probably never

i guess if i actually fork over money for this website i could get rid of that annoying banner.

wash your hands for 15 sec

I used to think my sister-in-law was an overprotective mother. She didn't like to bring my niece to places where there was a lot of people and didn't like everybody touching her. Now that I think about it, I'll probably be the same way, at least until my child is 2 years old.

RSV stands for respiratory syncitial virus, the culprit of many colds. When adults have this, it isn't nearly as dangerous as when an infant has it.

Babies with RSV end up in the hospital with fevers, wheezing, and difficulty breathing. In addition, babies with a fever who are less than a month old usually get a lumbar puncture (to collect spinal fluid) as part of the work up for infection. This is not something I want my child to go through if possible.

Touching and kissing babies are the best ways to spread the infection to them if you have a cold. The virus also lives on counter tops for up to 4 hours so you can get it just by sitting at a table where an infected person inoculated their snot.

Here's to RSV season.

pedi call

I enjoyed my pedi call last night. I had the best sleep ever. the day was busy, but I didn't get a call past midnight. We also had some interesting cases. Namely a 5 yo with vomiting suspicious for bowel obstruction and a 6 week old with vomiting who ended up having severe reflux.

if you've ever watched SCRUBS, one episode mentioned how the hospital shuts down at 5pm friday afternoon. That's why, if you're really in need of some sort of study that isn't urgent, Friday is the worst possible day for you to arrive in the hospital.

Yesterday, we basically had to hound nurses, radiologists, and surgeons for studies and consults. I didn't get to the call room or eat till 6pm so the quiet night was a life saver.

call me rudolph

I have a red nose. The culmination of post post call (2 calls in a row) and not being on birth control has caused me to have THE NORTH POLE on my nose.

call me rudolph

i have a red nose. The culmination of being post - post call (that's two calls in a row) and not being on birth control anymore has caused me to have THE NORTH POLE on my nose. Life is not good.

zombie

Regardless of the fact that I was in bed for 6 hours, I did not get restful sleep last night. I never do when I'm on call. I'm always dreaming about being on call or being paged. such is the life.

Someone told me, after seeing me post call, that it was my choice. In other words, that wanting to be on call was my choice and to live with the fact that I will have sleepless nights.

"you wanted to be a doctor, (so live with it)."

What kind of comment is that?

No one who wanted to be a physician wished to be on call. No one likes/loves to be on call and not sleep. We just sacrifice sleep at times because we know that in the end there is that reward of learning and helping someone. We did it for that "greater good," not because we wanted to be sleep deprived.

We all sacrifice for something and most jobs are a bit of a pain at times. For that, I allow people to vent (like I do) without saying something mundane to negate the way they feel.

fungus balls

I'm currently doing my pediatric rotation at another hospital other than the University Hospital. It's a nicer facility, but the place where our call room is old.

I'm sitting in our pediatric call room breathing in fungus balls. My husband, who is keeping me company (he truly is the best!), says it's all in my imagination, but the last time I was on call, I had a sore throat the next day.

This call room is basically from the 1950s and looks like a dingy dorm room with a twin bed. Some of the residents bought a little TV and table to make it a little more homey so it's bearable.

Right now, our pedi team consists of 5 girls who take call every 5 days. Since this call room is detached from the hospital, we have to walk outside in the middle night. For the females, it's a scary walk and although security is available, they just aren't as convenient as MY husband.

May I repeat my husband is awesome for staying here with me. Luckily, we have a TV and a computer to entertain us.

church anniversary

My church celebrated its 12th anniversary with food, fun, and games, including our all time Filipino favorite Patantero.

diabetes walk




After hounding our friends and family for money amd making and selling cookies, our team of 5 raised $508 for the american diabetes association "walk for diabetes." In total, the walk raised $170k which I don't think is a lot, but it's better than nothing.

We woke up at 6am un-primped, ate at McDonald's, waited in line to register by 7am and then walked the 3 miles at 8am. Afterwards, since we got free tickets for raising at least $75 each, we treated ourselves to whiplash and rode the rides.

I think we're going to make this an annual thing, the walk that is.

at goal

after selling cookies for donations yesterday, I raised about $39. I'm now $7 short of my goal of $150 for the American Diabetes Association walk. I'll probably contribute to my own fund though.

Everyone was generous, but some people were cheap trying to haggle me for the cookies. I just said "I accept donations." First it was $1 a cookie, (some gave $5), and then all of sudden, someone made it 2 for a dollar.

This isn't a garage sale people, it's for charity!

But, nonetheless, I do have $20 to collect in IOUs--$15 of it were my $5 a cookie donations. The hard part is going to be asking for these IOUs. I just hope people remember so I don't have to ask.