Behind the White Coat

Arrhythmia

Another month comes to an end... It seems that the months seem to be whizzing by these days, which is somewhat concerning as it means I am ever so closer to my deadlines for applying.  If anyone wants to write my personal statement, please do let me know!  I can babble on for hours about bullshit, but when I try to write a page about myself and my goals, it is indefinite writer's block!  One of these days I will somehow have to find some inspiration to put down some serious BS on paper.  I just sat down and wrote 2 lines, but instead I ended up watching 2 episodes of CSI....

Today I started my elective month on the arrhythmia service.  That is basically a cardiology subspecialty that deals with abnormal heart rhythms, and implantation of devices including pacemakers and intracardiac defibrillators (ICD).  It is quite an impressive field, and deals with diseases of the conducting system of the heart, and they do a lot of novel procedures in attempts to map out pathological areas and segements that cause deadly heart rhythms.  The new big thing nowadays is ICD's.  ICD's are among the latest in medical technology, devices that essentially prevent sudden death.  For people who have had cardiac arrest, or who are at risk for deadly arrhythmias such as 'ventricular tachycardia', we can implant an ICD.  So when you see people on TV get shocked with the paddles for cardiac arrest, that is similar to what this device does.  However this is implanted in the chest wall with leads in the heart, detecting these arrhythmias, and delivering a shock as needed.  It essentially brings people back from the dead, quite an amazing device!  The other question is, should everyone who qualifies get such a device? Even those old, withering and dying of some deadly disease?  Likely not, such persons would probably welcome such a sudden demise.  But that is a discussion for another day....

I also found out that they moved my "sick call" from the last 2 weeks of the month to the first 2 weeks.  That basically means I have to have my pager with me at all times, in case somebody calls in sick, which means I would have to go in and cover for them... Usually you dont get called, but it kinda sucks, as you never know when you can get paged, which would kill any plans for the night or day that you may have made... The person who was supposed to be on sick call actually got legitly sick.  Go figure.  I just hope I don't end up going out late tonight, sleep at 4am, and then get paged at 6:30am to come in.  That would seriously be no fun.... So I can only keep my fingers crossed!

Thievery Back in NYC

That's right, my boys the Thievery Corporation returned for a performance in NYC this past week on Sun and Monday.  It was held at Webster Hall (a cheesy night club on wknds, but holds respectable concerts on weekdays).  If you recall I posted a while back about their performance last year at Spirit, which was the first time I saw them, and it was off the hook!  This time I went to the Monday performance, and once again they did not dissapoint. 

The opening act was by Frederico Aubele, a spanish (I think) band, that play thievery-esque mellowed out jazzy lounge tunes.  A few of their songs have been used on Thievery mix cd's before.  They were not bad.  Now Thievery's music, if you have never heard them, is kind of a fusion genre, incorporating electronica and percussion, w/ influences from all types of sounds including dancehall, jazz, various world music including indian and south american, to create a loungie eclectic sound.  It is basically two guys who produce the music and electronica portion, and bring in various band members for the percussion, guitars, electronic citars, and a variety of vocals.  Their lives shows are great, with all the musicians, and vairous vocalists to sing, which is in everything from english to portuguese to indian, and of course the rastas who always bring down the house.  Myself and my boys Puneet and Manoj, the latter who has complained of his absence from my blog, but unfortunately he has not provided me with anything interesting of late, so I await some excitin stories  (that I am allowed to publish).  The crowd was great, very mixed, and into the music, and it was a full house, which was brought down by the show.  Some of the vocalists were a little different than the last show they had, and the indian singer (a cute girl) wasn't there this time, so we missed out on a few songs.  Most of the vocalists were there again, with maybe one or two changes.  So my only criticism would be that the last time, the vocals were slightly better  Nonetheless, the show was awesome.  Unfortunatley due to a broken camera, I had only my camera phone for the subpar pics.

Today when I was driving home from work, I was blaring Theivery's "Warning Shots" in my car (probably the best song on the Cosmic Game album), I was at a light, and my windows down, and I saw this rasta-like dude walk up to my window smiling, scream out, "Theivery Corporation baby!"  We exchanged a Bronx handshake, had a laugh, I mentionted the show, and he was on his way.  Good times, good music!

