Question

Can one be friends with an ex?

I know this has been covered elsewhere, probably in every advice column ever, but I've been mulling it over. Basically, I think one can be friends with an ex if you both have moved on to other relationships and are not acting like there's any hope of getting back together. Otherwise, it seems like there will always be tension. But I guess the question then is, how much tension are you willing to endure (or for how long) in order to preserve a friendship in the long term (rather than cutting off ties)?

I'm Cold And Frightened

Well, cold anyway. It's pretty nippy out here in Pittsburgh.

Not much time to write. I'm on call and just wanted to post a quick update. I had lunch today at Primanti Bros. in Market Square, which was really good. They put coleslaw (not real coleslaw, very crisp, cold, and sweet) and fries in the sandwich itself. Warm and yummy on a day like today.

I got dinner at the cafeteria tonight, but it's sitting in the call room. If I have to get up in the middle of the night, god forbid, it'll be waiting for me.

And now back to the Colts-Patriots game. I'm rooting for the Colts. Doh! There goes the pager.

Missing Philly

All I Want...

...is to have a fulfilling career and then be able to come home to a community where I can practically go across the street or next door (or to the apartment next door) and see friends. I want friends all around me, and lots of community things happening that I can participate in, and you know, I don't foresee that happening, which sucks.

Good Call!

No, nobody made a helpful suggestion. I just got back from what might have been the best call night I'll ever have in my whole life. I was on Labor and Delivery from 7pm to 7am. I'm only supposed to follow patients from a certain clinic, of whom we didn't have anyone on the board in labor, and only one in the post-partum unit. And there wasn't even anyone else there who would be delivering, who I could watch or help with. Went to bed around 10:30pm, woke up around 5:45am, spontaneously (heard a door close). Got up, still nothing to do. Had breakfast in the call room, studied a little. Then went home. I get today off. Awesome!

Out here in Pitt the Elder, I've been noticing more keenly the feeling like I'm giving up an important part of myself to become this badass learning machine. So I've been nostalgic, and in the course of that nostalgia, I dug up this picture:

I think the first one of these was our freshman year, and this shot is from our junior year or something. I was further back in the first one, and my friends didn't realize I was leaping behind them. It was only when they developed the photos that they saw my tiny head and outstretched arms behind their heads (I was further back than in this photo). Anyway, it's nice to look back and remember how I used to have some energy and creativity. Now I'm just an Eeyore McMoperson.

Currently Reading (a la "The Underwear Drawer"): The Complete Sherlock Holmes. It's actually quite relevant to the observation and data synthesis skills needed for medicine, as one of our physical diagnosis professors was so fond of telling us. And they're good stories.

She Works Hard for That Stack of Chips

Here's a tiny pic of the hospital I work at. I think it looks like a cross between a cathedral and casino.

Brrrrt Reynolds

The title refers to a joke Seth and I used to make when cold. You could also say "Brrrt Lancaster," "Brrrtrand Russell," what have you. :)

It's nice and winter-like here in Pittsburgh. I arrived here yesterday and started my OB/GYN rotation today. I had an orientation in the morning, some sitting around, lunch, talked to a nice patient, learned from a super-nice scrub nurse how to scrub in for surgeries (really not so bad), and arrived back on the L&D floor (that's labor and delivery for those of you not in the biz) just in time to hear the cries of that nice patient's brand-new baby. Also, I got to observe the placenta being delivered. I think I can safely sum up the delivery process in one word: bloody.

I awkwardly walked back and forth between the mother's bed and the baby's warmer, watching everything. The moment I find myself most reflecting on, sitting here this evening, is when the baby stopped wailing and just opened his eyes and looked around. My face was right in front of his, and I think he might have seen me. But newborns don't have control of anything, really, so his eyes just sort of rolled around, fixing on one point now and again and then rolling to another side. But it still struck me, that this twenty-minute-old baby was obtaining his first visuals of the outside world. Welcome!

So I guess the two words to describe the birth process are: bloody and awe-inspiring. We'll see how much I like it in the coming weeks, I guess.

Long Live the Queen

Here I am, modeling the comfy bathrobe Dad gave me for Christmas. I'm also wearing the crown Mom gave my nephew. I plan to rule honorably and justly.