Lopez Lake

I went up to the lake for the day while the boys stayed to camp. It was fun. Maisy and I came home and slept together.....Basically Vanna kept us up all night but it was fun. She is the cutest little thing...makes me think that kids might be worth it, but too soon to tell. Miles was a blast as always...We're best buds still...he's really into riding his bike.

Patient Stories

I'm reading this book by a Harvard professor who compiled student essays on student-doctor and patient interactions. I thought I should be a little more insightful myself.

Last week while waiting for my PI to review my work, we were wisked up to the OR for help on a case (he was asked for help, I was merely there). Anyways, it was quite a scene. I walk into the OR, saw an open belly with 4 doctors operating on her and literally 25 empty bags of blood on the floor. This lady was hemorrhaging to death. I had heard about her on the L&D floor for the whole week...people just let her sit there waiting to go into labor...it was a bad choice for sure, because the second she went into labor, she started bleeding. Attendings were arguing on what to do, what should have been done, and she lay there helpless. Since then I see her name on the rounds list under medical & surgical ICU...she keeps receiving blood and lays asleep in a coma. The day her name suddenly disappears will be worrisome b/c i don't know if she'll make it. She has no idea her baby survived, probably being cuddled by her 3 older siblings. This baby was meant to be, the mom had already had 2 surgeries to "tie her tubes" and she kept getting pregnant...not anymore because her womb/ uterus has been removed to save her life..although we still don't know if it really did save her life or if her bleeding disorder go the best of her.

Research in California

First off, I'm handling the stress much better..It was a horrible 2 weeks but i'm back to my normal self again...the problem is still there...where do i want to go for residency, but i seem to not obsess about it.

So I'm in California for the month of Sept doing research at Arrowhead. All along this wsa my first pick for Residency but now i have an on-going list comparing it to other programs. On my first day I was told my research project was to analyze 800 fetal monitoring strips. I about fainted. I thought it was impossible to crank through that much of squiggle lines....but 2 1/2 weeks later I finished. With my local connections I was able to get the data statistically analyzed...basically all that work and nothing was significant....but still publishable. I got all that done and pulled a 24 hour Labor and Delivery shift each week. I was exhausted. I'm taking this weekend off to relax. Previous weekends I went to SM to hang out with Maisy and Miles.

It has been hard being away from Billy...I miss my routine, I'm in a strange place, and at times it really sucks. He's been really supportive and calls me every night which is basically the highlight of each day while I've been working so hard.