Pediatrics and the Holidays

I can't believe how quickly my last rotation went. I started pediatrics on December 6th and ended on January 14th. I, like many students before me, was sick the entire six week rotation. Every child with a virus was kind enough to share it with me! Farley and I were very busy during this rotation because of the holidays. It was the first time that we had been away from our families for the holidays and it was difficult, but at least we had each other.

Right after Thanksgiving, Farley and I went down to Macy's to see the Christmas Windows. I know that the picture isn't the greatest, but here are a few of the "Miracle on 34th Street" windows at Macy's.

A couple weeks after going to Macy's to look at windows, we decided to go to 5th ave and look at the windows there. We got off the subway near Central Park West and took a picture of the park:

This is the famous Plaza Hotel on 5th Ave. I don't think the picture does the hotel justice. It was beautifully decorated for Christmas.
These are some windows from Bergdorf Goodman:


We looked at the windows at many of the other famous department stores on 5th Ave, but I couldn't get pictures of the windows because there were so many people in front of them. Also, some of the stores had lines to wait in to look at the windows, but the lines were at least a block long (most were longer) and we didn't want to wait that long.

The next pictures is a snow flake decoration on 5th Ave between the skyscrapers.
Some decorations on the storefronts!

This is Cartier's and it is my favorite decorated store that we saw! I love the lighted bow.
I insisted that we go into St. Patrick's Cathedral so I could see the Christmas decorations.
Here is a close up of the alter and the Advent wreath.
This is the manger in St. Patrick's and because it was before Christmas, Jesus isn't there yet.
We were standing near 5th Ave looking toward Rockefeller Center.

We were closer to the ice skating rink at Rockefeller Center. It was so busy!


I think that the toy solders are very cute at Rockefeller Center:

Swarovski crystal make the tree topper at Rockefeller Center and they made two toppers: one on the tree and one that you can look at. It is so tall!

We walked all the way from 57th ave to 34th and over to Bryant Park. They had great shops in Bryant Park. Farley and I did some Christmas shopping there and here is a picture of the Christmas Tree at the Park, near the ice skating rink.
We decorated a little at our little apartment. I took this picture a few weeks before Christmas. By Christmas, we had more presents and cards that filled up our unconventional Christmas Decorations/Entertainment Center.
We had one heck of a tree!
Our lovely stockings!

On Christmas Eve, Farley and I decided to go into Manhattan and walk around. We also rented movies and I made lasagna. It was yummy! We had a great time watching movies and we watched Midnight Mass from the Vatican. Mom and I always watch Midnight Mass, so it was nice that Farley watched with him even though he isn't Catholic. My family always opens presents late on Christmas Eve (we usually finish right before Midnight Mass). so it was strange to me to open presents on Christmas Day. We had a nice brunch after opening presents and talking to our families. Then we watched another movie and we had steak for dinner (because prime rib was just too expensive and the cuts of meat were too big for just the two of us). The Blizzard hit NYC on the 26th. There was about two feet of snow and much of the city was shut down for days. I managed to get to the hospital for my pediatric ER shifts because the two trains I needed were running with delays. Others, however, were not so lucky. It was a mess. They didn't pick up garbage for almost two weeks (I think they pick up 5 days a week at our complex). There were stacks of garbage about 3-4 feet high, but at least it was cold out and it wasn't stinky. They managed to clean up Times Square for New Years Eve and Farley and I decided to go down for an hour just to have seen it. I am glad we went, but it was cold. You are corralled so that the police can search everyone and keep control. You can't leave your spot once you get it or you loose it and you may have to go through security again. We couldn't even see the ball, which is all I wanted to see, but it is okay. Here are some pictures:

We walked up to 57th near Central Park to catch the train. I took a few picture of the buildings near Central Park (the first is a picture of the CNN building, but I moved and it is blurry), the second is of the park.

We went back to Times Square on January 1st. Here are pictures of the 2011 sign: one is a close up and the second is a picture of the whole building.

I was sad not to be at home with my family for Christmas, but Farley and I had a great time. I am glad that we had each other. I was disappointed with pediatrics rotation, but I still think I want to become a pediatrician. There were so many students at the hospital where I did my pediatrics core rotation and I think that the doctors didn't have enough time to teach us as much as I was hoping for. Also, the hospital did not have a pediatric intensive care unit (PICU), so any really sick child had to be transferred to another hospital. I don't want to sound cold, because I don't like seeing any sick children, but I want to learn and being exposed to really sick children is one way that medical professionals learn about pediatrics. I am doing a pediatric infectious disease rotation in February and I am looking forward to working with more children and being in a PICU.

Surgery is Finished!

