mt.vernon

mt.vernon - the home of george&martha.washington

it definitely pales in comparison, but in some small ways, mount.vernon reminds me of shelburne.farms. oh, how i miss SF (one of my favorite places in the world). at least i have an annual pass to mt.vernon so i can explore more next time. perhaps next time i can arrive by boat. ;)

fall foliage

although i'm sure fall foliage is long gone up in vt, we are starting to peak down here. it's absolutely beautiful! yesterday, all the residents in my program took the day off (our attendings had to cover the entire pediatric service for us in the hospital while we were away) to "retreat" and bond. it was fun. i wish i had brought my manual camera along... (i can't take credit for the last photo. my friend took that one.)

jimmy.eat world!

love the shirt! ;)

since then...

a lot has happened since i last posted:
1) i turned a year older. yes, the big 2-8!
2) i did my first suprabupic tap on a baby (inserted a needle in the bladder to get a urine specimen. sounds brutal, but it's much less traumatic than a catheter)
3) received our first wedding gifts (even though we're getting married in almost 6 months!)
4) went to a jimmy eat.world concert
5) got an annual pass to mount vernon
6) drove at night for the first time wearing my new glasses (weird, but so much clearer...)

Romans 12:12

Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. (ESV)

Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. (NIV)

Change...

people say it's good...

recent changes:
1) i am officially a Virginian, no longer a Vermonter. :( i had to surrender my VT operator license last week.
2) i am getting glasses. my 20/20 vision has deteriorated thanks to countless hours of med school studying.
3) my little corolla has 4 new tires.

future change:
soon-to-be married in may 2008!

Trip to LA

good food, good friends, good weather... what more could one ask for? :)

Fall Days...

today it truly felt like fall. up until yesterday, it was still in the 80's and we were eating outside on the weekends.
now it's time to break out the pants and sweaters...
one thing i'm going to miss this fall is vermont leaf peeping... unfortunately, i don't have many good fall leaf photos.
i supposed it's a good excuse to go visit one fall after i'm married. ;-)

i might not get the full leaf peeping experience down here, but hey, at least i still can enjoy pho on a nice cool night. (i'm a regular at this pho place near my house. they must think i'm a poor lonesome soul since i end up eating there at least once a week all by myself.)

WHAT A DAY...

i thought it was going to be my usual wed. afternoon clinic (you know, see about 3-4 patients, get out by about 4:30p and enjoy the rest of the evening off)... boy, was i wrong.
it was CRAAAZY busy today.
at one point, i had patients taking 3 of the clinic rooms (mind you, there were 4 med students and 4 other residents in clinic) because one was awaiting admission to the hospital, and another asthmatic was getting 2 respiratory treatments, and the other needed money for transportation to get home.

i must say that i love continuity of care.
1) the patient who got admitted was the 2 y/o twin brother of a patient already on the peds floor, so the minute i walked into the room, there was an instant bond. mom knew who i was, and apparently the twins were reunited on the floor. (i can't wait to visit them tomorrow)
last time i was on call, his twin brother was literally jumping up and down in his crib while watching veggie.tales. it was a sight to see!
2) my other patient who needed transportation money was a follow-up visit from the hospital. i had discharged him on sunday. we got them a cab voucher, and i walked mom and son to the ER to get their cab. mom was really thankful for the cab, and son was excited to have seen me in clinic (he's a cutie!) he kept asking his mom if he could get my phone number so i could attend his b-day party (b-day is in 3 days). and before they got in the cab, mom cut out and gave me a school photo of her son. i was the first one to get a photo (i think she had JUST gotten them today). i was touched by the whole situation. i almost cried.

see, those are the moments that make it all worth it...

Happy 30th!

Happy 30th! Dude -look at that HUGE steak. Food was absolutely delicious. I think we'll be going back...

day at the zoo

spent a beautiful saturday at the zoo...

my eyelids are starting to twitch. my fingers are trembling as i type. i think my vision is becoming blurry. 'tis the post-call syndrome.
i didn't get much sleep last night, but luckily it wasn't too busy.
sleep. my body is craving sleep.
sleep, i shall.

g'nite.

i should be studying/reading articles right now, but i'll put it off just a wee bit longer.

