Doctor Doodles: Pediatrics

I Swear This Isn't Photoshop-ed!

This is from Uganda in 2005, when Robin (2nd from the left) and I (I don't need to tell you where I am...)  tried our hands at playing drums with these guys.  Robin reminded me the other day how much she loved this picture, and when I went back to look at it again- I couldn't resist sharing it.  Don't I look photoshop-ed?!

To Do List

I thought I'd offer my readers a unique glimpse into my exciting life by sharing my current to do list, at least as it appears on my Palm Pilot.  These are in order of how long the item has been on my to do list (longest at the top).

• Set up a meeting with chief of surgery-  on the to do list for about a month, mostly because the chief of surgery is an uber-famous, hot shot, awesome surgeon who intimidates me.  So I've put off my meeting with him to discuss my surgical career path as long as possible, to avoid the worst case scenario in my mind of literally being laughed out of his office.  I'm totally neurotic- he's a very nice man, I'm just crazy.
• Get a new driver's license- on the list for a few weeks.  My Florida (that's right, FLORIDA) driver's license expires on my 25th birthday, so I've got to get a Rhode Island one before then.  I love that Florida license, because it represents the randomess of how many places I've lived.  Just when you think you know me- "Ok, so you live in Rhode Island, went to college in Chicago, but your parents live in Oklahoma and you went to high school in Kansas, but you sometimes spend the holidays in South Carolina...  ok, I think I've got it-"  then I can BLOW YOUR MIND by letting you catch a glimpse of my FLORIDA driver's license. When my last license expired, back in 2005, my parents were briefly living in Florida, so that's where I got it renewed.  I will be sad to see my FL driver's license go, but I feel like Rhode Island might be equally random in the grand scheme of things.
• Fill out health insurance forms-  In addition to losing my favorite driver's license, I get kicked off the parent's health insurance on my 25th birthday also (so far, it's not looking like a great birthday).  Buying my own insurance makes me feel too grown up, thus I will procrastinate it a little longer.  And don't even get me started on how my sister had a baby when she was 25; or how my mom already had two babies when she was 25.  I get the heebie-jeebies just thinking about it.
• Get new glasses- Through some great fluke in the healthcare universe, I happen to have AWESOME vision insurance until April 1.  I've got my perscription for new glasses, and my insurance will cover most of the cost, it's just a matter of picking them out.  I'm thinking I want a pair with lots of bling, diamond rims, and maybe a gold-plated nose piece. Other suggestions?
• Finish financial aid packet- I equate financial aid to a ride at an amusement park that makes you puke.  You're lured into filling out all this paperwork with promises of scholarships and financial assistance, then you're spun around a million times until you can't tell your interest rate from your telephone number, but you're gonna end up just feel nauseous at how much you have to borrow.  Luckily, this is the last year EVER that I have to borrow money.  That's right.  Next year, at the age of 26, will be the first time that I will hold a full time paying job. I will officially stop being a financial drain on society. You're welcome.
• Buy power steering fluid- My wheels squeek every time I turn the steering wheel.  The noise definitely turns some heads when I'm rollin' down the street- but I just pretend that everyone is checking out my sweet ride. Cars from 1998 are so hot right now.

Best Moment Ever

I spent this morning with a pediatrician who attends births when there might be complications- that way we can quickly take care of the baby if the baby needs anything.  Best moment of my pediatric rotation, possibly of all of medical school, happened this morning in one of those births.  It was a birth where the parents had chosen not to know the sex of the baby.  We held up the baby for the mom and dad to see for the first time, and the dad cried- "It's a boy!" and then started crying tears of joy.  He just couldn't control himself, and kept apologizing for crying and blubbering; but he was so geniuly happy that he was lighting up the whole room.  It was one of the sweetest, most genuine emotional displays I have ever seen.

Our strongest emotions tend to be kept to ourselves, whether its passion, anger, or sadness.  The stronger an emotion is, I think the more likely we are to try to keep it to ourselves lest we look vulnerable.  But this dad showed more emotion to us, a room full of strangers, than I've shown anyone. Ever.  His reaction was so geniune, unbridled and unconcerned with 'what others might think';  it was both refreshing and inspiring.  Also, I loved it because I'm rarely around truly happy people.  It's just the nature of being in a hopsital or doctor's office- people aren't happy when they are sick and scared. 

