Archive for July, 2007

Discouraged

July 31, 2007 · Filed under Running

A strange title given the fact that we just moved into our first house (actually condo, but we do own it!).  The place is fantastic, and I just keep discovering more stuff I love about it (amazing kitchen, beautiful yard, great neighbors, really good food and beer nearby, hardwood floors, cool walk-in closet…).  But despite all this, I’m feeling kind of down tonight.  I think some of it comes from the stress of moving this past weekend coupled with the realizations that a) we still have a LOT to unpack, b) this residency thing is for real and I won’t be going back to the safety and security of med school, and c) I haven’t been able to get in a long run for the past 2 weeks.  Of course, whenever I’m stressed, I tend to pick one thing to focus on, and over the past few days, that seems to be my running.  I feel really bad that I’ve only managed to run 4 days a week for the past 3 weeks.  I think it’s a combination of being busy packing, having to take weekend call, and just feeling rather ambivalent about running in general.  In theory I’m training for my next half marathon, but I just don’t feel that motivated lately.  I hate running in the heat, and I hate the fact that I run so slowly.  No matter how often I reassure myself that pace doesn’t matter, I still feel like a slow poke out there.  So, not really sure where to go from here.   Should I adjust my expectations and feel proud that I even managed to run 4 days/wk during my intern year?  Or should I push myself to achieve my goals?

Running used to make me feel good.  I used to look on it as an accomplishment, but lately all I see are failures.  I know, it sounds a little ridiculous given that I do this for fun.  I’m sure some of my dark mood comes from exhaustion.  Maybe a good night’s sleep will help.

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A dream come true

July 27, 2007 · Filed under Animals!, Pictures

Anyone who knows or reads this blog knows that I am a little bit crazy about animals.  So, you can imagine my great glee when my parents got two Cavalier King Charles puppies.  They are ridiculously cute!

This is Molly:

And this is Juliet:

Don’t let the sleeping pictures fool you, they are maniacs!

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Trials and tribulations

July 17, 2007 · Filed under Medical, Running

I’m beginning to discover some of the pain involved in being an intern.  Contrary to what I initially thought, this does not necessarily involve lack of sleep and being yelled at (at least not yet), but rather figuring out how to work within the massive bureaucracy of a hospital.  For example, when admitting a patient who is bottle feeding, under “diet” you put “NPO”, which translates to nil per ora (nothing by mouth).  Or, if you want a child to have their oxygen saturation monitored, you have to enter “RT” since that order is listed under respiratory therapy.

I wish I could explain this better.  Part of the difficulty, of coures, comes from the fact that I don’t want to violate patient confidentiality so I can’t give any meaninful examples, but I had a very frustrating day today and I wish I could communicate that more effectively.  On the other hand, I do have to remind myself that a) the patient got good care and b) I learned a lot, so I really feel that my two main objectives as a pediatric intern were met.

In other news, Eddie and I celebrated our 3 year wedding anniversary last week.  Eddie surprised me (kind of) by making reservations at Rialto, which is a fancy restaurant in Cambridge where we went for our 1 year dating anniversary.  We had an excellent time.

I’m doing my best to follow the Bob Glover half marathon training schedule, but I did miss one run last week due to my call schedule.  Happily, I managed to sneak in my long run (10 miles).  I’ve actually been running on the treadmill quite a bit lately.  I used to despise the treadmill, but recently I’ve found that my hatred of running in the heat is stronger.  Plus, our apartment complex recently built a new gym which is quite nice.  I can run while watching TV, which I enjoy.  On the other hand, I do think that running on the treadmill takes away somewhat from the joys of running.  I miss the time outside and the time to think.  To me, watching TV while running is mixing something bad for you with something good for you.  It just doesn’t feel right.  Anyway, the upshot of this is that I’m going to make an effort to start running outside again.  I know that running before work would be great, but I also know that there is no way I’m waking up at 4:30 in the morning so I think I’ll just try to run later in the evening, around 7 or 8 o’clock.  It’s usually cooled down a good bit by then.  This may require an alternation of our dinner schedule, but I’m sure we can work something out.  I really miss being outside and (for lack of a better work) communing with nature.

