1 month down, 35 to go

So, I have officially completed my first "block" in residency. A block is a 28 day period in which we work a set number of shifts. That's the beauty of ER--shift work. I have a pager, but I never wear it unless I am on sick call. Which means when I leave that hospital, I am done. No looking back.

The first couple weeks were pretty tricky. It's hard enough applying all the knowledge you spent learning the last four years of med school, but when you throw in a cumbersome computer system, nurses with the strongest union in the country (meaning they are on break, like every 2 minutes), and learning how to call a private attending at 3:00 in the morning without making him want to shoot you is a whole other thing. Not to mention the fact that the other interns and I kept saying to ourselves things like "am I allowed to sign this script?". This is why you should never go to a teaching hospital in the month of July. I'm not really kidding...

Although I wouldn't go so far as to say that things are much easier, I am starting to get the hang of things. I guess I am starting to feel more like a doctor. For the first two weeks, I had a hard time walking into a patients room and introducing myself as "Dr. Duncan", or answering the phone "this is Dr. Duncan". It sounded really weird. I once looked forward to being called "doctor", but now, just as an attending once told me a couple years ago, I dread hearing my name over that intercom--because it usually means I have to talk to the pharmacy about a drug we don't have on formulary, or a patient of mine is deteriorating, or some other unpleasantness.

I have been on night shifts for the last 7 shifts, and I have nine more to go until I get days again. My circadian rhythm is all off wack. Especially when you have 4 nights in a row, then you have a "day off"--which isn't really a day off, it's just a day to sleep, and then the next day you have to go to conference all day, and then you go back to nights. Sometimes I think "I actually chose to do this with my life?".

But, I do love this program. For the most part all of the attendings and other residents are great. We all get along. And I'm pretty confident that this feeling of incompetence will one day fade. I just hope that comes sooner than later.

Village People

As of July 1st, we are Village People. We will be moving to Bleecker St in the heart of Greenwich Village. As sad as we are to leave our current neighborhood, we are excited about our new place. It is a great part of town, but not quite as peaceful...however, our apartment is HUGE compared to our current one-- a "true" one-bedroom (a pathetic label necessary for NY real estate; they will actually try to rent you a studio under the pretense that it is a one bedroom apt, because, after all, it has one bedroom.) with high ceilings, and lots of light. We really love the place--minus one minor detail...the place is a fifth floor walkup. We will have buns of steel. And since we don't plan on moving out until our departure from Manhattan (most likely 3 years--after residency), we will just have to get used to it. The new space means that we will actually have room for our queen sized blowup bed if anyone decides to visit.
Unfortunately, this means we have to pack and go through the actual moving process yet again. On the brighter side, we hired movers to do our lugging (can you imagine...five flights?), and packing has afforded me to rekindle my relationship with Felicity Porter and all her troubles. So life isn't so bad...except, as we are decidedly not cool enough for "The Village", Alvis might have to start wearing skinny jeans...yikes

Greece

When Alvis and I decided to take a trip before residency took over my life, we came up with a list of the top five places we wanted to go, and Greece topped both of our lists. So we booked some flights and headed across the big blue ocean after graduation. We wanted to see the sights but also wanted a bit of a second honeymoon, so we flew into Athens where we stayed for 2 nights, then flew into Santorini (an island off the coast) where we stayed in a traditional cave house with the most amazing view I've ever had. Athens was fantastic-- truly incredible to walk around the Acropolis with structures that were completed nearly 500 years before Christ was born.
So, after 2 days of exploring and eating our way through Athens, we headed to the "Romantic" island of Santorini, where we stayed in a small village named Oia-- a place that boasts "the most beautiful sunsets in all of Greece". The village is at a pretty high elevation and is flanked by the Aegean Sea on one side and the Caldera (spanish for "bowl" meaning "a volcanic feature formed by the collapse of land following a volcanic eruption-wikipedia") on the other. Our room was about a thousand (maybe an exaggeration) steps down from where our taxi dropped us off. Thankfully, our porter quickly came to claim us, and our bags, and to assist us in our trek to the resort. Which, aside from the sheer difficulty of walking down marble steps in slippery flip flops and cumbersome luggage (by the way, we actually packed pretty light--one, albeit large, bag between the two of us...plus a backpack and camera bag), I couldn't keep from stopping every two seconds to take in the breathtaking views. This prevailed throughout the entire week--we couldn't refrain from stopping mid-step to just look.
So, I think I might be, like part Greek. I mean, a culture that is famously exuberant and friendly, full of amazing comfort food like fried zucchini, tzatziki, and gyros, and blessed with temperate climates and breathtaking scenery--that's my kind of place. Maybe one day we will make it permanent.
Check out our pics with the link under "check it out" on the right...

