The longest suspended pedestrian skybridge in North America
"The 660-foot-long enclosed skybridge, which allows direct transportation of patients and supplies between OHSU and VAMC, is the longest suspended pedestrian skybridge in North America."
I walk across the skybridge several times a day. This trek is often the only sunlight exposure that I get during the course of the day. With a daily routine that involves getting to the hospital before 7 and leaving after 6 (on early nights), I spend a depressing amount of time basking in the forlorn glow of flourescent lights. I am well on my way down the exciting path that is vitamin D deficiency. But this does mean that every glimpse of the outside world is something to relish, to savor in silence. To absorb through every pore. And walking across the skybridge - which not only transports patients and supplies, but has one of the most amazing views of downtown portland and the Willammette valley - allows for a few brief moments of calm. It takes like 5 minutes to walk across. Well, maybe more like 2 - but its a long walk. And usually its filled with people, a little bustling medical highway. I almost always see someone I know on the skybridge.
The other night I walked across at 3 in the morning. I was the only person on the bridge. My footsteps were echoing in the 660 feet of silence. The portland skyline was glowing around me. I paused to try to see the river, look down at the trees, and have the obligatory "I wonder what would happened if this bridge collapsed right now" thought. I had this odd sense of connectedness to my future self - I will always be able to look back and remember this exact moment, I thought.
My next thought was of closing my eyes, and how nice that would feel. I was on my way to the pediatrics resident lounge again, where I was hoping for a couple hours of sleep. I found my way there, expecting my previous comfortable and suprisingly refreshing window seat experience.... only to find that some dude was lying there! In my spot! In the window seat! How he could be so bold, I will never understand. My next realization was that the pillows and sheets that were there 5 days ago had disappeared, leaving me with only my velour sweatshirt to keep me warm. Left without any other conceivable option, I laid down on a different window seat, wrapped my sweatshirt around me, and had another uncomfortable realization:
The lights in this room are on a timer. And they are motion-sensitive. I pulled the sweatshirt over my eyes, and proceded to have a rather chilly sleep that was punctuated by the lights turning on every time I moved. Every. single. time. I really commend the makers of that motion-detection system. I applaud you. Your lights are excrutiatingly sensitive.
I realized that it was that moment - the lying on a cold well-lit window seat trying to get 2 hours of sleep moment - that my future self will look back on. Non the i-am-one-with-the-night-sky experience of a few minutes prior.
Or also perhaps the moment when I realized that I had stayed up late the night before, researching things like Guillan-Bare syndrome and chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculopathy because I thought my patient was immunocompromised, only to find out the next morning that she wasn't. Sweet.
( I'm listening to a 80's rock mix that I made for my brother a couple years ago. I still maintain, no matter what they may say, that Bon Jovi's "I'll Be There For You" is one of the best songs ever written. And I don't care who knows it.)
"Bon Jovi's 'I'll Be There For You' is one of the best songs ever written"--I think you're delirious for want of sleep.
What rotation are you on? Are you leaning in any particular direction regarding medical specialties?
I am not delirious. I speak the truth. Granted, I am very tired.
I am currently on the second of two Internal Medicine rotations, and am leaning in several directions regarding my future. One potential direction is emergency medicine, which is exciting to me for several reasons, not the least of which is that I would get to stitch people up. But I also like things about surgery, pathology, and even internal medicine... so who knows. The whole deciding my future thing is kind of scary.
Ah, suturing . . . how about a knitting bee?
Your blog is great, by the way, and you're an excellent writer. Were you an English major?
The view from the sky bridge is incredible. It is better than a cup of coffee in the morning when the sun is shining. Your eyes roll off of the hills conifer tops onto the expanse of the city and on to a distant mountian top. As a former roomate once said. "It make's me feel peachy"
Well maybe I don't feel juicy and sweet, but as
I inspire, I feel a wonderful feeling radiate
from my abominal region and back all of the way to my fingers. It feels great.
I wish I would have found this book before Fiona's surgery rotation. It contains all sorts of information that I did not find in other books.
The book is the size of a novel. You won't even question taking it with you.
You'll just throw it in your book bag. weight 1.2 lbs measurements 0.8 x 6.2 x 9.5 inches
Deitch, Edwin, Tools of the Trade and Rules of the Road: A Surgical Guide, Lippincott-Raven 1997
The book explains surgical positions, patient preparation, incisions, local anesthetics, retraction and retractor types, hemostasis, wound closure, skin closure, drains, intubation, hemodynamic monitoring devices and more. You will get a free set of scalpels and table knives with this book (just kidding). There is also a series of appendices for knot tying, sutures and needles, scalpel, scissors, forceps and clamps, electrosurgery.
Once you have made your decision, and taken the route of your choice career-wise, will you be continuing to write about it online? Or will the Hippocratic Oath mean that you'd be bound not to write about your day-to-day work?
Thank you for a glimpse into your world! I look forward to reading your blog!
Fifi. Does your question refer to the patient privacy portions of the Hippocratic Oath or the Oath of Geneva? Does your question refer
to the "thirst for glory or for a great reputation ..." of the oath of Mamaimonides? I reread the last six postings looking for potential violations of the
privacy or patient care principles. The only potential problem would have been with the "Geri Invasion" post that mentions particulars of
a story and a name that I would assume has been changed to protect that patient's identity.
There is a portion of the Hippocratic oath that says to share knowledge with those who follow? I am grateful that Fiona shares her personal thoughts and experiences. Thank you.
http://www.wecke.com/webra/jurament.shtml
"What I may see or hear in the course of the treatment or even outside of the treatment in regard to the life of men, which on no account one must spread abroad, I will keep to myself, holding such things shameful to be spoken about."
(Edelstein, Ludwig, Translation from Greek, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1943)
"I will respect the privacy of my patients, for their problems are not disclosed to me that the world may know."
(Lasagna, Louis 1964)
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/doctors/oath_modern.html
"I will respect the secrets which are confided in me;"
(World Medical Association 1948)