Tuesday, September 27, 2011
You should probably have a mattress that fits them.

Let me tell you a little story.  It's a story about a mattress.  And some sheets.  But we'll start with the mattress.  This little mattress was purchased sometime back in the 1980's.  First, my parents slept on it for a while.  Then, it got moved into my bedroom when they got a new one.  This was a big time upgrade, since it was a queen size mattress.  Woot woot! 

Then, when I went to medical school, I took this mattress with me.  Then, when I moved to Indiana for residency, I took it with me again.

This mattress is more traveled than most college graduates.

(Remember, it's life started in the 1980's.  I was born in 1985.  So it's pretty close to my age.  How close?  I've never asked when EXACTLY they got it... I prefer not to think about those things).

So, the mattress settled into life in Indiana.  At the same time as the move, I ordered some nice new sheets from my mom's friend.  Good, high quality, very comfy sheets.  When they arrived, I put them on my mattress and...

Wop wop.

The mattress was so old and thin that the fitted sheet went the whole way around the mattress AND box spring.

Sad. 

So I decided I needed to go mattress shopping.  The old mattress was destined for the guest room, and my bed needed something with a little more fluff.  After doing mucho research (okay, no mucho, but some), I settled on checking out Denver Mattress Company.  They got good ratings from Consumer Report, and there happens to be one right down the street. 

I was looking for something on the affordable side, since eventually I plan to move the new mattress into the guest room, toss the one that's my age, and get myself whatever mattress I dang well please.

There were many good options, and I narrowed it down to the Arapahoe, Breckenridge Memory Foam, and Breckenridge Latex.  When I found out that I could save $100 if I got a mixed box spring and mattress set, the Breckenridge suddenly became much more affordable, and I decided to go with that.  Seriously, who WOULDN'T get the mixed set?  No one looks at the box spring anyway...

Anyway, once I picked the Breckenridge, I had to decide between Memory Foam and Latex.  I asked the sales guy every question I could think of to figure out what the difference was.  Durability?  Firmness?  Thickness?  Hypoallergenic-ness?  Nothing...  And I couldn't tell a lick of difference sitting on them.  I eventually went with the Memory Foam, for no other reason than it sounds more comfortable than Latex. 

Isn't it purdy?

And the best part:  The fitted sheet actually fits on the mattress.  Ahh, the life of luxury.  Wyatt isn't thrilled about it though, because he has to jump a lot further to get on the bed.

The guys at the store warned me that getting used to a new mattress may make you sore for a couple days.  Ha.  I've slept like a rock every night. 

And in the grand mattress circle of life, the old mattress is in my guest room, and my parents will get to enjoy it again when they come visit at thanksgiving. 

And, if you're wondering, buying a mattress, it probably the most adult thing I've ever done.  Ranks above buying a house, owning a stand mixer, and even mowing my own lawn. 

Welcome to adulthood!

Sunday, September 25, 2011
I know you've all been dying to hear about being on call for medicine.  Or at least dying to hear what exactly being "on call" means.  Since yesterday was my first call day of the second block of medicine, I figured I'd use it as an example of what a typical call day looks like. 

This is the meat and potatoes of intern year.  We do five rotations on the medicine service during intern year.  If you're admitted to the hospital, and you don't have a doctor (or your doctor doesn't come to the hospital, or you don't remember who your doctor is, or if we are your doctor...) we will take care of you on staff medicine.  In addition to taking care of my patients, when I'm on call I'm responsible for admitting any new patients coming to our service, running code blues, RAT (rapid assessment team) calls, seeing patients who fall while in the hospital, and pronouncing patients who were DNR and died. 

So, yesterday looked a little like this...

6:30 - Get to hospital and preround on my patients (we just started this rotation so they were all new to me)
7:00 - Breakfast rounds.  This is a Saturday only special.  But I like it.
8:30 - Finish rounds and start seeing patients and writing notes.
9:15 - Rapid Assessment Team call.  A patient on one of the floors is having acute shortness of breath.  We go get him taken care off, transferred to where he needs to go, then get back to regularly scheduled programming
10:30 - I do a circumcision on a baby who was delivered by the OB fellow yesterday.
11:30 - Finish writing notes and seeing patients.
12:30 - I grab a sandwich
12:31 - I do a pronouncement of a patient who just died.
1:00 - Talk to a patient about going home.
2:00 - Go see a patient who developed chest pain.
4:00 - Talk to radiology about test results for a patient.
4:30 - Everyone is tucked in... so I just wait to get called by the ER about an admission
7:00 - Night call person comes in.
7:15 - I go home.

