More photos from D.C.

The Vietnam Memorial. More amazing in person than it could ever be portrayed on film. Robyn, is apparently a weird factoid buff and informed us both that the designer for the memorial was a student who turned in the design as an assignment. Her professor gave her a B grade for it. The funny part is, her design won...and her professor's did not!



Me and Pink at a famous restaurant on a roof. The view is better than the food. If you go there, don't order the smoked turkey salad.



Robyn and Pink on the Metro. Kinda blurry, but they still make the train a much better place!



All of us standing in front of our future home.

intern graduation

Julie and me at our intern year graduation last night

Stampeded!!

I came home yesterday afternoon after being on call all night, and this is what greeted me in my front yard! I was so dumbfounded as to how and why those cows made it to my yard. Pretty funny! My yard looks like it belongs to an 80 year old lady. Hoping my neighbors hadn't seen the spectacle yet, I lugged all the cows to my backyard. Of course, ALL my neighbors saw the cows and apparently discussed with each other whether or not I did that on purpose. I finally saw a note attached to the big cow, telling me I'd been stampeded. It's a funraiser for my church, and if you donate money, the youth group will put these cows in the yard of your choice. It's so nice to be loved. I'm still trying to think of a way to get my brother back.

Miss me? Last week I went to Washington, D.C. and hung out with 2 friends from elementary school. I AM back in one piece. I came back so tired that I was convinced I needed another vacation. We had a great time and fit absolutely everything we could into 5 days. Since I'm not near as funny as my friend Robyn...aka Pastor's Bride, you can read her blog about our trip. She summed it up quite nicely...

http://imarriedthepastor.blogspot.com/




My friends



My friends and me on a boat on the Potomac. If you look really closely, you might see the infamous Snakehead Fish that now plagues the river...or you might not. Or even worse, you might see a Penis Fish that has Robyn worried. Then again, last I heard these were only found in the Amazon.



This is what's left of our feet after tromping all over Washington D.C. all day. I realize now, flip flops were probably not the best foot attire for long walks. I have sores all over my angry feet to prove it.


To change the subject, today was my last day of my intern year. I can't believe it. I'm sad. I love the hospital I am at and will really miss everyone. Last night when I was on call, I went by all the ICU's and said goodbye to the nurses. Today I said goodbye to my attending docs I've had throughout the year. Just an outstanding bunch of people. Tonight was our graduation. I just can't believe it's over. Parts of it have been pure Hell but overall it was a great year. I remember some of my call nights being so bad, that I wanted to walk out and never come back...but I couldn't because I can't afford to walk away. Some call nights I cried after having to give bad news to families. Some nights I cried just because I was so tired and didn't think I could get through the night. I'm finished.

I'm concerned that my tales at work are convincing Pastor's Bride NOT to go to medical school, especially my post about my shoes getting puked on. As long as I don't share any of my poo stories with her, maybe there's still a chance.

I've given up on Pink...she doesn't like to wear Merrell's. Then again, she could be a dermatologist. I hear they get to dress up.

Hospital things you will only see on TV

In this month's issue of Glamour, there was a list of 10 romantic things that only happen on TV. It was pretty funny. There was only one thing on there that I'd actually done. Yes, I'm guilty of having had sex while wearing a bra. I admit it.

OK, now for my take on things that only happen in the TV Healthcare System:

Dying, critically ill patients are never in respiratory distress, and they are only on the minimal amount (ie..nasal canula) of oxygen.

Critically ill patients always have rosy cheeks and plump, glossy lips.

Birthing scenes are never bloody.

The babies come out looking like 2 month olds.

Hospital staff are all skinny and look like models.

Anesthesiologists are all deadbeats, show up to work drunk, and then they abandon their patient in the OR when they find out he has a bomb in his abdomen.

All the doctors are handsome looking GQ types who have all the time in the world to hang out, chat, flirt, have sex, and go on long lunches all while on duty.

