Looking Backwards...

Whenever my dad is dreading something he says he is "looking backward to it" rather than looking forward to it.

Now it is my turn....I am definitely looking backward to going back to work.

I have been home since mid-June and going back to work is definitely going to be hard. It has been wonderful to be home with the beautiful baby Claire. She is such a good baby, and already sleeps better than Jordan!

It has been nice to spend a lot of time with Jordan as well. He has been wonderful with the baby! This weekend Jordan turns 3! I am excited to see how he likes his party.

Not that leaving my kiddos for 8+ hours a day is bad enough, I also am having to deal with all kinds of headaches at that job of mine. My poor team has been dealing with all kinds of crap at work in my absence and are anxious to get me back. My first three days are filled up with the most annoying patients! Somehow I will get through this week...it is gonna be rough though!

What a night...

Last night was a crazy night...

It figures on the nights that I bring all kinds of fun stuff to do, all the drunks of Korea decide to go out in masses...

As soon as I finished working out, and had showered (thank goodness), we got a 911 call that there was a drunk guy who tried to jump out a second story window. The security forces were able to tackle him to the ground and stop him...otherwise my work would have been much more involved.

Once the medics arrived on scene to get the jumper, there was another patient having a difficulty breathing. They took her back instead. So while I was trying to figure out suffocating girl, jumper showed up...

Once they were all stabilized and I finally sat down to my DVDs of Grey's Anatomy (thanks for the loner Katie), we got another call. The next patient was a female who was out with her husband. Apparently there was a fight, long story short, he punched her in the face. She was hysterical as you can imagine. She had a blood alcohol 3x the legal limit. Once she was sobered up a bit, she admitted to me that he does this regularly. But since she loves him and all that B.S. she won't say a thing...

It is easy to judge a woman like that, but it wasn't that long ago I was in that same situation...okay so it was a long time ago- over 14 years. I thought that he was the one, but really he was just an idiot. After every time things got out of hand, he swore it was the last time- and stupidly I believed it.

So publicly I would like to thank that idiot from High School- you taught me more than anyone else about life. People will lie to your face, take advantage of you, and take what they want. Nobody will stand up for you. You have to do it yourself. That retard showed me that you have to teach people how to treat you. If you allow it to happen, it will.

The other night at work, one of the techs was looking at a picture of my residency class. She told me that I was a success story. My reply was to down play my success. I said I was just "lucky".

Her response floored me... "Well you didn't just trip and fall and wind up a doctor. You had to work at it."

She is right. I did a lot of work. If I had believed idiot from High School, God knows where I would be.

I just hope that girl in the ER realizes she deserves more.

A good night at work!

The other night I had a great night at work. I actually got to do some procedures and actually did some good! After an incredibly drunken night, I got to intubate an active duty person who was puking all over the place and in danger of aspirating. To make matters worse they were combative and fighting us. I was on the fence about intubating, but since we had anesthesia right there and respirations were steadily going down, I figured we might as well. Then we wouldn't have to fight to keep them cooperative, breathing, and aspirating. Plus we got to suck all the food out of the stomach- there was puke everywhere!

Surprisingly, after not intubating anyone since the 3rd year of medical school- I got it on the first try! I was so proud! The people I work with at the ER are so nice- everyone was cheering me on, I was a celebrity for the rest of the evening!

It was a good night! I came home on top of the world and stayed up most of the day- too amped up to sleep!

Thanks!

Thanks to everyone who left such encouraging comments when I was feeling so down. I have decided to take action.

Yesterday was to be the first day of the new me...

I was scheduled to take a ACLS class up at the Army Hospital in Seoul. To get there I have to take a one hour bus ride. It was pouring rain the entire drive. Koreans like to blast the heaters, and I made the mistake of sitting right over the heater. I was seriously sweating by the time we got there.

Once on Yongsan, I got in a taxi to take me to the other side of the base near the hospital. In the hospital I had to ask for directions to another building. I braved the rain again to find the right building. I finally found the right building, right room, but no one was there. I waited about ten minutes and a lady showed up. I explained why I was there, and she explained that the class has been...CANCELLED!!

I showed her the email I had from just ten days ago telling me when and where the class would be. The email was from her. Apparently when it was cancelled one week ago, she didn't think it was necessary to email everyone on the class list.

Fuming mad, I left. Not before she gave me a list of next months classes.

I took another taxi back to the bus station. Got on the next bus, and back to Osan. I called my boss, and told him what had happened. He called me back in a few minutes to let me know that another doc from our hospital was there too. Somehow he got "squeezed into a 10 o'clock class". That lady didn't even tell me about the ten o'clock class. My boss wanted me to go to that one. By that time I was already on the bus, on the freeway coming back.

