A brief RP update...

Quotes from RP are scarce, as we seem to be usually too far into the game to remember to write them down.

• Quinby: Joseph is also wearing - Me: - a yellow raincoat and red galoshes. Angel: And a strapon. Phloxin: Named Paddington.
• Me: Jen looks at her: "Want to go to the bar?" Lily: "Do I look old enough to go?" Me: Jen shrugs. "Since when is that a problem?" Lily: Damn that Curiosity flaw.
• Me: Liz Isbister. Phloxin: And I'm Brandy Shaggywagons...
• GM: Okay, so you all pile into the car, and go to Columbia Street West. Me: Sorry if we just hijacked your plot...
• Phloxin: So he's got a long nose and a platypus ass. Quinby: Oooh, that sounds kind of hot.
• Me: You look some kinda gangsta Jew.
• Phloxin, talking about Jesus turning water into wine: It tells us Jesus was a lush.
• James (in an outraged voice) Quit it! I'm trying to have a conversation and he's boinging my penis!
• Lily, looking at Phloxin who is wearing a neck pillow on his neck: Now you look like a gangster Jew who was in a car accident...
• Phloxin: I'm getting fondled....hehehe. And it's not by my roommate...hehehe....
• Quinby: I have Investigation... GM: Now where did the clitoris go?
• GM: Because satyrs are little balls of hormones. Me: Or in this case, little vaginas of hormones.
• Quinby: What's that dude's name? Me: The dude? Quinby: The dude! Me: Oh, the dude! GM: What dude? Phloxin: The one with the face.
• Lily: And this one time...at storyteller camp...

Went to a party given by Jen's grandmother, which turned out to be a chance for all the Fae she knew to regain Glamour. And a chance for most of the cabal to get laid. The ramifications of this are far-reaching. See , , and for details. And while I'm thinking about it, does anyone else want a LJ code for a character place to write? I have lots. :) The most interesting thing is the amount of e-mail being exchanged between various party members via the forums. What fun.

Headings and footings:

The last few patients from inpatient peds, most of whom weren't actually my patients. The little girl - three and a half years old, this one, nearly four, and sharp as an everloving tack. She came into the ER with - as BM reported it later - a chief complaint of headache, vomiting, and fever. These, O Best Beloved, are warning signs of meningitis. Especially when we've seen so many kids on the floor with meningitis already. But she had a past history of kidney infections, and the ER people got some CVA tenderness (pound over the kidneys and see if it hurts), and the urinalysis showed a little bit of whites and bacteria, so they admitted her to us with a diagnosis of pyelonephritis. In the middle of the night, BM admitted her and took the history again. And he was struck by the way her mother described her presentation, especially the bit about how her head hurt so bad. From any other little girl of 3 1/2 years old, we might have brushed it off, but this girl is bright - extremely so, and disturbingly coherent. He was struck enough that the next morning we decided to do an LP (a spinal tap) on her to look for meningitis. In infants, you do an LP by getting someone to pin the baby down in an arched-back position, and really don't use much in the way of anaesthetic. In adults, you numb them up good and get their cooperation. From kids D's age, you do conscious sedation. We gave her Versed and morphine. A lot of Versed and morphine. Enough to knock most kids out completely. It still took three of us to hold her down and both residents to do the tap. This kid is an absolute tiger. And even as drugged as she was, she was still conscious enough to ask "why are you doing this to me?" and to listen as I tried to explain it. Didn't matter, she didn't want us to hurt her. I went to see her after the results of the LP were back in - 150 white cells, a clear-cut case of meningitis - and she remembered me. And she listened when I said I wasn't going to hurt her, I just wanted to talk to her and poke and prod a bit. She told us the history of her headaches, and she told us about how bending her neck had hurt in the ER but it didn't now, and she was patient and offered to wake her mom up if we wanted. This is one of the smartest 3 1/2 year old kids I've ever seen. She'll be fine, the LP was entirely a viral meningitis - but it was still an interesting sort of case. We can't figure out how the ER staff got pyelo. But as long as she's in the hospital we're going to work up those two old kidney infections. Any kid who gets a urinary tract infection before the age of 4 should have at least a renal ultrasound. Had an 8-month-old baby with a spiral fracture of the femur. Even walking children have a hard time getting those. That makes two 310's filed in a month. I didn't see him, but I hear his family threw a shit-fit when they found out he was going to foster care. Apparently his auntie was throwing herself across the bed, sobbing about how he should be going home with her, and an uncle was cussing up a storm, and his mother was miffed that she couldn't meet the foster parents. Then there were the twin baby girls. The UVC was afraid they had GBS bacteremia and wanted them admitted, but didn't think they needed an LP (part of the sepsis workup). JL felt they looked like they had a viral illness, sounded like they had a viral illness, and had a history consistent with it. "Why," she asks at morning rounds, "do we have these kids in?" We decided to keep them for another day, since we had pending blood cultures. The adorable little boy baby with asthma, whose grandmother had put braids in his hair. Nobody warned the resident, who called him 'she' and offended Grandma. Whoops. And the kid with viral meningitis who, despite me caring for him for two days, never said a word. He was cooperative and nodded or shook his head, but silent. His parents say he takes a while to warm up to people. JK on the phone to the ER: "Seizing?" Pause. "Sodium of what?" Pause. "Feeding him free water?" Pause. "They're pushing what?" Pause. "I'll be right down there." Baby with a sodium of 119, too low, and having seizures because of it. Apparently, it's a case of WIC syndrome. WIC syndrome, O Best Beloved, is what happens with dirt-poor mothers on the WIC (Women, Infants, and Children) program when they run out of foodstamps or formula coupons. In the interim before they can get more, they attempt to stretch the formula by watering it down progressively more and more. Never mind that the calories and electrolytes are so vital... So baby's mother has been feeding him tap water for a few days. That's all the intake he's gotten. No wonder he's swimming. And the ER doesn't know how to handle a hyponatremic infant. That was interesting. One look at the "possible intubation" on his notes means that he went to R for monitoring. We don't take intubated kids. We aren't an ICU floor. Final reviews by JK and Dr. M: nothing but complimentary. Dr. M: You'll make a good doctor. I'm confident of that. JK: I've had a lot of medical students under me. You're one of the best I've ever seen at your level. If I can only keep going, motivate myself to work all the way through, I have hope. And today - after RP and playing Cranium until late into the night, I went forth to get new tires for Michel-Ange and to pick up our copy of Gokudo. We bought the box set of Boogiepop Phantom on the recommendation of someone who compared it favourably to Lain and Perfect Blue. And this time we opened Gokudo at the counter. The reason they ordered it in was that the copy we purchased was missing a DVD. Well, missing all six DVD's. The box was completely empty. "If you were anyone else," he says as we bring the box in and show him the empty case, "I'd say 'Yeah, right'...but you're regulars." This seems to be a common theme at Suncoast. As he was ringing up all $75 in gift certificates, and having to do it by hand because the scanner didn't work, and then having to redo it because he did it wrong, the kid next to him says "Be glad they're regulars." It was a riot. Went to the chinese food place in the mall. The girl who's always there when we come through stopped. "You cut your hair!" I laughed and nodded. "It looks very cute!" I was a little startled; we don't eat there that often... KS, the resident I worked with on the UVC rotation, noticed too. People know me and recognise me. That always startles me. Called Dad to chat on Thursday or Friday. "I just got done the other night reading most of your Livejournal". I never expected he'd get around to it. Dad's so busy, and it's hard for him to read things - he reads slowly, and usually gets his literature in audio form. So maybe he's still around, reading. In which case, hello :) And that's enough spam for now, O Best Beloved. I'll try to update more frequently and at less length in the future.

Friday. Gloooorious Friday.

A brief noontime update: Studied my everloving tushy off, and was rewarded with an exam that was nothing like what I'd expected. My head is so full, my mind so drained right now, that I don't even remember parts of it. But it's over, and the passing score is only 65%, which I was doing above during my practise studying last night. I hope. I hope I hope I hope. Now it's on to a mentoring meeting at 12:30, with a free box lunch to follow the free lasagna lunch I had too much of after the exam. And then home, to Angel. To sleep. To enjoy my weekend before the prospect of Peds Surgery (yes, O Best Beloved, the next six weeks will consist of rounding at 4 AM, spending the day being pimped as surgeons cut and stitch and repair children, and coming home no later than 5, only to begin all over again the next day) looms too far over my head. Can I survive Peds Surg on 6 hours of sleep a night? We'll see. To note for later: I didn't think she looked like pyelo. What do you mean my child's going to foster care? Tell me why we admitted these twins again? No, that's a little boy baby. Watch out for the braids. His parents say he takes a while to warm up to strangers. And the things that Dr. M and JK said to me in final evaluations. Playing Jeopardy and eating pizza. I want you to become a pediatrician. But for now, the lounge is busy. The computers are in demand. Until then.

