I have been away for awhile, mostly consuming my time with work. For those who don't know, I started my job as an intern at a major medical center in NYC 6 months ago. Since then most of my days are like this: up at 5am, at work by 6am, home by 7pm. Every 4th night, I stay overnight at the hospital and admit patients all night, present them in the morning to my attendings and fellow team members, then go home and sleep. The next day, I am back at it again. It's a pretty tiring, thankless job.
But, believe it or not, there is something oddly comforting in the routine and monotony of my current existence. I almost don't know what to do with myself on my days off. It's an odd existence when you surround yourself everyday with extrememly ill patients. You forget that for the most part, human beings are generally healthy and most of them are going about their everyday lives and not being poked, prodded, and having iatrogenic complications inflicted upon them leading to prolonged hospital stays. One of the great things about living in NYC is that anytime I feel like there is no one around me who doesn't need my immediate medical attention, I can take a stroll through Central Park and see nannies with kids in tow, dedicated pet-loving New Yorkers with their dogs dressed in Burberry sweaters, the super-funky disco roller-skater getting down to some music only he can hear in his head, and the multitude of spandex clad joggers and bicyclists whizzing by me, working hard to keep themselves healthy and keeping me out of business (which is all right by me!).
While I am incredibly busy and shouldn't even have time to complain, one of the things that I have missed the most since starting work is being creative. I have no creative outlet whatsoever at work. While I do spend most of my days telling patient's stories and explaining what it is that brought them to the hospital, I have no room to editorialize. Stick to the facts, keep it concise, come up with an appropriate plan of treatment and on to the next person.
But, there is so much to talk about! I need an outlet! I need to vent, I can't keep it bottled up anymore. I need to blog.
Posted by susana at February 22, 2005 09:42 PM