well, my first 12 weeks of rotations are over and i have ended up back in the same room on the 2nd floor of school in 'my' study room. Back to the usual study-a-thon for my two shelf exams.
For each specialty rotation we have a nationally standardized exam. Each exam is 100 questions in 2 hours and the formatting is the same as our board exams. So i will be taking my OB/GYN and Peds shelf exams this coming Wednesday and being the good student I am, I am spending Saturday night in a little room that has no windows with my buddy Sarah studying.
The good part is that once Wednesday hits, I wont have another exam for 12 weeks :)
oh yeah, and my next rotation is VACATION. so starting Wednesday I am freeeeeeeeeeeee
Saturday, September 10, 2011
Friday, September 9, 2011
The last week of peds was much more exciting than the previous ones. The fun parts included the intern we worked with, our attending, and the ridiculous moms we dealt with. All week we rounded with the Dr. C, the doctor that I originally hated/feared from the outpatient clinic. She pretty much shows no emotion except for a random joke every once in a while. But even so, she is easy to work with because she goes fast and gets done early.
The last week of newborn nursery we had a lot of mom’s who used drugs in the past or during pregnancy, a ton of teen moms and some other pts who were in jail at the time of giving birth. Each one of these patients is not allowed to leave the hospital until a social worker clears them for discharge.
The most extraordinary case of the week was a 32yo G24P6 female. Let me break that down...this 32 year old woman had been pregnant 24 times [Gravida 24] but only given birth 6 times [Paridy 6]. Go ahead and let that sink in for a minute....
I was the one to see the baby and present the case to the attending and i was looking forward to subtly add that into the history and seeing what her reaction was... When we got to my patient during rounds it went something like this, “ In room X we have Mrs X who gave birth to a full term AGA male last night via NSVD. Mom admits to alcohol use and 1 pack every 4 days of tobacco use during pregnancy. Mom is G24P6 and her labs were all negative except for GBS which was positive and 3 doses of antibiotics were given during labor.” Then I stopped after this sentence and looked up and Dr. C just looked at me with a puzzled face. “G what?” We all sneakered and after I repeated myself we went on to have a conversation about if this was really possible or not. We all agreed it probably was if she got pregnant twice a year since the age of 15 or so....that or she just lost count because really, who keeps track of their pregnancies, abortions, and miscarriages...
This week we had a lot of sick kids in the nursery, not sick enough to be in the NICU but enough to make rounds last a lot longer than usual. At a certain point during rounds this week Dr. C said “ok, any healthy normal babies here right now? i guess they dont make that model anymore, most have discontinued it.”
On Tuesday we had a set of twins born via C Section, a boy and a girl, and then Wednesday we had another set of twins. Ron got to go into the delivery on Tuesday and then on Wednesday we were on rounds and the intern’s pager went off [its actually a little speaker that they use in the OR to inform everyone that needs to be there. A nurse is heard over a little speaker the pediatric intern has on their scrubs saying “Pediatric and OB teams please come to OR number X for a twin delivery..[etc]” its pretty cool. I heard the speaker go off and i immediately got excited and asked if i could go into the C section...only problem was that my patients were next and i had to present them to the attending. i was so freakin bummed when the intern said, “no you should probably stay here and present your patients and then if your done you can come after.” I was so antsy and finally after rushing through my patients Dr. C said “go, go to your C section,” i couldnt tell if she was mad or really didnt care [again, she shows no emotion] so at first i was very hesitant but then Torey [another medical student] encouraged me to go so I did and i am very glad i did. I ran down the hall to get to the OB department and after putting on my hair net and surgical mask i walked into the OR to find at least 14 people in there-- 3 on the anesthesia team, 3 on the OB team operating, and the rest were nurses, respiratory therapists and the pediatric intern, NICU attending, and some others. The babies had just been born before i came so i didnt get to see them come out but I did get to see them get worked on. Both were very small and needed help breathing for the first few minutes of life. Right after birth they were wrapped up in what looked like a plastic bag to keep them warm and after they were stabilized and swaddled up, the intern took one baby at a time to go visit mom for a second and then there were both taken to the NICU in their baby warmers. I found out in the NICU that the mom was actually carrying triplets but one of them had died in utero about 1 month prior and the mom had been in the hospital for the month before this delivery. The fetal demise was born third and right after birth was taken out of the OR where it would go to the morgue to get an autopsy. The other two babies ended up being fine and later did i find out the mother had a history of meth use....