What I learned last night...

It is not only amazingly arousing, but intensely fulfilling to know that your husband is willing to drive two and a half hours under the excuse of bringing you a forgotten article of clothing - because he can't be satisfied with masturbating; he has to get you off to be fulfilled. Didn't hurt that he stayed the night, too. *beams*

Today's random memes....

The Ultimate LiveJournal Obsession Test
Category	Your Score	Average LJer
Community Attachment	46.24% There's a party in your comments page, and everyone's invited!	28.83%
MemeSheepage	57.89% I am but one quiz among millions. My brethren surround me on the page.	31.26%
Original Content	53.23% Using LiveJournal to express a few strong opinions	43.66%
Psychodrama Quotient	10.84% Had a comment taken out of context once or twice	17.17%
Attention Whoring	31.82% This quiz is part of a grand scheme to keep people reading	23.73%
Your LiveJournal Obsession Number is: 21211 Click it to see other users who had similar scores to yours!
Take The Ultimate LiveJournal Obsession Test and see how you match up!

I'm considering. My memesheep quotient seems too high, and my original content too low. What do you think, O Best Beloved? Typingtest.com and the others all seem to agree that my typing speed is around 70 WPM, with between 50 and 90% accuracy - I think they use different measures. I like typingtest.com better, as it seems a more consistent measure. Content - actual content - after I get through a few more chapters of review text. I'm going to fail...

A Personality Test, and a moment of introspection.

ENFP - "Journalist". Uncanny sense of the motivations of others. Life is an exciting drama. 5% of the total population.

Take Free Myers-Briggs Personality Test

Now, what it doesn't say is that I'm not an ENFP. I'm a 50/50 split ENFP/INFP, and that makes a lot of sense. Score breakdown as follows: Extroverted (E) 50% Introverted (I) 50% Intuitive (N) 55.17% Sensing (S) 44.83% Feeling (F) 51.72% Thinking (T) 48.28% Perceiving (P) 60.53% Judging (J) 39.47% ENFP as found on keirsey.com is here. And there's a great deal of truth in it, in the drive to be authentic, to relate the stories I've seen, to need to experience everything for myself. And the feeling that part of me is uninvolved, lost to touch. It is worth noting that the iNFp personality type is called "the healer" on Kiersey.com and is also disturbingly accurate in many senses. It puts me in the auspicious company of Albert Schweitzer and Anne Lindbergh. I had a happy childhood. My parents never discouraged my fantasy life. That did not serve to stem the sense that there is something evil or profane within me, nor the need as an adolescent to make atonement for the smallest of perceived sins. Sometime I'll tell you about that, O Best Beloved, and I'll finally tell Mom the truth about a few things. Sometime. But for now, O Best Beloved, confession and repentance are on hold - it's midnight, and time for kittens to go to bed. Extra bonus points for anyone who can tell me the origin of the O Best Beloved construct. Extra extra bonus points if you can tell me where "Nenni" comes from, and why I chose it as a screen name so long ago. This is a test for the people who know a lot about me. The rest of you are welcome to guess. I have read 9 chapters of 20 in my review book. Tomorrow I will finish reading chapters, and then have two days to learn things. Goodnight, to all of you.

A Personality Test, and a moment of introspection.

ENFP - "Journalist". Uncanny sense of the motivations of others. Life is an exciting drama. 5% of the total population.

