i got bored today and decided i needed a blog update. i was so taken by the little doodles on this one. i realize that pieces of it are totally nonfunctional right now. for now, i am going to bed.
xoxo. m.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
risotto
man, it has been a looong time since i talked about anything i cooked. it's been a long time since i cooked! anything more than spaghetti or soy barbecue wings, anyway. mostly because most days i come home feeling like i've been hit by a bus. however, today was a slow day. not one pregnant woman all. day. long. you would think a little snow wouldn't stop something like labor, for pete's sake, but it seems it does.
in the call room i watched:
sleepless in seattle
say yes to the dress (x2 episodes)
what not to wear
income property
first time design
divine design
colour confidential
color splash (only intermittently. i got up to visit my baby-friend, but she cried too much, so i put her back in her crib and left. also, i actually examined a second baby at this point.)
dear genevieve
what not to wear, again
say yes to the dress, again, which was good because i caught the beginning of this morning's first episode, which had been eclipsed by the end of sleepless in seattle.
while it kind of sucks to be busy like a maniac at work, there is something different yet equally terrible about being trapped in a place for 12 hours with absolutely nothing to do.
anyway, so i left the hospital feeling like a caged animal let into the wild. what would i do?? i would cook! yet any respectable grocery store is way out of the way and i was too lazy for that. so i started to ponder what i had at home. i came up with:
frozen spinach
arborio rice
1/2 of a box of vegetable broth
and, then... the missing link: a small tub of pesto left over from this summer!
i have also been cooking with walnuts a lot - my friend clued me in to the fact that they're a great protein replacement in meatless pasta sauce. so i tossed in some walnuts and made myself a nice little risotto! it turned out well, i have to say. and while i always thought risotto had to be super creamy and fatty (and bad for you), it really doesn't. i only tossed a little extra parmesean on top and did the rest of the cooking with olive oil. and it's really so easy but seems so decadent when you're eating it.
mmm. i forgot how much i like to cook. next goal, working my way through the pounds of legumes my mother sent me.
in the call room i watched:
sleepless in seattle
say yes to the dress (x2 episodes)
what not to wear
income property
first time design
divine design
colour confidential
color splash (only intermittently. i got up to visit my baby-friend, but she cried too much, so i put her back in her crib and left. also, i actually examined a second baby at this point.)
dear genevieve
what not to wear, again
say yes to the dress, again, which was good because i caught the beginning of this morning's first episode, which had been eclipsed by the end of sleepless in seattle.
while it kind of sucks to be busy like a maniac at work, there is something different yet equally terrible about being trapped in a place for 12 hours with absolutely nothing to do.
anyway, so i left the hospital feeling like a caged animal let into the wild. what would i do?? i would cook! yet any respectable grocery store is way out of the way and i was too lazy for that. so i started to ponder what i had at home. i came up with:
frozen spinach
arborio rice
1/2 of a box of vegetable broth
and, then... the missing link: a small tub of pesto left over from this summer!
i have also been cooking with walnuts a lot - my friend clued me in to the fact that they're a great protein replacement in meatless pasta sauce. so i tossed in some walnuts and made myself a nice little risotto! it turned out well, i have to say. and while i always thought risotto had to be super creamy and fatty (and bad for you), it really doesn't. i only tossed a little extra parmesean on top and did the rest of the cooking with olive oil. and it's really so easy but seems so decadent when you're eating it.
mmm. i forgot how much i like to cook. next goal, working my way through the pounds of legumes my mother sent me.
bon appetit!
Monday, February 22, 2010
... like paper in the wind.
time sure is flying over here. on the one hand, it's good. i'm almost halfway through my six month pedswards-wards-ob-ob-ccu-wards death stretch. i'm 2/3 of the way through intern year, and the days are getting longer. on the other hand, it makes me a little bit sad to think that so much time has gone by while i've been huddled beneath a thin cotton blanket in some dingy call room.
oh my gosh that sounds depressing! well, it is. i'm a little depressed. but let me tell you something great! being as this is ob month #1, i was feeling a little unsure of myself when it came to babies and getting them out of moms. for deliveries 1-7, i would be going along, doing my thing, get to about when the head came out, and some kind (or perhaps overly -controlling) attending would see the panic in my eyes (or the shoulder dystocia, the tight nuchal cord, etc) and knock me out of the way. i was fine with that, for the most part, but it wasn't really getting me where i needed to go in terms of labor skills. until one afternoon a couple of weeks ago, which went something like this.
2:00: i check patient, she is 4 cm. call attending, call for nubain. saunter off to the nursery to hang out with some babies. her first baby? this will take all day.
2:15: nurse: "can you come to her room? she wants to push." me: "no, she can't push, she's at 4!" nurse: "i just checked her. she's at least 6." me: "mmm..."