Friday was my last day of surgery.  I have got to admit, I was a bit excited.  It wasn't my favorite rotation and I am lucky enough to start the core rotation that I've been looking forward to the most: Pediatrics.  We had our final exam in surgery on Wednesday and I submitted my last paper on Thursday evening.  I started reading my pediatrics text book on Friday.  I was so excited to finally be reading pediatrics!  However, the first few chapters were a bit depressing.  It was a lot of epidemiology and statistics.  There was a lot of data about how babies, children and adolescents die, their illnesses, the rates of assault and rape, abuse and statistics about the foster care system.  Nonetheless, I am still excited about pediatrics.

Saturday, we went to Brooklyn to have brunch with our friend Tam, and her boyfriend.  It was nice to meet him and see some other people from school who we haven't seen since leaving the island.  Then we went to Union Square and did a little shopping before heading home for a few hours.  Later int he evening, we met with up with Farley's good friend Paul.  Of course, we went to Farley's favorite restaurant in New York: The Heartland Brewery.  We had a great time.

Sunday, we went out to Long Island to find the hospital that Farley will be doing his pediatric rotation.  Unfortunately, we are not at the same hospital for this rotation and it is a bit of a commute for Farley.  However, the area is super nice and I think he will have a really great rotation--probably even better than the hospital that I am going to do my rotation at.  We were planning on going down to Rockefeller Center and seeing the tree as well as going to 5th Ave to look at the Christmas windows, but we were both coming down with colds and it was windy and nasty out so we decided to do our looking around Manhattan next weekend.  I stopped and grabbed some Christmas decorations on the way home, but we still do not have a tree.  I found one that I liked, but Farley thought it was too small.  We could easily get a real tree, but I am allergic and they are a lot of clean up so we are trying to find something small (but big enough) and fake.  As of right now, we have some evergreen garland with silver and red beads and lights over the gigantic entertainment center in our living room (I am not kidding you, this thing is the biggest thing in the apartment).  We also have our Christmas stockings hung on the drawers of the gigantic entertainment center.  Maybe I'll take some pictures of it and post them later

Thanksgiving in New York City

Luckily, both Farley and I had Thanksgiving off.  We decided since we couldn't go home to our families, we would have our own full fledged Thanksgiving dinner.  We had one friend over to enjoy the meal with us.  We made turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, yams, green beans, baking-soda biscuits, cranberries and pumpkin pie.  Here are some pictures:

Farley expertly carving the turkey.

Farley and I finishing up last minute things to get dinner on the table.

Our Thanksgiving feast!  We did a good job!

My yummy plate!

Farley was extra lucky and he didn't have to go to the hospital on Friday, but our friend and I had to.  I was in the Operating Room on Friday and observed three surgeries and got to scrub into one of them.  A little before 11:30, one of the attending physicians dismissed us for the day.  I was so excited to get home early, but on the board was a baby surgery.  One of my friends and I decided to stay and watch the surgery.  The chief resident said that one of us could probably scrub in, but I was afraid to ask the pediatric surgeon.  Besides, during pediatric surgeries the OR is kept at about 85 degrees, and on top of that you have the surgical lights and the baby's incubator.  It must have been well over 90 degrees  where they were performing surgery and on top of all of that, they have to wear the gowns, masks and gloves (which are very warm).  I think I might have passed out with all that heat (which is rather funny since I am always cold in the OR). This baby was pretty little, but thankfully, the surgery wasn't for anything life threatening.  It was interesting to see the differences in the surgical technique for the baby and for adults with the same problem.  The basics were the same, but there were some differences.  It was really amazing to be able to see this surgery.  It wasn't just my friend and I who wanted to see this surgery.  At one point, there were 7 people from anesthesiology (2 attendings, 4 residents, and one technician) 3 people from neonatology (1 neonatologist, 2 nurses), one attending pediatric surgeon, one chief surgical resident, four surgery students, and two surgical nurses.  Yup, that is 18 people for one little baby!  She was in good hands!  I am happy to report, the surgery went well.  I am so excited to start my pediatric rotation--one more week!

Saturday, Farley needed to go into Manhattan.  I took a couple pictures of the Macy's Flagship store in Herald Square.  I suspect it was a madhouse in there, but we just looked at the windows, which were amazing, but the pictures did not turn out well so I decided not to post them.  The theme was Miracle on 34th Street and the windows had moving people from the scenes as well as a window of the Macy's Day Parade.

One of the main entrances with with "Believe" sign above a big Christmas Tree.

The Empire State Building with the "Believe" sign and the big tree from Macy's in the foreground.

After finishing up at Macy's we went to Union Square.  We have heard for a while that there is a Barnes and Nobles with an entire floor of medical text books.  I was under the impression that it was somewhere in Brooklyn, but I found out this week that is is just two blocks form Union Square!  We have go to through (underground) Union Square to get to the hospital daily and we often go there on the weekend because there is so much to do and it is only about 25 minutes from home.  Needless to say, Farley and I were like kids in a candy store with thousands of medical textbooks to peruse!  We both bought books for our pediatrics rotations, which we start December 6th!

