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Tuesday, 13 September 2011
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IR
I started IR (interventional radiology) last week ... and I've lived to tell about it. IR is a field of radiology dealing with minimally invasive interventional procedures. In some ways it is like a surgical subspecialty. I get to the hospital early, round on patients, consent them for procedures, and then perform said procedures. I've been able to get my hands dirty since day one. The simpler cases are reserved for me: placing Permacaths for dialysis, percutaneous nephrostomy and biliary drains, and gastrostomy tubes. I'm not a huge fan of doing procedures, but it is cool to do something that directly and immediately affects the patient.
The complicated cases (basically anything that requires arterial access) are done by the fellow. My hospital has a busy level 1 trauma center, so we end up doing a lot of angiograms with or without embolization. Just last night, the attending and fellow were doing procedures until 3:00 a.m. I was sent home well before then, so as not to violate duty hours on the eve of our ACGME site visit.
Saturday, 13 August 2011
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Yo.
I'm alive! :) A lot has gone on since I last posted. I just started my second year of radiology residency, which has been a dream. The learning curve has been so steep. I feel pretty dumb on most days, but when I compare myself to the new first-year residents, I really have learned a lot. I start taking independent call and moonlighting in January. Radiology call is actually pretty stressful --- constant pages/phone calls from the ER, lots of studies (my program has a level 1 trauma center), the stress of having to detect findings that can drastically alter the patient's management, and having basically no time to eat or pee. But it's all part of the learning process.
My dad, diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's in July 2008, was placed in a nursing home in September 2010. He went to be with Jesus this May, a lot sooner than we had anticipated. It's kind of a horrible story. He woke up screaming one morning at his nursing home (which is normal Alzheimer's behavior), but for some reason the inexperienced nursing assistant taking care of him called 911 and he was put on a 5150 (psychiatric hold). He ended up spending two weeks in a psych ward, where he was treated like a psych patient --- without any consideration of his dementia. While in the psych ward, he declined very rapidly. He lost his entire vocabulary and ability to walk over a 5-day period. True, he was already declining before this incident, but I think it definitely expedited things. Prior to the psych ward, he was telling jokes and enjoyed having visitors. He passed away a few weeks after being discharged. On a positive note, though --- his body was donated to UCLA's Willed Body program, so he'll get to be a teacher for future medical students.
Well, that's it for now! Hopefully I can start posting on here more regularly.
Saturday, 20 November 2010
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I kind of miss posting here.
Sunday, 26 September 2010
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Bye-bye, Xanga
Not that anybody really reads my blog anymore (which is my fault because I've been flaky at updating it), but I've decided to start a new blog. I envision it being a blog mostly focused on radiology topics. If anybody wants to follow it, the address is: http://www.ucladoc.blogspot.com/
Sunday, 01 August 2010
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Long time ...
I really need to get into the habit of updating this thing more regularly.
A lot's been going on. I finished intern year at the end of June (YES!) and started my first year of radiology residency on July 1. It has been exactly one month. The first few days were a little overwhelming. I've been having to learn several new skill sets all at the same time --- a whole new vocabulary that I never really encountered during medical school and internship, how to dictate efficiently, several different imaging modalities (ultrasound, plain films, CT scans, MRIs), how to take cases in front of an audience during conference, recommending appropriate studies for clinicians, and all sorts of weird and obscure diseases that I've never heard of before. After a month, I am feeling much more confident and I love coming into work each day. Part of my "transitioning" process was realizing that I don't have to know every single detail right now. I will encounter similar cases repeatedly throughout my training. So, for now, I'm focusing on mostly plain films and ultrasound. I'm also becoming more comfortable with using the fluoroscopy machine. I've done two upper GI studies and a G-tube study to date.
One last thing ... I never thought that I'd have to read MORE during residency than during medical school! Radiology residents may work fewer hours than other specialties, but the difference is that we have to read a lot during our free time. Speaking of which ... I'd better hit the books. :)
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