A bite out of the Big Apple

Hello dear readers! I apologize for the lengthy hiatus and I hope that there are still some of you out there checking this blog for updates. Your patience has been rewarded.

So I completed a month at Einstein Hospital in the Bronx which was literally a drink from the fire hydrant that is obstetrics. I think I averaged five hours of sleep each night and often went a whole day having consumed only dry cereal, tea, lots of coffee, and ice cream. No wonder I was constipated. Anyway aside from the toll on my sanity and personal well-being, I also got to do some pretty exciting stuff. By the end of the rotation I was delivering babies entirely on my own with the attending watching over my shoulder. It was an odd experience the first time I delivered a baby without anyone else's hands guiding mine - it was bizarre that I knew what to do without even really thinking about it. This culminated in a precipitous delivery which I ended up doing with only a nurse and a third year medical student to assist me. That was kind of a trip. Terrifying and thrilling at the same time. I rode on that adrenaline buzz for at least 48 hours after the fact.

Now I'm beginning a month at Beth Israel Medical Center in downtown Manhattan which is going to be a very different experience. The ob/gyn service isn't quite as chaotic for one, since women in Manhattan have a range of excellent hospitals at which to receive their care, whereas Einstein-Montefiore is really the best place in the Bronx to give birth, hence EVERY SINGLE PREGNANT WOMAN was there. Also, the residents are much more chill and not as tweaked out as the Einstein residents are. Don't get me wrong - I had a blast with the folks I worked with last month, and even made friends with one or two of them outside of work. But when I think about how I want to spend four years of my life in a rigorous training program, there are nuances which I have to consider.

New York City itself fits me like a glove. People here, contrary to popular belief, are not cranky and obnoxious. I have found New Yorkers to be content, down-to-earth people who don't put on airs and mire themselves in superficial bullshit. I also love the diversity of this place - I've never been someone who walks around feeling my "brown-ness" every second of every day, but when I'm put in a place with lots of other brown people, I feel myself becoming more relaxed and at ease involuntarily. All that being said, I will always be a Bostonian at heart. Go Sox.

In a lovely pause from the madness, I had the honor of reading a poem at Marisa and Ed's wedding in August. I chose my favorite love poem of all time, "Soneto XVII" by Pablo Neruda. The wedding was easily the most beautiful and enjoyable celebration I have ever attended and I am so lucky to know these two fabulous people and to be a part of their lives.

I am feeling quite burned out though. I will be glad when this rotation is over so that I can take a break from the intensity of impressing everyone and going the extra mile. As soon as I get home on October 20th, I plan on sleeping until my back aches from molding into the mattress. (But only after we celebrate Raju's 21st birthday, at long last.)

Something in the water?

Is it just me, or is everyone and their mother getting engaged or married of late? I say "and their mother" in all seriousness because given the exponentially expanding group of friends I have who are declaring their eternal love for their partners, I wouldn't even bat an eye if among them, one of their mothers did indeed decide to jump on that bandwagon herself.

Don't get me wrong. I love weddings. This past weekend I had a wonderful time at the very beautiful wedding of my dear friend, Matt, to his lovely longtime girlfriend, Michelle. I had never been to a Catholic ceremony, and I must say, it was truly a spiritual experience. I am of the mind that weddings should be quite ceremonious and spiritual so that the couple can truly experience the intensity of the promise they are making to one another. No offense to my Atheist/Agnostic friends, but I can't imagine getting married in a completely secular ceremony, simply because to me, love itself is a miracle and a gift for which the universe should be thanked. On a more practical note, I think I'm going to have to start a Wedding Guest Fund or something because these people will put me in the poorhouse, what with the gift, the dress, the shoes, the hotel, etc... I'm complaining, but all in good humor. I am honored to be able to attend so many beautiful weddings and witness true love and romance. For those keeping score at home, in the past year I have attended two weddings (merely drops in the vast ocean of weddings flooding the UMass Medical School Class of 2007 in the last few weeks), and could have gone to a third, had that pesky USMLE Step 2 nonsense not gotten in the way last autumn.

All right, enough of that mushy hippie mumbo-jumbo. Mazel tov to my dear friend, Lisa, from college on her engagement! I've never met the lucky man, but he better know how lucky he is!

Behold, the updated 2007-08 Tie-the-Knot Tour:
September 8, 2007 - Marisa and Ed
June 2008 - Lisa and Stew
October 2008 - Laura and Alex

Anyone else? Speak now or forever hold your peace.

Noo Yawk

It's official - I will be spending September and October in the fair city of New York, first in the Bronx at Weiler Hospital, and then in Manhattan at Beth Israel. I am excited and apprehensive, the same way you become anxious about dumb details like where will I eat lunch? who will I hang out with? what if I can't figure out the subway system? The crazy part is, I'm not that anxious about the actual rotations themselves. At the risk of sounding pompous, that's the easy part - simply because it's the most predictable. There are certain unversalities in the practice of medicine, and especially in Ob/Gyn, that one can rely on. So I bite my nails down to the cuticle worrying about being well-liked and not looking like a tourist. It will also be hard to be in NYC in the midst of MLB play-off madness... I will go armed with my Red Sox hat to ward off evil!