Lucky for me, I didn't have any admissions ALL day, which is unusual.  On my first night call the first month I was on medicine, it looked something like this.
7:00 - Arrive at hospital and get checkout for medicine day team.
7:30 - Go to ED to see first admission.
8:00 - Told I have two more admissions to do.
9:00 - CODE BLUE
10:30 - Head back to ED to work on admissions.
12:00 - I've now been told about 7 people to admit.  That's our cap, so I lined the charts up and just started plowing through them.
1:00 - While staffing a patient with our attending, the CODE BLUE siren goes off again.
2:00 - Call attending back to finish staffing.
3:00 - Go to talk to family of patient who died in second code.
4:00 - Go to ICU to pronounce a patient
4:30 - Go back to ED
6:45 - Finished admitting patients.  Go to Cafeteriahhhh to get coffee.
7:00 - Rounds.  I present my 7 new patients.
8:45 - Go to aspirate knee of patient
9:30 - Try to convince patient to have important procedure, which he refuses.
10:30 - Go home.

Typical call days are somewhere between those two...

Now you know. 

Phew, I'm sure you feel better. 

Peace out.
Kari
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Part of being on a sweet sports medicine/orthopedics rotation is not having any call, having short days, and occasionally having a random half day off.  The other part of being on a sports med rotation is working Friday nights and Saturday mornings.  Which I happen to find relatively enjoyable. 

So, I was at the training room this morning before tailgating (which, PS, was most certainly part of my work day), where we were checking up on a few old injuries.  While we were in there, a former soccer player came in with her kiddo and wondered if we'd take a look at him.  Sure thing, we said.  What was the problem, you wonder?

He stuck an altoid up his nose.

(I'll wait while you pinch your nose, wipe your watering eyes, and imagine how uncomfortable it would be shove an altoid up your nose...)

Yes, an altoid.  Apparently it was a little one, but that's not much comfort...

So I took a look and all I could see was snot and a little stream of dissolving altoid foam.  And lots of redness.  Poor kid.  We couldn't do anything for him...  We tried to teach him to blow his nose, but he wasn't quite grasping the concept.  Although it was pretty adorable to watch him try!

Never a dull moment in the training room...
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
I thought I'd pop back in and let you know how my painting extravaganza turned out.  It took a TON of paint to cover what is a pretty small bedroom.  As in, more than a gallon.  As in I had to run to Lowes yesterday morning to get more paint.  As in my arms no longer go above my head from reaching to paint the sponge-like ceiling. 

But, it was all worth it in the end, because the guest room no longer looks like a 10 year old boys room... which it was a mere 3 months (minus 2 days) ago.

Here are the before shots again.  I meant to snap one of the spider man light switch plate, but I was too busy taking it down.  Sorry.


Clearly I was already started when I took these pictures.  Because I was painting the ceiling, I had to cover the whole room in plastic.  This proved a challenge when selecting painting footwear.  I tried to go barefoot but the plastic kept sticking to my feet, and I had to walk like I had drop foot.  Then I put on socks and it was like trying to walk on an ice rink.  I ended up in shoes.  Good thing I have a lot of old pairs that can get paint-y. 

The top picture has a couple paint swatch options up, none of which are the one I actually chose. 

When I started painting, I realized that no only were there planes on the walls, but there were also stars all over the ceiling.  I think they'd been painted over with a coat of primer before, but you could definitely still see them. 

Not anymore.

They've been buried.  By Ashen to be precise (of the Olympic Premium No-VOC variety to be even more precise).  A coat of high coverage primer, and two coats of paint later, this is where we are.

So, ignore the fact that there's practically no designing going on here.  Also ignore the fact that there's an air mattress on the floor.  It'll be spruced up in due time.  Here are some of the plans I've got in my head...

