Catch Up

Sorry - don't worry I didn't freak out about the 10 year thing and go crazy. (Okay, I did kind of freak out, but that isn't why I haven't blogged, and I would argue that I went crazy years ago. ) Life just got a lot busy, and I have been spending time learning lessons.

Lesson: Snow has good and bad points. Allow me to explain. It had snowed here several times already - at least by my definition. You have to remember that back in Georgia snow flurries if only seen briefly by a street lamp constitute a snow storm. The 3 or 4 snow "dustings" that we had gotten here already certainly qualified as snow in my book - at least they did. Wednesday last week, my definition changed. The word started spreading late Tuesday. Snow was coming - the real kind. Not exactly sure what to expect, I set my alarm clock early so that I would have extra time.

When I woke up that Wednesday the entire world was white. We had received 6-8 inches of snow - OVERNIGHT!. Needless to say this was an entirely new experience for me. I had unfortunately parked my car the night before on the roof of my parking deck, so I got to start by pushing snow off my car. After a treacherous drive in - Georgia drivers should not be allowed on Philly streets in snow - we had a fairly busy day. I had expected none of our patients to show. The roads were much clearer for the drive home, and then it got COLD. We didn't see a day out of the 20's until this past Tuesday. The snow melted a little and then overnight we got 2-4 more inches.

Freshly fallen snow is quite beautiful, and there is something breathtaking about looking out over a city or old university covered in snow. It also is warmer when it snows. The really cold weather seems to come right before or after. Besides the obvious driving issues, snow just gets very messy. Grey slush on the streets and sidewalks is not attractive. Snow bluffs covered in debris also not attractive.

Lesson: High School Students are "special". I was on call last Thursday (as I am this Thursday), and it was a truly horrific night. Up the entire night save about twenty minutes with patients trying to actively die. As part of my new volunteering kick, I had agreed to speak to a group of high school students in a Medical Occupations class on Friday. I went with one of our OR nurses who happened to have a daughter in the class. Not to pat myself of the back or anything, but I do fairly well sans sleep up to a point. The students came very close to that point.

The first part of the class was harmless enough. We simply introduced ourselves, and talked a little bit about what we do and how we came about doing it. Then we opened the room up to questions. Most of them were pretty predictable and standard, but there was one girl who was way out in left field. Her first question to me (I guess as a warm up) was about my accent. I had already admitted to being from Georgia, and had even commented that this was my first "real" winter. Her question was how did I turn my accent on and off and when did I decide to do so. Huh?

I wasn't even sure how to answer, and then they got worse. I had been asked about how I decided to become a surgeon. I told a story of "my" first case as a medical student. It was a butt abscess in an HIV patient, but I loved it. The question that I was then asked by the left fielder - "Do you think that it makes you disturbed to like to cut people?" This was then followed by a question regarding dealing with the "arrogance of surgeons." I gave laughing answers, and then made a point to ignore her hand for the rest of the time. Give me homeless people any day over high school students.

Lesson: Money is not everything. Bet you never thought you would hear me say that statement. Last weekend I had the opportunity to pick up a couple of NP shifts in the cardiac surgery ICU. I thought, how hard can that be? They write a few orders, pull a few tubes and transfer patients to the floor. . . plus it payed $100/hr. The plan was 6 hours on Saturday and 4-6 hours on Sunday. Reality was 11 hrs on Saturday and 13 hrs on Sunday.

Turns out when you moonlight in your own facility, they don't buy the whole "I'm just the NP" argument. We also had a unit that the wheels had fallen off of. They had 5 cardiac rooms running last Friday night with emergencies. They all were still incredibly sick on Saturday and a whole new group got sick on Sunday. I have never worked harder in my life, and that includes during my internship. I made a ton of dough, but it was no where close to worth it. I may feel differently when I actually see the money and have had more time to recover, but I am not certain.

Lesson: Be careful what you ask for. I had complained recently that we weren't doing enough cases. Well, this week fixed my little red wagon. I have pretty much gone home each night, crawled into bed and woke up 6 hours later to come back in to work. I am post call tomorrow and have the weekend off. I currently plan to sleep for a good portion of it. Time not asleep may very well see me on the couch imitating a potato. I will happily guarantee that nothing productive will come from this weekend.

Well, I think that is the majority of my lessons. I am long winded as usual, but what else is new. I will leave you with this really cool quote I found in a magazine recently.

"Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some absurdities have crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day. You shall begin it serenely and with . . high a spirit."