Saturday, September 12, 2009
Super Busy Summer
So it has been a while since I posted anything and that would be due to a super busy summer. There was a trip to Rome, grants to write, M--- had orientation and began residency, and general summer goofing around. Now that things are getting a little calmer going into the fall semester expect to hear more from me.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Tax Day
It happens every year, tax day rolls around, and instead of being reminded of the annoyance that is filing taxes I am reminded of M---'s proposal. That's right, my husband proposed on tax day, and I will always remember it that way. However, M--- always tries to convince me that other important things happened on April 15th. Here are a few of my favorites that have come up over the years or are from Wikipedia and just humorous/informative.
Leonardo da Vinci - born 1452
Henry James - born 1843
Emma Thompson - born 1959
Milton Bradley (Cubs Player) - born 1978
Emma Watson - born 1990 (odd that is the day as Emma Thompson)
Insulin becomes generally availible to people with diabetes - 1923
William Wordsworth was inspired to write "I wander lonely as a clound" - 1802
Rand McNally published first road atlas - 1924
Abraham Lincoln - death 1865
John Paul Satre - death 1980
And lots of other less interesting events. Feel free to comment and add to the list.
Leonardo da Vinci - born 1452
Henry James - born 1843
Emma Thompson - born 1959
Milton Bradley (Cubs Player) - born 1978
Emma Watson - born 1990 (odd that is the day as Emma Thompson)
Insulin becomes generally availible to people with diabetes - 1923
William Wordsworth was inspired to write "I wander lonely as a clound" - 1802
Rand McNally published first road atlas - 1924
Abraham Lincoln - death 1865
John Paul Satre - death 1980
And lots of other less interesting events. Feel free to comment and add to the list.
Monday, April 13, 2009
Easter, Easter, Easter :)
Easter this year was actually really pleasant. M--- and I went to Easter vigil service at St. Paul's Catholic Cathedral which was absolutely beatiful. The music was amazing and from 3 different sets of performers including a brass ensemble, organist, and an amazing choir. I have to say I was really impressed. Further more the cathedral looked really beautiful during the candle light portions of the ceremony. I did have a good laugh after the service when I heard the priests in training talking about how they are going to "sleep for a week". I suppose they stayed up since Good Friday till Easter Vigil in meditation, as is the custom for priests. Overall the dioceses of Pittsburgh put on a really nice vigil service.
The following day, the few students still in town for Easter, had a potluck lunch at our place. M--- made a really great ham with a cherry port glaze and deviled eggs. I threw together green bean casserol and everyone seemed to bring desserts. However, some sweet potatoes and cesar salad did make it into the mix. Although, there were only 8 of us left in town we had a really nice time. It also gave M--- and I a chance to break out our wedding china, for the first time. It was a really nice spread and good company. We also did apartifs with dessert. For those of you not familar with the French tradition an apartif is a small amount of liquor served with or around dessert. Thery are usally very sweet and include port, chambord, grand marnier, and anything by godiva. Those went over very well. I have to say I did hear that the event got really nice reviews from all who attended, which always pleases the hostess. I think to date this is one of the most pleasant Easter's I have had (despite the fact that I had to go into the lab twice that day...boo).
The following day, the few students still in town for Easter, had a potluck lunch at our place. M--- made a really great ham with a cherry port glaze and deviled eggs. I threw together green bean casserol and everyone seemed to bring desserts. However, some sweet potatoes and cesar salad did make it into the mix. Although, there were only 8 of us left in town we had a really nice time. It also gave M--- and I a chance to break out our wedding china, for the first time. It was a really nice spread and good company. We also did apartifs with dessert. For those of you not familar with the French tradition an apartif is a small amount of liquor served with or around dessert. Thery are usally very sweet and include port, chambord, grand marnier, and anything by godiva. Those went over very well. I have to say I did hear that the event got really nice reviews from all who attended, which always pleases the hostess. I think to date this is one of the most pleasant Easter's I have had (despite the fact that I had to go into the lab twice that day...boo).
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Free Lunch Guilt :(
Yesterday there was an event in the lecture hall next to my office and they had extra free lunches....a lot of free lunches. They naturally offered them to the poor starving graduate students and we naturally took 2 each (again there were lots and we were told we could take more than one). On my way out I ended up talking to one of the guys who told me that it was a seminar for single payer healthcare. I immediately felt guilty because I currently don't support a single payer system, at least not a system similar to those in other countries.
Although I completely agree that people should always have access to healthcare and that a serious illness should not bankrupt a person, I currently can't get behind a single payer system. This is for a variety of reasons. First. among my reasons is a personal experience I had in a hospital in Brighton, England. On of the girls who was studying abroad with us got a very bad stomach illness and couldn't keep anything down for 2-3 days. She was getting pretty dehydrated and was in need of medical attention so we took her to the ER around 6:30pm. When we arrived the ER was clearly overwhelmed and we waited for about 2 hours to see a check in nurse. During that time there we noticed a complete lack of triage and proper treatment of some issues. Most significantly, a 2-3 year old boy came in with a clearly broken leg. The hospital was unable to treat the boy since the radiologist only worked set hours and won't come in after hours. (After being married to a medical student, I realized MDs get so little free time that you become very defensive of your time at home with your family.) This shows a flaw in the single payer system...budgets that are too small to fully staff a medical facility 24hrs a day.