Take Free Myers-Briggs Personality Test

Now, what it doesn't say is that I'm not an ENFP. I'm a 50/50 split ENFP/INFP, and that makes a lot of sense. Score breakdown as follows: Extroverted (E) 50% Introverted (I) 50% Intuitive (N) 55.17% Sensing (S) 44.83% Feeling (F) 51.72% Thinking (T) 48.28% Perceiving (P) 60.53% Judging (J) 39.47% ENFP as found on keirsey.com is here. And there's a great deal of truth in it, in the drive to be authentic, to relate the stories I've seen, to need to experience everything for myself. And the feeling that part of me is uninvolved, lost to touch. It is worth noting that the iNFp personality type is called "the healer" on Kiersey.com and is also disturbingly accurate in many senses. It puts me in the auspicious company of Albert Schweitzer and Anne Lindbergh. I had a happy childhood. My parents never discouraged my fantasy life. That did not serve to stem the sense that there is something evil or profane within me, nor the need as an adolescent to make atonement for the smallest of perceived sins. Sometime I'll tell you about that, O Best Beloved, and I'll finally tell Mom the truth about a few things. Sometime. But for now, O Best Beloved, confession and repentance are on hold - it's midnight, and time for kittens to go to bed. Extra bonus points for anyone who can tell me the origin of the O Best Beloved construct. Extra extra bonus points if you can tell me where "Nenni" comes from, and why I chose it as a screen name so long ago. This is a test for the people who know a lot about me. The rest of you are welcome to guess. I have read 9 chapters of 20 in my review book. Tomorrow I will finish reading chapters, and then have two days to learn things. Goodnight, to all of you.

"Okay, Nykki, quit showing up my interns..."

Taking a break from studying, briefly. I need a little break. What am I doing here at home instead of at the hospital on evening call like I said I was going to take? Well, around about 14:45 this afternoon, JK looks at me and says "Take the nurses their charts back and go home." Me: But I was going to take evening call tonight, since I need two more, and I don't want to do it Thursday or back to back. JK: When's your exam? Friday. JK: It's possible that kids will come in. But you'd be better served by studying. Unless you really want to stay... I felt bad, and I kind of hedged, and I said "if something interesting comes in, page me, I'll be happy to come in..." And he laughed. "I know you will be." And I know I won't be paged. And I hope he remembered to tell RR that he sent me home. And so I am studying, and I'm feeling guilty about being here instead of at the hospital, and I feel like I'm shirking my job. Even though all I've heard is that I'm motivated and studious and an all-around good student. , kick me. Got my evaluations back for Family Medicine and ER. Pass in FM, High Pass in ER. A note on the FM sheet that I tend to appear disinterested and distracted in small groups, and should work on that. I could've told you that. Presented this morning without being prepped by JK, due to time constraints. Attempted to keep everything in mind that he'd told me. Was complimented both by him and by Dr. M on a presentation well-done. Gearing up for surgery. I did not leave Taika at home like I feared; she was packed under the PSX in my backpack. She is now charging, as I let her run almost all the way down. Saw a few patients, wrote discharge summaries, hassled Dr. M for my paperwork (I'm almost a week overdue on my midsession evaluations, and the office is getting antsy), and ate lunch in a hurry. Beginning to get nervous twisties in my stomach regarding Surgery. Have had many compliments on my hair, including from some faculty/HO's that I didn't even know remembered me from my brief stint in the UVC. I'm starting to like it, although it's still kind of a shocker. Gave a possible aetiology in my differential diagnosis of the little girl with probable viral meningitis that showed up Dr. M. I was proud. "I hadn't thought of subarachnoid haemorrhage, but you're right...acute headache and vomiting, plus lethargy...it could be a haemorrhage." Fortunately her LP has "Viral Meningitis" written all over it. RR laughed - I've been volunteering bits of information about his patients recently that took him by surprise. When I can't talk to the parents, I consult the charts. That's how I knew the kid with the asthma had been seen as an outpatient just a month ago for pneumonia. "Now you see how I feel, Dr. M." H, the boy with the spiral fracture, went home to foster care on Friday night. He's in the hands of CPS now. The girl who took Tylenol is home as well, with a psych referral. Today's Social Work consult was the mother of one of Dr. M's usual patients - a woman who he says has always seemed "put together and on top of things." It turns out that she has a protective restraining order against the children's father because he was abusing her. Did I forget to ask? Dr. M says. I must not have asked her if she felt safe at home...because she seemed so in control... A lesson to all of you, O Best Beloved. Always ask. Safe home plans for the kids are in place, and little PG went home this afternoon. And now I think I'm going to make some couscous and try to make it through 150 pages of book tonight. I'm halfway there.

On a far less serious note...