 

Ramadan Mubarak

So the time of the muslim calendar year has come again, where we observe the holy month when God first revealed the verses of the Quran to Prophet Muhammad, and that is Ramadan.  Ramadan Mubarak to you all!  Most of you probably know, it is the month that we muslims spend fasting.  Every day from sunrise to sunset, we are to refrain from any food, drink, or sex.  Even cigarettes or water is even forbidden!  These days the hours are something like 5:30am till about 6:45pm.  So we usually awake early to eat a pre-dawn breakfast, or "sehri", and then in the evening, break the fast with "iftar".  Now granted I'm not super religious, I like to think of myself as a "progressive" muslim, but I will usually try to observe at least some of the fasts.  Usually I'm so busy or on such a busy rotation, it is virtually impossible for me to do it every da.  This year I am actually on a pretty laid back rotation (unlike last year on the medical wards), so I am really going to try to fast everyday if possible.  I've done two already (and that is even without waking up for sehri because my alarm sucks, so I had an extra 4 hours or so of hunger).  I, and a bunch of my friends actually, are also refraining from consuming any alcohol for the month.  I didn't do that last year, but I think it will be good.  It will probably be good since I'll save a whole lotta money by doing so!  I guess it is somewhat sad that I expect it to be such a huge deal, but alas, such is the life in new york.  And like I said, I am hardly the conservative muslim to begin with.   I think even for those who don't seem themselves as very religious, I think it is a good soul cleansing and spiritual experience, that one can at least do for their own selves.

So anyway... To everyone out there who is going to fast, good luck!  Hopefully we'll have some nice iftar parties to eat and socialize during the month..

On another note, Thievery Corporation is coming to NYC tonight and tomorrow... We go tickets for tomorrow, so I'm quite excited to see them perform again!

Death to all Meter Maids

You know, I've gone the entire year with my car in the city, not paying for a garage, and just street parking.  I have had no significant problems, and maybe gotten like 2 tickets all year.  This last month I've gotten seriously fucked.  First it was the asshole who gave me the two tickets on consecutive days for parking 8 feet from a hydrant.. Give me a break, who the hell actually is going to measure? And is it that big of a deal??  Stupid uneducated piece of shit wannabe rent a cop has nothing better to do than measure distances from the hydrant to the bumper.... Anyhows, I sucked it up.. So today I leave work early, we got out around 2pm... Of course parking is murder midday, but I tried anyway.. So instead, I decide I am goin to work at starbucks and leave the car at a meter.  So I do, and I had lots of quarters.  So I park it, fill it up, and go do my work.. I miss my cue and get to the car literally 1 minute after it expired, and I see the meter maid 2 cars away.  The son of a goat already gave me a ticket for 65$.  I wanted to slap him.  Some fobbie indian dude with nothing better to do... He probably waited till the 1minute turned zero.. Give me a break man, that is just sad.  So i refill it, go back, and again, I missed the damn time by 2 minute this time... AND AGAIN A TICKET!!  What the hell do these guys do? Stalk one city block for the whole day?? Thats 2 tickets for 65$ in 2 hours... AND I paid the goddamn meter.. I should have paid the goddamn 15$ to park it in the stupid ass garage, and now I have to pay the price...  If I see that piece of shit on my block, I swear I am goin to slap him.....

I'm retarded

So.... The last time I posted I referred to my ER shift that never ocurred.  Well turns out the joke's on me, because I was actually scheduled this past Sunday, and I simply showed up on the wrong day.  Great!  I am seriously retarded. After bragging, I learned the truth a few days later.  Oh well. On the bright side, I still managed to utilize the whole day, saved money by staying in on Sat, and I got a free breakfast....

So the time for fellowship applcations continues to close in, and I continue to be stressed out every day!  December 1st is when they begin sending them out, so I'm looking at first week of December as my goal.  I gotta request my letters, do my personal statement and app, and attempt to complete as much of my simmering research projects that I can.  Feels like I went through this for residency just yesterday, and now all over again!  Cardiology is super competitive, so gotta get my shit together!

Sunday ER Shift?

Sunday's ER shift was fantastic.  Probably because I spent it at home!  So I show up early in the morning for my 7am to 7pm ER shift.  Medicine residents have to work shifts down there during various rotations, we actually do quite a bit of time down there.  Anyhows, nobody likes to do a 12 hour shift on a Sunday, at least I sure don't.  So I show up in the morning, tired and unhappy, and I go to the list on the wall.  After a few seconds of glancing, I realize my name 'aint on the list!  Somebody clearly made an error, and I had no shift scheduled.  Awesome.  It felt like the happiest day I've had in months!  Sure it sucked I had to wake up, but I had the whole day ahead of me!  It also meant I didn't have to miss the football games.  So I made full use of my day: went to the gym, did all my work for the weekend, cleaned my place, enjoyed the weather, and of course watched football and drank lotsa beer.  Definitely a great ER shift if you ask me.

