Saturday, June 27, 2009

Welcome to internship

I started internship with one of the most demanding and scary rotations of the year. I get there at 5pm Monday thru Thursday and have 6 people hand me lists of patients that will be my responsibility for the next 14 hours (24 on Sunday starting at 7am). I carry 6 pagers that go off relentlessly all night with people looking to me for answers. And whenever there is a neurosurgery, plastics or urology consult in the emergency department I am in charge of the initial history and physical. I pretty much spend the night terrified. One day last week I went 24 hours without eating because I was too busy/exhausted. This week I have taken care of, among others, a murderer, a baby with an unexplained head bleed, a couple who rolled their car on vacation, a lady with a softball sized brain tumor, more people with appendicitis than I care to count and a man with the worst aortic dissection I've ever seen. But the beauty of this rotation is that when I leave on Friday morning at 7am I don't have to be back until Sunday morning at 7am. Days off rock!

My residency class is simply amazing. We are going to be a pretty close group. There is rarely a day when just one of us has the day off, so I was able to find a hiking buddy for today. My classmate Kirsten and I went up to Rocky Mountain National Park for a couple hours.








Other awesome things about Denver:

-My bike commute is great. It's mostly on a bike path that runs under the city. Looks like this:



Except when it rains. Because then the whole path turns into a whitewater rapid. I need to get a kayak for those days...

- I have family here. My brother Carey came up last weekend and installed a doggie door for us (our house kind of resembles a dog kennel). Then he had me over for a wonderful dinner. Bonus!

- Roger is coming next weekend! Going to Red Rocks for a concert and then I'm trying to decide between hiking and whitewater rafting for next Saturday. Can't wait! Just have to survive 80 hours of work in the next 5 days and then I'm good to go!

(*training is going to be a bit low this month, but there will be good months, I'm sure!)

10 comments:

D said...

I was just looking at your pics on facebook. Looks just beautiful! Glad you're getting out and enjoying it and not completely run off your feet at the end of the week.
Super happy that Roger will be there with you next weekend too. Have so much fun!
Oh, and thanks for being a doctor :)

Maggs said...

I LOVE concerts at Red Rocks. I can't count the # of times I almost got kicked out of college for sneaking out to see a concert there (I went to the Air Force Academy...so there were rules about staying out all night...or even just going out during the week).

Have fun in Colorado. It's beautiful there.

Kate said...

I love Colorado- such a great place for you! Gorgeous bike trail!

triguyjt said...

sounds exciting..and of course it looks awesome!!!

glad you are fitting in..slowly but surely

Wes said...

Awesome, Jodi! The thought of doing a job like yours scares ME :-) Keep up the good work...

Steve Stenzel said...

Great pics!! Wow!

And good luck with that rotation! That sounds NUTS!!!

ADC said...

Wow, your life seems so interesting. I am kind of imagining you on the set of Grey's Anatomy :)

Smithposts... said...

You are awesome to choose such a challenging path! Nice pics, I have Colorado envy!

Bob Almighty said...

Good luck with residency, or as my dad who was a medic for 23 years used to say..."everyday in the ER is an adventure."

Also I'm a little jealous Colorado looks beautiful.

Rachel said...

Wow! You're already on your internship? Time flies. Colorado looks beautiful. Gorgeous pics.