so pooped...

oh my, i'm soo exhausted. working 12h shifts with hardly a break is soooo difficult! as much as i like what i'm doing, i feel lost and confused nearly every second. the first day of my emergency rotation, they throw a patient at me. at first i was crazy nervous, but of course i put on my "fake confidence" and marched in the room and did ok on my history and physical exam of patient. then the resident asked me to present the case right in front of the patient and his wife, which i managed to somehow. so for the last week, i've had these painfully long 12 hour shifts (by 5th hour, i need a break, by 8th hour, i feel like it's time to head home, by 10th hour, i'm dying, and by 11.5h, i can't stop looking at the clock every minute. worse thing is two times the doctor decides to ask me to do stuff at the 11.5h and made me stay an extra 1.5h....sucks!! but i've learned to do a lot in only 4 shifts:
- put in staples in somebody's head
- saw gunshot wound to chest pt die
- irrigated and cleaned out another gunshot wound to leg
- irrigated and cleaned and watched suture of a knife laceration to finger
- cut and drained a nasty 4cm abscess from cocaine use (think giant pimple)
- saw after a guy with a 3.5" nail embedded in his thigh walk right into ER
- casted a few broken bones
- took TONS of history and physicals
- boring paperwork and lab ordering boring stuff

i can't remember what else, but i'm soo pooped at end of each day--my feet ACHE!! eyes tired, back aches too. i basically eat, read/tv for 1h, and then sleep and the 12h workday starts over again. ceaseless!! i'm such a whiny wimp, heh!

quick update, i promise!

ok, here's a quickie 'cuz not much to say. my first full 12-hour shift starts in less than 12h. i've been to several orientation mtngs, but still haven't seen patients yet. i've spoken to other PA classmates and some have crazy 12-14h/day schedules already 4-5 days/week!! so i should feel VERY lucky to have just 3 days on/2 days off schedule for now. =)

I went to NJ Open for badminton this past wknd and it was lotsa fun but i never played sooo much badminton in one day. i nearly died! but came out with a win in each event in lower flights, and radu won open men's singles and mixed doubles, totaling over $500. lucky guy. most cash prize i ever got was $35. haha, sad, but oh well. oh, and he's too darn popular in badminton tournies--strangers go up to talk to him. and sadly enuf...my scorpio side showed and i got jealous at one point! =P how embarassing. but we talked, and he reassured me i guess.

been eating out at the carts and small restaurants! i think it may actually be cheaper to eat out than to buy grocery foods for just one person. I get more variety eating lunch specials, saves me time, tastes better, and costs less than $5 for two meals since they give us such large portions that i have part for lunch, part for dinner. grocery shopping is reserved for fruit and snacks =). so far, i've had ginger shrimp/chicken, chicken lo mein, and dinner cooked by radu's twin (sweet and sour chicken with teriyaki rice). YUM!!! sure beats the PB&J sandwich i had for about 1 week straight! oh, and my new fav deli is panera breads. i think it's only in east coast, but you have GOT to try their sandwiches and salads. go to http://www.panerabread.com/default.aspx and start drooling!

saw batman returns today--was expecting a SUPERB movie from all the hype, and it only turned out decent. well, better than decent. anyhow, i better get back to organizing and preparing for tomorrow!

getting closer to actually working!!

ohmigosh, it's been nearly a month since i last posted! crazy! i'm so behind! well let's backtrack:

last two weeks i've learned a TON of interesting hands-on medicine:
- suturing! i can put in stitches in a variety of ways, and tie cool knots! this will be useful for my first rotation in emergency as i'm sure i'll get to sew lotsa lacerations.
- casting! i broke my arm and leg and had cast on both simultaneously! then i had to get it sawed off (the cast, not my leg) which was quite scary! my classmate has a pic of me casted. i casted my friend too--she had all four extremities casted at once, it was hilarious! i love casting!
- intubation...of course on a dummy. good thing 'cuz i managed to crack the top 4 teeth in the process of jamming that laryngoscope down his throat...
- phlebotomy (drawing blood)...did it on my classmates arm and hand. good thing she has nice veins. i have crappy ones and she poked me and missed first try. =( ouchies. i still need much more practice on this one, but i brought home all the goodies to practice (too bad radu won't let me do it on him yet).
- male genital/rectal exam - that was quite lovely...our patient was very kind though, even with 4 girls sticking a finger up his behind. i still don't know for sure if i found his prostate...i think my finger is just too short!
- training in emergency resuscitation, such as CPR, defibrillation, cardioversion, etc. of course we only tried it on dummies.
- tomorrow i get more training in surgical procedures such as putting in central IV lines, urine foley catheters (so pts can pee without getting up), placing an NG (nasogastric) tube to feed pts or to drain their stomachs, putting in chest tubes to drain chest of fluids, and a bunch of other procedures.
- and of course boring stuff too like how to input pt data and order tests/labs/meds on the hospital computer system, how to use our palm and dl information, get fitted for masks and equipment, learn about needle/bloodboure pathogen safety, get immunization shots so that i can work in health care setting, blah blah blah.

And so this all accumulates to my first rotation beginning in less than a week!! I have switched my rotation with classmates with the same matrix as me so that I can stay local for the first two (ED and surgery) since I have no car. I figured it costs me about $1,200/month to rent a car, gas, parking, and insurance! CRAZY!!! so they really did me a HUGE favor by switching since they already have cars. So i start 8am on monday 6/20, and after that, i work three 12-hour shifts, then get 2 days off, and repeat again. i work every wknd except one, and will have to find a substitute for 2 days i'm gone in miami. the 12-h shifts are randomly assigned from 7:30am to 7:30pm, 11am-11pm, or 7:30pm to 7:30am. So my biological clock will be all messed up. =( i'm so nervous yet so excited!!

my "work of art"

my first "patient"--mr. piggy