it's bad. when i'm not at the hospital, the LAST thing i want to do is read about anything medicine/work-related. yesterday was my first day in the NICU (neonatal ICU). it was crazy. i didn't know what i was doing. i was feeling a bit overwhelmed by the end of the day. wasn't feeling so hot. then i came home and was handling a bowl which slipped out of my fingers, and shattered into about a hundered little pieces. (oh, great... why do these things happen to me?) THEN on my way home from my fiance's, i got lost and took a huge detour into DC. my exit was closed due to construction, so i ended up driving right into the mall, to find myself in front of the washington monument. luckily i had a GPS system on hand (fiance on phone) to navigate me out of the city and back home.

whew.

today was a little better in the NICU but i'm scared about being on call thursday. he-elp!

what a day...

it started off badly because i didn't hear my alarm go off this am. that's the first time in a LONG time it happened to me. luckily i wasn't late to work or anything...
then i had to go to g-town for my afternoon clinic. the parking garage is THE absolute worst you have ever seen. they start valeting cars on both sides and block the cars that are already parked. in my tiny corolla, i can barely fit down the aisles because of all the valet cars on the sides. i FINALLY found a spot, thought i could make it, but i miscalculated. i cringed as the side of the car scraped against the pillar, which, by the way, takes up 5% of the actual parking space.
i was soo bummed. luckily i didn't scrape a parked car...
then i realize i'm running very low on gas. i've never pushed the car to its limit, so i don't know how much further i can go. the light keeps coming on, and then it stays on. mind you, i'm driving home, but i do NOT know where the nearest gas station is. i'm praying silently in my head, "Lord, PLEASE... let me make it to a gas station." i'm sweating in the car (b/c i didn't want to use the a/c), and finally, i see an exxon sign up ahead. i was elated! luckily i made it to the gas station ok.

so i suppose the day could've been worse. i just have to be thankful for the little things. thank you, Lord, that i made it on time to work, that i didn't hurt anyone or anyone's car, and that i didn't run out of gas.

clearly, my fiance is much better at telling the engagement story than i am. (i just wanted to show off the ring...hehe)

AND he has a much larger following/readership than i do. i JUST checked, and he had 108 eprops. probably by the time you check, dear reader, he'll be closer to 200.
www.xanga.com/jibae

Great Falls, VA














WWII Memorial - where we got engaged!

we're engaged!! :)

pre-engagement at the WWII memorial at sunset

the happy newly engaged couple :)

woah - look at that bling! ;) it's much better in person... trust me.

what a wonderful surprise! the best golden weekend ever...

handing off of the pagers... nothing could be more liberating.
your scrub pants feel lighter -2 pagers. and the great thing is, no one can page you! if there's another delivery, you don't have to go. if there's someone in the ER, you don't have to go.

handing off the pagers today i felt a load lifted from me, especially in light of the fact it is my golden weekend. (plus, i'd worked 19 days straight.) i will be living up every free minute i've got! :)

so i've finished 3 weeks of my intern year. i still feel incredibly stupid and incompetent sometimes, but i'm learning. slowly, but surely. AND i did my 2nd LP yesterday! (LP=lumbar puncture; basically poking a needle in the back to obtain cerebrospinal fluid)

babies, babies, everywhere!

last night on call would've been completely quiet had it not been for all the deliveries. we didn't get a single page from the floor or from the ER. we had only had one infant on the floor anyway.

starting about 1 am, i had a delivery every hour, for a total of 5! i was catching babies left and right. it was kinda fun, but also tiring. every time i got a page, i was like, "what?! another one?"

i'm sure there are some moms out there that are holding out for saturday. wouldn't that be cool to be born on 7/7/07? ;)

sometimes i just feel like quitting. i know - i've only been at it for a week and a half. it seems like forever... i feel so stupid sometimes.

i almost cried today. i misinterpreted a lab result today and told a patient's family that the baby had a certain disease. and then i had to retract the statement and tell them i was so sorry for misinterpreting the result. i felt so stupid. the lab result had been high out of the normal range, which was actually ok. if the value had been low and outside the normal range, the infant would have had the disease. anyway, parents, especially dad, were at wit's end. they had been in the hospital for a week with their new baby and were frustrated b/c the therapy wasn't really working. plus, the disease which we thought was causing all the problems, really wasn't. (that's the disease i told them the infant had). so we were back to square one. we still don't know what's causing the infant's problem. mom & dad hadn't gotten a good night's sleep in days, and were understandably, very frustrated. they wanted answers, and we didn't have any. and then, here i come and tell them their baby has a disease which he doesn't have. (stupid, stupid me) a similar incident had happened to the parents when baby was first born, and basically, dad said he didn't want any residents taking care of his son. (understandable, but what a low blow) i felt horrible.

