Transitioning from night work to day work is a tough cookie, and I’m not just saying that as a clever transition into my upcoming cookie recipe.
Lands End. San Francisco, California.
I’ve been at this residency business for three years now (3/4 done!) for three years now, and it doesn’t get easier. If anything, it gets harder. You start out bright eyed and bushy tailed at the end of your fourth year of medical school, and after multiple rounds of nights-days-nights-days, you get a little blurry and a little sleepy. But, the hospital is an interesting place at night. Fewer staff, but the same number of people to take care of, all the while meeting and getting to know new people that need care.
I used to have be an almost overwhelming fear and dread of being on the night team of doctors, an increase in respiratory rate as I entered the hospital at 6:45PM for 7PM sign out. But three years of experience has done some good.
While I’ll never have 100% of the answers, I have internalized that no one actually does and it doesn’t really matter. What matters is knowing your resources and using them. You have your team, you have your back up, you are never alone and the person you are caring for, not your ability to demonstrate your knowledge base, comes first. That should seem obvious, but it’s not always. Anyways, what I’m saying is that it’s not all bad . Though I would like it more if it didn’t take so long to get back a normal rhythm when all is said and done.
So what happened this week?
Shanta took her first trip to Monterey Bay Aquarium, true to form she slept through most of it, but we had fun!
- Our dear friend Elizabeth came to visit and gave us a kick ass book on Lady Pancake and Sir French Toast which is written by computer scientist from Massachusetts! It’s very clever.
- Once again, is anyone surprised that people are going to find a way to de-values the experiences of an powerful black woman in this country? A Washington Post quick read about some social media crap that Kamala Harris isn’t “American Black.” She’s black, and she’s American. I’m not sure where the confusion is here.
- There is an urgency to the 2020 elections. We can drive the direction our country goes. We can put into office lawmakers who care about the people. A story about Luis Alvarez, a first responder to the 9/11 attacks who developed illness subsequent to that and push congress to extend the endangered Victims Compensation Fund. He just recently died.
- My favorite cookie right now is this one from Joy the Baker (incidentally the same woman who inspired these posts). It’s basically an almond snickerdoodle. It’s the best. And it’s just happens to be vegan and gluten free but you don’t notice that at all. Crunch crunch NOM.
- And in other medical news, I was re-reading this article in the NEJM, “A Cluster-Randomized Trial of Blood Pressure in Black Barbershops” and thought more about how we can bring care more easily to people. Care out of the office and hospital is the next hill, whether it’s pharmacy directed blood pressure/diabetes management, remote arrhythmia monitoring, or what have you. We will get better at delivering care to people and meeting them where they are.
That’s all for this weekend! Now for queso and cookies and Pandemic Legacy.
A birthday cake for a birthday boy. Happy 32 Tyler.
The Clumsy Cook 