My husband and I were in the car today with the kids. Out of the blue, my son said, "I really like raspberries."
"What made you think of that?" asked my husband.
"My brain," said our son.
Sunday, October 08, 2006
Why Russian Here?
I realize I just published another post today, but my husband I were just talking about this story which happened about 2 years ago.
I did my internship with a woman from Belarus. We shall call her Ana. During our intern year, Ana was on the Cardiology service taking care of a patient who had been having chest pain. Part of the treatment for a possible heart attack is giving the patient a blood thinner. The problem was that the patient also had blood in his stool. Can't really give a blood thinner to someone who is already bleeding from somewhere. So Ana consulted the Gastroenterology service (the stomach and intestine docs). The Gastroenterologist, who happened to be an immigrant from India, looked through the patient's chart, examined the patient, then said to Ana and the rest of the Cardiology team, "Why Russian here?" Offended that the Gastroenterologist didn't think that she should be present at a meeting discussing her own patient's care, and that she was the one who had invited him to be a part of the care team, she replied, "Why Indian here?!?!?" Everyone turned to her, slack-jawed that she said something so offensive to this well-respected authority on stomachs, intestines, and rectums. Then realizing what Ana had heard, another resident said, "Ana, he wants to know why we are rushing here to do an endoscopy." Everyone burst out laughing, including the Gastroenterologist. Now, whenever he sees Ana in the hallway, he greets her saying, "Why Russian here?"
I did my internship with a woman from Belarus. We shall call her Ana. During our intern year, Ana was on the Cardiology service taking care of a patient who had been having chest pain. Part of the treatment for a possible heart attack is giving the patient a blood thinner. The problem was that the patient also had blood in his stool. Can't really give a blood thinner to someone who is already bleeding from somewhere. So Ana consulted the Gastroenterology service (the stomach and intestine docs). The Gastroenterologist, who happened to be an immigrant from India, looked through the patient's chart, examined the patient, then said to Ana and the rest of the Cardiology team, "Why Russian here?" Offended that the Gastroenterologist didn't think that she should be present at a meeting discussing her own patient's care, and that she was the one who had invited him to be a part of the care team, she replied, "Why Indian here?!?!?" Everyone turned to her, slack-jawed that she said something so offensive to this well-respected authority on stomachs, intestines, and rectums. Then realizing what Ana had heard, another resident said, "Ana, he wants to know why we are rushing here to do an endoscopy." Everyone burst out laughing, including the Gastroenterologist. Now, whenever he sees Ana in the hallway, he greets her saying, "Why Russian here?"
Handy Manny
Disney has given us more evidence that it is truly taking over the world. They have taken two of NickJr's most popular shows, "Bob the Builder," and "Dora the Explorer," and morphed it into one show, creating "Handy Manny." We have watched several episodes and we really like it. The children are too young to see obvious similarities to the aforementioned shows. My husband and I, though turned off by the obvious ripoff, are impressed that they took the best elements of each of the Nick Jr. shows and incorporated them into "Handy Manny." "Handy Manny" has a great catch song that is sung in every episode, and that the kids can sing along to, just like Dora. The animation is lively. The cute little tools are friendly, just like Bob's friends, but are portable and fit into Manny's tool box, and are not as annoying as Dora's friends. The plots are simple, but teach good lessons, unlike Dora, which makes little sense to me at times. And, as is the case with almost every new cartoon, it is ethnically diverse. The tools are cleverly named: Pat the Hammer, Felipe the Phillips head screwdriver, Turner the flathead screwdriver, Dusty the Saw, Rusty the wrench, Stretch the tape measure, and Squeeze the pliers. I like Manny's lady friend, Kelly, the hardware store lady. There seems to be something going on between these two, but it is certainly subtle. Or have I just been watching soap operas for too long? Anyway, another cool thing is that Wilmer Valderrama of "That 70's Show" fame is the voice for Manny. That just cracks me up. I mean, I don't think I want Fez anywhere near my kids, would you?
The one thing I do not like is the portrayal of next door neighbor. He is a white gentleman with a bad combover who is frequently turning Manny down when Manny offers his assistance with "handyman stuff." It makes the white guy look foolish and proud, and I don't like that they do that. And I don't like that the kids are given an obvious target to dislike and poke fun of. That's just not nice.
Overall, I like this show. I don't have much respect for Disney for outright copying other cartoons, but hey, this is business, isn't it? A group of Disney's best and brightest studied Nick Jr's shows, took the best elements of each, and created a new and improved product to sell for themselves. That seems to be what Disney does best. I wouldn't do it myself, but there are much worse things for my kids to be watching.