Guess who's a doctor?

Yep, that'd be me...
Last week was graduation week. I went down early to see some friends and do some WV stuff (climbing, hiking). I miss WV; this time of year is sooo beautiful there. We stayed at The Greenbrier (Alvis got us the hook up)-- all my family was there (minus my, ahem, responsible, studious brother...) including all of The Duncan's. And my Aunt and Uncle bumped up their 40th anniversary celebration to coincide with my graduation. All in all, it was a nice week, but strangely exhausting. As difficult as this is to believe, I really hate being the center of attention.
Ok, I like attention, but I don't like being at the center of it. It was a similar feeling to that of my wedding, when I wanted everyone to stop looking at me. Not that anybody was like, freakishly staring at me, but it was the same sensation-- everyone was there for me (which was wonderful) but I didn't relax a whole lot that weekend. But I was more than honored that everyone made it to WV for graduation (it's a loooong drive vs. an expensive plane ride--- kind of a lot to ask of people). It was a snooty old time at the Greenbrier-- I think it was a fitting first weekend as a doctor...

Kellan gets married

So Kellan finally found the perfect girl for him, and we were pleased to be a part of their wedding. Alvis was a groomsman so we headed for the Deep South of Birmingham, Alabama. Which, by the way, was a pretty cool town-- I'm a fan. Although, southern food, sweet tea, and old money has always appealed to me...
The festivities were beautiful and impressive-- a mere 450 of their closest friends came by for the occasion. I don't think I know 450 people.
We both thought Becky was really sweet, from the little we got to see her-- and she looked gorgeous on the big day. I'm so glad Kellan found someone to share the rest of his life with. However, I don't think we will be heading back down there anytime soon. On our way back home we had three layovers and an emergency refuel in Baltimore. So, for future reference, you must live in an easily accessible city for us to visit you--minimum of one layover...FYI

Orange and Blue

These are the colors we bleed...just ask my phlebotomist. I decided to celebrate these colors at--what else--the Orange and Blue Game. (I'll save you the suspense...we won...) This Saturday I met my brother and sister in Gainesville for some fun in The Swamp, and had a great time.


A little tailgating here, and a little Tebow watching there, it rounded out to be another great Saturday.


Although, sadly, this one was spent sans spouse who couldn't come down from NYC. Since he couldn't come down I got him tickets to the Knicks vs. Hawks for Friday night. Prepare for some backstory: We are members of The Gotham Gators (the Gator club in NYC) with whom we get together to watch football/basketball games. The club has over 200 people, and during the season we get together at The Gin Mill every Saturday for some football watching and comaraderie--we get drink specials and do all the cheers--next best thing to being at The Swamp. Joakim Noah even showed up for the first game of last season--so fun...Okay, flash forward again...So The Gotham Gators blocked off a ton of seats for this Knicks vs. Hawks game and gave out rowdy reptile t-shirts--point being to see David Lee against Al Horford, including a meet-and-greet after the game. So he may not have made it down to The Swamp, but he did experience some gator fun. Lets face it...you can never have too much gator fun.

"We always have the best Saturdays"

Ever since moving to the city, we've said it a million times. We both work really hard, and life can get stressful, so we take advantage of any spare time we have together. This weekend we decided to check out the Cherry Blossom Festival in D.C. It was peak bloom, and we have always wanted to see them in all their splendor.

We booked a beautiful hotel within walking distance to everything and got in late Friday night. We heard it was supposed to rain all day Saturday, but we woke up to bright blue skies and warm (60 degrees) weather. So after a delicious breakfast we were off to see the majestic gift bestowed upon our nation's capital by the Japanese. As we approached the Tidal Basin, we were truly taken aback by the exquisite foliage. The pinks and whites were incredible-- I could have stayed under those trees for days...but we opted for lunch.After lunch we walked down to Georgetown for some shopping and exploring- we are now big fans of G-town, we'll just add that one to the list... Later, it was off to dinner. One of Alvis's members owns a few restaurants, one of which is in D.C., so we checked it out-- delish. But of course we aren't satisfied by just a measly meal with appetizers, drinks, and main course. We then advanced on to another culinary delight to further stuff our faces with dessert fondue. We really need to stop binge eating whenever we leave our zip code... We went off to sleep that night with bloated bellies and images of Japanese flora dancing in our heads, once again affirming our long touted phrase about our Saturdays.




Don't ask why I always find this pose irresistible...