flurry of activity

There's been a flurry of activity around here lately...

Last week, I went to florida for a pediatric research symposium. I was mostly dreading it at first... I really hate being forced to make small-talk and "network"/"mingle" with strangers, but it actually turned out to be a really enriching experience. I got a lot of helpful feedback on my research and presentation style, and I got to hear about all these other cool projects that peds residents from all over were getting involved in!

Tomorrow, I'm flying to Baltimore for the peds academic societies meeting at which I'm giving a platform presentation. scary!!

Then, on Monday, we fly to New Zealand! I'm so excited, I can hardly contain myself... I don't know how I'm going to get through this weekend...

Oh, I know how! One of my dearest friends from HS lives in D.C. and we are going to stuff ourselves with good food and spend some time catching up!!!!

When I get back, I will have lots of pictures to share!

new era

i just got an email from another fellow in the program who is making our schedule for July to July. looks like i will have thanksgiving day off. and likely a whole week off for christmas! woohoo. in order to arrange this, she sent us an email asking us if it would be okay to have call weeks closer together than usual. ideally, we take a week of call at a time, about once every 6 weeks. but there's a stretch where we have to take a week of call about 3 weeks apart.

seriously? i don't even care. i just feel so lucky to have time off for the holidays! this will be the first thanksgiving i spend with my family in 11 years!! eleven!

i'm willing to do just about anything to make this happen. :) so excited.

children of pediatricians

in the last 2 days, i have seen 3 children of doctor/medical student parents.

in clinic, i saw the toddler of a medical student. with an ear infection. *already on antibiotics!*

in the ER tonight, i saw the toddler of another medical student with a stomach virus. and a baby of a family medicine resident with a viral infection.

all those kids?
definitely did not need to be seen by another doctor.

which brings me to thinking. what kind of parent will i be?
first of all. i clearly love babies. but i can NOT imagine myself having a baby any time soon, if ever. seriously.
secondly. i don't think i would ever take my kids to the emergency room. unless they like, were dying of meningitis.

and even then, it better be bacterial meningitis. we can deal with viral at home.