The one thing I do not like is the portrayal of next door neighbor. He is a white gentleman with a bad combover who is frequently turning Manny down when Manny offers his assistance with "handyman stuff." It makes the white guy look foolish and proud, and I don't like that they do that. And I don't like that the kids are given an obvious target to dislike and poke fun of. That's just not nice.
Overall, I like this show. I don't have much respect for Disney for outright copying other cartoons, but hey, this is business, isn't it? A group of Disney's best and brightest studied Nick Jr's shows, took the best elements of each, and created a new and improved product to sell for themselves. That seems to be what Disney does best. I wouldn't do it myself, but there are much worse things for my kids to be watching.
Friday, October 06, 2006
Putting the Children to Sleep
This is my first week on my new rotation at the Children's Hospital. I have a 3 month rotation here, and I must admit that I AM TERRIFIED. The responsibility of anesthetizing kiddos is enormous. I mean, one minute they are jumping off the table, and the next, they are not breathing. Somehow we are supposed to find the happy medium between these two extremes. While children are very resilient in so many ways, their new, little bodies have little reserve for trauma, blood loss, dehydration, hypothermia, and other stressors, that giving them "sleepy medicine" is not something to be taken lightly. I'll stop there so that I don't freak out all the parents out there whose children may have surgery in the near or distance future. Rest assured, the children are so well taken care of, and that every single person whom I have encountered at this hospital has been extremely kind and attentive to the children. It is a very pleasant atmosphere- a nice change of pace from the other OR that I had been working, where people were generally obnoxious and sarcastic.
My last rotation was Neurosurgery. It, too, was a stressful rotation. It was not rocket science, but IT WAS BRAIN SURGERY, literally. Tumors were removed, aneurysms were clipped, and blood clots were evacuated, all from the brain. Yikes. So, I was so very stressed out during those cases, but now the newness is behind me, and I actually feel more comfortable with these cases. Not that they are not still stressful, just less unfamiliar. I can deal with the stressful situations more methodically now. I just hope that I feel this way about the Pediatric cases soon.
Putting my own children to sleep is yet another stressor in my life. Actually our 6 year old son is pretty easy to put to bed. It is the 3 year old daughter who is more challenging. Our nighttime routine consists of a video, timed so that it would end at 8:00. Then we all go upstairs. Here is where the inconsistencies are. We usually read books all together in our bedroom, say prayers, then bring the kids to each of their own rooms to go to sleep. But we don't always take the kids to their rooms. Sometimes, we let them sleep in our bed, usually when only one of us is home (ie, the other is working). We know that the inconsistency makes it difficult for our daughter to readily agree to sleep by herself, so we are working on routinely making her sleep in her own bed. It is just so tempting, for me particularly, to snuggle up to my babies when my husband is working late. I rationalize by telling myself that they are not going to be this small forever, and one day, they will not want to cuddle in bed with me. But at 2:30 in the morning, two hours before my alarm is going to go off, when I have cute little feet kicking me in the side, waking me up, I am reminded of why we want the children to sleep in their own beds. So for now, we send them to their own beds with much protesting, and save the snuggling for right before bed.
All the bedtime angst has also made it difficult for me to keep up with "Survivor: Cook Island." I watched the first episode, and half of last night's, and have just read the recaps of the other 2 episodes. I just realized last night that the groups were reshuffled, and no longer divided by race, which has made me lose some interest.
Getting ready for Halloween. Our son wants to be a dinosaur, which we are still looking for. Our daughter wants to be Spider Man -this from the little girl who insisted on buying the pink, sparkly princess shoes the other day, and whose favorite outfit is her Dora princess dress. Well, I can't complain that she is too girly, nor can I complain that she is a tomboy, can I?
My last rotation was Neurosurgery. It, too, was a stressful rotation. It was not rocket science, but IT WAS BRAIN SURGERY, literally. Tumors were removed, aneurysms were clipped, and blood clots were evacuated, all from the brain. Yikes. So, I was so very stressed out during those cases, but now the newness is behind me, and I actually feel more comfortable with these cases. Not that they are not still stressful, just less unfamiliar. I can deal with the stressful situations more methodically now. I just hope that I feel this way about the Pediatric cases soon.
Putting my own children to sleep is yet another stressor in my life. Actually our 6 year old son is pretty easy to put to bed. It is the 3 year old daughter who is more challenging. Our nighttime routine consists of a video, timed so that it would end at 8:00. Then we all go upstairs. Here is where the inconsistencies are. We usually read books all together in our bedroom, say prayers, then bring the kids to each of their own rooms to go to sleep. But we don't always take the kids to their rooms. Sometimes, we let them sleep in our bed, usually when only one of us is home (ie, the other is working). We know that the inconsistency makes it difficult for our daughter to readily agree to sleep by herself, so we are working on routinely making her sleep in her own bed. It is just so tempting, for me particularly, to snuggle up to my babies when my husband is working late. I rationalize by telling myself that they are not going to be this small forever, and one day, they will not want to cuddle in bed with me. But at 2:30 in the morning, two hours before my alarm is going to go off, when I have cute little feet kicking me in the side, waking me up, I am reminded of why we want the children to sleep in their own beds. So for now, we send them to their own beds with much protesting, and save the snuggling for right before bed.
