Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Last Words(?)

This may be my last post. I'm thinking this because of the following reasons:
  1. What little spare time I have, I should be reading.
  2. The quality of my posts have generally sucked for some time now, and I don't anticipate a reversal in that trend, and
  3. I think writing about every single notable event that happens to me during intern year/residency is a tiresome exercise for both me and what remaining people visit here, anyway1.
Instead, I'll just sum up some things that may have happened in the last month-and-a-half:
  • I moved.
  • I independently made medical decisions.
  • I let the nurse make a decision.
  • I bonded with a patient.
  • I wanted to throw a patient out of the hospital.
  • I saw someone else's patient 'code.'
  • I saw my patient code2.
  • I was the first doctor to the code and hesitated to go in.
  • I was the first doctor to the code and started compressions.
  • I got yelled at by an attending physician.
  • I got yelled at by an attending physician for someone else's error.
  • I carried four pagers at once.
  • I wanted to throw each of them into the Schuylkill River.
  • One day I didn't have time to eat until 9pm.
  • I discovered that dried apricots, mixed nuts, and diet soda make an easy, convenient dinner.
  • I didn't get enough sleep.
  • I did nearly nothing, and my patient loved me.
  • I did everything I could, and my patient hated me.
  • I felt competent.
  • I felt like an idiot.
  • I took a fellow intern out for a drink because he felt worse about internship than I did.
  • I wished someone did the same thing for me a week earlier.
  • Someone lived.
  • Someone died.
In short, life happened. Same as anywhere else.

*******
1 For an accurate depiction of residency life, just watch Scrubs.

2 I think 'code' is one of those words that loses its meaning once you say it enough times. Like 'cow' or 'Bracken.'

6 Comments:

Blogger cheshire cat said...

It'll probably come to making a decision between sleeping or blogging, so I understand. I'll miss your posts. Take care.

8:21 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

We will miss you terribly.
Then that give us more reason to find a way to take your out for drink or dinner.

10:53 AM  
Blogger David Saff said...

Simple eloquence. If you must go out, an excellent bang with which to do so. Go forth and heal, and enjoy, when the opportunities can be seized.

10:15 AM  
Blogger Nitsirk said...

Wow, I can't imagine. We will miss you. I guess this means I will have to email if I want to know what you are up to. Hey, throwing people into the Schuylkill while they are still alive is frowned upon. Nice job with the spelling. You are practically a native now.

5:44 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

hiya Mike,

here's hoping you'll pick it up again at some point when

1. You actually have spare time, instead of overwhelming piles of work, that you can use for things other than the reading you do for work, without feeling guilty.
2. You can post freely without being self-critical and judgemental, and worrying about meeting a certain standard of quality (whatever the hell that is).
3. You shake the feeling of obligation that makes the whole thing seem 'tiresome', skxdylg!

Do send an e if you find yourself re-invented in another format some day.

best wishes,

Lia.

2:06 PM  
Blogger mikey's sister said...

Damn. Well, I hope you manage to find time to have a life in between those long shifts. And maybe we should like, pick up the phone every so often. And call each other.

Anyhow, thanks for the Schuylkill wiki link. I've always wondered how to say "Schuylkill" but was too lazy to look it up.

I'll see ya when I see ya!

J.

2:21 AM  

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