so I think the most important thing I’ve learned in medical school is that I do NOT have obsessive-compulsive disorder. I actually have obsessive compulsive personality disorder

need proof?

my closet is color-coded.  yep, ROYGBIV from left to right.  I try to avoid buying clothes that are multi-colored or of a strange shade because they are much more difficult to classify.  

so I think this is my new font of choice…sorry if you don’t like it!

new singer/songwriter to watch: brendan james

an excerpt from one of his songs, all I can see:

     I want to learn a completely new language, 
     one I don't understand. 
     I want to help someone lost, someone helpless, 
     with the strength of my hand. 

have you heard of booming sand?

some types of sand make a vibration, or even a musical whistling, booming, croaking or squeaking. 

some interesting facts about singing sand (from nova online):

·         only around 30 "booming" dunes are known worldwide—in deserts and on beaches in hawaii, north and south america, africa, the middle east, and asia

·         booming sand dunes sound like instruments because, as opposed to squeaking sands, the noise they produce lasts longer (up to 15 minutes in large dunes) and it emanates at a single, steady musical tone

·         booming sand starts with a dune made of sand that has traveled long distances from its original source

·         the sand's lengthy, windy journey means that grains deposited on the surface of the dune are extremely round, smooth, and uniform

·         a desert rainstorm must take place, washing dust and other foreign particles from among the surface grains; the topmost sand must then dry out over a period of weeks while the sand beneath remains relatively moist

·         booming can be heard more than six miles away

·         in squeaking sand, noise-producing displacement can occur merely by stepping on the sand with your foot

you can listen online

from twitter:

Scanner: Female has leg stuck in an air-conditioning vent in Summerville.

“this class is destined for great things”

-dr hazen-martin, after her last lecture ever

an old blog entry from a medical student reflecting on debt at the end of the whole process:

"Perhaps, rather than medical school I should taken up a life renting graduation robes."

“The curious paradox is that when I accept myself just as I am, then I can change.”

so two days ago I somehow got a small condiment cup wedged in the top of the sink drain...suction created a seal and I couldn't get it out.  had to put in a maintenance request:

who knew you could "brake" plastic?

bandaid somehow got hold of a packet of hot sauce and wouldn't let go of it.


didn't take long for him to figure it out...

"beyond $75,000 a year, money does nothing for happiness, enjoyment, sadness or stress"

-ny times

One of my guilty pleasures on Thursday evenings is watching a TV drama about rookie police officers.  One reflected on her difficult experiences in a tear-jerker of a scene:

"Every bad call leaves a ghost."

It made me think about my own experiences as a paramedic.  Before I could legally enter a bar, I'd seen shootings and stabbings, suicides and murders.  I held a man as he died of cancer, I've done CPR on an infant.  I've fought drunks and drug addicts, witnessed a shooting...I chased a drunk driver at 80mph in an ambulance.  


But I've never thought of them as ghosts.  


Instantaneous shock is anesthetizing.  Dealing with feelings in the days and weeks following a bad call is like trying to run underwater- a slow and very, very frustrating process.


But in the end I'm going to be a better doctor for it.  When I'm in class and the professor lectures about diabetic ketoacidosis- I think of that teenager who I thought was lying for attention but ended up in the ICU- and lived - because I happened to check his blood sugar.  Just in case.


When the lecture is on crush syndrome I think about the wreck when the extrication took 2 hours because a patient's leg was mangled in the wreckage.  Or the time that I sat in a crushed van trying to console three terrified patients as firefighters cut off the roof.


I still remember my first call in May, 2005- a car accident with 6 patients.  We rushed to the hospital with helicopters following us overhead.


When the lesson has a face, when it has a name- it actually means something.  I feel like I have a foundation, an infrastructure in my mind around which I can build the remainder of my medical knowledge.  


Ghosts or no ghosts, the trials we face make us stronger and wiser....


I wouldn't give up my four years on an ambulance for anything.

ok, I have to share one of my favorite med school metaphors:

“Medical school is like trying to eat five pancakes every morning for breakfast. Every day you show up with your first-year optimism and your annoying hunger for learning and you clean that plate. But you begin to notice that those pancakes are slowing you down a little each day and the sugar highs and lows are screwing with your sleep. Smart person that you are, you decide to pass on the flapjacks one day. You think to yourself, “Self, I’m going to eat ten pancakes tomorrow so that I don’t have to eat any today.” But … before you know it there are 40 pancakes in front of you and your plate needs to be clean by tomorrow. And that’s when it seems impossible. And it’s your fault.”

cost of raising a child to 18 years of age:
$250,000

news typos, part 2