the past week has been spent as a part of the clinical pediatric heme/onc team. and i have come to realize that this has probably been one of the best weeks of medical school yet. i really love working with the patients, even working with the parents. it's incredibly fulfilling work. in the course of one day we went from having a party for a child who had just finished treatment (a cake, a personalized poster and certificate, free toys, and the entire peds heme/onc staff making fools of themselves (myself included) singing "happy end of chemotherapy to you"), to consoling the mother of another child who was not so fortunate.
to have the resilience that these doctors and nurses do, it really impresses me. (i'm positive that is horrid grammar. fire away liz.) they're dealing with human tragedy and impossible odds everyday, yet they are all the kindest, nicest, funniest, most down-to-earth docs i've worked with yet.they say in pediatrics that the problem isn't the kids, it's the nightmare of dealing with the parents. but in hem/onc, all of the parents seem to understand that no matter what happens, the doctors are putting their heart and soul (that's the second joy divison reference so far) into their work, and everyone's pulling for the best outcome.
at the end of the day, i find myself not wanting to leave the clinic, simply because the company of the staff is so positive, and everybody's making a real difference (which is not to imply other medical subspecialties do not). i think i've found my path.... kinda makes me wanna DANCE DANCE DANCE TO THE RADIO.
[non sequitur: in one week i move to milwaukee for 2 months.]
this educational lesson brought to you by dr. j around 5:28 PM |
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thanks for going easy on me, liz. that pic is actually the cover of the joy division album "unknown pleasures." the image is actually a printout of the flashes of light produced by a dying star (specifically, pulsar CP1919) and is taken from the Cambridge Encyclopaedia of Astronomy. (credit due to the internets for that information)
interestingly enough, some guy took joy division's "shadowplay" video and reanimated it based on that image (http://projects.c505.com/jd_index.html).. which isn't terribly far off from what you were talking about, dull pins and all.
dropped by 
dr. j on 18 February, 2005 22:29 [*]
~$$$~
drop some science: