Peds: Day 9

I hate this rotation. It can't end soon enough. Beginning at 5 this morning and lasting until 6 this evening, all I could think about was how I couldn't wait to get home and be far away from that horrible place. I have held some pretty crappy jobs in my day (gas station attendant, lawn care, nursing home nurse's aid), but this is worse than anything I've ever done. If all medicine was like this, I would rather deep fry french fries for my local mcdonald's and live in a cardboard box than to work like this. Seriously. I'm going crazy just thinking about the fact that I am paying to feel like this. 4 more stupid days and hopefully the worst will be behind me.

During the first two years of med school, I've heard upper class-men complain about peds...I always thought "what is WRONG with you?! They are cute little kids who need you, that you can hold or play with, and celebrate getting better!". But now I get it. There are the worst kinds of challenges in peds, like convincing a mother to care for her child properly, or reassuring her that no, your kid is not sick, he's been faking this stomach ache for a month and you got a full abdominal workup that showed nothing except how gullible you are. But the diseases aren't interesting; colds that get fairly bad so they come into the hospital to be observed and put in a room with humidified air; asthma exacerbations that go away after some albuterol treatments; newly diagnosed diabetes...it doesn't feel like medicine, but more like social work...and that is one of the many jobs I could never.ever.do. Thank god there are people out there that can take care of the social issues that make life difficult...it's just not my thing.

So what did I learn in the past week? I love kids (seriously, I do). Bad parents make life miserable for more people than just their kids. I need to be intellectually challenged or I am a Grouchy Gus. and (I already knew this, but) I hate sitting around and doing nothing, waiting for something to possibly happen that I might need to be around for.

That being said... Tomorrow is a new day; I will put a smile on and I am going to do my best to get as many good experiences from these last 4 days on inpatient peds as I possibly can! Thanks for bearing with me while I deal with the ups and downs of medical school...!