Two other interesting cases happened at the end of the week. One was a baby that was born and about an hour after delivery we were doing the newborn exam on her and she seemed to be fine. Her physical exam and vitals were unremarkable but yet she was totally unconsolable in the nursery. She just wouldnt stop crying. I remember this baby because I was studying in the nursery and mom called me asking me how my day was going and she could hear the baby in the background crying and said, “something is wrong, babies dont cry unless there is something wrong.” I laughed at this saying she was just being fussy and that she was fine. Then when I came in the next day we learned from the overnight intern that the baby was with her parents but still was being fussy and wouldnt stop crying. I thought it was pretty ironic that mom was right but it ended up that the baby was fine. We did a work up for a couple different problems that we thought she might have but everything ended up being fine. So thats good even though we never figured out why she cried so much....hope she lets her parents sleep at home.
Lastly, I will end pediatrics with this pearl of a story. I dont know too much about the mom and baby because she wasnt my patient but i heard about her during rounds from the staff. Ron had a newborn born to a mom who was a little...off. He said he would ask her questions and she would just look around the room and talk about random things. He said he got an odd vibe from her and let the intern and attending know during rounds. Also, this mom was refusing for her baby to get a neonatal blood screen [a screen every baby gets in the first days of life to check for genetic diseases that can be fatal if not caught early...and if they do have one they can be harmless if given the proper medications/diets]. While talking about this patient, the charge nurse came up to use and said she needed to speak with us about her. She wanted to let us know that the mom was saving the babies diapers and expressed that she was doing so so that later she could smear the poop on her body because it is good luck. All of our jaws dropped and the only words out of the attendings mouth were “Psych consult.” It was hysterical. Social services had to get involved with this case also and I actually dont know what ended up happening with this mom because she was still in the hospital when i left on Friday.
So thats it, peds is done and I could not have been more wrong about my interest in it. I am glad i found out early on in my 3rd year rather than later on. I now know that I need something fast paced in my daily life and even though this will likely be more stressful and tiring, I have come to realize that even though i hate stress and being tired, its something that keeps me going. I am a fast paced and outgoing person and I need to be challenged and most importantly, I need to know that my work is important and making a difference. When i was on OB I saw a difference right there and then. Wether it was a delivery, a surgery, or just a clinic visit. I saw the work I was doing was making a difference. In pediatrics you dont see the ‘fruit of your labor’ sort of speak. It may sound shallow but i need to be reminded of the importance of my job since i have sacrificed so much to get to this point. Thus right now I am still considering going into OB/GYN and I am also thinking about going into Emergency Medicine. Who knows, maybe the years of watching ER has subconsciously persuaded me into the field.
The past week we had our didactic week that happens after every 12 week of rotations. We came back to campus to do our OSCE’s, take or shelf exams [which sucked] and then have ‘plenary’ session for the upcoming specialties we were rotating on. Basically, it was a stressful Mon-Wed and then 2 days of relaxing. Next up, I have 4 weeks of a well deserved vacation. I have not taken time off since last summer and I have never needed a mind break more. Going straight from second year to board studying to 12 weeks of a demanding rotation schedule, I am going to enjoy and relax as much as i can for the next 4 weeks. Then its off to Portland, Oregon for my elective. I will be working in an outpatient family practice clinic and living with a good friend of mine who is also doing a rotation up there.
The last week of newborn nursery we had a lot of mom’s who used drugs in the past or during pregnancy, a ton of teen moms and some other pts who were in jail at the time of giving birth. Each one of these patients is not allowed to leave the hospital until a social worker clears them for discharge.