Change out the light fixture for a ceiling fan.  I'm moving the fan from the master BR into this room, and hanging a new one in the master.  I'd have done it myself, but the breaker wasn't labeled for either bedroom, and I didn't feel like running up and down from the basement to figure out which one it was.  Also, I didn't want to electrocute myself and die.

Hang some B&W photographs in colorful frames (red, maybe?) and putting some floating shelves up for more decorating schtuff. 

Put a rug in front of the bed.

Get a bed.  That one's on the short list.  I'm going mattress shopping this weekend, so hopefully by next weekend, there will be a real bed in place of the air mattress.  Let the house guests arrive.

That's about it for now.  I'm quite happy with the color choice.  It's nice and neutral, and will make it easy to change things up in there if I so choose.  It also looks really nice with the tones in the wood floors.

The last room left on the short list of things to paint is my bedroom... suggestions?  I'm not tackling that one solo because I have some giant pieces of furniture that need to be moved.  So I'm waiting to the reinforcements to arrive first...

Oh, and in other news, I found my dining room table yesterday.  Very exciting.  More pictures to come soon.  Although tomorrow I go back to work, so the home improvement projects will slow down.  Wop wop.

Cheers,
Kari


Monday, September 12, 2011
You may remember me talking about my kitchen cabinets.  My plan to give them a quick coat of paint was upended when I discovered they were not normal cabinets, but old (probably original to my circa 1947 house) metal cabinets that no one had given any attention to since... ever, probably.   I estimate there are 5 coats of paint on the cabinets, some of which are peeling off.  There is grime and rust on the tops of the doors (which I don't think anyone but me has actually ever looked at).  And the shelves have definitely never been washed. 

When I was cleaning out the cabinets (actually, Ian was doing it while I was downstairs scrubbing shelves), I discovered something that confirmed my theory that no one had actually looked in the back of the cabinets in many many years. 

Names of patient and prescriber erased to protect the innocent.

Why yes, that is bottle of 100 percocet from 1987.  I'm glad you asked.

Now, this bottle tells me lots about previous homeowners. 

1.  They were probably not drug dealers.  The bottle was pretty much full.
2.  They apparently weren't in much pain.
3.  They never ever looked in the cabinets.
4.  The owner after them (yes, there was at least one before me) also never cleaned out the cabinets.

Gross.

So, I'll leave that as the indication of the starting condition of my cabinets and kitchen before I started a little refurbishing.  Hopefully I'll get to show you the final product soon!

On another note, I've been busy painting the guest bedroom all day.  Painting the ceiling really slowed this show down.  I still have a coat and a half to go!  Here's what I started with...


Sad to say, the blue airplane stencil had to go.  Stay tuned for the after pictures.  They're gonna be sweet.  I hope.

Peace out,
Kari

PS.  Yes, I tossed all the extra percocet.  After 24 years (FYI, that's just two less than I've been alive), I'm pretty sure it's expired. 
Saturday, September 10, 2011
Today is the start of a glorious 5 day va/staycation!  A little bit will be spent traveling, but mostly, I'm going to be at home, getting my home improvement on.  The list of things I want to get done is LONG, and will involve lots and lots of coffee!  I'll give you a glimpse of the projects I'm hoping to finish...

Find my dining room table (it's burried under a pile of tools, projects, and general stuff that never made it out of the dining room.)
Paint wood cabinet doors
Sand metal cabinet doors
Spackle guest bedroom
Wash/sand guest bedroom
Paint guest bedroom
Switch ceiling fans in bedrooms
Hang curtains in sunroom
Strip kitchen hardware
Files papers in my office
Print pictures to hang in hallway

I think I can get that all done....

,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Friday, September 9, 2011
Have you ever had these before?  Stacy's Pita Chips of the cinnamon sugar variety.  They are maybe the most delicious snack food ever.  And they are pita chips, so they must be healthy, right?  Ha.

They just happen to carry these little gems in the hospital cafeteria.  Lucky for me, they come in small, portion controlled bags.  Unlucky for me, I can get 17 bags of them if I dang well please.  Now I haven't done that yet, but there were certainly days when I considered it.

