I can relate to Bill Murray...
It kinda feels like groundhog day. You know, that movie with Bill Murray, where he relives the same day over and over again? I swear, that's my life. Everyday the alarm goes off at the same unGodly hour, I have the same drive in to the hospital, and then I basically do the same thing everyday at the hospital. Uncanny how similar the two are.
So, how many hours did I work this week? Any guesses? Anyone still around to read this since I haven't updated this in forever? That's right, 103 hours this last week. Let's just say that sticking to that 80 hour week is gonna be tough this month. I actually enjoy what I do, I really like the people I work with, I just have a tough time with the amount of time I'm doing it. I'm officially making almost 8 dollars an hour. Awesome...
Erin was off track this month, which means plenty of time to decorate for fall. I swear, it looks like Martha Stewart had a manic episode in our living room. Our living room IS fall. The sad part is that Erin is going back to teach on monday; holiday over. And I finally have a day off, and I too, return on monday. Not quite the same length of time off, but at least it's refreshing. Our love goes out to everyone. We miss you guys and hope this finds everyone doing well.
And, what exactly am I doing for those 103 hours you might ask? You don't want to know...
Maybe doctors should be called "roughnecks"...
You see, in surgery, there's this saying: "eat when you can, sleep when you can." That's basically the gist of it. We're always so busy that you just grab food when you can, and I take full advantage of the "sleep when you can" part of the saying. I'm sure they dont mean in front of patients, but sleep comes when it wills. I'm going to add to that saying "blog when you can." That's why there's two recent posts! Whoa! I had saturday and sunday off, so I'm just gonna blog away.
What should we talk about? Well, I want to talk about what lives on your neck. The program gives us three shiny white coats to wear. I've only been at it for about a month, but I have gone through all three coats with this nasty, dingy, dirty, ring around the collar on all three coats. What is living on my neck?! And, how does it get there so quick? I shower every day, and half the day I take my coat off to do stuff, so where is this nastiness coming from?! Yuck. This all has lead me to hypothesize that the neck, and not other nether regions of our bodies, is the nastiest place we have. Or at least, the nastiest place I have. Praise God for Zout! Hopefully it'll come right out.
That's about all I got for today. I have to read and study, and spend some time with my wife and dog. But its nice to be able to just sit down and relax for a bit. Just a random question: would you be weirded out by a doctor that wore a headband around his neck to prevent the nasty ring around the collar? I thought so, just thought I'd ask.
and this pic is just to show that we all need time to relax...
Beg your pardon?
I seriously find myself saying that all the time now. Not because I'm not interested in whatever the person in front of me is talking about. It's also not because I'm ignoring the person, or thinking about other things. I'm just tired. That's my new catch phrase. If you hear it from me, it's because I'm basically asleep. No offense to you, but I probably haven't heard a word you said....
There's this law, this blessed law that God gifted the minds of our government with that limits a residents work hours to 80 per week. Trust me, that is a good thing! It's good because, without the law, I would be working 100 hours a week....easily. Now with this law, I'm limited to 80, but I'm pretty much hitting 80 every week, some a little over, some a little under, but always close. Crazy huh?
Now I find myself sleeping in the cafeteria, while eating, or even on the toilet. No place saves me. I fell asleep in a dentists chair two days ago while I was being worked on. That's tired.
I dont know why I thought I would have more time to write this blog now, that's clearly not the case. But I do find time, so keep checking back....all three of you. Miss everyone. Quick family update for us: Erin LOVES 5th grade, and she's doing great. Sam is still a cute little teddy bear, and his new favorite game is chasing flies, even if they come close to me....even if it means he has to jump directly on my crotch. His favorite game, not mine. And i'm just tired. Beg your pardon?
here's a pic from the good ol days of fun and games...
My last meal?
So, this is about to happen to me. I'd like to think this will be metaphorical, but somehow, I know this is going to hurt just as bad. You see, I start my residency on thursday, i.e. one day from tomorrow. Technically, I started on monday, but we've had orientation these last couple days, and tomorrow too. Anyhow, my life is about to be over....
So, what do I have for my last meal? Anyone who knows me knows that I am going to miss the food the most......well, maybe my wife, and the dog.......I don't know, food's up there. Let's just say it's a close race. ;)
I start off pretty rough with trauma surgery, which means that my wife, my dog, and my favorite foods, will not be seeing me until this month is over. Sad. And the funny thing is, I think i'll be updating my blog more regularly even though I'll have less time. Downtime and whatnot. That way, everyone can experience residency with me over the next part of my life.