The most extraordinary case of the week was a 32yo G24P6 female. Let me break that down...this 32 year old woman had been pregnant 24 times [Gravida 24] but only given birth 6 times [Paridy 6]. Go ahead and let that sink in for a minute....
I was the one to see the baby and present the case to the attending and i was looking forward to subtly add that into the history and seeing what her reaction was... When we got to my patient during rounds it went something like this, “ In room X we have Mrs X who gave birth to a full term AGA male last night via NSVD. Mom admits to alcohol use and 1 pack every 4 days of tobacco use during pregnancy. Mom is G24P6 and her labs were all negative except for GBS which was positive and 3 doses of antibiotics were given during labor.” Then I stopped after this sentence and looked up and Dr. C just looked at me with a puzzled face. “G what?” We all sneakered and after I repeated myself we went on to have a conversation about if this was really possible or not. We all agreed it probably was if she got pregnant twice a year since the age of 15 or so....that or she just lost count because really, who keeps track of their pregnancies, abortions, and miscarriages...
This week we had a lot of sick kids in the nursery, not sick enough to be in the NICU but enough to make rounds last a lot longer than usual. At a certain point during rounds this week Dr. C said “ok, any healthy normal babies here right now? i guess they dont make that model anymore, most have discontinued it.”
On Tuesday we had a set of twins born via C Section, a boy and a girl, and then Wednesday we had another set of twins. Ron got to go into the delivery on Tuesday and then on Wednesday we were on rounds and the intern’s pager went off [its actually a little speaker that they use in the OR to inform everyone that needs to be there. A nurse is heard over a little speaker the pediatric intern has on their scrubs saying “Pediatric and OB teams please come to OR number X for a twin delivery..[etc]” its pretty cool. I heard the speaker go off and i immediately got excited and asked if i could go into the C section...only problem was that my patients were next and i had to present them to the attending. i was so freakin bummed when the intern said, “no you should probably stay here and present your patients and then if your done you can come after.” I was so antsy and finally after rushing through my patients Dr. C said “go, go to your C section,” i couldnt tell if she was mad or really didnt care [again, she shows no emotion] so at first i was very hesitant but then Torey [another medical student] encouraged me to go so I did and i am very glad i did. I ran down the hall to get to the OB department and after putting on my hair net and surgical mask i walked into the OR to find at least 14 people in there-- 3 on the anesthesia team, 3 on the OB team operating, and the rest were nurses, respiratory therapists and the pediatric intern, NICU attending, and some others. The babies had just been born before i came so i didnt get to see them come out but I did get to see them get worked on. Both were very small and needed help breathing for the first few minutes of life. Right after birth they were wrapped up in what looked like a plastic bag to keep them warm and after they were stabilized and swaddled up, the intern took one baby at a time to go visit mom for a second and then there were both taken to the NICU in their baby warmers. I found out in the NICU that the mom was actually carrying triplets but one of them had died in utero about 1 month prior and the mom had been in the hospital for the month before this delivery. The fetal demise was born third and right after birth was taken out of the OR where it would go to the morgue to get an autopsy. The other two babies ended up being fine and later did i find out the mother had a history of meth use....
Two other interesting cases happened at the end of the week. One was a baby that was born and about an hour after delivery we were doing the newborn exam on her and she seemed to be fine. Her physical exam and vitals were unremarkable but yet she was totally unconsolable in the nursery. She just wouldnt stop crying. I remember this baby because I was studying in the nursery and mom called me asking me how my day was going and she could hear the baby in the background crying and said, “something is wrong, babies dont cry unless there is something wrong.” I laughed at this saying she was just being fussy and that she was fine. Then when I came in the next day we learned from the overnight intern that the baby was with her parents but still was being fussy and wouldnt stop crying. I thought it was pretty ironic that mom was right but it ended up that the baby was fine. We did a work up for a couple different problems that we thought she might have but everything ended up being fine. So thats good even though we never figured out why she cried so much....hope she lets her parents sleep at home.