2:20: arrive in room: nurse: "she's fully dilated". me: (internally: holy sh*t! what?) out loud: "um, let's page the attending. again."
2:22: me: "oh hey, dr x? she's uh... fully." dr x "what? hold on."
2:23: attending arrives. me, gloved and panicked. baby, top of head visible. nurse, with glee: "we're having a baby!"
2:24: head out, me sitting on bed, deep breathing. i am calm.
2:24:10: me sitting on bed, holding entire baby. attending attempting to finish putting gloves on.
2:25: pharmacy tech walks in: "i brought the nubain?" looks at screaming baby, leaves.*
so that, my friends, is the story of how i delivered my first baby all by myself. thanks, little mr. jayden/ brayden/ hayden/aidan/whatever your name was... (don't worry, this isn't a violation of privacy. all of my babies are named something rhyming with maiden. though no maiden's yet, come to think of it.) and, actually, this story would repeat itself more than once that week, so should you think you know which precipitously-delivering patient i'm talking about... well... i bet you don't. the attendings are joking that i specialize in rapid labor. what can i say, lots of babies were in a rush to meet me.
it was awesome, though :)
*for those of you unfamiliar with the world of OB, that was some speedy labor.
oh my gosh that sounds depressing! well, it is. i'm a little depressed. but let me tell you something great! being as this is ob month #1, i was feeling a little unsure of myself when it came to babies and getting them out of moms. for deliveries 1-7, i would be going along, doing my thing, get to about when the head came out, and some kind (or perhaps overly -controlling) attending would see the panic in my eyes (or the shoulder dystocia, the tight nuchal cord, etc) and knock me out of the way. i was fine with that, for the most part, but it wasn't really getting me where i needed to go in terms of labor skills. until one afternoon a couple of weeks ago, which went something like this.
2:00: i check patient, she is 4 cm. call attending, call for nubain. saunter off to the nursery to hang out with some babies. her first baby? this will take all day.
2:15: nurse: "can you come to her room? she wants to push." me: "no, she can't push, she's at 4!" nurse: "i just checked her. she's at least 6." me: "mmm..."
2:20: arrive in room: nurse: "she's fully dilated". me: (internally: holy sh*t! what?) out loud: "um, let's page the attending. again."
2:22: me: "oh hey, dr x? she's uh... fully." dr x "what? hold on."
2:23: attending arrives. me, gloved and panicked. baby, top of head visible. nurse, with glee: "we're having a baby!"
2:24: head out, me sitting on bed, deep breathing. i am calm.
2:24:10: me sitting on bed, holding entire baby. attending attempting to finish putting gloves on.
2:25: pharmacy tech walks in: "i brought the nubain?" looks at screaming baby, leaves.*
so that, my friends, is the story of how i delivered my first baby all by myself. thanks, little mr. jayden/ brayden/ hayden/aidan/whatever your name was... (don't worry, this isn't a violation of privacy. all of my babies are named something rhyming with maiden. though no maiden's yet, come to think of it.) and, actually, this story would repeat itself more than once that week, so should you think you know which precipitously-delivering patient i'm talking about... well... i bet you don't. the attendings are joking that i specialize in rapid labor. what can i say, lots of babies were in a rush to meet me.
it was awesome, though :)
*for those of you unfamiliar with the world of OB, that was some speedy labor.
Friday, February 5, 2010
they aren't kidding.
(as seen on the door to the south 6 stairwell.)
let me break my schedule down for you.
monday - thursday: 7am - 7(:30)pm
friday: class at 7:30. clinic 8:30 - 12:00.
saturday: 7 am - 7am (sunday).
monday: repeat.
i do get one weekend off... sooo...
awesome. see you in march.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
you've come a long way, baby.*
i went into family medicine because i'm all about continuity of care. watching families grow, etc. etc. please refer to my personal statement for the full details. i'm sure i was well-rested when i wrote it and i really meant all of the things i said. also i was not at a point where i broke down into hysterical sobs at the thought of starting another month.
i digress. it's been a long month, and thus i am just returning to you, my audience.
so today i was on essentially day one of a new rotation, the family medicine OB service. the sadistic bit about this rotation is that it is essentially me covering the patients all by myself, and having to call the attendings (who sometimes are not even in house) for help. no senior resident. hell, i don't know how to function on the OB floor, nevermind check a freaking cervix. (hence the sobs sunday night at dinner.) so there i was, day one. all of a sudden, there was a laboring patient and an induction. EEP! but the umass community came together. the senior resident, who had been my senior resident in august and was on overnight, offered to stay for the morning. my 1st and 2nd year preceptor was one of the attendings, and the other was my med school advisor and life model. when my cross-covering pager went off, and i answered, i heard 'this is dr. [life-model]' on the other end. she said, 'oh, hi mary! i'm glad it's you!' and i blurted out 'i have no idea what i'm doing!' 'sure you do,' she cooed.
