call room smell

I heard this lady say "I love kids". That's nice. It's kind of weird though. It's like saying " I like people for a little while".

- Demetri Martin, These Are Jokes

As a medical student, you take on very different roles day to day and rotation to rotation. Sometimes you are working semi-autonomously, looking and acting like a doctor. Other times you are "shadowing"- following around a doctor and basically just watching. Depending on your role, and how you are introduced, patients will respond very differently.

You will encounter some patients who won't see you at all. Others agree but are clearly uncomfortable you are there. Most patients won't really care too much. Once in a while, however, you come across people who will not only see you, but will teach you. Despite being in hospital and in pain, they will actively involve you and make a point of showing you things. They let you know what you did that they liked. They give you their perspective and tell you the things they wish their doctors had paid attention to. They let you repeat an uncomfortable exam, even though the doctor has already done it once. When you come across people like this, it is hard to express to them how appreciative you feel. You can't really say- "Thank you so much for that pelvic exam". So you are just polite like always, but wish you could really thank them.

In obstetrics, getting involved in patient care is especially awkward. You are often not treated as part of the team and are regarded as an unwanted "observer". I understand the reasons for this, but it's hard when you are sleep-deprived, and being constantly rejected by doctors, nurses and patients. Sometimes you feel like asking the patient if they would prefer you to do their exam now, while you are being supervised, or later, when you are practicing doctor who has no idea what they are doing because no one let them practice as a student. I don't blame the patients, and I never act annoyed, but it can definitely be frustrating.

On my call shift yesterday, I was lucky enough to be involved in the labour and delivery of bouncing baby girl where the couple was exceptionally open and welcoming to me. I got to see many different aspects of their care and learned so much from the experience. This morning, I went in to see them to say thanks again before I left for home and still felt unable to really let them know how much I appreciated their kindness.

we have ways of making you think

Nice tackle
-Elliott Stabler, Law & Order SVU

Having recently had my stethoscope stolen has caused me to be on the lookout for the perp. This is a little ridiculous, as I'm on call at VGH now, and there are more than a few people packing 'scopes. Also, I lost mine at St Paul's.

I'm actually fairly certain mine was taken on purpose, as it had my name, cell phone and pager number displayed clearly on an ident-a-band wrapped around the neck. And it disappeared in the early morning hours. Likely around 5am. Prime stethoscope thieving time.

Anyhow, this has made me think of what I would do if I found someone wearing my stethoscope. And it reminds me of a story from undergrad.

When I lived at 3 Aberdeen St during my time at Queen's, we would often have people come up to our door asking for bottles, or donations to vague charities, or sometimes they would just ask if "Johnny" was home. These young males would be carrying an empty duffle bag and have an old mountain bike ditched on the lawn. You are probably getting the idea, as we eventually did, that these fine gentlemen weren't actually wondering if John was home, but were in fact hoping that he wasn't, if you know what I mean. A few times we actually did get robbed. One time someone came in when we were all sleeping and pinched our X-Box and a few winter jackets. I was pretty into Halo at the time, and mostly sad about the X-Box, but Jason was more upset that his new winter jacket was gone. He had this idea, however, that we could just stay on the lookout and he would probably find it. I wasn't as hopeful.

Anyhow, as the story goes, we did. I was downtown coming home from having dinner and had run into some friends. While we were chatting, I noticed this guy wearing a jacket identical to Jason's walking down the sidewalk. I wasn't sure what to do, but I decided I should do something, so I hurried after him and struck up a conversation. I started asking him about the jacket and he was less than happy to talk about it. As time passed, I realized he was generally pretty dishevelled, except for the new jacket of course. I wasn't certain, however, how to deal with it.

Luckily I didn't really have to. Turns out Milk and Jason were across the street waiting in line at The Brass and had also spotted the jacket. It also turns out that the dishevelled snowboarder, later revealed to be Kingston resident Paul Kaye, wasn't particularly savvy, and suggested that we call the police to resolve the dispute. That hadn't occurred to us. Upon arrival of the Police, Paul talked his way into trouble, repeatedly changing his story and eventually admitting that "a friend" had given him the jacket two days prior (the same day we had filed a police report).

It was a story to tell, and Jay was happy to get his jacket back. I was happy I didn't have to break my record of never being involved in a fist-a-cuffs. It was hard not to feel guilty though. The cops made him just give back the jacket on the spot. It was cold and he was just wearing an old t-shirt underneath. You had to feel sorry for the poor guy. That's pretty unlucky.

If I find someone with my stethoscope around their neck, I doubt I will be as sympathetic.

touching. more touching.

I hate flossing. I wish I just had one long curvy tooth.
-Mitch Hedberg

UPDATE!

My stethoscope was lost/stolen last night while I was on obstetrical call at St Paul's. Balderdash. It has my name and number on it, but that hasn't helped so far. Someone is probably using it as a fashion accessory on the downtown eastside.

I spent last weekend at Carolynn's cabin on Bowen Island. The weather, food, company, water were amazing. Best day of the summer so far.

Apparently sea kayaking is really hard and dangerous. Some people are getting nervous about our trip and how ill-prepared we are. I guess I'm slowly becoming one of those people.

We booked our flights to Halifax in September. Courtney and I are both doing electives at Dalhousie for the month. Except I submitted my application over 4 months ago and they have yet to place me for the second half of my time there. Maybe if I don't get a spot I will conduct a short research project on the health benefits/risks of eating only lobster for 2 weeks straight.

I have two cavities. The told me not to snack as much. And floss more. And also to pay them $500.80 to get them filled. There is nothing like going to dentist to make you feel like an ill-behaved child.

ummmm........congratulations?

And count the stars
That's shining in your eye
And just to dig it all and not to wonder- that's just fine
And I'll be satisfied
Not to read inbetween the lines
-Sweet Thing, Van Morrison

I've been delaying posting for a while, because I hadn't really come up with an idea about my policy on blogging significant news before we've told people using our voices first.

Anyhow, I decided it's a good idea.

Courtney and I are getting married! We think probably next summer, but all the details are fairly loose. The wedding will be in BC though......somewhere. There is no romantic engagement story or even an engagement ring. I've already experienced a number of people being quite dissapointed in me about this (mostly Tory), but trust me, Courtney likes romance less than I do. I think she told me once that if I put a ring in a champagne glass she might puke all over me. It took us awhile to come around to the idea of actually having a wedding at all.

At any rate, advice/messages/tidings of goodwill of any kind are appreciated.