works--and this, just with her right hand. Her room is full of flowers and smells of perfume the moment you step into it. It's such a stark,but welcoming, contrast from all the other patients rooms. She is also different from our other patients in that she has money (just bought an Escalade and was about to go on a cruise before her mishap).

The very fact that this patient goes through all the trouble tells you what her life was like pre hospitalization. At first,we made fun of her histrionic personality--but now I realize it's more of a survival tactic. Go on with your life just as you did before. The hospital is such a dreary place as it is, why not try to be as comfortable as you can be?

posted by dinah 1:32 PM

Options

One of my female friends told me she wouldn't mind being a stay at home mom one day. I've felt that too. Sometimes I hate the life that I have chosen that almost forces me to have children later on in life. I'd hate not to see my children grow up and I'd be so jealous if my husband became Mister Mom. Can women really have their cake and it too?

I told my friend the only reason why she could even think of becoming a "stay at home mom" during our modern times is because she actually has the option. She's studied hard, has a great job and if her hubby makes enough money she can stay home without feeling any regrets that society would force upon her. Had she not gone and gotten her degree she'd probably be like tons of 40 year old non-traditional female college students who earn a degree after their children have left home (one of my classmates was 41 years old with 9 children all over 12 years old). Another one of my friends has put off having another child till she finishes her education, but I remember her feeling so giddy about trying for another one just a month ago.

Society. If I was in my 20s in the 1960s I'd probably be just as motivated as the single Mary in the Mary Tyler Moore Show to be a single working woman. But now it's totally a backlash. We want to be everything and still be happy. I think I'm writing this cuz I'm kind of jealous of people I know who haven't subjected themselves to slavery.

In the neuro call room today the podiatry student looked out the window and said,"Gosh, I'd love to just bask out there in the sun." In the medical field you go into work when it's dark and you leave when it's dark. It's a sacrifice. And now you know why so many doctors are alcoholics, drug addicts, adulterers, etc. It's a sucky life sometimes.

I'm also jealous of the people who have money (real money not plastic) and don't have to work hard to get it. On the other hand I feel sad that I care what other people think.

What's become of me?

I wish I could win the lottery to pay off my med school debt then I would be happy. No, not even. The love of this so called life is just a chasing after the wind.

It's all relative

What motivates us to find jobs so that we can get/buy more than we need and not want? If we had no friends to show what our new surround system complete with flat screen TV was like, would it be as enjoyable? Would we still want to incur the hole in our savings? Even the joy of wearing new clothes isn't as fun if we didn't have anyone to show it off to or get approvable from.

Or is it?

I guess you can't know if you really enjoy something unless you know you can do it, eat it, feel it w/o caring a darn what other people think.

posted by dinah 10:16 PM

Presto Chango

It's back to waking up at 5:45 in the morning. I started my Neurology rotation this week and I was sooo nervous about it b/c I really didn't want to "work" during the end of my 4th year in med school. Fourth year is the enjoyable year where most med students take a lot of "mickey" classes so that they can take a mind break before intern year. As my required medicine core class, I had to take neuro and by chance, I got it slotted at the end.

The first day on the rotation there were 3 patients with 2 med students, 2 residents, and two podiatry students to tend to them. Talk about a large doctor to patient ratio! This certainly spreads out the work load. I'm happy to say, this is a great rotation to end on!
what's even better is that my new Nike presto changos have passed the comfort test! I felt like I was walking on clouds all day.

Podiatry

I never knew how long it took to become a podiatrist till this week. Apparently, most podiatrist get a Bachelors Degree then go to Podiatry school for 4 years, followed by a 3 year residency. That's just as long as getting an MD with residency. Previously, I didn't think they earned their title as "doctor" b/c I didn't realize they went to school that long, nor did I know how intense the program was. It seemed to me like anybody could get into those podiatry programs.

But I rescind my previous thoughts about podiatry. They are not wanna be orthopedic docs nor do they lack the education to be called doctor. And . . .they like the foot!

posted by dinah 11:03 PM