A couple of things... This got left off the quotes because it took too much work. The party is standing around a preppy outdoor mall on the west side of Fort Wayne, in the middle of the night, having just been told by the vampires they were pursuing that Jen and Liz's roommates were in the women's dressing room of Old Navy. Jen is a Virtual Adept trained by an Ecstatic, demeanour Deviant. She shops at Hot Topic, Nirvana, and the Hallowe'en special limited time store. Currently walking around looking like a vampire princess, complete with tiara and faux bite marks. Liz, a Hermetic with a shy streak, has a credit card from The Limited. Joseph, a devout Catholic who happens to be a Celestial Chorister with an appearance of 2, shops at J. Crew, Old Navy, and the like. Fashion is not on their list of things they have a consensus about. Jen: Old Navy? She looks shocked and appalled. They're in Old Navy? Liz: Come on, it's right this way. Jen: I'm not going in Old Navy...I'll catch something awful. Joseph: What? I was just there the other day. Jen (wailing): Yes, and look at you! It was finally resolved that Jen would stay outside and hack the alarm system while Joseph and Jax rescued the girls. So she was spared this time. In other news, the icon on the previous post will need to be changed, as I have now removed a large portion of my hair. Fifteen inches of it, to be precise. The new 'do is shorter than it's been since about seventh grade, and I'm still getting used to it. See here. Angel says it makes me look younger, and cuter. I'm a little disturbed.

On a far less serious note...

A couple of things... This got left off the quotes because it took too much work. The party is standing around a preppy outdoor mall on the west side of Fort Wayne, in the middle of the night, having just been told by the vampires they were pursuing that Jen and Liz's roommates were in the women's dressing room of Old Navy. Jen is a Virtual Adept trained by an Ecstatic, demeanour Deviant. She shops at Hot Topic, Nirvana, and the Hallowe'en special limited time store. Currently walking around looking like a vampire princess, complete with tiara and faux bite marks. Liz, a Hermetic with a shy streak, has a credit card from The Limited. Joseph, a devout Catholic who happens to be a Celestial Chorister with an appearance of 2, shops at J. Crew, Old Navy, and the like. Fashion is not on their list of things they have a consensus about. Jen: Old Navy? She looks shocked and appalled. They're in Old Navy? Liz: Come on, it's right this way. Jen: I'm not going in Old Navy...I'll catch something awful. Joseph: What? I was just there the other day. Jen (wailing): Yes, and look at you! It was finally resolved that Jen would stay outside and hack the alarm system while Joseph and Jax rescued the girls. So she was spared this time. In other news, the icon on the previous post will need to be changed, as I have now removed a large portion of my hair. Fifteen inches of it, to be precise. The new 'do is shorter than it's been since about seventh grade, and I'm still getting used to it. See here. Angel says it makes me look younger, and cuter. I'm a little disturbed.

And what's been going on the last few days....

