It is december already. Amazing.
by fiona
It is december already. Amazing. This week has gone by so fast... I can't believe that tomorrow is friday already. Friday the 6th of december. Jessica is having an intimate, semi-formal cheese and wine tasting function tomorrow evening. I can't wait. Following that I am going to the OHSU School of Medicine Holiday Party, for which I am very excited. Some second years said it was THE highlight of their entire first year experience, so I have pretty high expectations. Usually when you get a lot of stressed out people together with an open bar and a dj, you get a certain amount of wild abandon that I am personally looking forward to quite a bit. Maybe a bit too much. We had a test last week. We have another one on monday. I can use a break.
Thanksgiving was great. I rented a car (the most adult thing that I've done in my life) and mike and I went up to visit my sister joanne in bellingham washington. Mike just asked if I thought renting a car was more adult than getting an IUD. Yes! Renting a car means that I have used money and my American Medical Association membership to trick people into thinking that I am responsible, and then convincing them to lend me a very expensive and arguably dangerous piece of property. (AMA gets me a10% discount- my financial dependence on the man has begun.)
I had a really good time with Joanne - we made good eats. One day i might actually put pictures up. I also skipped up to Vancouver to hang with Jill - Vancouver is so cool, and jill is great - good weekend. Lots of driving. Nice weather. Lots of spinach.
Here is what I did today:
- arrived late to class at 8:20, which is 20 minutes late. this has become an unfortunate habit of mine. sat in the aisle with the other stragglers to not disturb the folks in the "on time seats."
- learned a lot of fascinating material about different diagnostic techniques for different genetic conditions and abnormailites. 2 hours worth of fascination.
- spent an hour sitting on a couch, reading a review article on the advantages and disadvantages genetic testing for alzheimers. Actually spent most of that hour napping. It is a very comfortable couch.
- attended a small group workshop in which we discussed the various ethical dilemmas surrounding the subject of genetic screening. Apparently one of the genes involved in heart disease, ApoE, is also involved in familial inhereted alzheimers. So if you get this genetic test for a patient because you are worried about their heart, do you tell them if it comes back that they have a 40-90% chance of developing alzheimers? Hmmmmmm. Would you want to know that if there is nothing you can do about it?
- this brings us to 12 noon. Attend a lunchtime panel discussion about Oregon's physician assisted suicide law and the political controversy surrounding that.
-1 to 4:30, take Basic Life Support class for health professionals (it is so exciting to be considered in the health professional category!), in which I practice CPR on adult and baby-sized manniquins, and learn how to use a defibrillator. I totally got to yell "CLEAR!" It was so ER.
- 4:30 to 5:30 - pay too much money for bad pizza dinner. Eat pizza alone in only open restaurant on OHSU campus while studying for tomorrow's workshop.
- 5:30 to 10pm - go out to the Springbrook residential treatment facillity for alcoholic and substance-dependent professionals. This was an amazing experience. We had the opportunity to listen to the experiences of 2 doctors who are afflicted with addiction to alcohol and drugs, and they had incredible stories. These were smart, motivated individuals -good people, with spouses and kids - who had dealt with the disease of addiction all their lives, and whose alcholism, or narcotic-addiction, or whatever, started having very serious consequences in their lives and in their medical practices. Serious enough that if they hadn't been brought to the treatment center, they would probably be dead. It was an eye-opening experience. Alchoholism affects soo many people. It has affected people in my life, people that I care about. Medical professionals have to stop seeing this affliction as a lapse in morality, as a bad lifestyle choice, but as the disease that it is. A disease with a significant genetic component, and like many others, a conditions that is treatable.
Long day for Fiona. Good day. I am very tired. Time for beddies.
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Posted on December 5, 2002 | Comments (0)
