Bunnies!

So this is the most belated post of all time (Sorry Scott!) A few weeks ago, a fellow friend from med school and I journeyed to the Houston Zoo... and here are some pics! I really should have taken more, but my camara was broken. Luckily my phone has super phone powers. You can click on the pics to make them bigger (I think). Since this zoo visit, I've figured out how to bike there from my apartment, and it only takes about 30 minutes! it's a really nice trail by the big bayou flood collection thingie by my apartment. Here are the pics!


First... BUNNY! And... tiger getting in the water... Hop bunny, hop away!




You can kind of see the bunny standing in front of the Giraffe. SO MANY BUNNIES!

This might be a better view of the bunny. It's the little spot under the pole that kind of runs into the Giraffe's neck... does that make sense? This bunny has no danger of tigers, since Giraffes have tiger eating abilities. Or fences around them. :-)

And finally: MONKEY!! I've decided that if one day I aquire superhuman abilities (superior to my phone's photo taking abilities of course) I shall free the monkeys. Hopefully the monkey poo won't take too much of a toll on the city's cleanliness, but I'm sure we'll all benifit from a little coinhabitation.

And speaking of camaras.. I FIXED mine! It turns out that if your camara's lens is jammed so that when you turn the phone on the lens doesn't come out (or it makes a funny noise and turns off as in my case) all you have to do is take it apart and jiggle it around! then when you put it back together, jam the lens all the way in. And voila! FIXED!

I can take real pictures now. Watch out, world!

Hmm... what else of note... things are fun at the hospital. Although, I find myself laughing at really horrible things now. My co-intern was presenting a 2 year old patient that he admitted for an asthma exacerbation overnight, and the story kept getting more ridiculous. Mom didn't believe in giving the kid corticosteroids, and he had eight ER visits in the last year. Mom was bipolar, Dad was a sex offender. Dad complained mom hit the baby. Baby presented with a black eye. Mom admitted to calling dad saying that she bit her baby. I kind of lost it there and thus began an embarrasingly unstoppable fit of giggles. To my credit at least, the attending joined in.

And what was the result of all this? CPS said "sure the kid can go home with the mom." WHAT?! Legally perhaps the kid was in no danger, but dude! the kid is only 2. TAKE HIM AWAY FROM THOSE CRAZIES!! He won't remember when he's older.

Whew. That's all. I've come to really appreciate good parents in light of all these people who have children. I've come to appreciate my own parents most of all I think.

Only two more weeks left at LBJ... think I might take Step 3 next month during my development and behavior (aka child psych) rotation. I probably should just enjoy slacking off for yet another month, but something tells me I should actually try to become smarter... :-)

Disc On!

I've discovered a group of people who play ultimate! One of them even played with us at uthscsa before going off to Baylor to do a Pedi residency three years ago. So it was a fun reunion of sorts! It seems that people have played at Hermann Park for the past 10 years, but for the past four weeks or so thunderstorms have stopped a lot of people from coming out. This time the sky was clear, with 2/3 of the muddy field resembling the wetlands. As it should be.


I saw a little surprise peeking out over the bushes looking at the players on my way back. I can't believe he didnt notice me sneaking up on him. Bunnies and Frisbee!! That's kind of like the royal flush of cuteness. or awesomeness. why didn't we have bunnies at uthscsa? :-)

Back on call tomorrow! On a fun (and slightly nerdy) note, the other day I diagnosed my first case of Viral Meningitis!! With a crystal clear LP on the first try! Oh sweet success! The little boy will be fine... this particular type of viral meningitis gets better on its own. But it felt really nice telling his mom the diagnosis and freeing her from other worries... this whole doctor thing is awesome!!

All Day I Dream

Today I had to fill in for the intern in the nursery… we call this position "the mole” because you sort of disappear from everyone on the floor. The mole's job is to do 20 or so newborn exams in 3 hours, try not to lose babies (it happens!) and then discharge them while the nurses are all yelling at you to go faster so they have space to admit more babies. But I have to make sure he has an anus first! (yes that happens too.)

Anyway so to take my mind off what was almost an embarrassingly disastrous day, I am going to think of what makes me happy. Another one for the list:

3. Go running in cool places, especially if I’ve never been there before, and especially near large bodies of water

I bought new running shoes not too long ago. My old Nikes were fun, and did well for my feet this past year. No major injuries. Some great runs around Town Lake in Austin, a few by Corpus Christi’s bay, Forest Park in St Louis, and my personal favorite, by the bay of Bengal in Pondicherry- during sunrise! They also helped me hike/run up the foothills of the Alps in Füssen, Germany so that I’d have enough time to see the Neuschwanstein Schloss (castle), absorb its beauty, and book it downhill to catch a train so I wouldn't miss my flight to Rome.

Even San Antonio had its surprises; once I came across a little beige stucco house in the Alamo Heights area with the same color scheme as its flower garden. Totally worth planning a run/bike around, I think it's on Cambridge street. Purple shutters to match the purple flowers! Oooooh.

Yes, those Nikes have given me quite the memorable year. They were there in times of frustration, doubt, and even when I was starting to feel like my heart had a “kick me” sign on it. Post-run ice cream coupled with good friends can work wonders as an emotional analgesic, and I’ve come to realize that this world is full of kind souls (no pun intended) after all. :-)

But as it is, I’m an Adidas girl at heart. Running in this new pair of shoes is like falling back in touch with an old friend. Blue, lightweight, soft, sweet. A whole new six months-to-a-year of memories. Muy Perfecto!

