Tuesday, May 24, 2005

 

Claud tries the suburban life...

I'm living in Addison for the next 4 weeks while I'm doing a rotation out in Aurora. Yes, I know Aurora is not that close to Addison, but it's closer to it than my house. Not that I haven't gone suburban before - the Quad Cities was very suburban-like. I know how to get to Target and the grocery store, so I figure I'm ok.

I almost didn't have a rotation to start today. Back in December, I got in touch with this place to do a rotation. They said ok, I got my clinical coordinator (the person at my school who sets up rotations for us - they don't want 200 students calling sites setting up rotations themselves) in touch with them, and soon the site was listed on my approved rotation schedule. So I thought things were ok. I called on Friday to check when I should be reporting for duty on Monday - yes, I know I should have called earlier in the week, but I didn't get a chance to until Friday. Well, try to imagine the look on my face when the office manager says "I wasn't aware that you were coming - we have no paperwork on you." Damn near dropped the phone. After 3 hours of phone calls, the hospital's personnel person, the office manager, and the doctor arranged it so I could still come. I don't know where the ball got dropped, because my coordinator said she had faxed the paperwork back in December. While it would be nice to know where things went wrong, I don't care now because I still have a rotation, thank God. I just hope I don't look like a stupid, irresponsible medical student in light of Friday's shenanigans. Wish me luck...

Claud 10:00 AM 

Wednesday, May 11, 2005

 

feeling better...


I'm just going to blame it on Mother's Day. I woke up on Monday morning and for some reason, I just felt better. I'm still slightly anxious about all the things that I have to accomplish in the next 6 months, but I feel better.

Mother's Day wasn't great, but it was okay. Went out to lunch with Christine's in-laws. Hung out with Dan and his mom at Dave and Buster's for a little while and played some games. Went to Christine's for a Mother's Day barbecue, then watched "Open Water". Note: It's not likely that you'll ever catch me scuba diving. But I suppose that the whole me not being able to swim thing would preclude that anyway. After watching that movie, I'll stick with the aquarium or a tidepool if I want to see the life aquatic.

Long story short, me and my sisters got through Mother's Day.

Claud 9:43 PM 

Thursday, May 05, 2005

 

unsettled...

For some reason, I've just been feeling really unsettled the last few days. Maybe even the last few weeks, but it's kicked into high gear these last few days. I don't even know if unsettled is really the word for it. Unsettled, anxious, whatever it is, I just don't feel good mentally. I've been trying to set up my 4th year rotations, and I'm having to do a lot of juggling. I had to cancel one rotation today because a hospital whose ER residency I'm interested in emailed me back and offered me a rotation spot for the same time that I had an ICU rotation. On a bright note, another hospital whose residency I'm interested in has a spot open for me (at least they think so).

I did, however, get a new phone. Kept my phone number. Unfortunately, lost everyone else's. So those of you whose number I think I once had, expect an email begging for your number.

I have a bunch of tests to take this summer, and I really should be studying. But after being in the office all day, going home and staring at a book for hours just doesn't seem to happen. I'm too tired. I can't concentrate. I'm kicking myself for not taking USMLE step 1 last summer, when it would have been easier.

Mother's Day is Sunday. We all know how much I love that holiday these days.

My room is still a disaster. I'm just about completely moved in, but soooo not settled in. All my crap is in the room, it's just not unpacked.

Ugh. I just feel like crap. Like I got drop-kicked into a blender. I wish I knew exactly why. I wish I knew exactly how to fix it. I just can't explain it. I know the stuff I just wrote about is part of it, but I don't think it's all of it. I can try to work on some things, but I just can't focus long enough to finish much. It's like I'm trying to keep my head above water, but I keep slipping under every so often.

I really need to have a good weekend.

Claud 11:30 PM 

Wednesday, May 04, 2005

 

lost... adrift... and panicked...


So today, I lost my phone. I still don't have it. It killed me to drive away from the office knowing that I didn't have my phone with me. It got lost somewhere either in the office, or on the grounds. Wherever it is, I can't find it, and neither could the super-kind medical assistant who helped me look for it. You see, she and I were re-arranging the drug sample closet and throwing away a bunch of stuff, and I can only assume that it somehow fell out of my pocket. Long story short, I can't find it. We looked everywhere, including the garbage. And you might be asking yourself, why don't you just call it and listen for it? Well, due to a bad experience with my phone going off while seeing a patient, I've gotten used to just keeping it on silent (no vibrate) during office hours. So yes, I am now kicking myself in the head for not at least keeping it on vibrate.

So here's to hoping someone happens upon it tomorrow. Otherwise, I have to get a new phone tomorrow. I just feel, well, incomplete without it. This is the phone number that everyone uses to contact me. And I do mean everyone. Since I move around so much, this is the lone number that follows me everywhere. This is the number my school has to contact me. This is the number the wedding vendors use to contact me. Hopefully, I'll be able to keep the same phone number. I'll lose all of the numbers that are programmed into my phone, so for those of you whose numbers I once had, expect a mass email begging for you to call me or email me your number.

This sucks.

Claud 11:50 PM 

Monday, May 02, 2005

 

i got peed on today...

Not figuratively, but literally. I'm doing a Pediatrics rotation this month. Today we had a 3 month old who was pretty sick, so we were doing a physical exam. Unfastened the diaper, and wham. Thank goodness it didn't get all over my clothes. The other med student got "christened" last week, so I suppose it was only a matter of time before my turn came. Now I'm just hoping that no one pukes on me.



i'm old.

Or at least I feel it. I spent just about the whole day yesterday sleeping/eating and I was still just absolutely dragging today. I was supposed to go running this morning, but after going to bed at 1 AM, getting up and 6 AM to be physically active didn't seem as appealing as staying in my warm, cozy bed. Where has all my energy gone? I'm still pretty young. I'm still pretty fit. And yet I would kill for an afternoon nap every day. Oh well.



at least the movie had subtitles...

So yesterday Trully wanted to go to some art shows in downtown Chicago - Trully likes to further our cultural horizons. We met at her house for breakfast (thanks again for feeding us Trully and Irio!), then tried to plan our day. Plan being the operative word here. After hemming and hawwing, looking at the weather outside, and hemming and hawwing some more, Trully changed into her comfy pregnant pants and it was over. We stayed in for the day. Watched "Blade:Trinity" - because you know, it's uh, artsy...uh... yeah...By the way, I want my arms to be as buff as Jessica Biel's before my wedding. Then someone mentioned brownies, which got Trully jonesing for brownies. Which meant me, Marlon, and Jeffrey went grocery shopping, because those two don't want to "suck as uncles" as Trully once said in order to guilt them into making a boba shake run for the pregnant lady. We got 3 different kinds of brownie mix - now we won't have to make a brownie run next time we go over there, and the pregnant lady has options.

Then we watched "The Motorcycle Diaries" - it's the story of Ernesto "Che" Guevara. It's in Spanish with subtitles, so at least we got some kind of cultural education. We ordered in some Thai and Japanese food, because heaven forbid we actually leave the condo to do something.

Even though we really didn't do much, I still had a good time. That's generally how it goes when we're all together.. it's kinda nice. I love those knucklehead cousins of mine.

Claud 9:38 PM