So for now, it's just deciding what to have for my last meal......not quite sure. Anyhow, i'll leave you all with a picture from our recent vacation to santa cruz with friends. It was such a great time, wish I could just do that for the rest of my life.
Boredom sets in...
Well, now that I don't work 80+ hours a week anymore, i'm bored. Real Bored. This should be noted by the fact that i'm actually updating my blog. Crazy huh? Well, my days blend together now. You see, i'm on vacation and have been since my graduation. I have had nothing to do for almost a month. I start residency on the 25th of this month, and then I will never again complain of being bored.
So what have Erin and I been doing? She's off track right now, and it's pretty fun, except that its not fun. We have no money to do anything, so this is the prototype of our day......
Wake up to the dog whining, and each of us beg the other to get up to let him out. More sleep, then repeat the previous about twenty more times. Then we finally crawl out of beg around 10. With no funds to enjoy ourselves with, we stare at each other for an hour. Then it takes us an hour to decide where to have lunch. We eat. Then I hop on my BRAND NEW COMPUTER (see above)! I spend almost the rest of my day on this thing, and play online poker on a friends account (I make him money cuz i'm the best). That's really it. We just try to avoid total boredom the rest of the day.
The quick and dirty for an update: I start residency in two weeks. Erin got rehired at her school to be a real teacher now, 5th grade. Sam is huge and doing well. Family is good: Caleb is moving, mike is coaching and teaching, and my niece pee'd on my floor. The really good news is that vacation is a comin'. We leave sunday. Until next time folks. Oh, and its official, i'm Dr. Allen.
Not dead yet....
So, the question is: has Jon died? The answer is no. I'm here, and happy. I have recently graduated from med school, spent time with family, prepared for residency, getting ready for vacation, and currently typing on my brand new computer! This is the small couple of sentences to let anyone who still checks this know that i'm alive. Life is good right now.
I'll make sure that I tell all the stories that everyone wants to know, including details and humor, and include a picture or two also. But for now, i'm sitting in bed and relaxing. Miss you all.
A visual homonym
So, the above is a visual homonym of what I went through. It's called the "scramble." I didn't match into a residency spot, and so they have the "scramble," which is so named for probably many reasons....
One such reason is that you have roughly 6 hours to scramble and find one of the remaining residency spots that are still left open in the entire country. One other such reason for the meaning of the word is that you feel like your life, your brain, and your insides are all scrambled. So, let me delve into my week....
Monday morning: I had to open the website like 10 times, because I didn't believe that I hadn't matched into orthopaedic surgery. After the 10th time reading it, I think it started to set in. This was followed by phone calls from family, friends, fellow students, and everyone else in the world asking where I was going.......salt in the wound. I had to reiterate about a hundred times that I didn't match. Then I had to make a phone call to the school to let them know I didn't match. They said there would be a meeting that evening.
Monday evening: The meeting. I walk in to find 18 of my classmates in a similar position, so the shame and embarrassment was at least shared by more people than just me. They gave us a million papers to pour over, and let us know that the "scramble" started at 9am the next morning, and to go home and be ready with a game plan of what
else we wanted to do with our lives (as ortho was already filled up across the country). My wife and I had very long talks, and no sleep.
Right after finding out that I have to play this sick game of "find a job before the rest of the country beats you to it," we had our financial aid exit interview to let us know that not only did I not have a job, but that I had hundreds of thousands of dollars to repay. Great timing on that meeting, thanks.
tuesday morning: I showed up, and they closed the dean's office for the day. Each student was given an employee to do their bidding. At 8:45 we received the list of what residency spots were still open. So I had an entire 15 minutes to plan the rest of my life. How did it work you ask? This sick and twisted game show was played by picking up the phone and calling programs you wanted to go to, faxing info, applying online.........and each minute that passed, hundreds of spots were being filled up. I seriously have never seen such mayhem. It was crazy. I dialed 42 numbers before it actually rang instead of a busy signal. The entire country was calling each number I was trying. To save you the long and agonizing story, I was offered a job at loma linda for just one year. I ended up passing on jobs from: seattle, north carolina, and michigan (sorry winns!). I'll have to tell the full story sometime, it was crazy.
So, anyhow......now I have a job for one year. This is a good thing, but I have no idea where to go from here. Maybe I reapply to ortho, maybe I switch into something a little easier, we're not quite sure. God has at least given me some manna for now, and we'll see what tomorrow brings when it shows up.