On the way back I was starving at ate two chocolate covered oreos. So much for the diet!

The rest of the day pretty much sucked too. I came home and wanted to take a nap, but ended up sleeping from 10 to 3pm.

I did manage to workout though. I did one of my DVDs. It is one of the Jillian Michaels (biggest loser trainer) ones. The workout is pretty good, but she really wears on my nerves. I just turn it on and mute her.

Today I am really sore. I think I overdid my first day. But it is a good kind of soreness. Today my eating was pretty good, but I don't think I drank enough water. Too many cokes...

So tired....

I have worked 6 out of the last 7 days. 72 hours. Nights. Please just kill me.

This has been a hell of a week. The exercise is in full swing. I am wearing almost every article of clothing the military has ever given me. It takes me about 10 minutes to get dressed, and that is just putting on clothes!

Earlier in the week while I was sleeping Joe came into the bedroom whispering saying there were two women out in the living room praying.

It thought I had misunderstood him, but he reiterated and assured me they were there and now he couldn't get rid of them. Apparently they had buzzed on the outside door and wanted into the building. Joe went out and let them in b/c it was snowing, and then they followed him in to our living room, kneeled on the floor and started praying.

I got up and went out to the living room and told them women that there was a misunderstanding and they would have to leave immediately. They knodded and looked like they were leaving.

I got back in bed, Joe didn't come back to the bedroom so I called him...no answer. I listened really close and damn it, those women were going on and on about an earth mother, earth father, heavenly mother, heavenly father...

I jumped out of bed, pissed. In the living room there was Joe, the women reading out of the Bible, and Jordy (who was having a great time!).

"You have to leave." I explained. No one budged. Am I invisible I wonder?

"In heaven there is a heavenly mother..." The lady babbled on, oblivious that I was even there.

Joe is starting to get that worried look on his eye. This is the look that he gets whenever he knows I am about to entirely lose my shit and he is going to be really embarassed.

"I don't think you heard me," I said a bit louder. Nothing. "You need to leave. I work nights and have to sleep. You are making too much noise." The lady kept reading her bible. Joe is panicking. The other woman with the reading lady is looking like a deer in headlights. The situation is growing tense. Jordy is smiling and laughing, clapping his hands- yes storytime brings out the best in him.

Finally I lost it...I clapped my hands together loudly, "Let's move it people!" I screamed. I grabbed the Bible readers arm and steered her towards the door. Surprising she hardly budged. "YOU NEED TO LEAVE" (before I kick your ass, I wanted to add). She smiled a sarcastic smile and said okay. I slammed her Bible shut, shoved it at her, and escorted her to the door, with her little friend.

Finally they were outside, she turned and tried to say something else to me. I slammed the door and deadbolted it.

What the hell was that all about?? Does she really think that by staging her own sit in she will save souls? The only thing she accomplished her was a good lesson for all of us not to let strangers into our homes. At one point I actually thought I would have enjoyed being robbed more.

Be careful...they are out there...

Oh Happy Day!

Today Joe and I did the most romantic thing we have ever done together. We got up early and got Jordy dressed and went to the base. Our friend Trent dropped us off at the bus station. We rode one hour to Yongsan Army Base. There we wandered around for about an hour before we found the building we wanted. Then once inside I talked to a Korean man for about ten minutes. Then he left and returned with.... OUR CAR!!!

It was heavenly sitting behind the wheel (on the normal side of the car mind you) and driving. Luckily we started talking to a guy at the vehicle place who was dropping off his car and needed a ride back to Osan. He knew directions, and we had a car! Turns out he was a really nice guy and was a treasure trove of information. It was a really nice drive back.

Once we were back to Osan we went grocery shopping and bought tons of food. We are now well stocked and have transportation! It is wonderful!

Now the only thing standing in our way of being completely settled is the lease. Unbeleivably we have been living in this apartment since the 12th and haven't signed a lease yet. The person who owns this unit is in the process of selling it, so we can't sign the lease yet. B/c we have no lease, we can't get our OHA (oversease housing allowance) which is an extra 1900.00 a month. So I really want to get that done! Hopefully it will be this week...

Work has been good. The beginning of the month my schedule is wonderful-I work one day, then three off, one day then three off. Mid month I switch to a three on- one off. I haven't seen any real emergencies in the ER yet, just lots of whiny people who don't want to got work. At least most of them are nice about it.

I have this weekend off, not sure what we are gonna do. I wanted to go on another tour, not sure if Joe is for it though...