What is this??

What is this, a new blog entry? I promise that I've been alive. My blog has been sorely neglected for the last (almost) 3 months, but hopefully this will change soon. My life became an insane whirlwind of activity, but things are slowly starting to settle down into a routine. Rather than give excuses, I'll give a quick recap of the last 3 months.

May - I survived the NICU. I had 2 fabulous co-senior residents that month, and I don't know how I could have done it without them! My worst dark cloud ever followed me closely that month. When I started the rotation, I had called the medical examiner to notify him of a death only once during residency; by the end of the month, I had done it an additional three times. I saw things I never want to see again and cried more than I hope to do for a long time. Again, I am beyond thankful for the doctors, nurses, respiratory therapist, dietitians, techs, and all other people that God calls to work in the ICU setting; they truly are special people!

June - I was GI senior and spent the last week of my residency with brand new interns. They actually did a great job, and the month wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be, but 4 service sub-specialty call almost handed my bootie to me a few times. I'm glad my former program is doing away with that because it's just too much work for one senior to adequately cover that many sick kids. I also turned 28, and Hubby and I had a wonderful dinner together to celebrate. He got me the new iPhone plus a new Tiffany necklace; I felt so spoiled!! :)

I finished residency at 4 PM on June 30th and almost danced out of the hospital! I'd already shed my tears several times as I'd said my goodbyes, so the actual leaving of the hospital for the last time wasn't nearly as emotional as I had thought it would be.

July - I slept in for one day, and then Hubby and I left for Paris on the 2nd! We were gone for a whole week, and it was amazing. I posted most of our pictures onto Facebook, so I won't go through the trouble of posting all 480 of them back onto Blogger. (I figure that if you're reading my blog, you're likely already my friend on Facebook. If not, give me a holler!) We ate like kings, saw so many amazing museums, and just generally had a great time not thinking about work and just experiencing the country.

I had about a week to relax after we returned, and then I started my new job. I LOVE IT!! I'm the second pediatrician in a practice, and even though it's only been a week, I am already so happy here. My entire staff is wonderful and have been such a big help to me as I'm getting used to things out here, and the physician who hired me as been fabulous to me. Seriously, there are moments where I can't believe that this is my life! The only thing I don't like about the job actually has nothing to do with the job; it's my 45 minute commute each way. Hubby and I are still trying to sell the house, and as soon as we do, we'll move much closer to my job.

All in all, life is great.

Sleepwalking

I'm on PICU nights right now. I hate it. I work 7 PM to 9 AM Sunday through Thursday nights for 2 weeks in a row (except that on Sundays I come in at 5 PM). It gives me the required 10 hours off between shifts, but I think it's safe to say that not a one of us thinks 10 hours is enough especially when you work 5 shifts in a row. It's only two weeks, but it's already been a LONG week plus a day. Last night I had parents of a very sick child get angry because of things that happened before I even came to work, and they took it out on all of us. I understand people react differently when they are scared, but to this non-confrontational person, having someone cursing at me and insulting both me and my hospital was very unsettling. To top it off, I'm going 48 hours or so without seeing my husband; this may not sound like a long time given how much time we used to spend apart, but now that I've gotten used to having him around every day, it's awful to go for 2 days without seeing him. :(

Six shifts down ... four to go. Let the countdown commence. I finish Friday around 9 AM, and then I start a 10 day vacation!! My plans include decorating for Christmas, finishing up my shopping (almost done!), and sleeping. Since I'm working Thanksgiving night, I'm making our own Thanksgiving meal on Saturday; the full menu hasn't been planed, but it will definitely include my famous brined and roasted turkey! I seriously cannot wait.

Amazing

We've been back from Disney World for a week, and I have to say that our time was amazing. We had SO much fun! I have a decent amount of pictures to post, but our internet was down at home for part of the week. I took the pictures to work only to find that the computers there block me uploading anything, and now that I have internet at home again, the pictures are still up at work. Doh! Work has been killing me; I've been there from 8:30 to 7:45 almost every day (Wednesday was only til 5), so I have had little time for anything other than work. Today and tomorrow I'll work noon to midnight, and Sunday I'll work 11 to 7:45-ish. I can't wait to be done with this month!!

Highlights from our trip:

• Meeting Mickey :)
• Riding some really cool rides
• Lines so short that we were able to walk onto many of our favorite rides or wait less than 20 minutes
• Waiting in airconditioning for most of the rides :)
• Laughing with Hubby at how silly we looked in our rain gear
• The Ecpot food and wine festival
• AMAZING sushi at a local restaurant recommended to us by a friend
• Getting to feel like a little kid again

When I can, I will post some of the pictures. Hopefully next month will give me more time to get things I need to do AND want to do completed!