Piano

Well, costco has the 88 key digital piano that I want. It costs $540 which mom was shocked at cause she thought it would only be $100 or $200 I guess but that price is VERY cheap since similar products that I had researched easily cost $1000 and that often doesn't include the bench, stand for the piano, pedal, etc. It's a steal. Well, I guess I need to save up since I'll probably be paying for at least half since I was promised this piano for christmas but the price was unexpected by mom.

My internal medicine month is coming to a close. Tomorrow I have to call the surgeon I'll be working with to find out the schedule. I'm hoping that weekends are off but we'll see.

time to eat then study a bit.

it's a boy!

Renae is having a boy! She is supposed to deliver at the hospital where my fellow interns and I do our OB rotation so I guess I'll have to butter up the nurses so that they'll be super nice to her when she freaks out during her delivery in february...cause renae does not deal with blood very well. Though I suppose the excitement of the delivery will perhaps distract her from the amount of blood and other fluids that come out with the baby (sorry for description dad). I'm hungry.

what's up

I did my first death pronouncement yesterday. It was a DNR/DNI situation so there was no code that preceeded the event. Just me and our team's excellent sub-I (4th year med student). We went and looked at pupils, listened for a heart beat for a minute, looked for signs of spontaneous respirations for a minute, then wrote down a time. Doesn't seem like much of a way to state the death of a person who may have had such an incredible life experience. Formalities I guess.

Apple - PowerBook G4

I wish I could spend money without worry. If so, I would buy a new ipod nano just cause it would be handy to have music with me at work when all I'm doing is writing my progress notes...without having the larger ipod i have now. I would also buy a new powerbook g4. I don't know why I torture myself like this. I look at it online and I swear I start salivating over the thought of a new computer. Oh and I would probably buy a desktop computer too...you know, just cause I have the money to spend. Oh and I would buy a new car too. just cause. Not to mention a digital piano...a real piano would be nice but there's no space and um, it would be pretty difficult to get a regular piano up the stairs into my home.

sigh...it must be nice to be stinkin rich.

huh?

I think someone actually put a spam post on the comment section for my previous post about spamming my comments section. huh? did you follow that? Argh!

Spamming my comments?

I seem to be getting spam on my comments section for my blog! What the hell! If you're going to spam my comments, don't bother commenting. I plan on reporting this to the blogger admin folks and then also deleting them promptly from my blog. Losers... go promote your crap elsewhere

In other news, I survived overnight call. Yea!

Nap time.

interesting email

Well, I guess I must still have my epocrates registration address as new orleans since I just got an email from the company hoping that I was safe and that since I may be dealing with medical issues that are rare and so I have a code to get 3 months free of epocrates essentials. I, of course, no longer am in new orleans and thus have no need for the code. I'll probably see if any of my buddies down in the trenches in louisiana don't have epocrates. I actually already have the program since I paid for it using my tulane coupon. Anyway, tomorrow is my overnight call shift and I don't need to be in there until 10 am. Not bad. I wonder how sunday will work since there's nothing specific on the schedule in terms of being on call or anything like that.

More good news

I just got an email from Bergy and she had evacuated prior to the storm with her boyfriend and their dog, Monkey. Their cat is still in NOLA with their stuff but she's not sure if the place is still there since the levee broke. Kind of a theme I guess. I got a link to a yahoo group for Tulane folks and found out that of my friends who were in the code gray situation (stayed in NOLA cause they had to work at the various hospitals), all are still doing well. They finally evacuated University Hospital. Well, Bergy will be visiting later in the year to do a rotation in Portland so it will be nice to see her then.

oh nooooo!

So my computer is showing signs of deterioration. As you know, it's first injury was earlier this year with a separation of the screen from the casing. And now, one of the USB ports is dead. So I can either just use the one port (annoying), buy a 4 hub usb thingy (bandaid), or buy a new computer. Now, financially, the hub is my best option as a new computer probably isn't a viable option right now. What a sad moment.

friends

I just got an email from one of my med school friends. She and her husband flew out of NOLA on one of the last flights to texas. She's not too hopeful for the house and all her stuff since the levees broke. The phone lines are busy so my calls to those with cell phones have been unsuccessful. I guess email may be the only option for now.

Days quickly passing by

Well, the days of my easy rotation are quickly coming to an end. Tonight I'm going to have dinner with gramps. Prolly the olive garden since he likes eggplant parmesan.

New Orleans missed the big hit this time around. There still was pretty bad damage but it could have been worse. I'm going to try to call some of my friends down there today.

There's now a flash flood warning here.

oh one more thing

Did I forget to mention that in a few short hours the city of new orleans will cease to exist? The category 5 hurricane katrina appears to be heading straight for my former home. Good thing we sold the condo in july! Hopefully my friends back there are okay and safe. I wonder if they were allowed to leave now that they're residents and not just nonessential med students. Though one could argue the point of having interns there when we, as a whole, know less than our more experienced upper levels and attendings.

