The Light at the End of the Tunnel...

Apologies to those who have been waiting for a new installment. It's taken me a while. Partly because I've been busy, partly because I haven't had much to say. Truthfully, I'm tired of complaining about stuff. Unfortunately, I haven't had much positive to share. So in the vein of 'if you can't say anything nice', I haven't been saying anything at all.

So I took some vacation... my first since starting residency. Not a good move, waiting until I was half way through to take some mental health time. Possibly also not good to think that a week of family time would recharge me. I love my family, but half of them are crazy. And in order to spend time with the half that I like, I often have to spend time with the other half. Not making for a relaxing time. Actually, I'm exaggerating. Of the two that I expected to make my vacation hell before it started, only one of them actually did. The other was very pleasent. Which continues to baffle me, but the family member in question doesn't seem to want to discuss or work through old issues so I guess the situation will continue as it has. And now that I've lost every reader who doesn't know me well enough to know who the hell I'm talking about... sorry. Sometimes I forget that not all of you know me in person.

By the time I got back to work, I felt like I had nothing left to give. I was cranky, bitter and angry. It felt awful. I had no interest in being there, and I resented every minute. After a day or two, though, things started to turn around. I felt like I was finally getting the hang of it. I was no longer walking around in that state of constant panic. I actually got some sleep on a night of call.

Just in time to move on. Family medicine is my next stop. Four whole months of it. My first rotation as a family medicine resident. I admit I'm kind of sorry to not call myself an emergency medicine resident anymore, but I know that I'm doing the right thing. Besides, I'll be an emerg resident again in a year and a half after my family residency is over. And I'm going to be doing a horizontal elective in emergency medicine during my family rotation. In english, that means that I get to work in the ER one afternoon a week. Finally... some actual "Tales from the Emergency Room"!

Family medicine is looking interesting. The family doc I'm working with is in a small town (about a 45 minute commute for me, but worth it to be out of the academic centres!) and besides running an office practice, follows his own patients in the local hospital, does obstetrics (Yay! More baby-catching!) and works at a nursing home. I should be seeing a really good mix of stuff. He's been advertising me in his practice not as a student, but as a 'new doctor joining his practice'. I start seeing my own patients within a week. Crazy. I can't wait. :-)