tra-la! what fun it is to be back in the hospital setting. i am really enjoying nephrology. the doc i'm with is an amazing teacher- he pimps me all day long (have i defined "pimp" before? it just means quizzes/drills w/ medical questions- does NOT mean sells sexual services for money). and i'm learning so much so fast. it's a really complicated science. acid-base balance, volume changes, drug doses all have to be altered considering efficiency of filtration through the kidneys, etc. but it's really interesting and challenging. intellectual-ish. so of course, i sound like a total stooge all the time... but it's not so bad. it's a great intro into internal medicine.
and this hospital is cool. i've been here before, so am familiar w/ some of the students, residents, doctors, and staff. it's in a pretty big city, but feels like a small town hospital. but unlike most small towns, it's very multicultural. i like it.
and i love the human moments you encounter in a hospital. people walking gleefully around w/ balloons for a new baby or exultant when they hear they're better and get to go home. and there's a lot of grief and sadness, too, of course. i was in the icu today, at the desk, working on a different patient, when from one of the rooms behind the closed door came a chorus of screams- it sounded like a football stadium uproar. at first i thought maybe it WAS cheers, it was so loud and simultaneous- maybe the patient awoke from a coma, or took an independent breath or something- but it quickly became obvious that it was grief. i think the very moment that the patient expired, all 10+ family members who had been in the room screamed in agony. they ended up out in the hallway, hyperventilating, wailing, clinging to each other. it was quite a scene. it's just still incredible to me that i get to be involved with birth and death, hope and sorrow. so much access to the human spirit.
so, this has been a great (and occasionally emotional) few days and i look forward to the rest of the rotation. i'll keep you posted.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment