Monday, November 30, 2009

Vaccinated!

Every Monday, I find more reasons to love my ICM site. My preceptor is simply fantastic, and I'm getting extremely comfortable interviewing patients. Last time, I interviewed two patients in front of Dr. Katz -- I got their whole medical histories, and afterward, Dr. Katz gave me his input. It went very well. This week, he briefly introduced me to two different patients and then left for a few minutes, leaving it up to me to find out the chief complaint and history of present illness. When he came back, I presented the information to him in front of the patient, and then he completed the exam. It was great. Clearly, the school part of ICM has been ideal.

On top of that, Dr. Katz is awesome as a preceptor. During exams, he explains what he's doing and sometimes even does a little bit extra -- he'll point out dermatological points of interest, or he'll teach me about percussing to find the outline of the liver, or he'll help me find a popliteal pulse. He also shows me the clues he uses to make his diagnosis -- a red throat, an EKG printout, nystagmus, lung sounds, heart sounds. In between patients, if there happens to be downtime, he teaches me about conditions of recent patients he's seen -- endocrine pathways, abnormal bloodwork, how to read an EKG. Or he teaches me the useful little things that I'll gradually pick up along the way but will probably not learn in medical school -- prescription abbreviations (most of which come from Latin, thank goodness), bizarre/un-PC acronyms, how to fill out a death certificate, how to decipher insurance codes. Clearly, I have been blessed with an amazingly friendly, intelligent, sensitive, interested preceptor.

And even after all of that, there is yet another reason to love him. Last week, the lines for the H1N1 vaccine at Einstein were out the door. It was not worth the wait. I knew that my clinical site had the vaccine, so I planned to ask if I could make an appointment or do whatever it is they needed me to do to just get vaccinated there. Today, during some downtime, I brought it up to Dr. Katz. He was surprised I hadn't gotten one yet and asked if I wanted to get one right then. Sure! It was even free, because of something about the government buying it all up and distributing it or something like that. All I had to do was give my name, birthday, and address, because apparently the government likes to keep track of these things. We went in one of the back offices, and right then and there, Dr. Katz gave me the nasal H1N1 vaccine. I almost couldn't keep myself from laughing, it seemed so bizarre. But there it is: I am now vaccinated, thanks to my totally rock-solid preceptor. I love Mondays.

Sunday, November 29, 2009

How to Make Friends

Answer: Make too many cookies for your own good (i.e. 8 dozen), and give away all but a half-dozen of them.

Piano: Some Assembly Required

I've been seriously deprived of music in the past 3 months. The ukulele has been great, but it doesn't quite cut it when you're used to having a piano around. In a drastic move to provide myself with even more ability to procrastinate, I bought a piano. Actually, it's a keyboard (because honestly, I don't think my roommates would enjoy me banging away on a real-life piano), but it's as close in look and feel to a real piano as a keyboard can be, as far as I'm concerned. Dealing with Fed-Ex was, shall we say, interesting, but in the end, I ended up with a very large, very heavy box in my apartment just under a week after purchasing the keyboard in Manhattan.

It's a good thing I had to build all of my furniture, because otherwise I might have freaked out when I realized that I actually had to put together the keyboard with nuts, bolts, screws, and even a knob on the pedals.

With the exception of the part with the actual keys (which was fantastically heavy and bulky and impossible to move on my own without serious risk to a very expensive investment), I was able to build the rest of the keyboard myself. Cat graciously visited the apartment and helped me lift the keys onto the base. Voila! I now have a keyboard! Let the procrastination begin!

And the decoration. The keyboard is the perfect place for a mini Christmas tree!

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Lefse

About a week ago, Cat and I ventured into the city to participate in that great Scandinavian tradition that Ole alums do oh-so-well: making lefse.

Cat viciously guards the spatula that will save our lefse from the evil, lefse-sucking wooden board.

Ruth, the lefse expert, gives us all a lesson. Not too thick, not too thin, not too hot, not too cool, not too much flour, not too sticky...etc.

Cat vies for the "Most Creative Lefse" prize with her spectacular lion's head (she's even getting into the St. Olaf spirit!)

The contest entries. Notice the gigantic lefse front and center: that would be mine. Cat's lion is to the right. Together, they won us a sushi pen.

The professional judges

Afterward, we feasted. It was delicious.

Monday, November 16, 2009

Enthusiasm on the Job

"Everything's cool when you're a first-year medical student," said Dr. Katz as he accompanied me to visit the orthopedist 3 floors above the internal medicine office. Last week, Dr. Katz and I saw a patient who was having terrible pain in her foot because she had to step quickly to the side to avoid running into her dog. For real. Because he thought it would be an interesting learning experience for me, Dr. Katz suggested I go with her to the orthopedist (in the same building) to see them do the x-rays and casting (if necessary). Well, I went with the patient, but unfortunately, I had to leave for the day before she had even gotten an x-ray. Today I went to the office early so that Dr. Katz and I could go up and see the x-rays -- my first experience of continuity of care, I suppose. Indeed, the patient had broken her fifth metatarsal in a place that doesn't receive much blood flow, so she needed a leg cast that will be on for 4-6 weeks. The orthopedist and Dr. Katz were both eager to explain how those types of breaks normally happen, what the different types of treatments are for different types of foot fractures, etc. So now, according to them, I'm an expert on foot fractures.

