In loving memory…

Sammy

8/15/2004 – 12/27/2006

After 3 months of sleepless nights, my surgery rotation has finally come to an end. Weee!!! or better yet – Wiiii!!!! Of course, it would have been nice if I had actually gotten my hands on one of these popular toys to celebrate. But after waiting with 60 other people in line for more than an hour in the bitter cold outside the local BestBuy this morning, I was greeted by a geekling dressed in blue informing us that only 21 units were available. In retrospect, my surgery experience has been very much a blur. Maybe it was because we were always running from one patient room to the next each morning, or that our responsibilities amounted to little more than what a monkey can do. And perhaps sleeping on it over my 2-week holiday break will cast a kinder light on my experience. But for now, it was a rotation I don’t care to think about for some time.

My apologies for not having written for some time. But in addition to starting my general surgery service this month and suffering from the crazy work hours, I’ve also been working on our wedding website, which I’m happy to say, is now online! Over the past few weeks, we’ve been driving around to nearby malls to set up our gift registries, and also find accomodations in the area for our guests. Since the site will be updated as new information arises, we encourage you to check back often. Hopefully, we’ll be sending out save-the-date cards pretty soon. In the meantime, please sign our guestbook and also check out our engagement photos (use Event ID “yiu”).

My past 2 weeks in Anesthesia and SICU have been pretty laid back. Though morning rounds in the SICU were painfully long, they were a nice change of pace where I got to spend extra time actually caring for patients rather than rushing off to the OR. I even got the weekend off for the annual MD-PhD retreat. Sadly, many of my classmates were stuck at work this year. And though it’s hard to imagine, after 7 years, even the appeal of unlimited lobster has dwindled. It did, however, give us a break from our adventures in Oblivion to just enjoy reading and watching TV like regular folks. We also caught a Sunday afternoon matinee of The Departed, which is actually a Scorsese remake of the HK hit, Infernal Affairs. Unfortunately, though it was more polished, grittier, louder, and funnier, I felt that it really missed the mark on the deeper, more philosophical notion of right vs. wrong which was embodied by the original film. The film was overall enjoyable, but ultimately unsatisfying.

At the end of my neurosurgery elective week last Friday, just as we were about to close a craniotomy, the resident grabbed my hand and poked the exposed brain. “There,” he said, “you’ve just touched brain; you are now doomed to be a neurosurgeon.” I have to admit that neurosurgery is pretty cool… but considering that it’s the only residency with an exception to the 80-hour rule, I’m not sure if the lifestyle is really meant for me. Speaking of brains, I have another co-authored paper which recently came out in the Journal of Neuroscience. We made cover again, but since I had no hand in its design, I can honestly say that it is pretty ugly. Also, the NYAS has published an online briefing of the axon regeneration meeting I presented at last March (see link at the bottom of this page). They also included an audio recording of the talk. If you have never listened to yourself speak, I can tell you that it’s a very uncanny experience.

I got to deliver two things last week: a best-man toast … and a baby. To my surprise, the culmination of spending 2 weeks on L&D to the actual hands-on delivery of a baby was pretty anti-climactic in retrospect. I experienced no big epiphany on the wonder of life – just slimy baby sliding out with lots of smelly bodily fluids splattering about. In contrast, toasting at my friend’s wedding this past Saturday was a lot more nerve-wracking than I had imagined. Despite all my experiences teaching classes and giving seminars over the past few years, I still get the butterflies whenever I speak publicly. It didn’t help, of course, that the videographer’s got his bright-ass spotlight on me the whole time. Fortunately, it was over in a cinch. Now that the groom is happily married and honeymooning in the Greek islands, I’m gonna have to embark on another pain-in-my-brain study week for the Ob-Gyn shelf exam this Friday.

I’ve watched the World Series of Poker on TV, and even played some poker with friends in the past. But sitting down at an actual Texas Hold’em table in the Poker Room at Foxwoods Casino was unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. This past Saturday, a few guys and I took a good friend down there for his bachelor party. Rather than splurging on alcohol or strippers, we instead put our money into something with an actual chance of positive return. Mind you, this was no 25¢ slots or even the $5 blackjack table. There were no old ladies with buckets of quarters, but guys with hats and sunglasses dropping $100 chips. Though we only played at the $1-$2 table, each pot easily ran in the $100-$200 range and made for some very stressful playing. The games also went so quickly, that I lost a good chunk of money early on when I actually miscounted a straight hand. Fortunately, blind luck helped offset my lack of skill, and I cashed out at the end with enough to cover both food and the hotel room. Though the bachelor boy didn’t get to be the big winner after almost 10 hours of total playing time, the two-day trip gave us a chance to roll like the big boys.

The best thing about being on the Gyn-Onc team is realizing how benign the regular Gyn service is in comparison (pun intended). My days literally went from an average 16-hour work day, to a comfy 11. The second best thing about Gyn-Onc is chocolates – boxes and boxes of chocolates. It seems that cancer patients really like to give chocolates to the house staff. That means Godiva truffles and Russell Stover assortments, all free for the taking. I wasn’t too worried about the calories, though, since we rarely had time for lunch or dinner. In other news, wedding plans are still in the works. I’ll hopefully have time soon to put up a wedding website with further details. In the meantime, I’ve finally posted photos from our Spain trip in our travel page for your viewing pleasure.

After 6 weeks of Pediatrics at Children’s Hospital, my first rotation back has finally come to an end. My last week was spent on the neonatal floor, where I saw my first delivery in the OR, and got to change a diaper for the very first time. And believe me, it is no cakewalk. On Wednesday, I took my first shelf exam. For those of you not in the know, it’s a standardized test with old Board-exam questions to evaluate our performance in the subject. It’s actually been more than 4 years since I last took a test of any kind, and it didn’t help that this was probably the hardest I’ve taken since P Chem in college. Anyway, I’m now in the midst of a mid-week session before my Ob-Gyn rotation begins. Despite being called “mittleschmertz”, it’s actually quite lax, and should give me a chance to catch up on errands and wedding plans.

I just realized that $6 for dinner in the cafeteria can go pretty far if you know what to order. Last night, my dinner consisted of a grilled cheese and tomato sandwich ($2.10), a small bowl of soup ($1.50), a side of mashed potatoes ($1.00), and a side of string beans ($1). For drinks and dessert, I just grabbed juice and pudding from the patient kitchen. That’s like a 5-course meal! I feel bad leeching from the kitchen though, especially since my recent track record on the new general pediatrics service hasn’t been that great. Of the last 4 kids I admitted, one ended up in intensive care, and 2 are being transferred to the in-patient psych ward. Hey, at least I’m discharging my patients … whether by getting them sicker or driving them crazy! 🙂