Speaking of words, I just realized that I don’t actually know what “tribulation” means.  According to Google, the tribulation is ”a period, generally thought to be seven years, in which the Antichrist comes to power, and the world is destroyed by war, disease, rampant crime, earthquakes, and other nastiness.”  Who knew??  Certainly not me.

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What we do to our pets…

July 11, 2007 · Filed under Animals!, Pictures, Spenser

ocky

Just for the record, let’s point out that I would never purchase such an outfit (not that there’s anything wrong with that!) but since Mark and Susan were moving and didn’t want to take this outfit with them, Eddie and I volunteered to take it off their hands.  Ocky obviously tolerates this better than Spenser:

Spenser

Don’t you wish you could dress up as a princess?  Heaven help out children when we finally have them!

On another note, it is Eddie and my 3 year anniversary today.  That’s 3 years of marriage and 9 years of dating!  Of course, that’s nothing to Mark and Susan’s ten years of marriage, but we’re getting up there.  :)   We’re exchanging cards tonight and officially celebrating this weekend since Eddie is attending a tennis clinic tonight and I’m preparing for a new rotation.

Also, I’m having a great time watching the Seinfeld season 8 that Eddie got me for my birthday.  It’s hilarious.  I used to really hate Seinfeld, but Eddie has somehow changed my mind and now I can’t turn it off.

Of course, the best birthday present of all is that my parents finally got a dog!!!  So exciting.  Ever since we put our beloved black lab to sleep 3.5 years ago, I’ve been trying to convince them to get another dog.  This is mostly for selfish reasons.  It’s not that I don’t love Spenser (as all my rambling about him must attest), but I grew up with dogs and I miss having one.  I’ve spent a while trying to convince Eddie that we should get a dog but I had to succumb to his argument that we should wait until we have a big yard.  So, I figure my parents getting a job is the next best thing.  My parents have opted to get a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, which is a very long name for a pretty small dog, but I think this dog will be great for my parents.  They are going to pick it up in a week and a half!

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Scared stiff

July 8, 2007 · Filed under Medical, Uncategorized

Sadly, the end of my easy first few weeks of residency will come to an abrupt end on Wednesday when I switch from lovely call free to q4 call (30 hour shifts every 4th day).  I will also have a lot more responsibility.  I’m excited  but also terrified.

On another note, I am now another year older.  Had a very nice birthday yesterday.  Slept late, read Agatha Christie, went running and then met up with friends to see Transformers.  Let’s point out that this was mostly done for my husband!  But we all had a good time.  Then Eddie and I drove out to Sudbury for a delicious sushi dinner with my parents followed by drinking of tasty beer while watching a ridiculous show on the life of people who show cats professionally.  All in all, a great day.

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Famous

July 2, 2007 · Filed under Geeky, Medical, Running

Earlier today I was checking out some of my favorite blogs and was quite amused to find that Steve Runner has chosen mine for his blog of the week.  Given my total inexperience with blogging, I find this both funny and flattering, and also slightly intimidating.  I can’t really imagine anyone other than my friends being interested in this blog.  And even then, I suspect the only people who read this semi-regularly are my husband and my parents.  Who knows, perhaps this is the start of my life of fame!

On another note, I have finished my first week of residency!  So far, I really like it.  Of course, my feelings are probably slightly influenced by the fact that I’m on a very chill rotation with lots of healthy patients and happy parents.  Not to mention a great attending and great nurses, who are all very willing to teach me (thank goodness!).  I don’t think it’s really sunk in yet that I will be doing this for the next 3 years.  I still feel like any minute now it will be time to go back to medical school.

I’m very sad that pretty much all of my med school friends have moved away.  I really miss them.  Hopefully we can keep in touch by phone and email, but our schedules will make it pretty tough to actually get together.  It would be so nice if we were all in the same city to offer support during this crazy time.

A brief note about my running.  I’ve officially started training for the World Wide Half Marathon Challenge.  It’s funny, after the Boston Marathon, I was really looking forward to just being able to run without being in training for anything, but over the past few months, I’ve found that I really miss being in training.  So, I’m quite excited to start this program.  This week I ran the suggested base of 3, 4, 4 (fartlek), 3, 6 for a total of 20 miles. 

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