new job. good stuff. having fun so far. everyone's being exceedingly nice to me. i wonder if/when the other shoe-covered shoe will drop. they all seem to remember me from when i was a student...which is really flattering, since i was there last september and they go through about 25 students a year. but things are different now. they're invested in me. and they don't drill me with questions, but patiently, kindly answer mine as they come up. and unlike when i was a student, they want to know my personality, who i am. not just that i know how to not break sterile field or how not to trip on myself.
and it's the dream first job- they're giving me all the time in the world to learn what i need to learn- i have several months to get comfortable on all the different surgeries (again, recall we're talking about operating with some 20 different surgeons who all have different methods, and these surgeries range from thyroid to breast to hip to gall bladder to eyelids to heart to veins to brain...anything and everything). PLUS, i will learn how to be competent in internal medicine/surgical followup as i follow patients on the floor post-operatively...and i will learn to put central lines in, feeding tubes, difficult foley catheterizations, etc, etc.
and i love being in scrubs all day every day. i wake up in the morning (at about 5:15am-that part does suck), shower, throw my hair in a ponytail, put on jeans, and go to work. it's great. now all my clothing budget (right...) can go towards fun clothes, not work clothes. speaking of buying fun clothes, i treated myself to a new fancy winter coat that's semi practical and semi totally awesome. it's from H & M and is a bone color with big buttons and other fun features. i can't link to it, cuz their website is all fashion ad wizardry with videos and nothing functional, but trust me when i tell you, it's a very cool coat. i guess i just can't get enough of new white coats. :)
what else? did i mention that they're paying me bunches of money to be elbow deep in intestines every day? it's pretty awesome.
as i said, everyone's being pretty nice to me so far, BUT there are a lot of 'different' personalities in the OR. surgery is kind of notorious for attracting larger-than-life egos. and i've certainly encountered some of them. most of the PA's (there are 25 of us) are wonderful. most of the other staff (surgeons, scrub and circulating nurses, techs, etc) are also wonderful and helpful. but i worked with the #1 most notoriously moody and vicious surgeon on 6 cases on friday. he was kind of nasty to me a few times when i neglected to properly read his mind, but overall, things went fine. i'm in such a great mood with this fantastic new job and having passed my boards, that there wasn't much he could do to mess that up. plus, i am pretty good at letting things roll off of me. and there's lots of support from the other PA's. i'll always be able to vent if i need to. but there are stories (more like the stuff of lores) of surgeons throwing charts at people's heads, kicking staff out of the OR in a fury, scrub nurses smacking students, the list goes on.
i think i can handle it. we'll see. if you ever find me huddled under a desk in the fetal position, rocking and softly singing "when the dog bites, when the bees sting....", please just bring me some graham crackers and tell me everything is going to be ok. :)
by the way, in case it wasn't clear from my last manic post, i passed my boards and am now licensed. my official title is PA-C, which means PA-certified. i also have an MS, but nobody cares about that in the clinical setting. so now that i'm licensed, i'm working on getting my prescribing license and provider ID and stuff in place. boo-ya.
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WAY TO GO! i'm so happy for you!
that jacket sounds WAY too cute. the lovely bra i bought back in april had to be donated and probably belongs to some 15 year old now. boo!
be careful, sounds like it's a jungle out there. ;)
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