Whoosh

I'm quite surprised how quickly the past month has flew by. One minute, we were quivering over the thought of being doctors, and the next, we're bitching about unsupportive staff or talking about how that nurse who's the epitome of Florence Nightingale. And all the while, we've been slowly integrated into a system and life that we've barely begun to comprehend. Scary?

Hell yeah.

I've been told a few times that I'll always remember my first patient, the one person who'll stick in my mind until the last days of my career. And funnily enough, I have no recollection whatsoever about the first person I could've considered to be a patient of mine. It's probably 'cause I've been clerking and examining patients since medical school. And it could probably be also due to the fact that the main concerns I had during my first week of work revolved around the location of blood forms and the radiology department and various other bits and pieces that are among the more important things for a house officer to be aware about.

This past month has also changed my attitude towards pagers. It used to be rather exciting to have one as a medical student. Now, I wish I could just chuck it in the bin whenever I feel like it. Whenever I get a bleep, the first thing that comes to mind is 'What have I done?!', followed by 'What the hell do they want now?'. I now make it a point to switch off the darn thing every evening after being accidentally bleeped one night at 2am.

Another sad thing I've noticed is that whenever I look at a person's hands, the first thing that comes to mind is whether or not s/he has a good set of veins for cannulation. I can just imagine Sweetie shaking her head at me in pity. I'd do the same if I was a non-medic.

A prayer for those who were affected by Katrina. Hopefully this will serve to remind President Bush that he should rethink his country's policy of wanting to pull out of the Kyoto agreement (along with the other 749 amendments that the Americans wanted from the UN that were more or less rather selfish demands) and do more to help our planet's long-term survival. We've been experiencing some rather weird weather patterns throughout the globe recently, although thankfully Carlisle has been spared so far. Fingers crossed!

The main question in my mind at the moment though is this : to buy or not to buy?