November Update

I think this Surgery rotation is slowly killing me, which is why I am glad I am only two weeks away from completing it. The last few weeks have been stressful at the hospital, not because of the workload or the hours, but because some of the students have been behaving badly (not showing up, not checking on their patients, etc.) and so I have been doing everything in my power to show that I am NOT one of those students by my work. That isn't the worst part. The worst part was that I ended up having to report something to hospital administration. I knew it was the right thing to do, but I did not want to be put in this position and I did not want to have to do it. Needless to say, that added level of stress has made me want to be done with this rotation.

Last week, a friend from the rotation and I went to see the Addams Family on Broadway. I wish I would have taken some pictures but I did not! It wasn't the best written play, but I really enjoyed it. When I was 6 and Grandma Ruth was dying from cancer, I remember getting to stay up late to watch Nick and Night with Mom and Grandma. I loved watching the Addams Family. I was so excited to see the play with Nathan Lane as Gomez Addams and Bebe Neuwirth as Morticia Addams. I was so star struck when the curtains came up and there were Nathan Lane and Bebe Neuwirth! They were amazing. The play was good, but I could see how it got mixed reviews as the songs weren't that catchy (although performed amazingly---the cast was awesome) and the second act wasn't well written at all. However, it was extremely funny and I enjoyed it tremendousness. If you made a $500.00 donation to an AIDS organization, you could go back stage and get your picture taken with Nathan and Bebe (and autographs!). I would have LOVED to have met them and done that, but I don't have $500.00 and it was only a polaroid. I think for $500.00, they could print you up a digital picture, but I guess it was for charity.

This weekend, one of my best friends in the world came to town: Mary. She has only been to the Big Apple when she was a child, so I wanted to show her around a bit. Her fiance lived in New York for four years while finishing his Master's Degree at Colombia. He had lunch with us, but he had friends to visit and wasn't as interested in doing the touristy things, so I took over. We only had about 5 hours together, which obviously isn't enough! Farley and I met her at Union Square, which was having an outdoor craft fare, and we went to Strand Bookstore, which is a local bookstore that has "18 Miles of Books". Farley and I both bough used books, but Mary had just received a handful of books from her soon to be sister and brother-in-law who own a bookstore in New Jersey. After hitting up the bookstore, we headed to Farley's favorite restaurant, The Heartland Brewery. Basically, he refuses to go anywhere else, but the food is good and the prices are reasonable. Next we divided and Mary's fiancée left with his cousin to do some shopping while Farley and I took Mary to Times Square. Here are some pictures!

Farley and I in Times Square near 43rd Street

Mary and I in Times Square near 43rd Street

Radio City Music Hall decorated for Christmas and the Rockettes!

Mary near the Rainbow Room--She needed a picture as she has been watching lots of 30 Rock.

Technically the tree is up in Rockefeller Center, but it isn't decorated yet.

The tiny ice skating rink at Rockefeller Center, but it looks much bigger on T.V. and in this photo

Some Christmas decorations are amongst the plants at Rockefeller Center. Can you see the giant snow flakes?

Atlas at Rockefeller Center, who faces St. Patrick's Cathedral.

I have never taken a picture of the organ at St. Patrick's Cathedral. It is so beautiful and it is huge. Today was the first time I have gone behind the main alter to see the Lady Chapel, but they ask that no photograph is taken in that area of the Cathedral.

After finishing up at The Cathedral of St Patrick, we headed to the New York Public Library and Bryant Park. I didn't get to take any picture of the library, but it is a sight to be seen. It is a huge marble building that looks more like a museum than a library. Granted, we got there close to closing time and didn't have time to explore, but the first floor didn't have books but rather an exhibit of rare books. It was the Three Faiths exhibition: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. There were Holy books from all three faith traditions that were hundreds, if not thousand, of years old. It was amazing. They had the pages open to parts where all three faith traditions were discussing the same story or topic, for example Abraham. Obviously, we couldn't take pictures, but it was amazing. Click here for the link to the website where you can see pictures of the exhibit. After finishing up in the museum, we headed out back (literally Bryant park is like the New York City Library's back yard). Bryant Park had the ice skating rink up and it also had Holiday Shops (the crafts at Union Square were super cool, but if I had more extra spending money, I could have spend a LOT of cash at the Christmas sale in Bryant Park. It was amazing stuff!).

Ice Skating rink at Bryant Park. It doesn't look that big, but I think it is bigger than the one at Rockefeller Center and it is free unlike Rockefeller center.

A picture of the shops at Bryant Park. I think the shops are up all season and they have some beautiful, creative and really amazing gifts. The white building in the background is the New York Public Library.

The Chrysler Building--Dad's favorite building. He doesn't think it gets the attention it deserves, so I decided to take a picture and post it for him. Here you go Dad!