pgy 2, it's good to see you.

PGY-2. That's what I am now. No more butt pus, no more hemmorhoids, no more smelly colon operations, no more hernias, gallbladders, SBO's, or other nonspecific belly pain. All done. One day I was an intern, expected to know next to nothing, and the next day I was a second-year ortho resident expected to be able to answer questions about all kinds of stuff I've never seen before. The learning curve is already tremendous, and it has only been 2 weeks.

I am having a good time of it though. It is long hours, bot lots of learning and discovery. Lots of reading and studying and asking and wondering and experiencing... and operating. Finally!

I'm also thinking about Ironman. I feel depressed that residency is basically prohibiting me from doing another Ironman. But then I thought of something. I thought I might be able to arrange my schedule to put the lightest rotations together for 3rd and 4th year (there aren't any light rotations 2nd year) and maybe I could do an Ironman. I'll need my coach of course, because there are bound to be missed workouts and stuff needing to be moved around. But I think I want to go for it. I think a major goal outside of work would be good for me. So the plan is for IMFL 2011. We shall see how that takes shape.

bye, bye, gallbladder, don't let the fascia hit ya on the way out

Haven't written on here in a while... keep meaning to but then I'm too tired/hungry/busy/delirious to do it. Well, now I have a week off of work since getting my gallbladder out, so I have a little extra time to jot down some thoughts.
I am very anxious for intern year to be over. I feel like I have become proficient at writing notes, doing admission orders, answering pages about stupid stuff at 2am, and other stuff that does not seem to require a medical degree, but merely some secretarial skills. On every evaluation about our rotations they give us the question, "Is there an equal balance between education and service?" Hell no. It's more like the intern does the service and the senior gets the education. You get so caught up in the day to day crap that you don't realize you haven't learned a damn thing, you haven't become a better doctor, you have merely shown up for another day, lived through another tortuous day, and made less than the janitor to show for it. Unfortunately second year will only be marginally better, but if I can make it to third year, everything will be ok!

Due to my stupid gallbladder I have not participated in much socially either. It ends up hurting and then I have no ability to talk to people and drink an adult beverage. Hopefully that will change soon as I recover from its removal. Which by the way is actually way more painful than I ever expected! I can only lay flat on my back or sit straight up, but the transition between the two sucks. Severe pain if I lie on either side. Last night I was plagued with major nausea. Didn't puke but sure thought I might have! So I couldn't take pain med wither due to the nausea, so I woke up this am extra sore. It doesn't seem I am any better than day 1 so I hope something changes before I have to go back to work!

More later- the vicodin is kickin in and I can't concentrate!

merry christmas

What a strange holiday season for me this year. It's the first one being totally away from any family, which is pretty depressing, because that is what the holidays are supposed to be about. I have been working so much up to Christmas that I didn't really notice until the 24th that it is very lonely spending the holidays alone. I actually asked one of my colleagues if he wanted me to work for him on Christmas. Normally I would never do that but when you are totally by yourself, you are not missing anything by being at work. He declined, so here I am talking to my dog on Christmas morning. Thankfully a friend invited me over for Christmas dinner, so I won't spend the whole day alone but it will be with someone else's family. I guess I should be thankful for her though, because she is the only person who offered to have me over.

Enough of moping! I'm getting a new tri-bike soon! 2008 cervelo p2c dura-ace! I decided to name her Brit, after Chrissie Wellington (she's British and won Kona on this very same bike) and of course my favorite pop tart, Miss Spears ;) The bike should be here any day now, it had to come from the cervelo warehouse in canada, so had to go thru customs and everything. It was the only 48cm frame left in North America. And it's all mine. Look out people, I'm going to kick more butts in 09 than I did in 08. For real.

ahh... ortho

Back on ortho this month. Even though there are things I dislike (long hours, millions of patients on the service, inefficient hospital, eternal fear of doing something wrong), I love it. Today I got to scrub in to surgery for the first time since August and got to do about 60% or more of an ankle fracture. Woo hoo! Very cool, I love the power tools. I felt a little disorganized today especially since I had 11 new patients today to learn. It'll be better tomorrow.

step 3: check!

I took the USMLE Step 3 exam yesterday and today. It was mildly painful, and I sincerely hope I passed so I don't have to endure it again, or pay for it again. I don't even know exactly what it means if I pass it. Am I a licensed physician? Eligible to get a license? All I know is I have to take it, and I have officially checked that off the list. I hope someone will tell me WTF it means.

I also did Ironstar... and it was a bittersweet experience. Set a swim PR, got a flat on the bike, cramped up HORRIBLY the entire run, then got blisters on both feet at mile 3, then got 3rd in my AG. An experience to say the least. I would consider doing the race again, it was nice other than my little mishaps that made me question my sanity.

I signed up for a Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving. I should probably run at some point before this race.

My month on Anesthesia is winding down, and my experience has been I feel half like a med student and half like a nurse. I'm not switching no matter how much the Anesthesia residents tell me I should. I am anxious to get back to Ortho in December. I will have a fellow intern with me so I think the experience will be better this time, and I know I will continue to learn more and more! I hope I didn't forget everything I learned in August, but I think I may have.

I am going to buy a tri-bike. I will probably get a cervelo P2C or a Felt B12. I don't know if I will get it before the new year or not, but it will be very excititng when it finally happens. I need to test ride though. I need to dedicate my road bike to roadbike racing and the tri bike to Tri's and time trialing. You really can't have the best of both worlds in terms of position on a road bike with aerobars. I feel I have proven I am invested in both sports and I have the potential to do well (mostly limited by available training time) so I deserve to have the proper bike for each.

Ok that's it.

winding down

OK, I did it, I registered! I have mixed feelings about it, of course, but oh well. This is the last tri for 2008. Then comes "winter" which as I see it in Houston will mean that I won't always be wearing my sleeveless jersey. There are a lot of running races in the winter here as in Indiana so I will definitely partake in those, as well as keeping up with the bike stuff so I can race my bike next year!
I have my eye on a Turkey Trot (5 miles) on Thanksgiving day. Which gets me thinking... what else will I be doing on Thanksgiving day? No family here. I suppose I will invite myself to someone else's house for turkey. We'll worry about that later.

what to do...

Should I register for Ironstar or not? Should I punish myself for 6+ hours or not? I can't decide! I told myself I would decide by today... based on how today's bike ride went. Well, I rode 62 miles in 2:58 with the Pearland Race Team for an average of almost 21mph. However, this is DRAFTING pretty much the entire time except for the last 12 miles where I said F-them and rode on my own cuz I was exhausted and the Cardiovascular system wasn't having it anymore. I don't know... I looked at my training logs from July 2006, right before my last 1/2 Ironman, and it looks like I am training harder right now than I did then, but I am also about 8 pounds heavier than I was then. And no, it is not all muscle. Trust me! So that will increase the pain factor on race day. I will decide by the end of the day. I'm leaning toward doing it.... however it will cost 175 bucks. Hmmm.