GamecockDoc

Time for a celebratory margarita

I've survived my first month as an intern. Even bigger, all my patients survived my first month. That totally deserves tequila! So how does the NICU look from this side of the month (with a little bit of a buzz)? Pretty good actually. I realized as the month went on that I was enjoying myself and learning a lot. The schedule was grueling and I've been tired since July 1, but I didn't hate it. I didn't even dislike it. To sum up the month...

Things I will miss about NICU:
- My fave on call attending who lets me make decisions but doesn't mind being woken up at 3am because a kid isn't behaving.
- Going down to the delivery room and not getting in a panic when the baby isn't acting right.
- Going down to the delivery and finding a baby who is perfect, handing him to mom with a "congratulations," and leaving him in the normal nursery.
- Getting called to do a procedure and getting it done right.
- Getting called about a problem and knowing how to handle it.
- Chatting with the awesome nurses during the night.
- Riding in the ambulance to an outlying hospital to pick up a baby.
- Hanging out with the other residents and making the whole thing fun.
- Being able to laugh at the hard nights. "So how was your night?" "It was fine... except all the babies are broken!"
- Being so sleep deprived on a post call morning that everything is hilarious and laughing till I cry over something that isn't even funny.
- Finally sending a baby home after over 2 months in the unit.
- Taking care of the cutest babies, esp Michael who loves to be carried around during evening rounds.

Things I won't miss about NICU:
- Not seeing my bed every fourth night.
- Getting up at 5am so I can be in house by 6am.
- Weekend? What weekend? (Or as one of my fave interns as a med student put it, "Know what today is? Saturday. Know what that means to me? Nothing!")
- Being woken up after an hour of sleep and feeling like throwing up and/or passing out when I sat up to answer the phone.
- Feeling car sick in the ambulance on the way to pick up a baby. (Paramedics are really nice about turning up the AC and handing me a bucket, though.
- Staying up all night changing meds and vent settings every hour trying to avoid sending a kid to Boston for higher level care or surgery.
- Going down to the delivery room and finding a baby who is really sick and having to take him from his parents.
- Being called a liar by a parent who then demands to speak to the attending because I "can't possibly be a real doctor."

Not too bad, though that last one still makes me mad. When the OB record warns of mom's psych history, tread carefully. I think the good stuff outweighs the bad, so I'll have fond memories of this month. And I'm looking forward to doing it again next year (sick, I know).

Knitting content to come.

posted by GamecockDoc @ 8:51 PM