All the bedtime angst has also made it difficult for me to keep up with "Survivor: Cook Island." I watched the first episode, and half of last night's, and have just read the recaps of the other 2 episodes. I just realized last night that the groups were reshuffled, and no longer divided by race, which has made me lose some interest.
Getting ready for Halloween. Our son wants to be a dinosaur, which we are still looking for. Our daughter wants to be Spider Man -this from the little girl who insisted on buying the pink, sparkly princess shoes the other day, and whose favorite outfit is her Dora princess dress. Well, I can't complain that she is too girly, nor can I complain that she is a tomboy, can I?
Saturday, September 16, 2006
Please Take Away the Pain
I'm on call for OB today. This usually entails placing epidurals for laboring pregnant women and providing anesthesia if they need a c-section, whether it be epidural, spinal, or general anesthesia. Most anesthesiologists do not like covering OB. The patients are usually healthy patients who have high expectations for the arrival of their little ones. They, their families, and their nurses are often very demanding. This is in striking contrast to the rest of the patients in the hospital, who are often very sick, or dying, and appreciate the care we are providing. It is emotionally hard to work like h*ll to keep a patient barely alive after a car accident that comes in through the ER, then turn around and place an epidural in a whiny, whimpering, complaining, healthy female in labor. It's not that I don't appreciate what they are going through. I do. In fact I am one of only a few anesthesia providers at this hospital that has had epidurals placed in herself. I remember thinking to myself, "You want me to do WHAT while I am having the worst pain in my life? " when the anesthesiologist asked me to sit still AND curl around my baby like a shrimp. It was difficult. I know, ladies, I know. I have been there. I have felt your pain. Nonetheless, I do have a giant needle in your back, and any movement on your part is bad. I have told my patients that if they want me stop at any time, I will. If they feel that they can't sit still, they can ask me stop. Epidurals are, afterall, an elective procedure. In fact, one of my best friends had all 3 of her children without epidurals. Brave, huh?
Amidst all of my complaining about covering OB, I do like it. I am there for the special occasions of all these families. BabiesBabiesBabies! Little hands and little feet. I get to take part in a truly miraculous event. I am able to reminsice about the births of my own children, and remember how they were the two best days of my life, albeit the most painful days. And my ticket to these special events: I get to take away the pain.
Every so often, we are asked to provide epidurals to patients with a fetal demise; that is, a baby that has died in utero. Labor is difficult as it is, but to have to labor and deliver without the end result being a viable child is heartbreaking. In some ways, these epidurals are easier to place: the women are usually not in their 3rd trimester yet, so they are not big, and anatomically the placement is easier; they are not often in active labor, so the patients are less uncomfortable. But without a doubt, they are truly harder to do. I just placed one today. She was 23 weeks along, and had broken her water several days ago. The pediatricians and OBs had told her and her family today that the baby was not alive. She was induced, and later, she asked for an epidural. They called me, and I placed the epidural without any problem. Several hours later she delivered. I returned to remove the epidural, and I asked her if the epidural worked for her. She said yes. Instead of my usual series of follow-up questions about the delivery and the baby, I just told her how sorry I was for her loss. I wanted to give her a big hug and cry with her, but I didn't. I maintained my composure and gave her a slight smile. She thanked me, and I left.
This hadn't been my first fetal demise, but it was the most powerful one. This patient was truly sad, and the sadness enveloped everyone who walked into the room. Each one of us wished we could do something to help: her husband, mother, each of the nurses, and myself. And while I was able to provide her with a more comfortable labor, I was unable to take away her pain.
Amidst all of my complaining about covering OB, I do like it. I am there for the special occasions of all these families. BabiesBabiesBabies! Little hands and little feet. I get to take part in a truly miraculous event. I am able to reminsice about the births of my own children, and remember how they were the two best days of my life, albeit the most painful days. And my ticket to these special events: I get to take away the pain.