Thunderstorms

There’s something so soothing about thunderstorms and listening to the rain… of course having to drive home in it sort of sucks, but when you’re contained in something dry it’s very calming. Residency has been fun so far, I can’t believe I can feed babies whenever I want. I should make a list of all these theraputic discoveries I've stumbled upon...

If I start to go insane because of residency/life I should:
1. feed babies
2. listen to thunderstorms

I’ll add more eventually. On a sadder note, my beloved canine family member of 14.75 years, Hershey, passed away in his sleep on June 29. It kind of took me a week to process, and I’ve repressed enough emotion so that issues about this will probably resurface in 20 years. But that’s ok, I’ve got my list--it’ll be huge by then!

To anyone I’ve talked to (or refused to talk to) about Hershey… thank you for being here. He was a loved old man. :-)

Taco Supreme!

Thank goodness for cute young things in blankets.

I was going to write some things about call but then I realized something. I can't remember! I can't remember anything! Sleep deprivation subtracts things from my memory. This frightens me. The first thing I heard when I walked into our break room was "thou shalt not fear!" Apparently someone left the TV on from the night before and this tele-evangelist lady was on. I had to smile... you kind of do get that feeling that you're an actor in some really strange tv show sometimes around here.

I've discovered something though, I think you may need a little fear. I might need a little fear... just a tiny bit so that I STAY AWAKE. I was so high on adrenaline last night that not only did I not really sleep the entire 5 hours that there were no pages and nothing to do, but I wasn't sleepy at at in morning report or noon conference the next day. And seeing the three patients admitted at 3am? No problem. Only I was kinda in this weird hazy awake-yet-forgetful-spazzed out state. Some people look great when they spazz (like Di!) but me, I look like Einstein. With the hair, without the brains.

I hope I didn't scare my med student. Med students are awesome! They just started their clinical year, and keep wanting to do really nice things for us. I think they feel bad for us with our sometimes-overwhelming scutwork and not knowing where anything is all the time. I wanted to tell them "we're fine, you should wait till your surgery rotation, we peds residents are spoiled!!" I also have this urge to shower them with positive feedback and tell them everything i know all the time. I have PTSD issues from my first third year rotation (CT Surgery) where we were pimped (questioned about our medical knowledge) mercilessly, yelled at, and made to feel like we really WERE scum. And it was true that our time was constantly wasted. My evaluation/grade from that rotation was great, but was the psychological abuse necessary? I hope I never make a med student cry. Here, our pediatrics chief resident has chocolate and hugs in her office when things get tough! :-)

What's better than chocolate and hugs? I leaned how to feed a baby last night!! It was so theraputic. Next time I freak out, I'll just drop everything and go feed babies. YAY FOR CUTE YOUNG THINGS IN BLANKETS!

Mi Familia Nueva!

This was at the senior resident graduation/new intern welcome dinner last night... at Rice! I shouldn' t be saying this, but Rice was my first choice for undergrad, before they rejected my attempt at early decision-ing in. How ironic that now I live less than 10 minutes away from their campus (which is just as beautiful as i remembered it!) Well I wouldn't have changed a thing... bears eat owls for lunch. GO WASH U!

Our group is awesome... three cheers for happy nice fun people! Lookin forward to a fun, yet challenging year... and actually learning spanish for real. :-)

Ode to Hershey, Survivor Extraordinaire

Want to know a great way to kill conversation? Just ask me about Hershey… not only is the most wonderful dog in the universe but he’s at the end of his road. In an 'it’ll be a miracle if he survives a few more weeks’ kind of thing. So I’m proud of myself for not being a complete emotional wreck, but dealing with end-of-life issues for canines is new and confusing for me.

First, why do we put pets to sleep? We don’t put people to sleep! (I guess that’s debatable in some states.) Hershey’s 14yrs 8 months with hypertension, arthritis, hearing loss, status post two strokes (or expanding brain tumor) which left him completely blind, early stages of leukemia (the vet is guessing), tachypnea, (vet thinks he has a heart condition), and recent onset of bloody diarrhea. We’ve opted against an extensive and stressful medical work-up, and when I get into his medical history I usually get sympathetic looks and the "yeah when my dog got like that we put him to sleep... ever think about it?"

No! He can't walk around as easily, but he wags his tail and perks his ears up whenever he feels or smells us near. He knows, man. I don’t think he wants to go down quite yet either. I don't know how, but I feel like if Hershey became suicidal he'd somehow let us know.

For one, he still likes eating everything. My dad seems to like this because he can finally feed Hershey all kinds of people food (which we used to yell at him all the time for.) So, not only does Hershey gets chocolate-chip-less cookies, he gets eggs, all leftovers and anything else the parents feel like giving him. In fact, I think there’s some filet mignon with his name on it in the fridge.

And another thing, he still hates my brother's dog. To the point where if she comes near he'll move instantly and even bark if necessary. He's got some fight left in him yet! He's taking a lot of meds, mostly to make him comfortable till he decides to leave for that giant backyard in the sky.

I could never do veterinary medicine. It freaks me out, I still don't fully understand what's medically going on with Hershey. You'd think there'd be some overlap, but dogs are like little aliens to me. I used to laugh at all those people who’d submit their dogs to brain surgery or pacemaker implants but now I understand them. I’m one of the crazies! Hershey’s a part of my family—he’s been around for more than half my life, and almost all of the time I can remember. And he’s loved me for all of it. (I think it might have to do with belly rubs and frisbee tossing.) If he were younger I’d probably donate him a kidney! Although, his kidneys are one of the few organs that ARE working properly at the moment.

Whew. Back in Houston now and ready for more orientationing tomorrow. (check out Di's blog to see what we've been up to for the past few days! hehe I know, I'm SO cheating) :-)