They gave me strange duties on Friday, which leads me to my first case - H, who is seven months old. He was brought into the emergency room by his mother, whose story is that she found him in his crib, having caught his hand in the bars and rolled over it, twisting his arm. That's the story. On examination, the baby was found to have a spiral fracture of the humerus. This, O Best Beloved, is a fracture caused indeed by a twisting injury - but normally requires significant force. It's enough to warrant a skeletal survey, where one pins the baby down and takes X-rays of absolutely everything. What those X-rays revealed was frightening. The baby has old healed rib fractures and a thickening of the bone cortex in his tibia suggestive of an old healed fracture. A broken leg in a baby who's not old enough even to crawl... They filed a 310 with CPS, a report that basically indicates that we fear a child is in jeopardy. They sent him to get a head CT to look for damage to the brain. That came back looking good, preliminarily. And so the baby was admitted to our ward, and the mother was told that we were going to have to check him out head to toe because of some old fractures we'd seen. I spent Friday afternoon with mom and baby at the opthalmology clinic, waiting for a chance to look for retinal haemorrhages (another sign of shaken baby syndrome). And she was talking, and I conversed with her, knowing all the time that she didn't yet know why we were looking this baby over. It was hard, O Best Beloved, trying not to let her know anything she didn't already know. And when we got back, she talked to Child Welfare and JK and Social Work, and when they told her what was going on you could hear her scream and cry down the hall. Our guess...our impression, at least, was that she didn't do it...but she knew what was going on. And that's the part that really got me. It's one thing to abuse a child - for there to be something going on in your mind that causes you to hurt them...it's another to stand by and know that something's going on, and to let your baby be hurt. That was one. I'm not involved with his case; for legal reasons, they don't want my name on the paperwork - they don't want me to have to go to court if it comes to that - but I did act as a nurse and take him to the opthalmology clinic. And second is C, who's thirteen. She came in on Thursday afternoon with a toxic acetaminophen level. Apparently, she had a fight with her best friend, and also found out that the guy she's been seeing for two weeks - the one who told her he was 16 - is 21. And her mother said if he came around again she'd call the police. So she decided she'd kill herself. And when she woke up in the morning, she still was determined. So she stole some money out of her mom's purse, walked down to the corner store, bought a bottle of Tylenol and took 24 extra-strength tablets. And went to school. It wasn't until she started getting sick and was taken to the nurse that she finally admitted she'd taken them. After a brief evaluation by the psych unit, it was determined that she wasn't an immediate suicide risk - that she was safe to come up to our floor. And so there we have her, a 13-year-old girl on a 44 hour N-acetylcysteine drip to keep her from developing acute liver failure in the next few days, who was just here in February for the same thing. And this is when you wonder why. Because she's tried it twice, and she uses steak knives to gash at her wrists, and she made a plan, she didn't just do it on impulse. So when RR sent her mom out of the room and went through all the questions you ask anyone over the age of 10 during a history, it was heartrending and yet not surprising to hear her tell him that her uncle and her grandfather had touched her in some unwelcome way when she was six and eleven... She stays with us until her liver is out of danger. Then she goes to psychiatry...and I hope and pray that someone there will help her turn things around. I had a few other patients - asthma, croup, overnight observation and home in the morning - but those two left the impression on me. And such an impression. So much hurt, O Best Beloved, so much pain and cruelty and aberrance in this world. And all I can do is move one step at a time, one patient at a time, what little healing I can do. And then, O Best Beloved, the good. I hand out little surveys to the parents of my patients, because I'm a student. They fill them out, put them in sealed envelopes, and return them to the Paediatrics department. Only Mrs. M didn't. She gave it to the nurse to give to me. And it was all full of "strongly agree" and "agree", and at the bottom where you're supposed to write comments was the following [sic]:

She very nice. You couldn't even tell she was a student she sounded like she knew what she was talkin about like she has been on the job for years.

That, if nothing else, raised my spirits. And the other good thing was a stupid little thing - I got paged out of noon conference to take H over to the opthalmologist's. Paged out. I was vital to the functioning of the ward, even if it was a stupid little thing. Those are the brow-raisers, ...

Quotes, Friday 19 September 2003.

• Me: Nothing quite like a vampire with backwash.
• Me: I have a crack-monkey. I feed it-- Angel: --Tass. Me: Yeah, it smokes tass. Lily: No! No undead crack-monkies!
• GM: I had a train of thought...
• Lily: What's crawling in your air vents? Me: Undead crack-monkey! Everyone gets quiet, stares at the vent.
• Phloxin: I've gone to school for five years in the middle of nowhere just so there won't be any weirdness. I left my country because it was too fucking weird. This is your mess, you clean it up.
• Me: Dear God: Will you tell me where the vampires are going, please? Oh, and P.S. I want a pony. Love, Joe.
• James: Newish socks? Phloxin: Jewish socks? Me: Oh, look! Yarmulkes for your feet!
• James: They're going to Wal-Mart. Me: Because it's open 24 hours, and nobody would notice a fucking vampire in Wal-Mart. Angel: I think if it were fucking, they'd notice.
• Quinby: There are a lot of times that people do things that aren't necessarily correct. James: Like the amount of time you spend on your knees...
• Quinby: Dear God: What the hell is going on? Me: Love, Joe.
• Quinby: An intelligence of 1 and an Arete of 5... Me: Ug hunt... Angel: What? Me: Ug hunt. Angel: Oh, I heard 'a cunt'.... Phloxin: Squishy squishness....squishy squishness....
• Quinby: Mmmm, your bra stops bullets. Me: It's a Wonderbra!

Before I go to bed...

