last call!!!

free time
yesterday, jess asked what i did when things were slow at work. an interesting question! to be honest, most of the time things are NOT slow at work, especially on the wards. if, by some miracle of nature like yesterday there is actually nothing to do (since we had no patients!), then we wave goodbye to everyone stuck at the hospital doing actual work, and we leave. in my 2 years and 1 month of residency, this was my first time “winning the game”, so just to reiterate, it’s quite a rarity.

so what if there are some patients and/or we are admitting, but there just isn’t much to do? then there a number of options. they are as follows:

1. if there are med students, i can teach something (make up a scenario and go through it, or run through one of the powerpoints we have on basic topics such as rashes or hyperbilirubinemia)

2. if there are no students, i can be a good resident and read an article

3. catching up on odds & ends — logging procedures or hours, checking email, or completing evaluations

4. bitching/comiserating with fellow residents also not doing much — ironically i think we spend the most time complaining when we AREN’T busy.

5. shopping online, which can be quite dangerous i have been known to make anthro purchases on call — nothing like the combination of mania, fatigue, and self-pity to enable one to pull the “check out” trigger! once, 2 residents and i all bought the SAME DRESS at the same time (it was a hot sale!).

6. facebook and/or blog perusal! but honestly this doesn’t happen often, because there just isn’t time and it’s too distracting. i might do this, say, at 10:30 PM when there is no one around and absolutely NOTHING going on (just killing time before nighttime rounds) but otherwise i save this activity for when i get home and can lie in bed haphazardly clicking away before passing out.

so there you have it. on any given call day, i never know whether i am going to be coming into a bunch of hanging out time or TOTAL CHAOS . . . it just is what it is. the fabulous part and rather exciting part about this particular call is that it is THE LAST 30 HOUR CALL until i have one more block of this business in may. whether it is full of down-time opportunities or not, i am just thrilled to be at the end of the line. zen, positivity, complaint-free or not — it’s been a long 10 weeks.

off for my last pre-call run for quite some time . . .

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7.29.09

workout: none yesterday. i just honored my fatigue and slept all afternoon!

doin’ time: a variation on the fish tacos that i was planning to make, martha-style:

josh took the reigns and freeformed it, making good use of the mahi mahi filets i had bought for the original taco recipe and making a simpler — but still tasty — summer dinner.

mahi mahi sauteed in some butter with red onions and local tomatoes, wrapped in a whole wheat tortilla and served with leftover corn salad