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! 🙂

It appears that my review article has finally been published online at Nature.com. It’s particularly exciting this time because there are several reviews on the same topic in this focus issue, and ours is the featured article! I’m actually not sure what this means, but I’ll just assume that it means that mine is better! 🙂 Unfortunately, I haven’t read it over yet since work’s been busy as usual. Of course, I’ve also gotten my hands on a new toy recently, which adds yet another distraction to work. Actually, the Wi-Fi feature is absolutely amazing with Tetris DS. So if anyone’s a tetris fan, I’m definitely up for a challenge!

After my 4-year hiatus, returning to the wards has been an exciting yet daunting transition for me. It didn’t help, of course, that I started with pediatric cardiology at Children’s Hospital, which isn’t exactly your typical patient population. I mean, I may not know how to care for a baby with fever or diarrhea, but if the kid has tetralogy of Fallot, I’m your man. In fact, after 2 weeks on the service, I was beginning to think that hypoplastic left heart syndrome was an epidemic in Boston. Unfortunately, just when I was getting to know what I was doing, when I finally figured out why the interns laughed when they called me a Bidirectional Glenn, I was switched to another service. It’s kind of weird going into general pediatrics now. Knowing little else, I think I’ll just have to put congenital heart disease as the top differential for every patient.

With the blink of an eye, our month in North Carolina has come to an end. I had originally imagined having lots of time not only to study and work, but also to go out and explore the area. But alas, with the free central AC, cable TV, and cable modem access at the apartment, I found myself vegging indoors most of the time. Nevertheless, I did manage to generate some pocket money from freelance work for Kaplan, and also teach some techniques to a collaborator at Duke. The warm weather also allowed for many refreshing trips to the outdoor pool in the afternoons. But after dinner, the back-to-back line-up of Law & Order, Law & Order: SVU, and Law & Order: CI episodes kept us on the couch for much of the evenings. This nightly lull was broken only by the introduction of another addiction: computer games. Elder Scrolls: Oblivion is the 4th chapter of a popular role-playing game series. Whether we were shooting at trolls, stealing food, or collecting ninroot, the game offered a vast world of adventures which kept us entranced into the wee hours of the morning. We ate out several more times on our last weekend there, only to be disappointed again. We did, however, enjoy a visit to the Magic Wings butterfly exhibit at the Museum of Life and Science, where the friendly insects happily sat on our fingers for various photo-ops. Our drive back up was much more adventurous, with a bird flying into the side of our car, a speeding ticket from a Virginia trooper, and a sesame oil spill in the trunk which made for a messy cleanup. However, we did get to enjoy a delicious Chinese banquet-style engagement dinner my parents threw for us in New York. Now back in Boston, I’ve got about a week to run a bunch of errands before I start with Peds in July.

This past weekend, we took a short trip down to Atlanta to visit the Georgia Aquarium, which had just opened last November. The drive took almost 7-hours, though it was hardly monotonous when we got caught in a rainstorm so heavy we had to pull over to the emergency lane. The aquarium itself was quite impressive. Today the largest aquarium in the world, it features a variety of petting ponds, tide pools, and an enormous deep ocean tank housing the only whale sharks in captivity outside Asia. For lunch, we ventured into Sweet Auburn for some oh-so-delicious barbeque ribs and pork neck bones at Thelma’s Kitchen. Mmmmm… how I can still savor the taste of juicy pig on my tongue. =P After the meal, we toured the World of Coca-Cola and the CNN Studio Headquarters, both of which were essentially hour-long advertising campaigns we had to pay for. We spent the late afternoon at the Martin Luther King memorial park and Underground Atlanta, a historic district of old Atlanta which became sealed off from the surface with the construction of viaducts in the 20’s to accommodate automobile traffic. Today, it has evolved into a garishly ghetto shopping mall. We drove back up on Sunday, but stopped along the way for clothes shopping at an outlet mall, some locally-grown peaches and strawberries from a fruit stand, and a new toy from a monstrous flea market. Back now at Research Triangle Park, I hope my second week here will be a bit more productive. Anyway, I hope y’all secular heathens enjoy the day of the devil. I hear there’re gonna party like there’s no tomorrow in Hell.