The residents are never tired and they all have great hair, even when they respond to a code blue with Bed Head.

The sun is out when the surgery residents go to work.

The patients are all rich and beautiful.

Everyone speaks English.

Everyone's scrubs are custom made, form fitting, and very flattering.

Someone gets "shocked" out of asystole and 5 minutes later is talking and "will be just fine".

No one ever gets tired after giving 2 minutes of chest compressions.

Drug seekers are easily identified because they are disheveled and have torn clothing.

In an emergency, all the drugs you need are right there, already drawn up in syringes, and ready to go in a moment's notice.

Doctors never get puked on, peed on, bled on, cough mucused on, or pooped on.


Hmm...that's all I can come up with right now.

My last weekend intern call!

It was as bad as I expected...maybe worse. I was up fo 30 hours.

Got to work at 8am. Rounded with my pulmonology attending until noon.

The highlights of my insane night include:

Admitting the mean, drunk homeless guy at 1am who smelled so bad I thought I was going to vomit when I walked in his room. I didn't think it was possible to smell that bad.

Trying to intubate a girl in the ICU with cystic fibrosis and having her jaw clamp so tight when I gave her sedation that I had to paralyze her (by myself) to get the tube in. I was shaking I was so scared. They say you never forget your "first time". Well, I'll never forget the first time to give succinylcholine by myself. One thing that was nice to hear was that the ICU nurse and the respiratory therapist that assisted me said that was one of the calmest intubations they have been in. Little did they know how scared I felt and the ONLY reason I was calm was because they were calm. ICU nurses are truly a gift from God.

Not being able to intubate a guy and having his oxygen sats drop to 20 because he was difficult to ventilate with a bag/mask. I think that's about as scared as I've ever been on call. A stat call to the ER doc saved me (and the patient!).

Getting called at 4am because a new patient with atrial fibrillation suddenly became unresponsive. His oxygen saturations dropped and I had to intubate him without giving any sedation, causing him to have a vagal reaction and drop his heart rate low enough to make us call a code blue. Got him intubated without any problems, and thought maybe he'd had a stroke with the a-fib, but couldn't get him to the CT scanner because his blood pressure was low. I tried to get his blood pressure up as much as I could but nothing worked. 20 minutes on the ventilater he suddenly woke up and started responding to us and answering yes/no questions. He died 2 hours later from what turned out to be a huge clot in his left ventricle.

After all this, I had to round on a bunch of pulmonology patients until noon today.

A hangover feels better than how I feel today.

I'm grateful none of these events happened to me last July when I was a brand spankin' new intern. They would have had to carry me out in a straight jacket.

Ugh! I'm so tired.

I started my month of pulmonology Friday. I have to be at the hospital to round at 7am then be available for consultations in the afternoon. It's not really all that bad, I'm just not quite used to getting up so early. This time next month it will be like sleeping in.

Anyway, I got 3 consultations yesterday afternoon then I was on call last night. I got home today around 1pm and just collapsed into bed but really didn't sleep very long. I've been dragging the rest of today with my "post call headache" I always get when I'm sleep deprived.

Earlier this week my ex boyfriend moved to Dallas. That has been difficult to deal with. We had a fun weekend but he's been busy and distracted with the logistics of moving, so I probably won't hear from him again for awhile. I think he's mad at me, too. I guess I said some things that he took as me trying to make him feel guilty. He got real pissy with me the last time we talked. The thing is, he's always gotten on to me because I don't talk about things that upset me until I get really mad. Now that I am, he thinks I'm trying to make him feel bad. Whatever. Either way, I can't win.

I'm just really, really stressed. I start my official anesthesia residency in 3 weeks. That in itself is enough stress, but I also have to take our in-training exam too. We have to score in the 50th percentile to stay off probation. Plus the break up still feels crappy and to top it off, he's moved away. It all just feels like it's coming together at once. Did I do something wrong?