My last night on call on oncology, and it’s a black weekend … and daylight savings time is about to begin. It would’ve been nice to have one less hour of call. But of course, we admit patients until 2am anyway, so it’s really just one less hour of sleep. Nevertheless, it’s my last call night before my 2-week vacation, and I feel like nothing can hurt me now. Looking back, my oncology rotation opened my eyes to how horrible, and unpredictable, cancer can be. With Melody away from home, I’ve spent my evenings working furiously on a vacation album from our previous trip (from last year). The need to clean out my fridge before leaving has also led me to some creative concoctions in the kitchen with the few remaining perishables. Fortunately, my busy schedule both at work and at home has helped me drown out events that have unfolded on the home front. All in all, I’m just looking forward to better times ahead.

It’s been 2 weeks since embarking on my exhausting ride through the world of oncology. Whether we were dealing with “liquids” (leukemia) or “solids” (organ tumors), my typical day involved doling out a variety of painkillers from fentanyl patches to IV dilaudid, making me a highly-underpaid yet legitimate drug dealer. The rest of my efforts are spent suppressing nausea and getting patients to move their bowels – an art that all interns have more or less perfected. Even if the Colace/Senna doesn’t get you going, we’ve got lactulose, Fleet enemas, and my favorite: Dulcolax BLAST kit. On a different note, but still related to this entry’s title, we finally finished the epic battle between Solid and Liquid Snake in Metal Gear Solid 4. After a 6 month hiatus and forgetting most of the controls, we resumed the final chapter of this exceptional game just before Melody’s overseas rotation. With the help of our camo suit, the Mk.II scout unit, and other spying gadgets, we stealthed our way through the rubbles of war-torn Middle East, the cobblestone streets of Eastern Europe, and even nostalgic Shadow Moses Island from the first MGS circa 1998. The gameplay blended seamlessly with impressive full-motion cinematics, though the nearly 2-hour ending was somewhat exhausting. What better way to spend Valentine’s Day?

As my cold winter month at the Faulkner draws to an end, I decided to treat myself on my last call night with not one but TWO meal tickets at the hospital cafeteria (my only two left). The $11 credit got me two basil & chive chicken entrees, mash potatoes with gravy, string beans, a large cup of clam chowder, an Odwalla Chocolate Protein Monster, and chocolate mousse – a feast with enough calories to put an elephant to sleep. Unfortunately, I was not spared the usual craziness as I ended up sending an obtunded patient from the ED to the ICU, stave off another cross-cover from going to the unit, and section my last admission for suicidal ideation. Of course, it didn’t help that we stayed up late on Friday night to watch the last seven episodes from the first season of Heroes. As we wrapped up our couch potato marathon, we pondered the possibility of having super powers ourselves. Sadly, as NBC has taught us, only incredibly hot, good-looking people are blessed with such gifts. We also finally completed our journey through space, the final frontier. The finale episode to the 7 seasons of Star Trek TNG reminds us that all good things must come to an end.

I passed by a lot of people yesterday asking me what big plans I had for my 30th birthday. I told them that I was just gonna spend a quiet evening at home with my wife and family. Perhaps it’s a sign of my age, or general laziness. Or maybe after working in the hospital for 80 hours a week, I appreciate more the few extra hours I can spend at home. I also find it interesting that some people congratulated me on my birthday. I think it’s the only occasion when I get to be applauded for just eating and breathing. Speaking of food, we did meet with some friends this evening for a celebratory meal at New Jumbo Seafood, where we also celebrated Chinese New Year with some of Melody’s co-workers. When things get you down, it’s amazing what a steaming spoonful of fish maw soup can do for you.

I started off Chinese New Year by discharging all the patients on my service. In intern-talk, this is called “winning the game.” Sadly, it lasted only an hour before I had another new patient to admit. Nevertheless, being back at Faulkner’s medicine service has given me more time to relax. Even better, we’ve had the chance to mooch off the many interview dinners for prospective residency applicants. Our dining experiences varied widely, including Eastern Standard, La Morra, Fugakyu, Tasca, Lineage, and Petit Robert Bistro – all at the expense of our generous department. Last weekend, we even got to dance the night away at the Boston Park Plaza for our annual Winter Ball. These moments certainly offer some reprieve from the harsh, cold winter.

