Sleepless in Dayton
No post yesterday because, frankly, I was a zombie. 4:30am wakeups have me dying. I had assumed that since I was off for the 4th that I’d be able to catch up on sleep by sleeping in and then heading to bed relatively early. Unfortunately, I couldn’t sleep in past ~5:45am and fireworks had us out until nearly 11pm. The half gallon of coffee was not nearly enough for me yesterday. L&D was sloooooowwww and I was able to head out around 5pm. I got home, “napped” until dinner at 7, and then promptly returned to bed and slept like a baby until 4:30am again this morning. And it’s AMAZING how 8+ hours of sleep makes you feel! I’m alive again! 😳 And on that note, massive props to George who took the kids to the pool for several hours yesterday afternoon, made a delicious dinner, cleaned up, and got the kids to bed all while I was at work and then sleeping. He’s holding down the fort pretty darn well without help from me.
Yesterday’s zombie-like State was exacerbated by the fact that, in the entire 12 hours I was at the hospital, there was only ONE C-section and ZERO epidural placements. So that meant I occupied my time with something else-namely, trying to limp my way through my ATLS book. ATLS=Advanced Trauma Life Support, and it’s a certification that many of us have to have, especially during residency. My 2 day course is next Thursday/Friday and this 300+ page beast of a book has to be read by then. I’ve been chipping away at it for a week or so. Below is a quintessential snapshot of my life as a mom in medicine: at the pool with the kids studying (this was on the 4th, BTW....my “day off”).
Random, but a nerve racking change to moving, is trying to find another amazing hair stylist. No joke, the same guy did my hair for nearly 15 years before I left Anchorage. He knew me and my personality and how that projected on my hair probably better than I did (yes, I realize that sounds crazy and it is). Any time I’d contemplate changing something relatively drastic, he was spot on. Like when I wanted to go dark brown, he warned me that he KNEW I was a blonde at heart and wouldn’t last long. Lo and behold, 2 months later and I was begging for him to change it back. 😂 So......when we moved to Philadelphia, I was SO NERVOUS to let anyone else touch my hair. So nervous, in fact, that I actually didn’t get my hair done that entire school year! I waited to go back to Alaska that summer and had him overhaul it. After that, I realized I wouldn’t be “home” for 2+ years again and I should probably find someone local in Philly. By chance, I stumbled upon Jen, who has been doing my hair the last 3 years....and now that I’ve moved again, I’m having to start all over. On top of that, we have hard water despite having a water softening system (that, yes, is working). So to ward off any brassiness, I decided to try one of those purple shampoos. I’ll leave you with this photo and the attestation that it definitely works. Chunks of my hair has a purple hue. 😂 Will only be using purple shampoo every 2-3 washes.
On the anesthesiology front, I had a mixed day. Missed a couple spinals, but rocked a couple of combined spinal-epidurals. Had a case of blatant sexism by a patient's husband.....that was super fun, and astonishingly, a first for me. I kinda felt like flashing him my socks on the way out, but I showed considerable restraint.
I have my first “house officer” shift tomorrow. A house officer shift (at my hospital) is covering 12 hours of general floors in the hospital (so not ICU). Essentially, I have no clue how to run this and tomorrow is going to be the most incompetent I’ve felt in a very long time. Because for the first time in training, I’m actually responsible for figuring stuff out without someone holding my hand. Even simple things like.......uhhh......where to go first thing in the morning. Do I meet the night shift on the floors? Where? In the library where they do sign out? In The Perch (nickname for the resident lounge)? Should be an interesting morning and day tomorrow-wish me luck!
Yesterday’s zombie-like State was exacerbated by the fact that, in the entire 12 hours I was at the hospital, there was only ONE C-section and ZERO epidural placements. So that meant I occupied my time with something else-namely, trying to limp my way through my ATLS book. ATLS=Advanced Trauma Life Support, and it’s a certification that many of us have to have, especially during residency. My 2 day course is next Thursday/Friday and this 300+ page beast of a book has to be read by then. I’ve been chipping away at it for a week or so. Below is a quintessential snapshot of my life as a mom in medicine: at the pool with the kids studying (this was on the 4th, BTW....my “day off”).
Random, but a nerve racking change to moving, is trying to find another amazing hair stylist. No joke, the same guy did my hair for nearly 15 years before I left Anchorage. He knew me and my personality and how that projected on my hair probably better than I did (yes, I realize that sounds crazy and it is). Any time I’d contemplate changing something relatively drastic, he was spot on. Like when I wanted to go dark brown, he warned me that he KNEW I was a blonde at heart and wouldn’t last long. Lo and behold, 2 months later and I was begging for him to change it back. 😂 So......when we moved to Philadelphia, I was SO NERVOUS to let anyone else touch my hair. So nervous, in fact, that I actually didn’t get my hair done that entire school year! I waited to go back to Alaska that summer and had him overhaul it. After that, I realized I wouldn’t be “home” for 2+ years again and I should probably find someone local in Philly. By chance, I stumbled upon Jen, who has been doing my hair the last 3 years....and now that I’ve moved again, I’m having to start all over. On top of that, we have hard water despite having a water softening system (that, yes, is working). So to ward off any brassiness, I decided to try one of those purple shampoos. I’ll leave you with this photo and the attestation that it definitely works. Chunks of my hair has a purple hue. 😂 Will only be using purple shampoo every 2-3 washes.
I have my first “house officer” shift tomorrow. A house officer shift (at my hospital) is covering 12 hours of general floors in the hospital (so not ICU). Essentially, I have no clue how to run this and tomorrow is going to be the most incompetent I’ve felt in a very long time. Because for the first time in training, I’m actually responsible for figuring stuff out without someone holding my hand. Even simple things like.......uhhh......where to go first thing in the morning. Do I meet the night shift on the floors? Where? In the library where they do sign out? In The Perch (nickname for the resident lounge)? Should be an interesting morning and day tomorrow-wish me luck!
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