As an Aside:

You know what I think I like best about being on call? Being post-call. Right now this means I am at home early on a beautiful Friday morning, with the weekend stretching before me (though I'm on call again on Sunday), with the apartment to myself because Jord is still soundly asleep. This means I now get to do a whole lot of my favourite things all at once!

I get to crack open my new book, lovingly scrounged from one of Saskatoon's wonderful used book stores.
I get to drink a whole pot of earl grey vanilla tea with lots of cream and sugar.
I get to listen to the new Imogen Heap, Arctic Monkeys, and Matisyahu albums.
I get to cuddle up with Moe on the couch while doing all of the above (he's a rewarding little thing to come home to, because he loves cuddling in the morning) in our beautiful livingroom, with the sun streaming down outside.
And in a little while, I get to go in and wake my husband up so we can start our day. Probably with waffles.

Bliss.

Musings on a non-take call shift following consumption of excessive caffeine.

I think I like being on call.

This is not to say that I don't actively dread my upcoming call shifts on those days when I'm not on call. I always pity to unlucky resident who has to stay overnight on a Friday when the rest of us get to go home and gambol/frolic/caper our way into the weekend.

But I find that I enjoy actually BEING on call. I like the hospital late at night. There's practically no one around, and you can wander the halls randomly. No one looks at you funny when you buy nothing but vending machine junk food for dinner. You don't have to elbow people aside to get access to the computers. Nurses look at you with joy because you're generally arriving to help them with something they've specifically asked you about, not to pester them because Mr Z's urinalysis still has not been done and you feel obligated to review it.

I feel much more useful when I'm on call. All those patients who are just sitting in hospital, waiting to go to long term care, fade into the background, and the really exciting (terrifying) acute ones all come to the fore.

Tonight I have, in no particular order, a 90-ish lady with congestive heart failure and chronic renal failure who bounces between pulmonary edema and complete oliguria, a 40 something man who is dying, not of the cancer he was brought into hospital with, but of the fungus which has settled in his brain due to the chemo (well, and the cancer) which has killed his immune system, a 70-something gentleman who looks like Santa and who keeps having copious bloody bowel movements and needing blood, and an 80-ish woman who will not wake up, and for the life of me I cannot figure out why.

And while it is definately likely that one or more of these people will have a difficult time getting through the night, I find it very satisfying to rise to each challenge and (hopefully) avert the crises as they come. Being on call doesn't mean you fix anything permanently...most of these people need specialized interventions I just can't provide. It means you walk the fine line needed to keep patients going until the next morning.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some bloodwork to go check.

Okay, let's try this again.

So, to summarize things: I got accepted into the internal med program out here in Saskatoon, then I moved here in a giant u-haul truck with my then-fiancee, then I went back to Victoria and got married with all my family and friends in attendance, and then we moved back to Saskatoon (semi) premanently so that I could work. Everyone on the same page? Good.



We've been here for a month and a half now (time flies, seriously) and I have to admit I am kind of loving this city. It helps that we're in a fantastic location, a five minute walk from the shops and theaters and pubs on Broadway and the big box and grocery stores on 8th, ten minute bike from the beautiful grounds at the University of Saskatchewan and the banks of the river, and fifteen minute bike from downtown. We've done a pretty good job of seeing the sights this summer so far...it helps that my mother and Jordan's parents have been out to visit. There's more reason to get out and see stuff when the alternative is entertaining at home.

This city sure does love summer...there are festivals (yes, often plural) every weekend! I can't keep up with them all and so far have really only done the Fringe and the Taste of Saskatchewan. I have big plans to go to the Ex, however (the giant summer fair). All this revelry makes me a bit nervous...it's like everyone is breathing a huge sigh of relief between winters. I guess we'll see how bad it gets in a couple of months.

Work is...work. It's a wierd combination of thrilling and soul-crushing and I often go from feeling competent and intelligent to wondering why they ever let me into med school in a span of minutes. I've seen some pretty aweful things in my month here, but I've also seen some stuff that makes me glad I chose medicine. I'll probably share some of the more vivid stories eventually, but for now we'll leave things vague.

I am very much enjoying married life. I have to admit I was a bit concerned about moving in with Jord, because we've never lived together and I wasn't sure how our preferred environments would mesh. It's been pretty seamless so far. It helps that he's still looking for work, so he gets to do all the chores and cleaning and I get to reap the benefits. It'll be a bit more hassle when I actually have to help out. But so far our little family is flourishing...Moe has even become an outdoor cat in our very quiet suburban neighbourhood. He defends his turf with great zeal. We'll see what he makes of the snow.

So...enough summarizing? Neither witty nor earth-shattering...but this is a foundation post more than anything else. Now I can start spinning the real interesting stuff!

I'm back?

So there have been a couple of requests that I return to updating my blog. You know, so people can tune in and find out what is going on in my admittedly thrilling life. Sadly, computer access at the hospital is limited so my updates will mostly have to happen from home. And those I manage here will be brief.
And ironically, my pager has just gone off. So adieu for now, but stay tuned for updates soon!