The holidays felt like a blur this year, as I spent most of it at the hospital for holiday coverage. In fact, I must’ve over-exerted myself and caught some viral bug last week. Between my intermittent coughs, Melody and I rang in the new year with our sore throats and hoarse voices as we squeaked “Happy New Year!”. With the snowstorm and both of us being sick, we ended up spending much of our time indoors. This also gave us some time to revisit the post-apocalyptic ruins of Washington D.C. in Fallout 3. The game is very reminiscent of our favorite role-playing fantasy game Oblivion, but with guns. With this new generation of video games demanding more and more processor juice, though, I ended up overclocking my 2-year-old processor. So far, I’ve got my 2.4Ghz Athlon X2 running at 2.75Ghz using an 11x multiplier with minimal voltage increase. My hope is to get it up to 3Ghz with a little more tweaking. I’ll just have to be careful not to push it too far, as I often end up doing to myself.

It’s Christmas Eve 2008, and I’m spending it on the 10th floor of the Shapiro Center watching over two floors of cardiology patients while looking out at the quiet blanket of snow over Jamaica Plains. It’s not how I would normally envision spending Christmas Eve. But after an entire month of juggling clinical duties in the day with studying for Step III at night, it was a relief that the exam is finally over. The USMLE Step III occurs over two days. Mine took place within the confines of a drab office building just 5 minutes from my apartment. Much of it felt more like a reading test, as each question tries to throw you off with paragraphs of unnecessary information and extraneous red herrings. Sadly, I had little time to celebrate after it was over, as I was back at the hospital for holiday coverage the very next morning. But even as I sit in my call room, answering the string of pages, I feel a sense of relief as I take on my role as a normal intern again.

Despite having 5-days off for Thanksgiving this year, we had little time to enjoy ourselves with Melody’s oral boards and my Step III exam on the horizon. We spent most of Wednesday studying at the NYPL, breaking only briefly for hotdogs from Gray’s Papaya, which sadly, were no longer the deals they used to be. After a big potluck dinner with the extended family on Thanksgiving Day, we drove up to the Woodbury Outlet Mall to battle the crowds. The last time I went there was exactly 8 years ago, when I stocked more than half my wardrobe. This year was no exception, and the hoards of shoppers made it hard to believe that we’re actually in a recession. After more than 10 hours of bargain hunting, we drove home with a trunk full of clothes and an impressive stash of credit card receipts. We concluded the evening with a birthday dinner for my dad, which included a tasty black bass and a platter of walnut shrimps and fried milk. After lugging our heavy bags of goodies back to Boston, we went straight back to work. With little time left to study and no break until March, I anticipate a bleak winter ahead.

After 4-weeks at the VA hospital, I’ve learned a lot more about practicing medicine outside the sanctity of a large academic hospital – like having to wait an hour for the CT tech to come in for a head scan in the middle of the night, or even worse, waiting an hour for anesthesia to roll out of bed for an emergent intubation while we stood there bagging our hypoxic patient. I also got better at drawing blood, especially when the nurse refuses to do it. As a member of the code team in the MICU, I even got a taste of “code green” (psych code) on my first call night, which involved me running after a crazy old vet with his IV dangling from his arm, hospital gown flapping in the wind, and his naked behind exposed to me as he eloped from the hospital. I guess one of the great things about internship is that it always manages to keep life interesting.

After a gloomy 2-week-long black cloud on the ward service, even the ICU at the VA Hospital seems like a breath of fresh air. The service is lighter, my cloud seems whiter, and after election day last week, the skies appear ever brighter. I’ve also recently discovered an ingenious piece of software called PlayOn. Still under beta testing, the program can stream video content from both Hulu and Netflix directly to my PS3, and thus, my large-screen TV. This has unlocked a whole Pandora’s box of TV shows to procrastinate with, including the first seasons of 30 Rock and Heroes, as well as new episodes of Terminator and SNL. So much to watch … so little time. By the way, photos from our Japan trip are posted here – enjoy!