Those two weren't the only eager doctors today, either. A few weeks ago, Dr. Weisholtz wanted me to feel a large thyroid. Today, just after Dr. Katz had observed me interview 2 different patients, Dr. Kocher came into the common area and asked, "Where's the medical student? I want to show her something." I waved and followed him into his patient's room. She had chronic lymphedema (swelling) in her left arm, which was easy to see when comparing the arms. But there was something else that Dr. Kocher was even more excited about. He asked the patient to show me her palms. Then he asked me, "What is different about her palms compared to mine? Or yours?" I looked at my own hands and then the patient's, and I could see that hers were quite yellow. I said as much to Dr. Kocher, and he said, "Yes, exactly. But look at her eyes. They're nice and white, so you know it's not jaundice. Want to know what it is? It's carotenemia!" The woman explained that she had been drinking carrot juice -- LOTS of carrot juice. All of the beta carotene had colored her skin yellow.

Yes, Dr. Katz is right -- everything's cool when you're a first-year medical student.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

My Tub Overfloweth

...with the mold-backed tiles that decided they no longer wanted to stick to the wall. And with the soap dish, which decided to take a bit of the wall with it. I can now see fiberglass. This is disturbing. My solution is to close the shower curtain and not think about it until housing sends maintenance to fix it.

Mold, mold, go away.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Fall in the Big City

The pictures will do the talking.

Peaceful street near the Church of Notre Dame

Is this really the city? North woods of Central Park

Conservatory Garden in Central Park

The ravine

I cannot get over how peaceful the city can feel. A block away, people rush about their business, hailing cabs, boarding buses, and running to catch subways. Here, none of that is present.

Beautiful trees of Central Park from the top of Rockefeller Center

From the Top of the Rock, the Empire State Building and a minuscule Statue of Liberty

Skating at the Rockefeller Center? Yes, it started a month ago. Seems a bit anachronistic in the 70-degree weather.

Fishermen at Orchard Beach (in the Bronx!)

Orchard Beach provided a slightly more "wild" side of nature than Central Park

The view from the top of my apartment building: The beautiful trees and homes of Morris Park and the skyline of the big city

Monday, November 2, 2009

I Can't Help It; I Live Here!

It's been a busy few weeks, especially with moving to a new apartment, taking our second set of exams, finding time to appreciate the fall colors, beginning Anatomy, celebrating Halloween, and watching the World Series. As far as the first two go, it's exactly as it sounds: I moved from the 7th floor of one building to the 12th floor of another, which took more than a full weekend when combined with repainting the entire room. (I have to say, I think it turned out very well -- Starless Night, Mocha, and Clean Linen look quite nice together on my walls.) The exams were in Histology and Immunology, so I am now done with both classes. We have now begun Anatomy, which is really exciting because it's the class that everyone thinks of as the first "real" experience in medical school. We're all assigned to groups of 4-5 per cadaver, and I've already (with my lab partners) gotten to dissect the back muscles of our cadaver. Unreal.

After exams, many of us headed into the city for a night out. In the afternoon, we walked across the Brooklyn Bridge.

It's also been an exciting time for New Yorkers, and especially for the Bronx, because of the World Series. There's no way I could have ever gotten tickets for a game (or even have wanted to spend that much), but it's been even better than I could have imagined getting caught up in the excitement of it all. Everywhere I go, I see Yankees hats, Yankees t-shirts, Yankees sweatshirts...and all talk is about the Yankees. Yes, I realize that I'm obligated to hate the Yankees. Normally I would, especially when the Twins are involved. But now -- with the World Series -- and living in New York -- I can't help it. I want them to win. How in the world could I not cheer for them? Plus, in my defense, it's almost a matter of safety. For a few of the games, I've joined a friend from school at a pub in the city. The first time I was there, one of his friends asked me (loudly) if I was a Yankees fan. Immediately, everyone surrounding me became silent, turning their heads to hear the critical answer. I laughed nervously and said, "I'm cheering for them tonight." It was a good enough answer, apparently, because the people at the bar quickly got back to their business of cheering loudly, cursing the Phillies, and clanging a bell every time the Yankees scored.

The Empire State Building dresses up for Halloween.

Halloween was also this past weekend. I didn't go to the parade, but I was in the city, and it was a sight to see. The normally serious, get-down-to-business New York mob exchanged its usual no-nonsense sense of fashion for giddy, brightly colored costumes throughout all of Saturday. At Einstein, costumes were equally as creative. I'll finish this post with a few samples:

Robin and Batman felt totally comfortable around the paparazzi...

The Jonas Brothers found time to say hi to their fans...

...and everyone waited impatiently for the bus.