Yo estoy morado.

I spoke too soon last post when I said I was impressed with WMC.  And that confusion I mentioned…..well, it blew up into full-blown hullabalo on Thursday.  I was assigned to a thoracic case Thursday and then by sticking with the same chief resident I got in on a second case with him.  Both times I got P.I.M.P.ed (Put In My Place) by the attending.  Some attendings do and some don’t but basically you just get asked a lot of questions, and I was on a roll Thursday.  Was the first time in a long time that I felt like I actually knew something.  I even impressed the attending a couple of times.  So I was having a really good Thursday.  But then...when I got out of the second case I had 4 voicemails and an email.  All from my program director, his secretary for NYMC and his secretary for my program.  All wondering where I was at.  Apparently he had called the SICU to check up on me, and when they reported having no clue who I was, they were under the impression that I was not showing up for my elective.  I will spare specific details, but since then I have been making phone calls and setting up meetings.  Multiple attendings were involved even the Director of the Department of Surgery.  Like a said…one big hullabalo.  I would have loved to crawl under a rock and hide.  Positive way to look at all this is that now they’ve all seen my face, in a way been forced to talk to me, and now are more likely to remember me.  Negative way to look at all this is that they will forever remember my face as the girl that caused trouble.  I’m probably making this sound much worse than it actually was.  My program director I think could have been much harder on me, but was probably just so relieved to find out that I had actually been at the hospital all day, everyday that he just sort of shook his finger at me and told me not to let it happen again (in his own gruff way).  By the time I left on Friday things had calmed down.  I am now relocated for my last week of SICU/TICU actually in the SICU/TICU and with the correct corresponding team.

I was a bit thankful to leave the hospital today.  Thankful that stuff got figured out.  Thankful my new team was accepting of me as a random add-on.  All except for one resident who’s a bit excessively Type A.  Although shortly after I joined the team the attending actually made this resident cry while on rounds.  She had to excuse herself for a good 20 minutes.  She didn’t make eye contact with me after that, so perhaps she’s just a bit embarrassed, but she needn’t be.  It was just a reminder of what I’m in for. 

I have stayed all week at Kevin and Cheryl Ryan’s apartment.  It’s about 4 miles from Westchester Medical Center (where my elective is at).  At the beginning of the week I kind of enjoyed having an air-conditioned place for a change.  But after a week of freezing both at work and then again when I get home; I walked into my nicely unair-conditioned apartment Friday evening and it feels sooooo good. Friday while working with a PA to do a dressing change he looked at me and asked:
PA: Are you blushing?
Me: No, I'm probably just purple right now, because I'm cold.
PA: Ok...., I was wondering why you looked purple......Do you have Raynaud's?
Me: Probably....just not diagnosed.

You know, patients have always been understanding when I apologize about my cold hands, but I really wonder how often they actually understand or if they're just being polite.
What's your talent?  Me?  My skin changes colors to match the temperature of the environment.

One of the patients up on the floor this past week nicknamed me Sunshine.  If he didn't see me when the team rounded he'd first ask, "Where's Sunshine?" then once he saw that I was there he'd answer the chief resident/attending's questions.  Mrs. Finck would be proud!

Hasta!