The past two weeks in the ER have been great! I am finally feeling really comfortable in knowing all the nurses and doctors who are working. Each week there is still someone that is working whom I don't know, but for the most part, I know everyone's names and a little bit about their lives. Yesterday was GREAT because I got to hang out with the ER docs, if only for 10 minutes. I was filing all their mail, and one doc started talking to me...asked me if I was in high school like EVERYONE does in the ER, haha. But eventually the conversation led to medicine and education, and now three of the docs know who I am and why I am there, which means that if they are treating anything interesting, they will pull me into the room with them. I don't really get to talk with the docs because it is so busy most of the time, but thankfully there was a little lag yesterday. I think my favorite part of the conversation was when I told them I was taking Organic Chem, and one doc says "Pah! Ask me how much I remember about ochem. NADA." And another one pipes in "I know how to draw a benzene ring! That's about it" It was just ironic because I am spending so much time in learning the material, when in reality it "has no place in clinical medicine" (direct from the mouth of my internal medicine M.D. neighbor;))

One doc started talking about how you have to realllllly want to be a doctor to go that route, because of the massive debt, the amount of time you spend studying, the stress, and the fact that it means you don't start your life until you're in your 30s. It was ironic because the night before, someone told me I was "crazy" for doing what I do. I love my life right now, so I didn't understand, but it was pointed out that I am happy despite the fact that I am always studying, I don't go out or have anything resembling a social life, and I'm flat broke. AKA, I'm crazy. I started thinking that maybe he's right, but I feel that there is nothing better in this world than to be passionate about what God is calling you to do and to throw yourself fullforce at it. Who cares that I haven't seen any of my friends in over five weeks (minus running a race with one)...who cares that my only interaction with people my own age is in lab, when we get yelled at for talking about non-chem things...who cares that I'm living on $30 a week....who cares that I study close to 40 hours a week...etc etc. Really, I feel that sometimes people get caught up too much in the externals of life and base their quality of life off of them. I really do pray for people that they can find that thing that they are passionate about, because it only makes sense that when you do pursue God's calling in your life with abundant exuberance that you are going to be a joyful and happy person. I wish everyone could experience what I am experiencing.

Back to the ER. Having deeper relationships with the nurses is starting to pay off as well. I was with a patient yesterday, and one nurse started teaching me about drawing blood and all the different containers they have, lab culture techniques, etc. Another one taught me the initials DGI...don't get involved, which is what they told me when I was working with one of the patients who was challenging. I think she appreciated the fact that I was so willing to help out with this particular patient (who had paranoid schizophrenia, which complicated things), so she let me stay with this patient despite the fact that I should have been "scared" like any normal person would/should have been. I eventually helped feed the patient! And I was able to get her calmed down enough so that she comfortable and not yelling for the doctor or nurse every couple of minutes.

That is my main goal when I visit with people in the ER, to make them feel as comfortable as possible. When they are relaxed, it makes their stay more enjoyable, and I think it helps the docs to be able to work with people who are calm and relaxed versus tense and annoyed. Last week we had a great elderly patient with us, but she had dementia and was deaf. For some crazy reason, the interpreter wasn't going to be available until five hours after she was admitted. She was very angry, which I'm sure was a combination of her dementia and the fact that she had communicate via writing when writing as a struggle for her. I went in to see what I could do, and the nurse said "Don't get sucked in!" I started writing to her, and listening." Boy was she upset! But then I asked what her name was, and then spelled out her name with the little bit of sign language I knew, and she got this huge smile on her face. Then I asked her how to sign "pretty," she showed me, and I told her that her necklace was pretty. She was a completely different person when I left the room than when I entered. It was just amazing to see how going that extra tiny step helped make her feel so much better about her situation.

Oh on a side note. Never ever in my life has blood or guts or needles ever affected me in any way, but yesterday when I was watching that nurse fish around for a vein...let's just say that I had to leave the room to get a drink and some air. I'm gonna pin it on the fact that I was tired and dehydrated...but hopefully that isn't a recurring experience!

Ochem is going well. But I'm working hard, let me tell you. Oy vay.