I Can Tell That We Are Going to Be Friends

January 25, 2011, 8:53 pmDoctor Psychobabble5 comments

“tonight i’ll dream while i’m in bed
when sill thoughts go through my head
about the bugs and alphabet
and when i wake tomorrow i’ll bet
that you and i will walk together again
cause i can tell that we
are going to be friends”
- The White Stripes

Patient's flowers

Today was not so bad. I’m actually starting to get the hang of this whole medical medical doctor thing. I’m sleep deprived right now. Hungry. And I’ve had a glass of wine, which went straight to my neurons.

So stream of consciousness is what you get.

Today, as I walked to the hospital, I heard the song, “We’re Going to Be Friends” by The White Stripes on my iPhone. It made me very happy. I realized at that moment that if I could figure out a way to listen to music while doing some of my work at the hospital, I might be a bit happier. Plan in progress.

Random events from the day:

1. Explaining to a family that their loved one might have a very aggressive type of brain cancer.

2. Talking to a patient’s family, wearing a full protective gown and face mask because the patient was on respiratory and contact precautions, and having the family member say to me at the end of the conversation, “You have beautiful eyes.”

3. Ruling out malaria.

4. Having a food service worker say to me, “I love your grapefruit” (commenting on my grapefruit tattoo peeking out) and me saying “Thanks, I’m so glad that you said grapefruit and not orange” and him saying “well, I do work in food service!”

Kill your television

5. Comforting a psychotic patient and preventing him from requiring restraints.

6. Hearing the words, “thank you doctor, you have done everything you could, and that means so much.”

These are all examples of why I put up with all the other crap, which my job entails.

The rare good moments make the predominant bad moments actually feel not all that bad.

Medicine, I can tell that we are going to be friends.

Photos: 1) My patient’s flowers 2) “Kill your TV.” A destroyed television found on my walk to the hospital today.

Part of My “Trash Talkin” Photo Series

  • http://www.mezzomedical.blogspot.com EG

    I like the stockpiles of Ensure and juice in your flowers photo.

  • http://thuchuynh.com thuc

    i cried when my attending told one of his patients she had cancer. the sadness and fear she was showing was so strong. its really tough sometimes not to personalize the sad, fatal cases.

  • Dr. Psychobabble

    Yes, my patient was quote the hoarder. So cool that you recognized those Ensure lids. :)

  • Dr. Psychobabble

    Thanks Thuc, for sharing, as always. It’s so good to know that I’m not alone. I am really, really bad at holding back tears.

  • jorkers

    the ensure cans popped out at me too–actually, I realized that although the picture was of “the flowers”–I barely even noticed them and my eyes/brain went straight to figuring out what all the other items were and making a mental list of them…hhmm….. glad you are having better days lately!