In unrelated news, my friend Amy (who happens to live in Brooklyn, so it's kind of related) has resumed her blogging habit, which is now displayed in my list of links on the right. And speaking of the Web, I recently rediscovered The Political Compass, which I remember doing in college. It does change with the times, so the questions are very relevant. Despite that, I continue to fall in the same quadrant that I belonged to in college: Libertarian left. I coulda told you that.

In memoriam

My deepest condolences to Trish, Sydney, and Tiz as they mourn the sudden loss of their sweet little mutt, Lou.

I'm glad I had the chance to pet him, play with him, and laugh at his goofy, spirited antics. Even though they hadn't had him for very long, he was a cherished member of the Seymour-Tisdell-Straub family, and he will be sorely missed.

Pics!

These are highlights from Anne and Mike's wedding - more posted on my Facebook page. Good times were had by all :-)

Mr. and Mrs. Kurkulonis/ Dr. and Mr. Garrison




The med school gang


Getting down

Weddings, babies, and sunshine

I think that the title of this post pretty much covers the last few days in my life. The most important item to report is that spring is literally in full bloom by now and my hideous allergies are completely quiescent, thanks to the three medications and weekly allergy shots to which I faithfully submit myself. I'm so glad I'm able to be outdoors, strolling through a park coated with pollen, mounds of freshly mowed grass merely inches away, and not even so much as a sniffle! *knock on wood*

My lovely weekend started on Friday afternoon when my former co-worker, Kim, came by our office with her eight-month old baby girl, Kenzie. I always find it incredible to see little ones throughout their first year of life - they change so much every single day. I've known Kenzie since she was about a 32-week old fetus and I can't believe she's already a beautiful child babbling, playing with toys, and practically able to stand on her own! Kim is also looking fabulous and motherhood clearly agrees with her.

Then on Saturday afternoon it was off to the Wachusett Country Club to celebrate the wedding of my friend and fellow OB/Gyn, Anne, to her awesome fiancée (now husband!) Mike. They are ridiculously perfect for each other and I have no doubt they will make each other very happy for many, many years. While the ceremony itself was short and sweet, the non-stop party that followed was certainly the highlight of the event [N.B. - I will post pictures as soon as my friends circulate their masterful candid photography]. After much rug-cutting at the reception, we moved on to Brew City for mozzarella sticks and dessert. There was much beer imbibed (not by yours truly, being the eternal D.D.) and much merriment to be had. I got to meet some fabulous, hilarious people and stayed up far later than I have in a very long time. Then it was back to Boston, although this time my typically solitary journey eastward on the Pike was much more enjoyable in the company of the lovely Laura, whom I drove to her fiancée's home in Quincy. Alex, her betrothed, had called it an early night since his allergies were unfortunately not nearly as well-behaved as mine. Booooo!

As for today, I got a respectable five hours of sleep last night, and got up in time to shower and get dressed up for a decadent Mother's Day brunch at the new Taj Hotel in Boston. My sister was able to spare a few hours from her crazy finals schedule to come to brunch (at which we consumed a week's worth of calories). And what would Mother's Day be without some serious shopping? So next it was off to Copley where we hit up J. Crew and Tiffany & Co. Calm down. I can't afford that kind of bling! We got a cute little sterling silver fork and spoon set with a heart on the handle as a gift for our friends Larry and Jen who welcomed their baby daughter, Sophia, last week! So, as a perfect end to a perfect day, my mother and I went to visit the happy family. This child, as most multi-racial babies are, is just too cute for words. She slept the whole time we were there and only squawked once or twice, settling down easily after some gentle rocking.

I love babies. I love weddings. Neither are imminent in my immediate future, but for now I'm enjoying celebrating these milestones in the lives of my dearest friends. No one else close to me is expecting a child anytime soon, but I do have two more weddings to attend this year! What better an excuse to dress up, meet up with friends, and dance for hours with any number of attractive men? Hence, I command you all to keep the champagne flowing, the engagements coming, and to go forth and multiply!

Because I need another useless item on my credit card bill

So I have succumbed to the powers of peer pressure. My friend and officemate, Marisa, was looking into subscribing to Netflix yesterday. I, meanwhile, was responsibly and diligently focusing on my work, using every ounce of self-control to keep my eyes on my own computer screen. Let's just say willpower has never been my forte. All I had to see was anything that vaguely resembled a quiz on Marisa's screen and my resolve instantly crumbled to a fine powdery dust. Not only did I subscribe to Netflix, I also managed to rate over 300 movies in the span of 24 hours.