Of course we have a fantasy team going among co-workers... So far looks like I may win this week, though it depends on the Monday night games.. I sure hope I win, because I'm playing the only girl in our league this week!!

Today is also the 9/11 5th year anniversary.  Hard to believe it's been that long, but I remember it like it was only a year ago.  The "freedom lights" are on tonight from the WTC site, I can even see them shining into the clouds all the way from the upper east side.  Too bad they can't keep them on longer than one night, it is quite a site to see.

Saturday in the Park

Today was a beautiful Saturday.  I feel we are approaching the point where such nice weekends will soon dissapear and give way to the brisk autumn air.  I managed to wake up by 11am despite a long night out (of course topped off by a 4:30am chicken and rice run), and make my way out of the house.  After having brunch with my friend at Annie's in the upper east (def one of the better brunch places in the area--the pancakes are damn good), we head towards central park.  Everyone was out and about.  Sheep's meadow was busy with people chilling, playing ball, capueta, even a badminton net was set up, and one guy had a gigantic 9 foot kite of a butterfly (it was kinda frightening), and we even saw two irish guys headin to the field to do some hurling. We just chilled on the grass on our sheet (which was a little too floral, and looked pretty gay, but I think nobody noticed).  I got maybe 2 hrs of work done while my friend passed out.  I got myself a heineken from one of the "vendors" walking around, which are basically skethcy homeless lookin dudes walkin around with black bags and carts muttering "beer, heinken, corona", which they sell for $5 to make some cash.  Works out well, esp if they cold, just hide it from the cops!

Anyway, all in all a good day.  That is until I got home and realized I didn't have my keys.  Now I vaguely recall takin them out of my pocket and putting them on the sheet, but wouldnt I have heard them fall when I picked up the sheet?  They weren't in my bag or my pockets, or even at home.  Lucky for me my friend had a spare, but I lost my car keys and my mailbox key.  Damnit.  I suppose goin back for them is futile at this point....  Just gotta cut my losses and be glad I got into my apt.

Tomorrow is another 12 hour ER shift from 7 to 7.... So much for opening Sunday for football season.  Of all the freakin days!!  At least I'll be back for the Manning Bowl on Sunday night!

That is a good questoin about my lawsuit, what is the status?  I haven't even checked up in a few months, I better find out the status of that... Apparently these things can take forever....  As for cardiology, I have started thinkin bout applying, but not much else.  I requested some letters, and requested my application token.  Now I gotta try and write a personal statement.. Dindt I just do this shit barely a year or two ago? for residency?  God I hate it.  This time will deifnitely be worse....

Labor Day

Labor day weekend in NYC.  I spent my days off in the pouring rainy remenants of hurricaine Ernesto, though I suppose I was lucky enough not to lose power unlike some parts of Westhcester and NJ.  Of course the one day I had to work an ER shift (Sunday), it was beautiful and sunny..  What a bitch.  No real exciting stories or outings I gota say.  The rain put a damper on our motivation.  Plus I wasn't one of the lucky ones who were away for the whole weekend.  Today is actually quite a nice day though, I should be out and about enjoying a Monday holiday, but instead Im struggling to finish up some "homework" for this seminar I am taking, and finish writing this research paper.  What a bummer.  At least there is a CSI marathon on Spike, though it is not doing wonders for my productivity...

The sad news of the day of course, is the death of Steve Irwin, also known as the Crocodile Hunter.  Our enthusiastic and joyful Aussie friend was done in during filming an underwater documentary, by a sting ray whose barb piereced his chest into his heart... Can you imagine? What a way to go.  I didnt even watch his show, but I suppose everyone knew who he was.  Poor guy.  He was a high risk taker, but guess nobody saw this one coming...

I had one of my two ER shifts of the month yesterday.  I think its the first real day in the hospital setting I've had in months... I am never a fan of a 12 hour ER shift, at least most of the time, though it was kind of a nice change, seeing sick people again.  Is that weird? I suppose it is what I am trained to do.  Well it was a relatively easy day, and no real exciting stories I gotta say.  I did have one guy who came in who had bypass surgery on his leg 3 weeks earlier.  He saw his vascular surgeon one week ago to get his staples removed.  Apparently there were some staples covered by a dressing that were missed, and left in there.  He came in with pain, redness and oozing from the wound, likely infected from the left in staples.. Ouch!  He ended up getting admitted for antibiotics and observation.  Well, doctor mistakes happen!  Guess someone was in a rush and missed it, though I suppose it was a relatively minor "oversight."  I've seen worse....