A Day in the Life of Illinaisa Denisovich

Damn. Today was a busy day. < /sarcasm > Compared to some of my other days, it kind of was? Yes, the last sentence was a question. Got up around 10:30. Yay for being over the flu thing. Good thing I have a space heater up in my loft now, because it's definitely cooled down. Cool to the tune of Sunday's high temperature barely making double digits, and the wind chill barely hitting a positive number. Eventually made my way out to the store and got some groceries. Damn errands always getting in the way of sleeping in. Although, I've been told eating is good for you. Speaking of which, I took part in this eating activity after getting back from the store. Oh no! I forgot, I cleaned up the kitchen a little bit whilst putting groceries away.

Current time ~ 12:00. Ate some leftover pizza, watched some Friends, then made the 12 minute walk to my 1:00. Physiology is pretty cool and a lot more interesting than anatomy. Head over to my 2:00. Endocrinology is kinda boring - I hate signalling cascades. Damn you required attendance. I get it, really I do: molecule(s) tell something to do a thing which changes some stuff and again makes more things happen. Lather, rinse, repeat. But, at least some of the stuff later in the semester sounds interesting. End result: endocrinology goes by a lot slower than physiology. Class finally ends. Mail off some financial aid stuff at the campus post office. Back at the apartment around 3:10, and finished the leftover pizza. Took out the pile of trash bags in the corner of my room and the empty beer cases on my balcony. The non-empty case strangely enough had only one beer completely frozen over. The others were just insanely cold.

Head over to Beckman around 3:50. Was all researcher-like for an hour and a half. Went to my lab group's meeting with the grad student at 5:30. Apparently the lab's running low on funding and "most of the work this semester is going to be done by the undergrads." The grad students are having to TA for money. Exercise is good for things other than the cardiovascular system: it might increase blood supply to parts of the brain and improve certain cognitive functions. Seems like this exercise/angiogenesis/neurogenesis stuff is going to be the major theme in my work this semester. That and finishing up some things from last semester. Headed to lab seminar at 6:30. A bit of a let-down: no free food or drink. Buuut, hoo-rah...seminar gets out early around 7:10.

Grab some Taco Bell and head back home. Ironically, eat Taco Bell while watching "Super Size Me." Saw half of this movie in a class once, and I recorded it last night to see the end of it. Watch 24 with the roommates. Apparently security guards are only fast responders when people's lives aren't in danger. Play Madden with roommate: he plays qb (McNabb) and can only a.) run or b.) throw to me (Holt). Last season's 7-9 Bengals are looking to make a playoff push this year. Watched this week's Heroes episode. I should have a super power. The invisible dude is the main bad guy in Gone in 60 Seconds. Speaking of which, I should have my own Eleanor - sans car moodiness of course. Went over some physio and endo. Played more Madden: the mighty Bengals of Cincinnati are now 5-1. Jackass on internet for a bit. Decide to post on the blog. Mmm, sleep.

Boo to the Flu

Pt. c/o being sick x 2 days. Sx of nasal congestion, sore throat, general body aches, malaise, intermittent eye irritation; pt afebrile, no sinus pain, phlegm colorless, cough semi-productive; OTCs somewhat effective for sx relief; no n/v, BMs normal; received fluvax 10/06.

So there's a premed's history taking skills for you. We'll see if those improve over the next four years or so. Having said that, being sick sucks. This puts a damper on making my previous post a reality. Damn you, karma. Damn you, flu. At least the flu shot'll make getting over this easier and faster.

Round Eight, Final Round

One week in, and I'm off for my last undergrad semester. Thing is, this semester feels different. A lot different. Yes, the fact that I'm only taking thirteen hours for once helps. And so does the fact that three of those hours are an online class (medical terminology). Excluding research, I don't have scheduled classes on Tuesday or Thursday, and I don't start until 1:00 MWF. Again not including research, I've pretty much let all my other extracurriculars slide. Sure, I'll volunteer at occasional events, but I'm not going to kill myself to get into one. Not having any traditional MCB or chemistry labs also helps. By this I mean I'm not in 5 hours of orgo lab and its lecture for 2 hours of credit. Oh yes, a lab that has it's own lecture aside from the standard lectures for organic chemistry. Don't mean to whine, I'm just trying to give an idea for how traditional labs can eat your time. At least with research, even though the ratio for lab time to credit hours is even worse, the schedule isn't as strict.