as the other attending and i prepared to get the laborer pushing, she turned to me and asked, 'do you need a juice?' i flashed back to first year, when i passed out during a circumcision, and recalled how she subsequently spent the next year asking me if i felt okay any time blood was mentioned. 'i just had one!' i said firmly and we marched into battle. as we stood together at the foot of the bed, i remembered another time when she thrust a syringe of lidocaine into my hands in the patient's room, and then silently took it back from me when i couldn't muster the courage to inject. 'is this your first time?' the mother asked as dr. [preceptor] ran through the procedure. 'oh, i've done this a few times,' i said, 'but dr. [preceptor] is the pro,' and winked. dr. [preceptor] handed me a cloth for perineal protection.
in the end, one little slimy bundle of goo came out into both of our hands, and dr. [preceptor] passed it up onto the mom's tummy. mom cried, and commenced texting. we told her how well she'd done. dr. [life-model]'s induction was going nowhere, and she was still at the hospital, where she was planning to spend the night. i offered to bring her starbucks in the morning; she said she was more of a tea drinker. i'm sure we'll reconnect in the morning.
oh, so what i started to say about family medicine and continuity of care. it's one thing for me to care for families over the long haul. but what i didn't think about when i stayed at umass was how nice it would be for me to be cared for over the long haul. first year med school was a sweaty, panicky, faint-filled time, and somehow, when you reconnect with someone who saw you then, you realize that you really have made some progress, no matter how inadequate intern year makes you feel. if nothing else, you have gained the presence of mind to use an instrument when it's handed to you and learned to drink a juice before heading into potentially faint-worthy situations.
*obviously, i do not endorse the virginia slims advertising campaign that somehow equated carcinogens with women's progress. talk to me about quitting smoking! did you know that the average person needs to try 6 times to quit? have you tried the gums? the patch? set a quit date? would it help you to meet with our behavioral health team? i, your family doctor, can help!
i digress. it's been a long month, and thus i am just returning to you, my audience.
so today i was on essentially day one of a new rotation, the family medicine OB service. the sadistic bit about this rotation is that it is essentially me covering the patients all by myself, and having to call the attendings (who sometimes are not even in house) for help. no senior resident. hell, i don't know how to function on the OB floor, nevermind check a freaking cervix. (hence the sobs sunday night at dinner.) so there i was, day one. all of a sudden, there was a laboring patient and an induction. EEP! but the umass community came together. the senior resident, who had been my senior resident in august and was on overnight, offered to stay for the morning. my 1st and 2nd year preceptor was one of the attendings, and the other was my med school advisor and life model. when my cross-covering pager went off, and i answered, i heard 'this is dr. [life-model]' on the other end. she said, 'oh, hi mary! i'm glad it's you!' and i blurted out 'i have no idea what i'm doing!' 'sure you do,' she cooed.
as the other attending and i prepared to get the laborer pushing, she turned to me and asked, 'do you need a juice?' i flashed back to first year, when i passed out during a circumcision, and recalled how she subsequently spent the next year asking me if i felt okay any time blood was mentioned. 'i just had one!' i said firmly and we marched into battle. as we stood together at the foot of the bed, i remembered another time when she thrust a syringe of lidocaine into my hands in the patient's room, and then silently took it back from me when i couldn't muster the courage to inject. 'is this your first time?' the mother asked as dr. [preceptor] ran through the procedure. 'oh, i've done this a few times,' i said, 'but dr. [preceptor] is the pro,' and winked. dr. [preceptor] handed me a cloth for perineal protection.
in the end, one little slimy bundle of goo came out into both of our hands, and dr. [preceptor] passed it up onto the mom's tummy. mom cried, and commenced texting. we told her how well she'd done. dr. [life-model]'s induction was going nowhere, and she was still at the hospital, where she was planning to spend the night. i offered to bring her starbucks in the morning; she said she was more of a tea drinker. i'm sure we'll reconnect in the morning.
oh, so what i started to say about family medicine and continuity of care. it's one thing for me to care for families over the long haul. but what i didn't think about when i stayed at umass was how nice it would be for me to be cared for over the long haul. first year med school was a sweaty, panicky, faint-filled time, and somehow, when you reconnect with someone who saw you then, you realize that you really have made some progress, no matter how inadequate intern year makes you feel. if nothing else, you have gained the presence of mind to use an instrument when it's handed to you and learned to drink a juice before heading into potentially faint-worthy situations.
*obviously, i do not endorse the virginia slims advertising campaign that somehow equated carcinogens with women's progress. talk to me about quitting smoking! did you know that the average person needs to try 6 times to quit? have you tried the gums? the patch? set a quit date? would it help you to meet with our behavioral health team? i, your family doctor, can help!