Just for : The little boy with the croup and the psycho dad from hell, JG, was discharged on Friday evening. When we sent him home, he was breathing well, no noises or stridor at all, playful and happy. No reason to keep him here, not enough grounds to file a 310 without causing a lot of hassle, and he seemed fine... At 4:00 on Saturday morning, Dr. M got a call from JK, the resident who was on that night. "Dr. M? This is JK. I've got a little boy here in the ER named JG with stridor..." Dr. M.: "And I said 'Is this a joke?' And I was waiting to hear 'Yes,' or 'He's been intubated', but JK just said very calmly, 'No, it's not a joke.'" And so JG came back in with his mom, spent the night, and went home on steroids. We told you he was sick. I would update, but I can't remember what I've talked about, O Best Beloved. And it's getting very late very fast. So notes for later: Came in yesterday and got assigned to a new asthma patient on the wards. Spent almost 40 minutes getting her incredibly complicated social history. Then forgot to get vitals before presenting. "You turned a home run into a double. Sad..." My decision to order a second EEG on the ALTE kid was justified when it turned up left temporal spikes and slowing. Booyah! Got scolded by JK for not telling him I was going to meet Angel for dinner, as he would have let me off hours earlier. Met Angel for dinner. Had a wonderful time. Finished my expanded H&P, will post most likely for peer review later. Stayed up far too late for that. Admitted children tonight after thinking I would get to go home early for lack of anything to do. Got home at 11:20 or so, despite promises from peds inpatient orientation that "evening call is no later than 10, and you'll get home earlier most nights." Am going to sleep 5 hours tonight, maybe 6, after having gotten 4 the night before, and 5 the night before that. Call it residency training. Medical Students: (will post to med_school community too) I am working with the student newspaper, and we think it would be fun to do an article or several about how other med schools do things. Anyone want to be a correspondant for me? :) No call and no papers tomorrow night, I think I may sleep then, so as to be alert and enthusiastic for this weekend. I must study (I hope Blueprints comes in) as the exam is on next Friday. I can't believe this rotation is almost over. I'm terrified of Surgery. If I'd forgotten vitals in Surgery, I would've become the whipping post for everyone... There's a lot more I wanted to say something about, like how the moon as I drove home was the clean-edged half-circle of a scalpel blade, poised luminous above the earth. About the transformation at birth from quiet, goo-covered infant to screaming ball of arms and legs. About looking up things with JL and the ER doctor with the blonde hair that I felt some strange draw to, briefly. About kids and monitors and croup and asthma and the mom who just never bothers to bring her baby in any more, until the 6-month checkup when the doctor called for an ambulance to admit. About AT, the sixteen-year-old who is bright and beautiful and going to wind up dead, burnt out, or pregnant. Horror. But it's late, I'm tired, and I have to be back on the floors at 7 AM. Radiology rounds at 7:30, for our morning report. Dr. M. thinks I'm doing well, that I need to get a little more experience with organisation, but I'm well-read (since when?) and inspiring and energetic. You want to hear inspiring and energetic? I haven't had time for a shower since Saturday evening. Saturday evening. I don't care that I'll be sacrificing sleep; I need one. If I could've gotten my ass out of bed yesterday, I would've taken one then. This morning was a write-off; I'm lucky I got to school. I'm also blessed by a tiny miracle that involved me deciding to throw the trash away in my car. And I looked at the sign next to the trash can and thought "That's funny. Why is there a key tied to the sign?" And then, my fatigue-befuddled brain said to me, "You know, that looks a lot like the yellow wrist bungee that was on the key to S's place that you lost at home somewhere. You don't suppose..." I did suppose, and I pulled out my new-minted spare key, and compared. It was. I guess I must've lost it in the parking lot. Falling asleep at the keyboard. Rambling. Good night, O Best Beloved.

Happy biiiiirthday, dear Aaaangel!

Happy Birthday,

Angel turns 24 today. I have no presents for him. I don't know what to get him, because the present I really want to get him is too expensive - and I have to choose between paying the mortgage and buying him a flat-panel monitor. Mortgage first. So I'm going to meet him for dinner, around six in Muncie, and hopefully if I get out on time that leaves me a little time to go look for something. So send me e-mails, O Best Beloved. Give me ideas on what to buy for a boy whose ThinkGeek list link I seem to have lost again :(. Update on JG and the Psycho Father of Doom tonight if I have time. Right now, me, my headache that's almost completely gone after one Zomig, and my presentation on the Limping Child are going to go to the hospital and learn how to care for newborn babies.