First rotation of intern year is done!!

I survived my first rotation of intern year. And it actually turned out to be a lot of fun – a lot of hard work, but an enjoyable time. My last day was Friday and then I got the weekend off, and I am still trying to recover from the sleep lost these last 4 weeks. But this month I had reinforced to me the desire I have to pursue a surgical career in dermatology. I absolutely love doing procedures. And I have had so much practice this month with sewing (suturing).

This week I was on overnight call Sunday to Monday and then again from Thursday to Friday. We saw a lot of patients this week and I got to help operate on many. I saw surgeries to take out the appendix and the gallbladder; to fix hernias (groin, umbilical, incisional); to & to remove breast cancers and skin melanomas. The melanoma surgeries were really cool for me because I got to focus in on things that I can apply for the rest of my career. The doctor I worked with even said I could do one of my elective months with him in order to see the whole process during an entire month. I am seriously thinking about doing it in order to learn as much as I can about melanoma and in order to get as many chances as possible to practice suturing.

I had a really busy call night Thursday – I think I only slept (really it was more dozed) for about 10 minutes. While we were interviewing a patient in the ER who needed her appendix out, I got a routine page. I called back and they said that one of our patients, who had just gone for a CT scan, was having lots of trouble breathing & her oxygen levels were only in the 60% (normal is great than 90%). I rushed upstairs and just as I got there they had paged for the MET (a team that rushes to help with patients that are acutely critically ill) team to come help her. She was already on a 15L non-rebreather mask (lots of oxygen) but her oxygen levels still weren’t coming up & you could tell that she was tiring from breathing so fast. She was rushed down to the ICU were they proceeded to intubate her (put her to sleep & put a breathing tube down her throat). Her pressures dropped & she needed some IV medicine to help keep those up. Needless to say, she is quite sick right now. I am really glad that this happened during the day time when there were so many people to help out, and not to me while on call during the night. It did show to me how you have to think fast in those types of situations in order to get the best care for that acutely sick patient. I am now off service and won’t be able to see how that patient does – I hope she does ok.

I got home Friday around 9:30am and was so tired from not having slept the night before. Steph was so thoughtful & took the boys to the park & lunch so that I could sleep. I did so until around 4pm, & I felt much better, though not all the way caught up on my sleep. Steph said she & the boys had a lot of fun playing at the park with Mel, Jaden, & Kyler.

Since Friday was the last day of my first rotation, and also payday, we decided to go out and celebrate. We splurged a little & had dinner at Red Lobster. Steph & I both ordered dishes with combinations of lobster, crab, & shrimp. Both of our dinners were really good – I especially liked the crab, and Steph’s favorite was the garlic shrimp. We got the boys some popcorn shrimp and had a really enjoyable evening.

Saturday I went to Lagoon with my dad, Annette, and Mindy. They stopped by the house first to say hello to the rest of the family. We had so much fun at the park. We were able to go on all the larger rides several times and spend some time at Lagoona Beach. My favorite rides were Spider, Wicked, Colossus, Blast-off & Reentry. But by far my favorite thing to do was the Sky Coaster. This is where you are strapped into a vest & then with 1 or 2 other people are pulled by a cable from the ground up 150 feet (with your face & front of body parallel to the ground & the cable pulling you up from behind). Then when they tell you to go, you pull the release cord & drop the 150 feet (60 of that free fall) while arcing down & back up several times. It was the coolest feeling in the world – makes me want to try skydiving. :) Thanks dad, Annette, and Mindy for the really fun day, and thanks Steph for staying with the boys & letting me go to enjoy the day – I really appreciate it.

This morning Dad, Annette, and Mindy came to church with us. It was fun having my dad there with me in priesthood meeting and then everyone together for Sunday school & sacrament meeting. In priesthood the lesson was on strict obedience to the Lord & His commandments, and how that will gain us eternal life, which is a gift far greater than any that we might obtain on earth by not following the commandments. Then in Sunday school we talked about conversion and why it is so important that we become converted to Christ & His atonement & gospel. We also learned that just because you are a faithful follower of Christ, that doesn’t mean that your life will not still be full of trials and difficulties. It is through those experiences that we can be made stronger, and hopefully they will help us to humble ourselves & look to the Lord for help to succeed despite the difficulty of the journey. Those who spoke in sacrament meeting focused on lessons we can learn from our pioneer heritage and things we can do to pass that legacy on to future generations. It was all so good.

Well, dad and the girls just left after eating lunch & playing some games with our boys. That was so much fun having them here. Can’t wait to hang out some more hopefully soon. The boys are all down for naps and now we get to enjoy a relaxing Sunday afternoon. I start my rheumatology elective tomorrow for the next 4 weeks, so that should be such a nicer schedule – Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, & Friday (though this next week is just Monday & Tuesday due to the 24th of July holiday). And Steph’s mom & brother Matthew are coming tonight for the week, so that should be a lot of fun to see them and enjoy the week together.