Second-Year Moles

I've sat down several times now intending to write something, since it has been so long. But that is precisely the problem: I've let too much time pass and so much has happened that it is hard to know where to start or what to call it. I went to Vegas with Sesha, we vacationed in Costa Rica, our house got painted, and we had visits from Naila, my sister and my mom, to name a few things.

Geoff promises to blog about our trip to Costa Rica, so I'm going to touch on something really recent: my becoming a second-year resident on July 1.

There was no easing into this one. I had the distinction of being the first person in my class to take short call, which means covering all of the studies from 3 hospitals, including traumas, between 5 and 8 pm, bridging the hours between the time when everyone goes home for the day and the time when the night person shows up. Sounds benign, right?

RIGHT!!

I'll spare you the boring details, but it was something akin to leaning in to take a small sip from a fountain and instead meeting a column of water aimed straight at your gaping, wide-eyed, and horrified face. You're left coughing and sputtering, bleary-eyed and blabbering, hardly sure of what just happened or what is going to happen, unsure of how you'll recover.

My residency class is a good one, but even with all the time in the world to peruse a study, we're still weak from inexperience. I guess that's why we have at least 3 years ahead of us.... So take our baseline handicap and then add the elements of STRESS and VOLUME and voila! You have the makings of a perfect storm.

As radiologists, we pass our time in the darkness. Doctors rely on us to shed some light on the studies they order. I'm not even sure where the light switch is....

So, I've cautioned you all before and I'll say it again - STAY AWAY FROM HOSPITALS, most of all in July! Your radiologist may just be new second-year resident, all stunned and stupefied, pawing through the darkness like a helpless mole.