Lastly, I will end pediatrics with this pearl of a story. I dont know too much about the mom and baby because she wasnt my patient but i heard about her during rounds from the staff. Ron had a newborn born to a mom who was a little...off. He said he would ask her questions and she would just look around the room and talk about random things. He said he got an odd vibe from her and let the intern and attending know during rounds. Also, this mom was refusing for her baby to get a neonatal blood screen [a screen every baby gets in the first days of life to check for genetic diseases that can be fatal if not caught early...and if they do have one they can be harmless if given the proper medications/diets]. While talking about this patient, the charge nurse came up to use and said she needed to speak with us about her. She wanted to let us know that the mom was saving the babies diapers and expressed that she was doing so so that later she could smear the poop on her body because it is good luck. All of our jaws dropped and the only words out of the attendings mouth were “Psych consult.” It was hysterical. Social services had to get involved with this case also and I actually dont know what ended up happening with this mom because she was still in the hospital when i left on Friday.
So thats it, peds is done and I could not have been more wrong about my interest in it. I am glad i found out early on in my 3rd year rather than later on. I now know that I need something fast paced in my daily life and even though this will likely be more stressful and tiring, I have come to realize that even though i hate stress and being tired, its something that keeps me going. I am a fast paced and outgoing person and I need to be challenged and most importantly, I need to know that my work is important and making a difference. When i was on OB I saw a difference right there and then. Wether it was a delivery, a surgery, or just a clinic visit. I saw the work I was doing was making a difference. In pediatrics you dont see the ‘fruit of your labor’ sort of speak. It may sound shallow but i need to be reminded of the importance of my job since i have sacrificed so much to get to this point. Thus right now I am still considering going into OB/GYN and I am also thinking about going into Emergency Medicine. Who knows, maybe the years of watching ER has subconsciously persuaded me into the field.
The past week we had our didactic week that happens after every 12 week of rotations. We came back to campus to do our OSCE’s, take or shelf exams [which sucked] and then have ‘plenary’ session for the upcoming specialties we were rotating on. Basically, it was a stressful Mon-Wed and then 2 days of relaxing. Next up, I have 4 weeks of a well deserved vacation. I have not taken time off since last summer and I have never needed a mind break more. Going straight from second year to board studying to 12 weeks of a demanding rotation schedule, I am going to enjoy and relax as much as i can for the next 4 weeks. Then its off to Portland, Oregon for my elective. I will be working in an outpatient family practice clinic and living with a good friend of mine who is also doing a rotation up there.
Monday, September 5, 2011
4. more. days.
screaming babies are getting old. C sections are fun cause right after they yank the baby out we get to be the first ones to clean them off, suction out all the gunk, and annoy them until they cry really loud [helps them to clear out their lungs and breathe better]. dont get me wrong, its a beautiful thing to see new moms and dads with their babies, but i need to be busy or else i get bored quick. maybe emergency medicine really is for me?
screaming babies are getting old. C sections are fun cause right after they yank the baby out we get to be the first ones to clean them off, suction out all the gunk, and annoy them until they cry really loud [helps them to clear out their lungs and breathe better]. dont get me wrong, its a beautiful thing to see new moms and dads with their babies, but i need to be busy or else i get bored quick. maybe emergency medicine really is for me?
Thursday, September 1, 2011
This week had lots of crazy moments amongst a lot of doing nothing and hanging out with newborns in the nursery. they are pretty fun to watch and test out reflexes on.