i know these things happen sometimes. but it sucks.

what made my day was admitting a set of twins to the floor that i had actually "caught" when born the other day. mom actually remembered me catching her babies. i felt like i had played a part in bringing them into the world. if only they knew what they're in for...

i shall keep going. i must keep going. help me, Lord.

i got promoted!

haha. j/k
when i was on call this past weekend, i was paged to a c-section delivery. usually a neonatologist (baby doc) is there in case something goes wrong. i was hanging out w/ the nurse while the ob/gyn's were doing their thing. a couple of mins pass... "umm.. where's the neonatologist?"
"oh, he's probably on his way."
couple more mins pass. he's still NOT there.
the baby is close to delivery.
"uhh..."
baby's almost out.
i put on the gown and hold the blanket as the hand-off occurs. surgeon gets baby out, and hands it to me. there are potential complications, but LUCKILY the baby is fine. i was shaking out of nervousness and excitement.
i get to sign the note as the primary MD at the delivery.

apparently, my name got put in as the neonatologist at the delivery. hence, the title of this post.

i still feel scared and completely out of place, but i think i'm starting to get the hang of this ....

call #2 coming up tomorrow...

i survived the first day!

it was a LO-ONG first day.
1) one thing i learned - CQ = cuteness quotient. 2 for large head, 2 for big eyes, 2 for small nose, 2 for small mouth, and 2 for not biting/peeing on/pooping on the doctor.
i gave quite a few perfect 10's. but one asian baby got a 9+. he was so cute, but i had to -1 for the nose. (poor baby can't help it if he's asian)

2) an interesting/funny moment - was in the ER with an 8 y/o patient and her mom. she was anxious about possibly going to surgery. we asked, "what is surgery to you? why are you afraid?" and she quickly replied, "it's what i saw on grey's anatomy." to which her mom said, "oh look. and you now have christina yang taking care of you (referring to me)." haha. do ALL asians/koreans look alike? ;)

3) one thing i must learn - how to manage 3 pagers and a long white coat when going to the bathroom. it gets tricky, especially with the scrubs. i have to take off all 3 pagers and then find a place to hang the coat if there isn't a hook. i will learn to master this...

i'm on call tomorrow. Lord, please help me...

and dear reader/friend, please pray for me...

my last day of freedom!

so what did i do, you ask?
1) worked out at the gym (HR was up to 180!)- i will definitely need endurance for the next 3 years, as well as good health to keep going when i have q4 call.
2) played wii tennis- i need to stay active and have fun too. :)
3) spent time with my bf- i probably won't get to see him as much, but i will be spending whatever free time i have with him (kicking his butt at wii. haha) ;-)
4) ate a salad- i need to eat healthy food whenever i can, especially since i'll be eating lots of junk while on call and at the hospital
5) to do: pray, pray, pray- i will need to pray A LOT and remember that my strength comes from above and not from within.

when i am weak, HE is strong.

ready or not, here comes dr. cat!

new journey...

a new journey has begun.
i've left the old country roads.
it's on to the big city!

can you s-p-e-l-l?

who would've thought that a national spelling bee could be so exciting?
i actually enjoyed watching it last night, but please... please tell me i did NOT look that nerdy when i was their age.

Last...

Last supper in VT at J&E's house.
Oh boy - I'll miss our all-day food fests.
















Last brunch in VT at Mirabelle's.
It was goo-ood.

VA, not VT

i officially live in VA now. (from one V state to another)
after a 10-hour drive (thanks to ji), we made it safely down on sunday.

i'm temporarily living with an old college friend right above whole foods. (yum) i think i could get used to this. it's an organic food store, so there are many reminders of VT. at least i can still have my share of B&J's ice cream, frozen american flatbread pizza, cabot cheese and frozen mystic apple pie. :)

where's sam?? :(
who took this photo anyway?

post-graduation party pics

back at the lakehouse after graduation...
it started raining after graduation, so it was a no-go on the sailing. :(
(andy, thanks for bringing the boat out)
still, we had fun eating and hanging out indoors.