Doctor Psychobabble

“I don’t see America as a mainland, but as a sea, a big ocean. Sometimes a storm arises, a formidable current develops, and it seems it will engulf everything. Wait a moment, another current will appear and bring the first one to naught.”

- Jacques Maritain

It’s only 4:00 p.m., yet I am utterly fatigued. I only got a few hours of sleep last night and then had to go to work today. I haven’t eaten in over half a day. I’m pooped.

I was supposed to be on call this Saturday, but due to hurricane Irene coming, and the citywide evacuation, I will be staying at the hospital for the entire weekend and will be holding up the psychiatric emergency room, and any other place that needs me. I will be packing a “hurricane kit” and then will go in to the hospital tomorrow, with the hopes of leaving by Monday morning. Fingers crossed.

New York City is in a state of panic/emergency preparedness. Hospitals have been evacuated. Entire neighborhoods have been evacuated. The subway and busses will shut down tomorrow at noon. Hundreds of events have been cancelled. The city is preparing for the worst, but hoping for the best. I saw crowds of people coming out of the grocery store with bags of bread, milk, and water on my walk home. The gas pumps were crowded with folks filling up. Many ATMs have run out of cash. I still need to stock my fridge, although I won’t be spending my time at home.

While I’m not excited about the idea of spending 2+ days at the hospital, I’m happy to be a doc who can help in some way.

Time to buy some groceries, eat some food, and take a huge breath before the storm.

I’m going to try and tweet/blog my experiences in the hospital during the hurricane, internet willing. So stay tuned.

Photo: The first sunset I saw while living in Dominica

“But even the President of the United States sometimes must have to stand naked.”
- Bob Dylan

I just got home from my inpatient psychiatry rotation. I’m leaving in a few minutes to catch a quick BYOM (bring your own mom) happy hour with my fellow psych residents. I wore a dress today. Is that what inspired the mayhem?

As I walked onto the unit today, I was immediately greeted by:

1. A female patient running naked down the hallway. She was manic. I helped her into her room and got her clothes back on.

2. Then my male patient disrobed and became combative. I found his clothes and managed to get them on him.

3. Seconds later I heard a loud thumping noise in another room. One patient, not mine, was naked and about to assault his roommate over the loss of a dollar. I restrained him, after he took a swing at me, punched his roommate, and threw his urinal at him. Luckily, my medical students were around to alert the nurses to bring a PRN.

I love my job. I really do.

Photo: “The Dominican Way.” I love that “Dominican” reminds me not of the Dominican Republic, but my previous home, Dominica.

It’s 101 degrees Fahrenheit right now. I’m so incredibly hot and sweaty that my mind is not even functional enough to write a coherent blog post.

I had a good day at the hospital today. I’m actually starting to learn how to do “stuff” and that makes me happy.

I’d write more right now, but the sweat dripping from my fingers keeps clogging my keyboard. Seriously!

I really need to get central A/C.

Photo: From my “Goodbye Dominica” celebration. Yes, that’s my hand holding the packet!

This past Friday, I “walked” at my official, Ross University School of Medicine graduation ceremony at Madison Square Garden in New York City. My parents, my youngest sister Corina, my partner Micah and my adopted son/good friend Tom were all able to attend. Unfortunately, my grandmother and two other sisters, Julena and Briana were unable to make it.

My parents drove up from Virginia on Thursday for the festivities. I can’t express how wonderful it was to have them here, and they filled my belly with all kinds of good food!

For those of you considering whether or not to attend the graduation ceremony for Ross, I highly recommend that you do so! I thought it was a very nice ceremony, and I had to hold back tears more than once (and failed miserably, of course).

The president, Dr. Thomas Shepherd, and the dean, Dr. Mary Coleman were both there, along with other faculty and the guest speaker. There was even a special, surprise guest…Alexis George! All you fellow Rossies out there probably know who that is!

I plan on uploading some videos soon, but in the meantime, please enjoy the photos that I have posted here, along with the one’s in this post.

It was incredibly awesome to see so many fellow students (doctors!), whom I hadn’t seen in a very long time (most since Dominica).

Interestingly enough, the point when I cried the most was not when I walked across the stage to be hooded and receive my “diploma.” Nor was it when I read the hippocratic oath (although I did cry then, as well). The most touching moment was when I ran into Alexis after the ceremony. Alexis is a Dominican man who is known to pretty much every Ross student. I still remember stepping out of the Dominican airport, and seeing Alexis greet me and sell me a cell phone! He is a well known taxi driver in Dominica, and he drove us all to the campus from the airport on our first day in Dominica.

After the ceremony, I found Alexis and thanked him for coming. He told me something that brought me to tears. This was his first time attending the Ross graduation ceremony. He told me that he recognized many of our faces, from four years ago, when we were just landing in Dominica. That first day, most of us looked scared to death, and some of us were even crying. We had no idea where the next four years of our life would take us. We couldn’t comprehend at that moment how the journey through medical school would affect us all. We were in a strange and foreign land about to begin a strange and foreign journey through medical school. And Alexis told me that seeing us same med students, four years later, walking across the stage at Madison Square Garden, made him impossibly proud. We were doctors. And he had been there for us, to welcome us to the country, and to witness the beginning of our transformation.

That’s when it really hit me. I am a doctor. I have come so far, yet I have so far still to go. I was terrified and excited and hopeful that day, almost four years ago, when I first set foot on Dominica soil and began my journey through medical school. And now that I am about to begin my journey as a doctor in residency, I am just as terrified and excited and hopeful. Let the journey begin!

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