Monday started with me getting to the hospital at 6:45am and seeing a couple newborns and writing their progress notes. then rounds started at 9am. We saw a ton of baby humans, one of them had 12 fingers! its called polydactyly and we refereed him to an orthopedic surgery to eventually get them amputated. during rounds the intern got called to a CS [every CS has a pediatric team in the room just in case] and i got to join him. Being in there really made me miss the OR. I watched em yank out another baby [breech=butt first] and then the doctor walked her over and set her in the warmer. We immediately wrapped her in blankets and suctioned her noes and throat. she was having a hard time breathing so the respiratory therapist put a little NG tube down her nose into her stomach and pumped out all the amniotic fluid in her belly and airway. after that she was breathing fine. we walked her over to the other side of the curtain and showed her to mom and dad. its funny to see a mom with her organs out of her and then walk past the blue drape and just see her face smiling at you awake. anesthesia is a great invention!
after rounds we ate lunch and then hung around waiting for new babies to be born so we could do their initial physicals. we got home around 5pm.
Tuesday we came in a little later since we had more of an idea of what we needed to do. I walked in and the intern that was on overnight said she had a special patient for me that she needed to fill me in on. she said she decided to give her to me because i was easy to talk to and that i could probably handle the situation well. i felt really flattered until i heard about the case...
the baby was a newborn girl born to a women from Nigerian that was here visiting her family. she wanted to have the baby in the US and was here for about 7 weeks getting prenatal care. at this time she found out she was HIV positive, a sickle cell carrier, HSV positive and had immunoglobulins against toxoplasmosis. They tested the baby and found HIV antibodies and though this test is not very sensitive,it is still very worrisome. The worst part about this whole situation was the mother did not want to tell her family about her HIV status because she was scared they would kick her out. She was a very sweet woman and was unfortunately caught in a very hard position. SHe was so concerned about her baby and family and whenever i would ask about how she was doing she would dismiss the question and just say she was fine. I dont think she had slept for 24 hours.
I tried to do my best for her and the baby and we eventually transfered the baby to the NICU to get a more extensive workup and for infectious disease specialists to see her. I tried to counsel and inform the mother and grandmother as much as i could and of course, had to be very careful with what i said because the grandmother was always around and did not know the HIV status. it was both an emotionally challenging and intellectually challenging case and though i appreciated the experience, it was still a very hard day.
another case i had on tuesday that made the day pretty rough was a pt i had born to a 25yo girl who was in jail. i had to talk to the patient and get all her details about why she was in jail and who was going to take the baby and of course, it was because of drugs. she wasnt on drugs and to be honest, she wasnt messed up at all, but unfortunately she put herself in the wrong place at the wrong time and got caught with drugs in her car. for this mistake she will probably be in jail for 6-8 months and she was hoping to get house arrest so she could live with her parents and still have the baby. since she was still being sentenced at the time of the birth, the baby was going home with her boyfriend's parents.
there was another pt who's mother was in jail and had a baby and today it went home with her grandmother. sad thing is, the grandmother had custody of her previous kid also.
Wednesday and today have been a lot quieter with no other special patients. ive gotten more study time in and am looking forward to relaxing this weekend for my birthday.
Monday started with me getting to the hospital at 6:45am and seeing a couple newborns and writing their progress notes. then rounds started at 9am. We saw a ton of baby humans, one of them had 12 fingers! its called polydactyly and we refereed him to an orthopedic surgery to eventually get them amputated. during rounds the intern got called to a CS [every CS has a pediatric team in the room just in case] and i got to join him. Being in there really made me miss the OR. I watched em yank out another baby [breech=butt first] and then the doctor walked her over and set her in the warmer. We immediately wrapped her in blankets and suctioned her noes and throat. she was having a hard time breathing so the respiratory therapist put a little NG tube down her nose into her stomach and pumped out all the amniotic fluid in her belly and airway. after that she was breathing fine. we walked her over to the other side of the curtain and showed her to mom and dad. its funny to see a mom with her organs out of her and then walk past the blue drape and just see her face smiling at you awake. anesthesia is a great invention!
after rounds we ate lunch and then hung around waiting for new babies to be born so we could do their initial physicals. we got home around 5pm.
