Requisite blog post

Hi ya'all and welcome to another installment of Ishie's blog. It came to my attention that it had been quite a while since I'd had one, giving that whole third year absentee impression that actually seems to be more due to living in NYC than it does to the actual work load of third year, though I'm sure, once I get to my surgery rotation, that impression will change.

Speaking of change, it's pretty remarkable the ones that I've embarked on since I decided to embark on this little venture called "medical school". I feel like I've grown up, grown down, been dressed down, and probably caused two decade's worth of liver damage in a short period of time. Medical school, as an entire experience, including the whole "in the Caribbean" thing, is probably the best and worst thing I could have ever done.

But I'm liking it, facilitated by starting off my third year existence with psych and then transitioning to ER, which keeps things fun, but is also a P/F class that doesn't require *that* much studying. The med surg people seem far less enamored of their lot in life.

Problem with ER is it lends itself to a TON of stories, most of which cannot be relayed on the internet, at least until several months have passed so I don't risk encroaching on the sacred HIPAA rules (man sprayed with mace by drag queen posse) that would risk casting me to the streets loans unpaid.

So that leaves me pretty much regaling my stories of living in NYC for the first time which consists of "spend too much money. Indulge in excess. Spend too much money. Go off on some alcohol fueled Nick and Nora fantasy with a waxing and waning group of friends. Convince one virginal satellite friend to try absinthe. Find exciting new venue you'd never heard of. Spend more money. Repeat. Go to work at 11 and regale the missing medical students and residents of the times you had in your down hours. Repeat."

Oh, and jog. I'm training for a breast cancer fundraiser 5K in September, which goes a small way towards physically and karmically repairing the damage I've been doing otherwise. Monica's helping keep me honest.

On the ER side of things, as mentioned, I finally got my IV sticks. I got on this kick where I could do ANYTHING so long as it didn't involve a vein. Arterial blood draws? Sure! NG tube? Sutures? Staples? No problemo. Simple butterful stick off a vein? Put an IV in an unconscious person? Problem. Complete failure to perform.

But finally kicked that in the ass so now I'm at 3 successful IV pushes to 1 unsuccessful in the last two days. The unsuccessful was on a woman with notoriously difficult veins, whose daughter decided to help me by saying "This experiment is OVER". Can we have a barb wire enclosure where we keep family members? That'd be super awesome. Better yet, if you're going to backseat doctor, how about taking your loved ones to something that isn't a teaching hospital? Mmkay, bye.

Oh, I also won a suture-tying contest, which meant someone else had to do the Guaiac on my patient. Gotta love the small victories.