Relaxing weekend

I had a nice weekend. Saturday I watched tv and the little league us champ game since hawaii was playing. Those are some big 12 year olds! And then I read a little and finished up my cross stitch project. On Sunday I watched the Little League World Champ game since hawaii was playing and that one was a bit nerve wracking since I wanted the hawaii kids to win. One of those kids was abit worked up and seemed kind of scary with his glare he was shooting at the opposing team's players. Yikes! Hawaii won in the end though so that's great. Then Chris and I went to a nickel arcade to play this dance dance revolution game from japan. I wasn't too great at that one since it was going kind of fast. Then there was a similar game where all you had to do was use your hands with the same idea. I did slightly better at that until the skill level was bumped up. Then some skee ball cause I love that game and dinner at a japanese restaurant. It was okay food. Lots of onions in my dish. Now to wash up and do some reading. My easy month is wrapping up and so it will be back to harsh hours for me. It's supposed to start raining this week which means I won't have to worry about watering very much.

oh well...

So due to a scheduling snafoo, I'm no longer the star of "difficult patient interactions." Oh well...it actually opens up my day for other things to get done. And hey, Melinda said I'll have a role in her little project. Time for dinner.

Ho hum

Well, I'm up late cause I had to work on my clinic notes and there was a dinner for the OHSU med students interested in our residency program. And yours truly had to speak in front of all in attendance. I had to talk about my background and why I chose the program. I was appropriately freaked during the entire process. Oh and for more performance anxiety jitters, I get to have the starring role in the short documentary: Dealing with difficult patients - the drug seeking patient. And it's a real patient interaction that will be videotaped and then shown at a conference in chicago in the fall. Why me?!? Anywho, I need to get some rest.

I'm back!

Well, my vacation officially ended yesterday and to celebrate, I bought a new bicycle. It's blue...and so is my helmet. I also bought a new heavy duty bike lock and a fun seat cover to reduce bruised bums syndrome - the result of riding a bike after a long period of not riding one. Before I can ride at night, I have to get a head and tail light. I think I'll look at fred meyer or somewhere cheaper than that store. Well, I think I'll eat some lunch, mow the lawn, and then ride around my neighborhood for awhile.

Hmmm

I just realized that my share of the class action suit against apple ($50 bucks) still hasn't arrived. I wonder if apple's website has a way to track this. Apple now has a new mouse and since there isn't anything else I want from there right now (aside from a new computer) and I can't use it to buy itunes music, I thought I'd buy the new mouse.

In other news, the injection site from my vaccination really hurts and there's a bruise that hurts when I touch it. I know, I know, then don't touch it. I'm sure you care that I have pain and will wait and hold a candle light vigil for the day when the pain and bruise are gone, so I'll be sure to give updates. Or maybe not. Back to packing. I took a break to learn some medical spanish. And in the time I spent changing the location of the sprinkler and typing this, I really don't remember any of it except something about Toquese el logar or something like that. And estomago mean stomach...or something to that effect. a qui means here. abra la boca is open your mouth. Yep, still need the translator for my spanish speaking patients. One of my new patients told me I needed to learn spanish...I could say that she needed to learn english too...but I didn't. I did have a patient tell me that she really liked me and thought I was very nice and helpful. Fooled them all!!! and now I'm rambling.

Vacation!

Today I started my vacation. Okay technically it starts tomorrow but today I was post call with nothing on my schedule so I decided that today I could put my brain on vacation. I had my physical exam today with my new doctor. She seemed nice enough and she's young so she's no where near retirement age. Apparently I had a 1/6 systolic ejection murmur today but i couldn't hear anything but my usual split heart sound when I got home. I got my second hep A shot which was an interesting ordeal. They told me I had to go to the hospital pharmacy to buy it cause they don't have any adult hep A vaccines in the office and then to come back and a nurse would poke me. So I get back and apparently this info hadn't been shared with anyone there and I specifically told the secretary that I was back to get my Hep A vaccine injected as I had the vaccine in my possession. Somehow this simple statement was forgotten and I hear her tell the nurse that I was back for "something to be given to me." For crying out loud, I'm sitting right there and I made the point of my presence quite clear. Anyway, they figured it out eventually (god forbid you just ask me rather than have a confusing dialogue about me while you stare at me). And now I've been chilling out. So I thought I'd better pack my junk up now rather than rush tonight and forget something.

Sick and Twisted

For all those interested, there will be a Rodeo hosted by a smokeless tobacco company and all proceeds are to benefit a cancer fund organization. Am I the only one who sees the sick and twisted nature of this event? Hmmm...I guess that company can never say they didn't help pay for the disease they promote.

Stupid instructions

So they're paving my road today and since I had time to come home for lunch, I was prompted by 4 different flaggers to go slow and watch out for the workers. Fine. Despite the fact that I can see these people quite easily, I suppose the prompt is warranted. But to be told to watch out for the roller, a piece of equipment 5 times the size of my car, how retarded is that?!? Like I plan on driving full speed towards something that would total my car? Oh and what made the instruction even more ridiculous is the fact that the stupid thing was immediately in front of my car. If it was obstructed from view, then the info would have been useful. Do I look like someone who would purposely drive fast at people working on the roadside or at large road equipment? Apparently so. I don't understand the need for multiple flaggers who make me stop at every point just to tell me to keep driving slowly. I told the first one that I lived at the top of the hill. What part of that message was misunderstood? She told the others that I was going to the top yet at every stop, I needed to tell them this info. What fun will it be when I drive back down the hill. Well, gotta eat since this will probably eat up time to get off my road.