Tuesday we came in a little later since we had more of an idea of what we needed to do. I walked in and the intern that was on overnight said she had a special patient for me that she needed to fill me in on. she said she decided to give her to me because i was easy to talk to and that i could probably handle the situation well. i felt really flattered until i heard about the case...
the baby was a newborn girl born to a women from Nigerian that was here visiting her family. she wanted to have the baby in the US and was here for about 7 weeks getting prenatal care. at this time she found out she was HIV positive, a sickle cell carrier, HSV positive and had immunoglobulins against toxoplasmosis. They tested the baby and found HIV antibodies and though this test is not very sensitive,it is still very worrisome. The worst part about this whole situation was the mother did not want to tell her family about her HIV status because she was scared they would kick her out. She was a very sweet woman and was unfortunately caught in a very hard position. SHe was so concerned about her baby and family and whenever i would ask about how she was doing she would dismiss the question and just say she was fine. I dont think she had slept for 24 hours.
I tried to do my best for her and the baby and we eventually transfered the baby to the NICU to get a more extensive workup and for infectious disease specialists to see her. I tried to counsel and inform the mother and grandmother as much as i could and of course, had to be very careful with what i said because the grandmother was always around and did not know the HIV status. it was both an emotionally challenging and intellectually challenging case and though i appreciated the experience, it was still a very hard day.
another case i had on tuesday that made the day pretty rough was a pt i had born to a 25yo girl who was in jail. i had to talk to the patient and get all her details about why she was in jail and who was going to take the baby and of course, it was because of drugs. she wasnt on drugs and to be honest, she wasnt messed up at all, but unfortunately she put herself in the wrong place at the wrong time and got caught with drugs in her car. for this mistake she will probably be in jail for 6-8 months and she was hoping to get house arrest so she could live with her parents and still have the baby. since she was still being sentenced at the time of the birth, the baby was going home with her boyfriend's parents.
there was another pt who's mother was in jail and had a baby and today it went home with her grandmother. sad thing is, the grandmother had custody of her previous kid also.
Wednesday and today have been a lot quieter with no other special patients. ive gotten more study time in and am looking forward to relaxing this weekend for my birthday.
Monday, August 29, 2011
Friday, August 26, 2011
Last day of clinic was today and i am a lil sad that it is over. I had 2 doctors give me a 2 week evaluation and both said i did great and worked hard. a vast difference from 2 weeks ago for sure.
Something i have to share with you are the ridiculous kid names i experienced in my last 2 weeks. Some of the greatest have been:
Myson
Mylove and Romeo [twins]
God
Divine trinity
Bobyyz
Aquaneta [yes, like the hair spray]
Khriz
and my favorites:
La-a [pronounced La-dash-a..seriously]
Speedracer
and last but not least, the sisters:
Mauriahna'ju'nyse and Mauriaja ju'nay
Now that i have finished up my 2 weeks of peds clinic, i am starting newborn nursery on monday. that means i get to trade in my dress up clothes for scrubs....but that also means i have to trade my 8:30am start time to 7am. boo
Something i have to share with you are the ridiculous kid names i experienced in my last 2 weeks. Some of the greatest have been:
Myson
Mylove and Romeo [twins]
God
Divine trinity
Bobyyz
Aquaneta [yes, like the hair spray]
Khriz
and my favorites:
La-a [pronounced La-dash-a..seriously]
Speedracer
and last but not least, the sisters:
Mauriahna'ju'nyse and Mauriaja ju'nay
Now that i have finished up my 2 weeks of peds clinic, i am starting newborn nursery on monday. that means i get to trade in my dress up clothes for scrubs....but that also means i have to trade my 8:30am start time to 7am. boo
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Clinic Continues
Peds clinic has gotten much better and i am actually starting to enjoy my time there. i have started to realize that i need to not take things so personally and just get used to different attending styles. the same attending i was worried about last week is now someone i laugh and joke with. i guess everyone has their bad days and i shouldn't always assume things are about me. the more i get experience with this the better i will do in my future rotations and in my residency.
though i am enjoying the people i am working with, i still am no closer to wanting to do pediatrics in the future. the days are very monotonous and parents are idiots. every other kid i see is terrified of me no matter what i try and its starting to get annoying. that said, the days go by fast and we are learning a lot.
