A Week in the Life

Monday: Finish orthopedic surgery/sports medicine. AM at the army base, PM in sports med clinic. Done by 6 PM. Get sign-out on the patients I'm picking up in the hospital tomorrow for new rotation. Some are really sick kiddos. Finished with sign-out/chit-chat at 8 PM. Realize I have to go to bed in 30 minutes to get 8 hours sleep. All in all, just about a 10 hour day (not including sign-out).

Tuesday: First day on new rotation. In-patient pediatrics. Get there at 6 to start rounding. Round until 7, then it's morning report where I hear about new kids that arrived overnight. Then round until 9:30. Finished seeing my 7 spanking new (to me) patients just in time. Then round again with the whole team until 12:30. Then do floor work until 5 PM (discharge about 5 patients). Sign out to the person on call and get out before 6. 11-ish hour day (doing really well so far!)

Wednesday: At work by 6ish. Similar deal. Finish rounding around 12:30. Have required conference until 1:30, back to work to finish floor work. On call, take sign-out for other services. Admit only two patients. Am signing out by around 9 PM (night float is overnight Su-Thu for those confused about overnight vs. non-overnight calls). Home just before 10. Finish preparing a presentation I have to do the next day. Bed by midnight. 15 hour work day (not including presentation stuffs).

Thursday: At work at 7 AM. Round until 1 PM. Floor work until 2-something. Get to go to about an hour and a half of didactics (didactics from 12:45-5 on Thursdays). Give my presentation at 3:50. Run back to hospital for sign out. Am exhausted and leaving between 5 and 6 PM. Go for a walk at point defiance to enjoy rhododendron garden (see pics). Have DQ for dinner. Somehow end up not going to bed until 9:30-10 PM. Excited to sleep. Am sick and decide not to take Nyquil for some reason. 11-hour work day.

Paged at 12 AM.

Friday: Up at 12 AM due to page about a patient in labor. Can't go back to sleep because I'm coughing so much. Paged again at 2 AM. Go into hospital. Glad I didn't take Nyquil. Manage her labor until 6 AM when she actually starts pushing. No sleep in interim. Deliver baby around 7 AM. Sew up her lacerations for a half hour. Paperwork and examine baby for next half hour. Frantically round before 9:30. Round with attending until 12. More frantic floor work until 1:00. Try to nap from 1-1:15 but get paged three times. Cry a little out of frustration that I CAN'T SLEEP! Then stuff face with lunch and go to clinic from 1:30-5 (manage to brush my teeth too). Of all the days, I have my a one-on-one with an attending observing me to critique my clinical skills. On two hours sleep no less. Thankfully it randomly is the attending that was my back-up for the delivery so he gets where I'm coming from and is wicked tired himself. We are punchy, loopy and totally out of it but manage to rock through clinic. Leave around 5:30 after convincing people I am okay to drive home. Walk out of door holding car keys in hand yet immediately forget I drove to work and walk home. Get to my apartment and wonder why I have my car keys out. Figure it out and shrug. Let myself in, eat, make a couple calls, watch a little TV, go to bed at 8 PM. About an 18-hour work day.

Saturday: OFF! Wake at 9 AM - a good 13 hours after crashing. Grocery shop, laundry, go get my car. Am groggy most the day and forget about both a friend's daughter's birthday party and an R1 outing. But am grateful to catch up on sleep. Go to bed around 8:30 with some cough syrup bedside.

Sunday: On call. A measly 14 hours of work. But insane nonetheless. The night was full moon worthy. But I was relatively well rested (thanks to my cough syrup with codeine).

This week was just about 80 hours. Not too bad considering the crazy delivery that mucked everything up.

The good news is that all the work I've been doing has been pretty nice. I have enjoyed the week overall. I hope that feeling sticks! It probably also helps that it's been sunny. And check out the size of that uprooted tree! HUGE, eh?