Every so often, we are asked to provide epidurals to patients with a fetal demise; that is, a baby that has died in utero. Labor is difficult as it is, but to have to labor and deliver without the end result being a viable child is heartbreaking. In some ways, these epidurals are easier to place: the women are usually not in their 3rd trimester yet, so they are not big, and anatomically the placement is easier; they are not often in active labor, so the patients are less uncomfortable. But without a doubt, they are truly harder to do. I just placed one today. She was 23 weeks along, and had broken her water several days ago. The pediatricians and OBs had told her and her family today that the baby was not alive. She was induced, and later, she asked for an epidural. They called me, and I placed the epidural without any problem. Several hours later she delivered. I returned to remove the epidural, and I asked her if the epidural worked for her. She said yes. Instead of my usual series of follow-up questions about the delivery and the baby, I just told her how sorry I was for her loss. I wanted to give her a big hug and cry with her, but I didn't. I maintained my composure and gave her a slight smile. She thanked me, and I left.
This hadn't been my first fetal demise, but it was the most powerful one. This patient was truly sad, and the sadness enveloped everyone who walked into the room. Each one of us wished we could do something to help: her husband, mother, each of the nurses, and myself. And while I was able to provide her with a more comfortable labor, I was unable to take away her pain.
Thursday, September 14, 2006
Season Premier of Survivor
As I wrote in a previous post, I am making an effort to watch Survivor this season. I'll probably post weekly thoughts on the show.
I enjoyed it tonight. I laughed at the little jabs that each group took at their own racial stereotype (ghetto, rice, paddling over on a raft, etc). However, I did expect a little more variety in the participants. (I did miss the first 10 minutes, so I may not have all my facts straight). For example, most of them seem young -20s -30s. There is the one old Vietnamese guy, and the one white guy who misses his wife and kids (Then why go, man? Why?). But other than that, all younglings. I recall wider range of ages back in the first season (wasn't Richard Hatch like 90? And what about the Navy Seal?). Age and generation has always been a great divider. Why not exploit it for entertainment purposes now? Maybe it is not that entertaining. Okay, well what about the statement by one of the black team members that they were all city slickers? Methinks there could have been more variety in picking that team - city mice versus country mice.
I thought they voted off the right person. He seemed pretty untrustworthy and useless.
There are 1.5 Filipinos on this show. Pretty cool.
Did anyone notice the blur on the one chick's crack? Not so cool.
Is anyone else watching this show??????
I enjoyed it tonight. I laughed at the little jabs that each group took at their own racial stereotype (ghetto, rice, paddling over on a raft, etc). However, I did expect a little more variety in the participants. (I did miss the first 10 minutes, so I may not have all my facts straight). For example, most of them seem young -20s -30s. There is the one old Vietnamese guy, and the one white guy who misses his wife and kids (Then why go, man? Why?). But other than that, all younglings. I recall wider range of ages back in the first season (wasn't Richard Hatch like 90? And what about the Navy Seal?). Age and generation has always been a great divider. Why not exploit it for entertainment purposes now? Maybe it is not that entertaining. Okay, well what about the statement by one of the black team members that they were all city slickers? Methinks there could have been more variety in picking that team - city mice versus country mice.
I thought they voted off the right person. He seemed pretty untrustworthy and useless.
There are 1.5 Filipinos on this show. Pretty cool.
Did anyone notice the blur on the one chick's crack? Not so cool.
Is anyone else watching this show??????
Sunday, September 03, 2006
Agassi Retires
Andre Agassi played his last professional match today. Although I didn't watch today, I saw his 2nd round match versus Baghdatis, and wow, was it exciting. I saw clips of today's match against Benjamin Becker (apparently no relation to Boris), and it looks like I missed a very emotional match.
So he is retiring. He is MY AGE. How depressing is that? Okay, he is a professional athlete, and has put his body through a lot more punishment than I ever have, and his career is dependent on top athletic performance. The differences are noted. Nonetheless, he gets to retire. I haven't even started my career. And he is retiring. Did I mention that he is retiring?
While I am sad to see him leave the game, I am happy for him and hope that he is able to look back with satisfaction on his successful career and enjoy his retirement. I think each of us wants to leave our careers having made some sort of mark. With his 60 career singles titles, 8 Grand Slams, and Olympic Gold medal, I think he has.
I remember when I was on the high school tennis team. One of my childhood friends and teammates went on a date with Andre while he was playing a local tournament. She told us that he was pretty cocky and self-absorbed, which I had believed ever since.
So he is retiring. He is MY AGE. How depressing is that? Okay, he is a professional athlete, and has put his body through a lot more punishment than I ever have, and his career is dependent on top athletic performance. The differences are noted. Nonetheless, he gets to retire. I haven't even started my career. And he is retiring. Did I mention that he is retiring?
While I am sad to see him leave the game, I am happy for him and hope that he is able to look back with satisfaction on his successful career and enjoy his retirement. I think each of us wants to leave our careers having made some sort of mark. With his 60 career singles titles, 8 Grand Slams, and Olympic Gold medal, I think he has.
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