Been told and Overheard

Here are a few funny things that I've been told or over heard the last few weeks

• A 6 year old boy on the subway declared that the next stop was "Monster Ave." His dad corrected him and said "Montrose Ave." The little boy replied, "Nope Dad the lady on the train (announcer) said 'Monster Ave' and I am sure it is 'Monster Ave' because that is where school is"
• I asked a 97-year-old patient of mine if she had any children and she replied, "I only had fun, Honey."
• The day my 97-year-old patient was being discharged, I went to say goodbye. It was especially hot in the hospital that day and she had her blankets off. As I was leaving the room, I noticed that her hospital gown was a little high so I came adjusted it. I said something about how I better pull this down a few inches so she doesn't flash the hallway. She said, "Nope, I can't flash people anymore, but it sure used to be fun!"
• During a lecture on antibiotics, a professor said this: "It's like two fat guys trying to get through the same door: it isn't going to happen. You need two doors."
• One of this professor's favorite lines is "You can't kill the gators unless you drain the swamp." I think he enjoyed his time the University of Miami (Hurricanes) trying to beat University of Florida (Gators) too much.
• The best this thing this professor said in all of our surgery lectures: "In Miami in the 1980s, we used ceftriaxone and doxycycline for STDs. Everybody was getting an STD. We still use ceftriaxone and doxycycline to treat STDs--and everyone in Miami is still getting STDs."

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!