What I am doing

NOW

Reading-
Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo, as well as Although of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself: A Road Trip with David Wallace Foster by David Lipsky (The subject of the NYT Book review from which I have previously quoted here)

Starting-
A Genetics Elective at Miami Children's (I arrived in Miami over the weekend and it reminds me of Grenada which is nostalgia inducing, humid, warm, living with roommates again fun.)

Exploring-
My new city as this is my first time in Miami. So far I've found a great diner for breakfast, the grocery store (IGA!!! just like Grenada) a Spanish Restaurant that serves okay Tapas and a friend from the island that is here this month too. I know my life is just so hard.

Traveling-
Today to Cali for an interview and again on Friday to upstate New York for yet another interview. Only four more to go. Now let's just hope I can take off from my elective for all of them.

Learning to Knit-
(I needed a new project for take off and landing time on the plane when I couldn't read my Nook)
It is not going very well, I think I need an initial lesson with a real person, the read and follow directions in 2D is not working for me... Poor Sancho, he is going to get a very ugly sweater indeed, and he's a dog, so he'll have to wear it!

Writing-
This.

Reflecting-
On life.
On love.

Living-
Purposely.

Loving-
My life.

Anticipating-
The Match.

Write here, right now/ right here, write now!

My New Year's resolution?

Simple.

To write. Which I already do. But I want to write more. More deliberately. More frequently. Just more.

And to read. Read more of substance and more of the authors that know how to write.

I think this is a perfect place to start...

New Year's Resolution Reading List: 9 Essential Books on Reading and Writing | Brain Pickings / via @brainpicker

Wishing you a happy, well read and well written 2013!

Child Advocacy Elective Journal- Entry 1

Yesterday I met Dr. Ajl and got orientated to Child Advocacy in NYC. And by Child Advocacy I mean child abuse and neglect. Sure as a physician you may see or suspect abuse and you are a mandated reporter to the state. But there is SO MUCH more that goes on. A phone call is simply the beginning. And so this month I will learn about ACS, CPS, Family Court, legal guardians, Special Victims Unit, forensic evaluations, foster care, the Medical Examiner's Office, etc.

There are three of us in the elective this month and I actually know both of the other students so that is nice. Yesterday we toured the Brooklyn Child Advocacy Center and met the NP that has devoted the last 16 years of her life to Child Advocacy. And she truly is devoted, like most of the people I think we will meet in this field.

We were given a packet with numerous agencies and contacts and thus I spent most of the morning calling and emailing to set up appts for the month. So far I don't have much booked but I'm sure people will call back, eventually. In the mean time I have a lot to read. And learn. Did I mention I'm so glad that I am doing this elective?

At the end of the month we have to put together a group project to reflect on what we have learned and while I am happy to contribute to something for the group I also want something for myself. I think this month will be hard emotionally and I need a place to process those emotions and think about what I get to see and experience. So this blog will be my space. I will not post cases here or discuss what I see in details because these children must be protected. But my feelings will not be censored. Here what I share will be my own. So stay tuned.

And if you have any reading suggestions, feel free to let me know. I'm taking all suggestions for serious fiction and Child Advocacy related topics.

links galore

Just a few recommendations if you are looking for something psychiatric tinted to enlighten/entertain or distract you.

LISTEN
Real 'Sybil' Admits Multiple Personalities were Fake
An NPR Segment that I stumbled upon yesterday...


READ
for the moment/hour/day-
The NY Times Lives Restores Series- Parts 1-3 now available, here is the link to the first article

for the week/month-

"Sybil Exposed" by Debbie Nathan (I'm reading this now, 1/3 the way through and so far I'm intrigued and saddened. I guess the original Sybil work is up next.)

"The Center Cannot Hold" by Elyn R. Saks (I haven't yet read this but it is on my list as well.)

"The Bell Jar" by Sylvia Plath 

This is a classic and if you haven't read it, you should. 

WATCH
In case you would rather a video, this one and the prior two in the Lives Restored Series are well done and get my recommendations as well.

---

That's all for now. Two more weeks of psychiatry. My goal is to prepare for the shelf and stay interested in all of it. Now, back to my book!

False Start

So,  I have been orientated. I am at my surgical site and new home for the next three months. But due to new SGU guidelines our 12 weeks of surgery now includes protected study time. Which is great, but guess what? I ended up getting my two weeks of study time upfront and my six weeks of general surgery at the very end until the day before exams. Yippee for me! (NOT.)

So no early morning rounding for me or scrubbing in to watch a case, or any of that. Just sitting in the assigned library or conference room from 8am-4pm. Of course I can take breaks and leave for lunch but it kind of feels just like studying for Step 1. Sure I get to walk around the hospital in my short white coat and attend all the resident and academic lectures but I just don't feel like a third year. I know, my time will come. Pretty soon I'll be wishing I was back in the library with the entire day to read (at least this is what I am telling myself.) I have entertained the idea of just walking into a patient's room and assuming her care like I belong there, no one will call if there are extra notes in her chart, right?  Fine, I suppose I will just stick to pre-reading for surgery. It has been a long day. In a quiet/boring kind of way.

Time for Fun Facts:
-A normal healthy person sighs 9-10 x per hour. This protects the lungs from atelectasis. (Patients undergoing and awakening from anasthesia do not sigh or cough and thus this is a possible complication. I'd never thought of sighing as protective, had you?)

-Licorice consumption can lead to renal potassium loss. (Okay, I think I knew this one, but it is still pretty cool, so be careful what you eat!)

There are more, but I don't want to bore you. I am 90 pages in to Lawrence's "Essentials of General Surgery" and I have to say, I wouldn't be if it were not for this protected study time, so yay!?!

13 days until my neurosurgery rotation, at least I have that to look forward to!