My busy is pretty steady, the list of things to do is never ending. Literally, take studying for example. Will. Never. End. As our program is officially under review now, rules are being enforced that have never been checked before. No one cared if you had a day off or not, in fact the majority of your days off it was assumed and expected you would still be at the hospital to round anyways. One Saturday morning a while back, a medicine resident had to ask me to translate when she noticed that our typical greeting amongst each other was along the lines of something like the following, "Hey Suzie, how's it going? Are you here?" "No I'm not here today. Are you here?" "No, I'm not here either. I'm here tomorrow." "Do you know who is here today?" and so on and so forth... But at the same time no one was holding a gun to our heads. No one was bribing us. We were there everyday and all day not because we were forced to or required to, but quite honestly it is the culture. Taking responsibility of your patients and operating as much as possible requires the extra effort and hours. May I even venture to say that we want to be there. Now trying to change that culture is a bit painful. I got in trouble yesterday when my program director found out that I don't have a day off this week. I explained to him that I'm on call twice and when I'm not on call, my intern is gone at a conference, and since we are a two person team, I then have to be at the hospital. I had no problem with this schedule. Our service and our patients would have appropriate 24/7 coverage despite my interns external circumstances. I honestly have no problem with having a day off when it is acceptable and scheduled, but forcing someone else to cover patients that are new and/or unknown to them is not a fair or safe way to have a day off.
And believe me, I can enjoy a day off! In fact, I had a whole weekend off this past one and I celebrated by escaping. No studying, no books, no iPad, just getting away for the sake of getting away and exploring new adventures!
I went to the Adventure Park in Storrs, CT with Kate and Emily Walder and Laura Schneider.
After the Adventure Park I went up to Vermont and hid away in the mountains staying with a kind lady who lets out her daughter's old room on airbnb. It was a converted old barn with no toilet, rather an outhouse for our use. The kind of place that only Amanda V. would be unhindered by the idea of visiting. And that's exactly where you could find us Saturday night. And even Sunday morning, our hostess let Amanda and I each use a fresh filter and her organic grounds for a cup of coffee, then taking our discards for her own cup of coffee.
Amanda and I hiking in Vermont.
Sunset from Mt. Putney.
Sunset from Mt. Putney.
Sunrise from the barn windows!
No explanation needed!
Looking out the front door.
The cozy kitchen!
Here's to days off well earned and well spent!
Much Love!