Hi, my name is Viveka. I have no self-control.

On the other hand (cue stream of rationalization), I am looking forward to watching lots of movies that are on my must-see list but which I never actually rent at the video store. I don't know if it's just me, but I have this odd tendency to rent the same five movies over and over again until I realize I should just buy the damn movie already. In an effort to correct this habit, I have perhaps overcompensated by zealously availing myself of the frequent "3 for $20!" DVD sales and purchasing movies that I haven't actually seen yet, with the asinine notion that it's cheaper to buy the used DVD rather than bring myself to rent it and actually return it on time. You do the math. It don't make much sense. Hence the far more financially sound decision to pay $4.99/month (plus tax, of course) for two movies which I will be forced to watch and subsequently forget to return... all without penalty! Hey, it makes sense in my head. And that's what counts. I don't know how my bank account feels about it, but it will just have to deal.

Has spring finally sprung?

I feel like I might jinx the spell of lovely weather we've been blessed with if I dare to let myself believe that winter is finally over. I'm going to get a haircut this weekend as a symbol of shedding all that unnecessary insulation now that the sun is back in our hemisphere. That, and my layers are getting scraggly and too damn long.

A major shout-out to all my peeps from UMMS '07 who kicked ass in this year's residency match! Nearly all my friends got their first choices at top programs, most of which are in Massachusetts, so I'm happy they will be nearby next year. Of course, I'll probably have to page them at 2 AM in order to catch them while they're free, but still. I will also be ushering at Commencement so that I can watch everyone officially become an M.D.! *tear*

As I prepare for my own final year (eek! see previous post) I took the day off today from work so I could go to Worcester and get all my paperwork going for the electives I want to do in NYC. What a pain in the arse. On the upside, I got to have a leisurely lunch at El Basha with the divine Ms. Cristina (who will also be ushering), although we had one of those irritatingly efficient waitresses who can't tolerate the sight of near-empty dishes and who believes there should be no more than a five second lapse between courses. She actually asked if we wanted to order dessert and coffee approximately ten minutes into our meal, just as I was about to bite into a stuffed grape leaf and Cristina had her mouth full of chicken shawarma. We kind of stared blankly at her. She left us alone after that. [Aside: There was a group of internal medicine residents whom I recognized from my third year rotations leaving the restaurant as we were being seated and one of them was wearing his white coat and stethoscope. Under no circumstances, barring a medical emergency or bizarre costume party, should anyone need to wear a white coat and stethoscope inside a restaurant. Good grief.]

Speaking of annoying people, I have been experiencing a resurgence of homicidal ideation while riding the T. When I started working at MGH last summer I actually enjoyed taking the T, after three years of having to drive anywhere I wanted to go. Yeah, that lasted about a week before I was pining for my car. So I spent the rest of the summer and fall grinding my teeth every time someone obstinately refused to budge to make room for other people, or talked loudly on their cell at 8 AM, or insisted on reading the paper and thus taking up an additional three feet of armspan in a space which at least two human beings could occupy. But then I decided to rise above the feeling of sardine-ness and simply focus on getting from point A to point B. People are dumb, and I just had to accept it. For some reason, my self-fashioned Tao of the T isn't holding up anymore. Perhaps it's because I've witnessed too many hugely pregnant women have to stand while eight teenagers crowd into three seats, too many elderly citizens practically break a hip every time the train lurches as oblivious young people who are seated bop along to their iPods (which are always turned up to a volume audible to people in the next subway car), etc. But, in just a few more months, I'll have a daily commute to Worcester and back, and I'll probably post a rant here about the insane New Yorkers weaving around on the Pike. C'est la vie.

Happy teeth!

So I just made the switch over from the good ol' manual toothbrush to a fancy electric one. And I must say, I'm quite impressed. This might be TMI but you know that nasty sensation of plaque/tartar that you start to feel when you run your tongue over your teeth in the middle of the day? WELL. With this little gizmo, it is a thing of history! It's funny - because I moved around so much as a little kid and my parents had more pressing matters to worry about than our dental hygiene (like say, oh I don't know, repeating their medical training), I didn't start seeing a dentist regularly until I was in high school. Then we went all out - cleanings twice a year, x-rays, and of course, the requisite orthodontic work. I've been lucky to have a mouth of solid teeth so they weren't rotting out of my head by the time a professional started caring for them. The main reason I got the new toothbrush is because I am sans dental insurance at the moment and my mother preferred to invest in a high-end toothbrush rather than out-of-pocket dental care. She also made me promise to floss every day... if only there were an electric flosser...

In other news, this blog has already gone above and beyond its aims! Simply by announcing it I have heard from two of my dearest friends, Jennie and Shefali, both of whom I have been terrible about keeping up with. Check out Shefali's blog (also listed on the sidebar)!