So pretty much what I'm getting at is that I have shittons of free time, and it's a long-missed and nice feeling. It's something I'm not used to. This time last year I was volunteering with a hospital, an EMS club, and a premed club, along with doing research, taking 17 hours of class, and oh, prepping for the MCAT. Fast forward to this semester and I don't have to deal with lots of things going on at one time - this has the makings of a nice semester. I don't constantly have to look in my IBook (planner) to see what's coming up next and figure out how to manage my time and wonder when I'll be getting a break. Hell, this semester is a relative break from working to get to where I want to be. Ironically, there is more of the same and then some waiting for me in August. Minus research and the occasional exam or volunteering though, this kid's gonna veg out, sleep in, drink up, and pig out.

Damn. This feels good.

70%

Been back at the clinic for a little bit now, and I'll only be there for a little bit more. For an FP guy, he's pretty busy and the support staff can be described as being under "controlled chaos." As a shadow, I never knew what it took to keep the practice going as smoothly as it does. After working with his staff for a while, I've got a greater appreciation for what they do. Now what do I do? I work mostly with patients and progress notes. The rest of the staff deals with all the phone calls, voicemails, refills, and forms/paperwork. Oh, did I mention paperwork? That, and more of it. Now some of the phone calls/voicemails I've overheard are just sad, and if I had to handle shittons of it, I'd get irritated every now and then too.

Example 1. Oh, you've got chest pain, shortness of breath, and a tingling left arm? What, you want to know if you can be seen today? No no, your next stop is the ER - because that's where we'd end up sending you anyway.

Example 2. Yes, ma'am, 200mg equals two 100mg pills. Yes, take two of the 100mg pills and you'll be at the dose we're looking for. ... Hello? Yes, take two pills to get to the correct dose. (At this point I hear a head hitting a desk.) Yes, I'm sure this is correct. 100mg and 100mg does equal 200mg, and that's what we want. Hello? Ma'am?

Like I said, the vast majority of my time is spent working with patients and working with their related progress notes - and this is why I like the job so much. Yeah, there can be a lot going on at the nurses' station, but whenever I'm with patients, all that stuff disappears and it's all about the patient. Sure there are annoying and malodorous patients, but overall it's worth it. And that's what keeps bringing me back and keeps me wanting to get those two letters after my name. Now I wouldn't say I've become really close with any patients, but there definitely a few that I remember. Like here, I definitely remembered CLS and felt closer to him than the average patient that comes through the office.

Another patient I remember from rounds was M.E. Now ME was in the hospital once or twice over the summer, and I ended up remembering the name. When I saw her on the list of patients to be seen one day last week, I felt a small sense of familiarity. While taking her vitals and noting her presenting complaints, she didn't look too well and her daughter and care-taker confirmed this. She'd been dealing with a medicated, unresolved, and worsening cough over several days (among other things). And in taking down some history, she had recently been in the hospital. After leaving the room for her to be seen by Dr. Parks, I got back to taking patients into rooms and finishing up with them after they were seen. When ME was done being seen, a couple of orders were heavy on the respiratory side: chest xray, oxygen saturation; there were quite a few other orders noted also. ME's pulse-ox was noted to be about 70%. Now you always want that to be as close to 100 as possible, with values less than 90 being cause for concern. 70% in an elderly patient such as ME, is just outright alarming. After this, she was sent to the hospital, and the paramedics came out to the clinic for transport. The next day, we continued the routine of seeing patients during the day and catching up on paperwork after that. Late in the afternoon while I was working on patient notes for that day, I got a message from Dr. Parks. I figured it would be some sort of request for lab values, radiology images, or a patient's note from the day. But in looking at the patient concerned in the message, it was ME and the message title was "flag chart." I double clicked on the message, and all the message said was "deceased."

Now, I know that in medicine, be it emergency medicine or family practice, you will lose patients. I even remember following a patient on rounds last summer, Dr. Parks telling the family that she was close to death, and then her finally going. This patient was HC, and it was my first real experience with death and the loved ones' family. But getting that message about ME in my inbox still caught me by surprise. I don't know why, but it did. I wasn't extremely close to her and like I said, I had been exposed to death previously. I guess the fact that I was talking to her less than 24 hours prior to me getting that message had something to do with it. Maybe the fact that I looked into her eyes (I make eye contact with all patients to keep their confidence/trust) just a day earlier. The fact that I was taking her blood pressure and helping her with her sleeve a day before. And now she's gone. The finality and abruptness of it. Mind you, I'm not terribly distraught over this or anything, but it affected me more than I thought it would. My sincere condolences to ME's family and especially her daughter, because I could see and hear the concern when I was talking to her.

A quote from Scrubs' J.D. from a different situation, but with similar sentiment: "I'll never forget that moment, the way he looked exactly the same...only completely different. The shame that all I could think about was how hard this was for me. ... I just wanted to help people."