Lets start with the pita chip.  It's crunchy, thick in some places, but thin and chip like in others.  It has just a HINT of saltiness.  And then there's the cinnamon sugar.  It's cinnamony and sugary.  Nothing else to say about it.

When you were a kid, did you ever take leftover bits of pie crust, roll them out on a cookie sheet, spread butter on top, and sprinkle it with cinnamon sugar and bake it?  No?  Well you should have.  Because then you would have an idea how delicious cinnamon sugar pita chips are. 

They hit the sweet and salty/crunchy cravings in one package.  They are genius.  You should go buy some. 

And they make me very very happy.
Monday, September 5, 2011
I'm on my way home from a wonderful weekend in NC.  Betsy got married!  The weekend could not have been better... well, almost, but I'll get to that later.  First, I'll spoil the surprise and say that the wedding was a success.  Betsy and Devin are officially Dr. and Dr. Odom. 
But first, lets rewind to the beginning.  I woke up at 4:00 Thursday morning to catch a 5:45am flight to Greensboro.  I always think that's such a great idea when I book the flight, then regret it about 11:00 the night before when I'm still cleaning a bathroom to avoid packing because I hate packing.  Then, I regret it more when my alarm goes off at 4:00am.  Then I get to my destination before most people have finished their second cup of coffee, and I don't regret it anymore :)

So anyway, Thursday I got into GSO about 8:45 and picked up my rental car, which got upgraded to a full size sedan, my very of shiny black Mercury Grand Marquise with a bench seat in the front.  Glorious.  I headed to Winston to run some errands and visit some people.  My day included iced tea and a pedicure, visiting some friends at Wake's family medicine building, having coffee with a friend at Wake's campus, having lunch with someone from the sports medicine program, going for a run, having dinner (and ice cream) with a friend, getting dark chocolate almond spread from whole foods (which may or may not count as a liquid when I try to get it through airport security...) and spending some time trying to get last minute alterations on my dress... whoops.

Friday I had more running around to do before the final fitting of my dress and heading to the rehearsal dinner. 

Saturday morning we had plans to have our hair done at a salon in High Point before pictures and the ceremony at the church.  My hair took a while because I had to get it all flat ironed, and by the time I was finished, everyone had already headed back towards the church... which would have been fine since I had my car.  But my keys and phone accidentally got put into Betsy's mom's purse and they left.  So I had no way to leave, or get my stuff, and no way to call anyone.  Luckily the salon had Betsy's phone number, and we called her and had someone ring them back to me.  They had to drive the whole way back to Lexington to pass them off, and come back.  So I sat in the salon drinking coffee, eating crackers, and reading about new cruise ships.  If you're considering a cruise vacation in the near future, let me know.  I'm now a wealth of knowledge. 

I DID make it to the church on time, however, and we even had time to do pictures before the ceremony.  The ceremony itself was wonderful.  Very classic and simple, and most importantly successful.  No one ran away from the alter.  Phew. 

We headed back to High Point for the reception at an old Inn, which was perfect.  Betsy and Devin were SO happy!  (see above picture for proof). 

The rest of the weekend was spent hanging out with her family (I've been adopted) and relaxing.... and eating.  Lots and lots of leftover bbq and cake. 

It was nice to be back in NC and see my friends and family who are still here.  This was the last planned thing I have going on here, so I don't really have a reason to come back at any particular point... which is very strange.  I know I WILL come back because I have lots of friends and pseudofamily here.  But to not have a trip planned to be back here is very odd! 

This was a wonderful weekend, and I'm sad to see it end.  But I'm so excited for Betsy and Devin, and I'm glad I could be a part of the festivities!

Congratulations you two! 

About Me

I am a Family Medicine intern at a community hospital in Indiana, navigating the new world of being a physician. I am privileged to work in a field I love, where every day is a new and unpredictable challenge.
I am not only a doctor, but also a cyclist, runner, DIYer in the making, lover of the outdoors, traveler, and human.
Human, MD is a glimpse into the world of a young doctor who is just trying to stay true to herself through the grueling whirlwind of residency.

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