Quite frankly, he made my day.

The Nephew Equation

There's gotta be some mathematical formula which dictates how often you should visit your nieces/nephews based on (1) how far away you live from them (2) their age and (3) the amount of disposable income/time you have available to visit them.  Whatever the equation is- I definitly hit the point last weekend where I HAD to see my nephew.  He's 10 months old, it's an 8 hour drive, and I have no free money or time... but still the Nephew Equation made it clear that I had to see that kid.

SO WORTH IT!!!  HE IS SOOOOOO CUTE!!!  Unfortunatly, my digital camera battery was dead, so I couldn't take any pictures of him.  So I will proceed to paint you a mental picture to help you understand how cute he is- imagine the cutest 10 month old in the world, now add a cute bunny to your mental picture, now add some really cute kittens, and then multiply all that cuteness times a million.  That's about how cute his left toe is.  If you don't believe me- looks at my sister's blog.  CUTE.

Anyway, on my 16+ hours of driving to DC and back last weekend, I traveled through a lot of states, and I paid a lot of tolls.  I've come up with some suggestions for what those states should do with my tolls-

Maryland, I paid you $7 each way.  Please use that money to offer a driving class to all of your residents entitled "Left Lane=Fast, Right Lane= Slow".    They all seem to have gotten confused on this point, driving 55mph in the left lane, and they could all use a refresher course.

Delaware, I paid you $5 each way- but I was only in your state for 5 minutes.  Please use my money to buy some land from surrounding states and make yourself larger.  This is coming from someone who lives in Rhode Island-  your state is embarrissingly small.   Alternatively, you could use my money to pave your roads in gold.  Gold-paved roads would acutally be worth paying $1/minute to drive on.  Your current roads were definitly not worth $1/minute.

New Jersey, I paid you $9 each way.  And you deserved it!! Three lanes highways, 80+mph the whole way!  New Jersey turnpike, I love you.  Please use my money to buy yourself an ice cream cone.

Flashback: Funny Pictures From When I Had Time To Travel

As I flip through my photos from my travels- I realize that I have fondness for taking pictures of things that I find unique/funny/odd.  Here are a few of my favorites.  I also noticed, as I went through those pictures, that there are A LOT of photos from traveling where I look RIDICULOUS; so here are a few of those too.  Traveling (backpacking, particularly) does not make me photogenic.

Flashback: DC for No Reason

Because medical school isn't too exciting, I'm going to start have some "Flashback" posts, where I re-live a more exciting time in my life.

It's 2006, I'm a student at IIT, and a proud member of Alpha Sigma Alpha sorority.  I'm sitting at my desk, probably not studying, when I heard a familiar "ding!" which alerts me to a time-limited fare sale on Southwest airlines.  Curious, I open the Southwest website and I see the best airfare of all time: $25 from Chicago to Washington DC.  I glance at the small print, and realize that the fare is only good for the next 45 minutes!  I can't pass up this deal!  But I don't want to go to DC alone!!  What's a girl to do?!

I spent the next 45 minutes running around my sorority house like a crazed woman, pitching the idea  to anyone who would listen of a flying to DC on Saturday morning and back on Saturday night for $50 roundtrip and spending a day at the Smithsonian.  I got 3 friends to commit, and a few weeks later we were off for one of the silliest trips I've ever taken.

We had to wake up at like 4am to catch our flight, but we made it to DC by about 8am.  So with the help of a lot of coffee, we started our siteseeing.  It was a BEAUTIFUL day, and we walked non-stop for about 12 hours, seeing all the museums and momuments.  And my wonderful cousin, Sarah, came to see us downtown, too! We caught our flight home about 9pm, and I was cuddled up in bed by midnight.  Pretty cool to have woken up and gone to sleep in my own bed; but spent the day in DC.

My prior life was so much fun :-)