I started fourth year in the ICU -- the adult ICU. I was rounding with the pulmonary service, and it was quite a shock to the system after a year in the research setting. Our team consisted of an attending, an R1 about to become an R2, an R1, and me (RX= Resident in year x). I learned an incredible amount in a very short time. I learned about ventilators, I learned about lung-disease, I learned about a different way of assessing acid-base status (instead of Henderson-Hasselbach, my attending was a fan of the Strong Ion approach). The chief resident asked me to identify Howell-Jolly bodies on someone's peripheral blood smear -- which I kind of did! I was able to look at cells under a microscope, at least, because of my research year :) So I had a lot of fun. But it's also tough -- long hours, a lot of feeling undereducated, and just complex issues that everyone else is comfortable with. However: they fed me lunch FOR FREE every day! Every. Day.
Last night, the night before I started my sub-internship, I dreamed I was being asked a series of questions I couldn't answer. LOL. The subconscious mind is so ridiculous. Today was the first day of my sub-internship in the intensive care nursery. Very ill children and a very different way of doing things. I already have two patients, and I'm going to try to figure out how to present them tomorrow. I don't even know what to read tonight because there is so much. However, I really like the content -- the babies are adorable (of course) and the problems are really interesting. A lot of diseases of prematurity, and a lot of congenital malformation. And a free lunch (okay, so I am a little food-centric. Food keeps me from being hangry). My resident is really smart and really nice -- I hope this will be a good working relationship. I have to not bug her -- I tend to bug people when I'm excited. I ran into one of my students from the master's program on my rotation! She's in the year below me now, I think. Or maybe in my year? I'm all mixed up at this point. After a certain point in life, what you are doing matters more than how old you are.
I have a lot of work to do, but it's the good kind. The kind where if you work really hard, you might be able to reach your goal. I have an entire month of this, so I really hope to be somewhat competent by the end of it. I am so excited to be working in a field I think I want to do for the rest of my life. And on that note: the residency application program opened on Sunday! I registered and started entering my information. There is something so fresh and summative about putting everything career-related into one online application -- it's like looking at an updated CV. It sort of gives you the perspective to handle one challenging day.
In the meantime, I am determined to find time to write up the rheumatoid arthritis paper from the research year. My mentor has already asked me how the writing is going. It is not going. It is paused. Oops. I should probably un-pause it by the end of the week. In fact, I should write them both a detailed update with a timeline.
Rica: How are you doing with your intern year? Are you excited? Stressed? Overwhelmed? Send us a message from beyond the bar!
Che: When does your program start? Oh, wait, I can stalk your blog and find out!
Mom: Come back from NC and tell Dad to stop playing the video games we downloaded for him on his birthday. My brother and B are irrepressible. You gotta love em, though.
Hugs,
Nia