the most influential thing that happened to me last week was a 9 year old girl [call her Jane..not her real name] who came in for a well child care visit. she was very nice but very shy. i tried to get her talking to me and she eventually became a little more relaxed and talkative. Jane was a slightly bigger girl but by no means would i say she was overweight. she was at the higher end of the growth curve for her age but compared to the overweight kids i have seen at the clinic, she did not look it at all. When my attending came in we all talked and she mentioned to the girl and her mom that she should probably loose some weight. when Dr. C said this, the girl got quiet and whispered to her mom "see, i told you im fat."
my heart sank a little bit when i heard this because i could just feel the confidence leaving this lovely young lady. the attending kept talking to her mom and i felt the need to cut in [even though this was the same attending that put her hand up to cut me off before]. I looked at Jane and said right into her eyes "Jane, you are not fat at all. please do not think we are saying you are fat. we are just worried about what foods you may be eating and want to make sure you are staying healthy." I went on to tell her that maybe she could get more active at recess or school sports and then her mom admitted that Jane didnt have any friends and that she was worried about her. when her mom was telling me this Jane was looking at her mother and pleading with her to stop talking, that things were "no big deal." but i pressed on and talked to Jane more about how she was feeling with school, her friends, and her shyness. At this point my attending had left the room and i stayed for about 15 minutes and continued to try to raise the self esteem of this young shy girl. I told her stories of my own childhood and encouraged her to like herself even though she was different. I told her that she was not the only one that was this shy and that many other people feel this way and i think this seemed to help her.
after speaking with Jane for a long time, i gave her a hug and her mom gave me one of the most appreciative "thank you's" i had ever received. she shook my hand and i could see in her eyes that she was so happy to have someone reach out to her daughter like that.
in the moment i felt like a great mentor and for a moment, i really liked peds again.
just for a moment...
though i am enjoying the people i am working with, i still am no closer to wanting to do pediatrics in the future. the days are very monotonous and parents are idiots. every other kid i see is terrified of me no matter what i try and its starting to get annoying. that said, the days go by fast and we are learning a lot.
the most influential thing that happened to me last week was a 9 year old girl [call her Jane..not her real name] who came in for a well child care visit. she was very nice but very shy. i tried to get her talking to me and she eventually became a little more relaxed and talkative. Jane was a slightly bigger girl but by no means would i say she was overweight. she was at the higher end of the growth curve for her age but compared to the overweight kids i have seen at the clinic, she did not look it at all. When my attending came in we all talked and she mentioned to the girl and her mom that she should probably loose some weight. when Dr. C said this, the girl got quiet and whispered to her mom "see, i told you im fat."
my heart sank a little bit when i heard this because i could just feel the confidence leaving this lovely young lady. the attending kept talking to her mom and i felt the need to cut in [even though this was the same attending that put her hand up to cut me off before]. I looked at Jane and said right into her eyes "Jane, you are not fat at all. please do not think we are saying you are fat. we are just worried about what foods you may be eating and want to make sure you are staying healthy." I went on to tell her that maybe she could get more active at recess or school sports and then her mom admitted that Jane didnt have any friends and that she was worried about her. when her mom was telling me this Jane was looking at her mother and pleading with her to stop talking, that things were "no big deal." but i pressed on and talked to Jane more about how she was feeling with school, her friends, and her shyness. At this point my attending had left the room and i stayed for about 15 minutes and continued to try to raise the self esteem of this young shy girl. I told her stories of my own childhood and encouraged her to like herself even though she was different. I told her that she was not the only one that was this shy and that many other people feel this way and i think this seemed to help her.
after speaking with Jane for a long time, i gave her a hug and her mom gave me one of the most appreciative "thank you's" i had ever received. she shook my hand and i could see in her eyes that she was so happy to have someone reach out to her daughter like that.
in the moment i felt like a great mentor and for a moment, i really liked peds again.
just for a moment...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)