I hope all is well with each of you and that you're having a great Labor Day weekend. I'm spending my weekend relaxing and catching up on the 2 months of sleep that I've missed. Last Friday was my last day of 2 months straight of night shift. I really enjoyed it, but it had worn me down by the end. I wasn't sleeping worth anything during the day and staying up all night because, with the exception of 2 or 3 nights, we were always too busy to get any rest. I learned and grew a lot over the last two months and I am truly grateful for the experience. I loved my team, but I was ready for it to be over. OB Receiving and carrying those pagers had taken it's usual toll on me. I was cursing like a sailor and had an awful attitude at times, so it's time for me to return to the land of the living!
Now it's on to something new: Gynecologic Oncology! I'll be on the rotation for 2 months straight. To say that I am anxious and petrified is an understatement. This is something I've never done before; something so different from obstetrics and benign gynecology. I would always feel anxious last year when beginning a new rotation that I hadn't done yet. Multiply that feeling by 100,000 and that's how anxious I am now. These are really sick and sometimes dying patients with gynecological cancers. It's a whole new frontier. As the 2nd year on the service, my biggest responsibility is the chemotherapy, followed by preoperative orders/notes and discharge summaries. We also round/take care of in-house patients as a team, have clinic, operate 2 days/week (that's basically an upper level thing, so I'll rarely get to do that) and go to Tumor Board (where a multidisciplinary team meets to talk about newly diagnosed patients, their pathology, chemotherapy/radiation regimen's, etc). Thank God, there is a wonderful chemotherapy nurse who administers the chemo and knows more about it than I probably ever will. My plan is to just listen to her and do exactly what she says! I just pray that I catch on quickly, so I can give it my absolute best. You never want to be the person that the team talks about behind their back. :-/
I am excited to be learning something new, but I wonder what kind of toll watching people die is going to take on me. Yes, chemo works for a lot of people, but it would be unrealistic to assume that I will not encounter death and dying during this rotation. When I really think about it, I feel that this rotation is going to put this ministry of mine to its greatest test. I will be a part of a team that is there for patients and families through being diagnosed with a cancer, going through chemotherapy, winning the battle with cancer, dying from cancer, having to make a decision to discontinue chemotherapy and choose hospice care, making a family member DNR/DNI (do not resuscitate, do not intubate), etc. I will get to know these patients and families well and I'm sure it'll be hard on me when the harder decisions are made and when we lose patients. But I also think it will be one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. I'm looking forward to seeing what the next 2 months have in store.
In other news, guess who started first grade!!!! Yes, Jai is a first grader now (pics below). Can you believe it?! I can hardly believe it. She's such a big girl now. It's amazing the difference that a year can make. She loves her teacher and her classmates and always has an ear full for me when I pick her up from school. Their first spelling test was last Friday and we spent every evening last week preparing for it. I can't wait to see how she did. I told her as long as she did her best, I would be proud. They have a ton of site words every week and a lot of papers that come home on Monday's from the things they've done the previous week as well as a weekly progress report. It has been quite overwhelming and intense wading through all of that material and trying to figure out how best to help her learn things, retain things and improve in the areas she needs help in. 1st grade is much different than kindergarten, but we're working through it.
Oh... we also got a new car! Jai named her "Sweet Candy." LOL. :-)
Please continue to keep us both in your prayers as we are both embarking on a journey through uncharted territory. Thank you for continuing to follow my journey through this blog. Your prayers, thoughts and well wishes have been appreciated more than you know! Until next time...
Your Favorite M.D.,
Keisha B.
P.S. - Thanks for your prayers for that situation I talked about in my last blog. I've finally gotten past it.
Mahogany Pearl: "Fight your battles on your knees and you'll win every time" Dr. Charles Stanley
First day of first grade!
My favorite girl and me on the first day of first grade
Forcibly saying goodbye on the first day of school
First day of Kindergarten (left)/First day of 1st Grade (right)
Writing spelling words
Sweet Candy :-)
