Saturday, September 23, 2006
Our home
Just wanted to show you our home, now that its all furnished. Nicole's mom and dad gave us a lot of our furniture, and my mom and dad gave us a projector for our home theater! Come visit us anytime!
Sunday, September 17, 2006
What have I been up to lately...
This past month has been an easier month. This is my "consult" month - where I get to work regular hours M-F, no overnight call, no weekends. I have been on the GI consult service, which is a specialty that I'm interested in. Its been good - we see people with GI bleeds, trouble swallowing, abdominal pain, diarrhea, liver and pancreas problems, and more. They have cool "toys" to play with, mainly the "scopes": colonoscopy and upper endoscopy. At first glance, yes, its sounds gross sticking a plastic hose up someone's ass - who would want to do that? But its kinda cool, like a video game. In one hand you have the controls, which feels like a complex airplane joystick. Your other hand is, well, sticking the plastic hose up someone's ass. There's not much poop, since the patient is supposed to take a strong laxative to clean out their colon before the procedure. And while you're in, you can look for any problems, use tools to remove polyps or get biopsies, and even in the stomach use things like lasers and rubber bands to stop bleeding. You can even get near the liver and pancreas and use ultrasound, or even xrays while you're in to remove gallstones or get biopsies.
I've also had a 2 week vacation this month, which quickly came and went. I had a fantastic time, going back to Atlanta to see some old friends and visit the old school. Got to hang with Ben at a Falcons game and played some tennis with him, and met up for dinner and drinks with my good med school friends Shveta, Dinesh, Dorothy, Mariano, Pei and Alice. Got to see Nicole's aunt Carey and her kids Warner and Kate and their cute golden retrievers, though it was sad to hang out there without Steve (Nicole's uncle who recently passed away).
Then I came back to North Carolina, where my parents visited Nicole and I for a long weekend. We went for some good dim-sum, showed them around the city and where I work, and they even outfitted our 'home theatre' with a new projector!
And then I went to Long Island with Nicole, to hang out with her mom and Francis out in their summer home. It is in Orient, the far eastern (not the "far east") part of Long Island, where its covered by miles of vineyards and fresh farmstands. The house, which is old and rustic with an outdoor shower, has a view of the bay, which is gorgeous. We ate and drank and just lounged around.
Nicole has worked the last 2 months up here in North Carolina, doing some elective rotations as part of her PA schooling. And she just finished a week of vacation as well, and is now back in Atlanta to finish up school. She graduates December 9, and will officially be a Physician Assistant by then, and my sugar momma. I'm sad she's not here... =(
Other cool updates --
- Jenny just found out she is pregnant! Jenny and Jeff, along with Tyler who's almost 3 is expecting their second!
- Amy just started at University of Florida and is loving it!
- I heard Bryan is trying out for American Idol. He's got the look, cuz he looks a lot like Clay Aiken
Alex and Sarah, our neighboring twins. Alex is an ER resident at UNC, and Sarah is a PhD grad from UF. We live in the same neighborhood, and yes, girls dig the Asians guys.
Ben and Jen! Ben is fomer Braves' lawn boy, Atlanta Hawks administrator, sports agent, now successful real estate agent. Jen is a 6th grade teacher!
I've also had a 2 week vacation this month, which quickly came and went. I had a fantastic time, going back to Atlanta to see some old friends and visit the old school. Got to hang with Ben at a Falcons game and played some tennis with him, and met up for dinner and drinks with my good med school friends Shveta, Dinesh, Dorothy, Mariano, Pei and Alice. Got to see Nicole's aunt Carey and her kids Warner and Kate and their cute golden retrievers, though it was sad to hang out there without Steve (Nicole's uncle who recently passed away).
Then I came back to North Carolina, where my parents visited Nicole and I for a long weekend. We went for some good dim-sum, showed them around the city and where I work, and they even outfitted our 'home theatre' with a new projector!
And then I went to Long Island with Nicole, to hang out with her mom and Francis out in their summer home. It is in Orient, the far eastern (not the "far east") part of Long Island, where its covered by miles of vineyards and fresh farmstands. The house, which is old and rustic with an outdoor shower, has a view of the bay, which is gorgeous. We ate and drank and just lounged around.
Nicole has worked the last 2 months up here in North Carolina, doing some elective rotations as part of her PA schooling. And she just finished a week of vacation as well, and is now back in Atlanta to finish up school. She graduates December 9, and will officially be a Physician Assistant by then, and my sugar momma. I'm sad she's not here... =(
Other cool updates --
- Jenny just found out she is pregnant! Jenny and Jeff, along with Tyler who's almost 3 is expecting their second!
- Amy just started at University of Florida and is loving it!
- I heard Bryan is trying out for American Idol. He's got the look, cuz he looks a lot like Clay Aiken
Alex and Sarah, our neighboring twins. Alex is an ER resident at UNC, and Sarah is a PhD grad from UF. We live in the same neighborhood, and yes, girls dig the Asians guys.
Nate and Amy with Nicole (note long stick for marshmallow). Amy is one of Nic's good friends from PA school, and Nate is Amy's soon-to-be-fiance.
Tyler (aka Wiggy!) So cute
Bachelor party 2006, starting off easy...
Me in the glider!
Nicole along the bay in Long Island.
Ben and Jen! Ben is fomer Braves' lawn boy, Atlanta Hawks administrator, sports agent, now successful real estate agent. Jen is a 6th grade teacher!
Sunday, September 10, 2006
Musings
Hierarchy is a funny thing, and it exists everywhere. I am in Long Island, finishing up a 2 week vacation (which has recharged my batteries for more doctoring), and have had the fortunate opportunity to do some fun things this vacation, including going down to Atlanta to see some old classmates, having my parents come to North Carolina to visit Nicole and I, and heading out to the Eastern point of Long Island, where it is calm and quiet, surrounded by vineyards and farm stands.
Anyways, we visited Hobie, Nicole's mom's uncle. He is an avid flyer - he flies airplanes and gliders, and has been flying since the 1930's. He is one of the long-standing members of the Long Island Soaring Association, a group that flies mainly gliders. A "tow plane" pulls the glider a long, taking it up to around 3000 feet or more, and then releases it and the glider is free to fly and maneuver until it lands, usually in about 15 minutes at 3000 feet.
Hobie is very well respected, and you can see it in the way people greet him, ask him how his family is, how they say good morning. And Hobie doesn't ask for this, it just is. He's a sweet man, humble, assuming. But he has been around and seen it all.
Almost anyone can join the club. They pay a initiation fee, and they pay a small amount ($30 or so) for each flight, and the lessons are free. That's it!
But there is this unspoken hierarchy that everyone silently follows. I met some of the new members, younger guys. They seem to "know their place" - they do more of the labor of picking things up, they drive the older guys out to the airfield where the gliders are, they speak and act with reverance when around the senior guys. They step aside when the older guys walk by. Its a silent ritual of respect that they pay, and they do it in exchange for their tutelage, their education as new pilots.
We do a very similar ritual in medicine, and have a very similar hierarchy. The experienced, senior, wise physicians (chairmen, department chiefs, professors) are highly respected. Then beneath them are junior faculty and attendings, who have finished their training and we all respect, but they then step aside and defer to these elder, wiser attendings. And then there are fellows, who have finished residency but are training to specialize. Then their are residents, and then interns, then medical students.
As an intern, my job is to get things done. In exchange, I actively observe my residents' and attendings' decision-making process, and get to see the outcomes of these decisions. And the idea is that I learn enough that I will be making these decisions within a year. Just like a new pilot getting ready to fly on his own.
Anyways, we visited Hobie, Nicole's mom's uncle. He is an avid flyer - he flies airplanes and gliders, and has been flying since the 1930's. He is one of the long-standing members of the Long Island Soaring Association, a group that flies mainly gliders. A "tow plane" pulls the glider a long, taking it up to around 3000 feet or more, and then releases it and the glider is free to fly and maneuver until it lands, usually in about 15 minutes at 3000 feet.
Hobie is very well respected, and you can see it in the way people greet him, ask him how his family is, how they say good morning. And Hobie doesn't ask for this, it just is. He's a sweet man, humble, assuming. But he has been around and seen it all.
Almost anyone can join the club. They pay a initiation fee, and they pay a small amount ($30 or so) for each flight, and the lessons are free. That's it!
But there is this unspoken hierarchy that everyone silently follows. I met some of the new members, younger guys. They seem to "know their place" - they do more of the labor of picking things up, they drive the older guys out to the airfield where the gliders are, they speak and act with reverance when around the senior guys. They step aside when the older guys walk by. Its a silent ritual of respect that they pay, and they do it in exchange for their tutelage, their education as new pilots.
We do a very similar ritual in medicine, and have a very similar hierarchy. The experienced, senior, wise physicians (chairmen, department chiefs, professors) are highly respected. Then beneath them are junior faculty and attendings, who have finished their training and we all respect, but they then step aside and defer to these elder, wiser attendings. And then there are fellows, who have finished residency but are training to specialize. Then their are residents, and then interns, then medical students.
As an intern, my job is to get things done. In exchange, I actively observe my residents' and attendings' decision-making process, and get to see the outcomes of these decisions. And the idea is that I learn enough that I will be making these decisions within a year. Just like a new pilot getting ready to fly on his own.
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