Birthday tomorrow

Tomorrow is my 26th birthday. I’m pleased with my accomplishments in the last year. I am nearly at the end of 3rd year and that makes me so happy! 

And yet I am getting older. And I’ve learned there is nothing good about getting older. 

Friday I saw a 27 yr old woman with stage IV rectal cancer. I have seen a 26 yr old with inflammatory breast cancer (the deadliest form, only 3% of all breast cancer). I saw a 27 yr old on hospice for ovarian cancer. I’ve seen teenagers with type 2 diabetes and people in their early 20’s with high blood pressure and gallbladder disease. 

Sobering.

These are rare, though lurid, occurrences (the cancers anyway). Only a relatively small % of who we see who are seriously ill are in their 20’s. It sharpens the observation, however, that we have to take care of ourselves, and even then there are no guarantees. 

I’m trying to maintain a better diet (hard with my schedule) and I really need to exercise and just increase my fitness level in general. An example of the kind of fitness needed:

Wednesday I ate an energy bar about 5:30 am while making morning rounds. The other girl on my team was in surgery at 7:30 and finished about 10. About 10 I saw my patient. I stayed with him, anesthetized him. I intubated him at 10:45. I put on a  lead apron with a thyroid shield because we were going to do a cholangiogram on him. It weighed 10-12 lbs. I had to hold the retractor a lot during the surgery and exert force for extended periods of time. We did not leave the OR until 3:30 pm. I was beat. Immediately as I left I was told to go to the ER because the rest of my team was admitting a patient with diverticulitis. We examined and admitted him. I was instructed by the chief resident to return to the OR where an emergency surgery was occurring. A poor guy, age 58, with no urine output was having to get a suprapubic catheter. He had lots of blood clots in his bladder. The blood collection showed he lost 2 liters of blood. He was receiving a transfusion. I don’t know how long the operation had been in progress, but I stood there helplessly (I couldn’t scrub, no gowns, no room to stand near the table) for an hour and a half. He lost 3 more liters (!) during that time. The patient (who had a thoracotomy and chest tube, a colostomy bag, and now a suprapubic catheter) was given a central line and taken to the ICU. The team then met me in the ICU and we rounded on our patients. I had not eaten since the energy bar at 5:30 am. I was finally dismissed about 7-7:30. I was miserable. I don’t know how I made it, lol.

In any case I can celebrate (or not, as I have to work) my birthday with confidence that I accomplished a lot this year, and praying for more accomplishments to come. 

Today I went to church and sat next to an old lady (there are no young, single ladies but me). She said, "Peace be with you young lady." As I was leaving a man said he liked my dress. He noticed it when I received communion and said, "You don’t see that in [this city]!"

Glad to know I look young and sophisticated 😉

Verse of the day:  

Acts 2:15 "These men are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning!" (LOL, so are the apostles expected to be drunk later??)

Love,

Julie