My past few weeks have been filled with wonderful events that only now am I finally free to write about. Perhaps the first and most important is that Melody and I are engaged! It happened a few weeks ago at the New England Aquarium, one of the first places we visited as a couple. It came as a surprise to her when I popped the big question mainly because she didn’t think I had the time. In fact, I was surprised myself that I was able to put it all together amidst preparing my NYAS talk, writing for Kaplan, TA’ing pharmacology, working on manuscripts, and writing my thesis. I actually found the whole process of diamond shopping quite intriguing, though doing it in NYC meant that I had to sneak down to the city several times to have everything properly done. Fortunately for me, Melody said yes and all the preparation was certainly worthwhile. The second important event is the final completion of my PhD career. After working in near-isolation for several weeks writing my thesis and preparing the seminar, I successfully defended my PhD dissertation last Friday afternoon. It was an exciting weekend with friends and family visiting from out of town. Friday evening concluded with a big feast followed by pool at the old hangout. On Saturday, I celebrated my graduation with my lab over more delicious seafood, and with my parents over a fancy dinner. Finally, we departed Boston Sunday morning to drive down to North Carolina, where Melody will be spending some time working on a clinical research project. In the meantime, I’m just going to kick back at her one-bedroom apartment and enjoy life as a free man … that is, until I return to the wards in July.

After our streak of bad fortune in Madrid, we didn’t know what to expect in Barcelona. Arriving at the hotel, however, we were pleasantly surprised by the ultra-sleek interior of the rooms with Bang & Olufsen telephones, flat-panel LCDs, and motorized shades. And though we didn’t reach the hotel until almost 7pm, we were able to squeeze in a visit to L’Aquarium, deemed the largest aquarium in Europe, and even a late night stroll down Las Ramblas. On Thursday, we took a Modernist walking tour with visits to Gaudi’s many architectural marvels including Casa Batlló, Casa Milà, and La Sagrada Família. Opting for food over the hour-long wait to ascend the cathedral’s tower, we kicked back at a tapas bar for lunch, where we learned that blood sausage is something we’re not very fond of. Afterwards, we strolled through Park Güell, and spent the evening browsing the various street performers and vendors at Las Ramblas again. Dinner that night consisted of a sampling of both rice and noodle paellas at a romantic seaside restaurant. Our final day in the city was much more relaxed, with brief visits to some cathedrals, the Museu de la Xocolata (yes, the chocolate museum), and the Palau de la Música Catalana. The trip back to Boston on Saturday, however, brought back the horrors of our first flight, as another hour-long delay almost cost us the connecting flight again. Fortunately, after a lot of huffing and puffing, we made the half-mile run across the airport in just the nick of time. Looking back, our Spain vacation wasn’t exactly a journey of immense satisfaction or smooth sailing. It did, however, give us a full week of time together, which should hopefully soften the blow of being apart for the next few weeks, as she begins working nights and I embark on the wonderful world of thesis writing.

Our trip to Spain did not begin under the best of circumstances. Even with careful planning, we could not foresee a flight delay which caused us to miss our connection, leaving us stranded in the Paris airport for 7 full hours. Despite losing most of day one, we caught the last portions of the Sunday evening bullfight shortly upon arrival, and even took a stroll around the touristy El Centro and Plaza Mayor before returning to the hotel. Our second day began with equally poor luck. A combination of outdated guide books and recent changes in train services led us to lose another morning to useless commutes, leaving only enough time to visit the Palacio Real that afternoon. Determined to overcome our fate, we ascended the slopes of Toledo early Tuesday morning. Though the main attraction of the small town was closed (of course), we nevertheless scored some souvenirs including a pair of Damascan earrings for Melody and some handmade marzipan for myself. Upon returning to the city for lunch, we were blessed with a most delicious Spanish stew which brought a smile to both our faces. After the meal, we ventured through the halls of the famous Museo del Prado, perusing the many works of Velasquez, De Goya, and El Greco among others, followed by a tour of the adjacent botanical gardens. Our stay in Madrid concluded with a visit to the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia. Unlike the Prado, this hospital-turned-museum focuses instead on 20th-century art, with works by Dali and Picasso, as well as some ridiculously eccentric pieces which can only be described with one word: weird. As we flew out of Madrid on Wednesday, it was hard not to compare the city with Paris, which we visited 2 years ago. Despite the many palaces and museums in both capital cities, we felt that everything in Madrid was just a little less impressive, leaving us only a mediocre opinion of the city overall.

Not to sound paranoid or anything, but I’m convinced by this point that the Devil himself has a hand in the events that have occured to me of late. Just as I was recovering from last week’s stomach flu, the pestilence migrated up to my respiratory tract to deluge me with heavy congestion and a sore throat. To make matters worse, even while my laptop is still sitting in the repair shop, my TV suddenly died last night in the middle of a show. Cut off from my portable and multimedia computers, I figured that at least my trusty desktop workhorse was still in operation. But only hours after I commented on this, in one of those classic “spoke too soon” moments, my internet connection went dead as well. I was cautious leaving my apartment this morning, feeling as if someone is slowly trying to cut me off from the world, at least electronically. Until I can pinpoint the nature of such sinister intent, I’ll have to be extra careful with every step I take.