Final days...

I just realized that this is probably the last post that I will ever write about a day in medical school, since next week is my last week ever as a med student. This month is an elective for me, and I ended up on neurology and cardiology thanks to waiting until the last minute to pick something (let's face it, at this point in my medical school career and pregnancy, I'm pretty much just ready to be done so did I care? Not really). I actually did put a little thought into it, since both cardio and neuro should help me as an ER resident, but my super prego self just kind of wanted an easy rotation (not cardio or neuro, but oh well).

My first two weeks on neurology were actually pretty great. I didn't get done early most days (an end-of-fourth-year med student's main goal) but I did learn a lot of useful information, saw some interesting cases, and enjoyed working with the quirky-fun neurologists. Then I started cardiology yesterday, which did not go so well. I was in the cath lab, which is pretty interesting when it involves MI treatment, stent placements, etc. but most definitely not when it comes to ablations (I didn't even know until yesterday that a cardiac electrophysiology fellowship existed and let me tell you, it is not for me). The first case was 6 hours long - and that 6 hours mostly involved watching multiple computer screens while looking for an electrical focus that was causing thousands of PVCs in a patient. I should also mention that I was wearing close to 20 pounds of lead protective gear due to the radiation used during the ablation. I really wasn't too keen on being in the room at all, but I was assured by the physician that it was "no big deal" and by the nurses that "all our babies have turned out ok so far" (that kind of reassurance makes me a little nervous). Anyways, 20 pounds of lead + 20+ pounds of baby/prego weight = a lot of discomfort. Of course I also forgot to wear my support hose yesterday (worse.decision.ever). The first 6 hour case made me think about what it would feel like to watch paint dry. Furthermore, when the cardiologist finally thought he fixed the guy (and I was breathing a hundred sighs of relief) he started having PVCs again. Funny part was that the cardiologist was going on about how the "world-renowned facility" that the guy had gone to before for an ablation failed (also happens to be the institution where I'm going for residency, but I didn't tell him that) but he was personally able to fix the guy due to his "100% success rate" (cardiologists are very modest people) right when the PVCs started up again. At that point I decided that the baby and I had enough (the baby hated the lead by the way - he was kicking up against that silly lead apron like there was no tomorrow) and headed down for lunch and a short siesta in our student lounge. I texted Stephen about how miserable I was (misery loves company) and his advice was to leave, but the overachiever in me just couldn't do it....well, until 5 p.m. rolled around.

As you can see from the above picture, baby is growing like wildfire. Lately I've had my normal scrub pants rolled way down below my belly and haven't even attempted my normal scrub top (the size large that I am wearing apparently has arms cut for a linebacker but is definitely more bump-friendly). The last few days I've been a little 'snappy' as Stephen puts it and I've been getting annoyed by all the peeps staring at my bump. I texted Stephen the scrub-bump picture right after I had texted him that "I can't believe all these people staring at my stomach, haven't they seen a pregnant belly before? And it's not even that big!" Stephen never replied to that, since I realized the irony in my words when I took another look at the picture. The nurses I'm working with keep saying how they can't believe I'm 36 weeks, blah blah, I don't look pregnant from behind [what does that mean anyways] etc.; I don't really believe it but I appreciate their attempts at making me feel better about my large self.

So there you have it, my last post about a day in medical school...a little bittersweet maybe, but mostly just sweet.