Another reason Americans won't like single payer systems is that in other countries with single payer systems people age out of procedures: hip replacements, organ transplants, heart valve replacements, etc. M--- has reported stories of 85 year olds recieving kidneys when it is clear that it will only prevent death, at most, for a few years. This would never happen in courntries with a single payer system, as evidenced by residents from Europe. Americans view death as a failure instead of as inevitable and being told that life extending procedures aren't availible would not go over well.
Americans have a real desire for acute care and do very little for preventative care. Take gastric bypass surgery, an advent of the 21st century, for example. All those individuals could have prevented their surgery by simply eating less and getting more exercise. Eating less and getting more exercise are the only scientifically proven ways to lose weight. There are many other examples of preventative healthcare that Americans fail to take part in.
Finally, the closest thing we have in this country is failing and that is medicare. Many doctors won't even see medicare patients anymore. Mostly, because medicare pays very little and by diagnosis, and that is both for the tests and the doctor's time. Many doctors won't see medicare patients anymore for 2 reasons, first there is no incentive to order confirmatory tests and fully understand a patient's condition, and second doctors put a dollar value on their time and medicare doesn't pay doctors enough. Doctors spend 4 years in college, 4 years in medical school, 3-8 years in residency, and 2-5 years in fellowship. After all of that training and a need to pay off student loans which are on average $160,000 a doctors time is worth a lot in dollars and cents. Short changing doctors in a single payer system is only going to drive future medical talent away from the industry and into industries where their talents and desire for education will earn a comparable amount of money.
This list of problems aren't addressed by current single payer systems or by proposals for single payer systems. Most single payer system proposals are short sighted and will probably only work well for a few years before becoming another tax burden on the rising generation. Currently, I think the best option is private insurance reform, and a small level of government insurance for the uninsurable. However, governement insurance shouldn't be expected to live up to the value of private insurance and should focus on preventative medicine and condition managment, not big expensive procedures with a short return time. Overall, the system is broken but it short sighted fixes aren't going to take care of it.
Although I completely agree that people should always have access to healthcare and that a serious illness should not bankrupt a person, I currently can't get behind a single payer system. This is for a variety of reasons. First. among my reasons is a personal experience I had in a hospital in Brighton, England. On of the girls who was studying abroad with us got a very bad stomach illness and couldn't keep anything down for 2-3 days. She was getting pretty dehydrated and was in need of medical attention so we took her to the ER around 6:30pm. When we arrived the ER was clearly overwhelmed and we waited for about 2 hours to see a check in nurse. During that time there we noticed a complete lack of triage and proper treatment of some issues. Most significantly, a 2-3 year old boy came in with a clearly broken leg. The hospital was unable to treat the boy since the radiologist only worked set hours and won't come in after hours. (After being married to a medical student, I realized MDs get so little free time that you become very defensive of your time at home with your family.) This shows a flaw in the single payer system...budgets that are too small to fully staff a medical facility 24hrs a day.
Another reason Americans won't like single payer systems is that in other countries with single payer systems people age out of procedures: hip replacements, organ transplants, heart valve replacements, etc. M--- has reported stories of 85 year olds recieving kidneys when it is clear that it will only prevent death, at most, for a few years. This would never happen in courntries with a single payer system, as evidenced by residents from Europe. Americans view death as a failure instead of as inevitable and being told that life extending procedures aren't availible would not go over well.
Americans have a real desire for acute care and do very little for preventative care. Take gastric bypass surgery, an advent of the 21st century, for example. All those individuals could have prevented their surgery by simply eating less and getting more exercise. Eating less and getting more exercise are the only scientifically proven ways to lose weight. There are many other examples of preventative healthcare that Americans fail to take part in.
Finally, the closest thing we have in this country is failing and that is medicare. Many doctors won't even see medicare patients anymore. Mostly, because medicare pays very little and by diagnosis, and that is both for the tests and the doctor's time. Many doctors won't see medicare patients anymore for 2 reasons, first there is no incentive to order confirmatory tests and fully understand a patient's condition, and second doctors put a dollar value on their time and medicare doesn't pay doctors enough. Doctors spend 4 years in college, 4 years in medical school, 3-8 years in residency, and 2-5 years in fellowship. After all of that training and a need to pay off student loans which are on average $160,000 a doctors time is worth a lot in dollars and cents. Short changing doctors in a single payer system is only going to drive future medical talent away from the industry and into industries where their talents and desire for education will earn a comparable amount of money.
This list of problems aren't addressed by current single payer systems or by proposals for single payer systems. Most single payer system proposals are short sighted and will probably only work well for a few years before becoming another tax burden on the rising generation. Currently, I think the best option is private insurance reform, and a small level of government insurance for the uninsurable. However, governement insurance shouldn't be expected to live up to the value of private insurance and should focus on preventative medicine and condition managment, not big expensive procedures with a short return time. Overall, the system is broken but it short sighted fixes aren't going to take care of it.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Kissing in the lab?!?!?
Today I returned to the lab around 8pm to finish a protocol when I found my lab mate and her boyfriend (both good friends of mine) making out in the bacterial culture room...YUCK!!! If I had to make out in the lab it definitely wouldn't be in the bacterial culture room. The bacteria room is small, not very clean, and often smells of, well, bacteria. They were clearly embarrassed when they were found out. I'll have to be on the look out to see if they do it again and perhaps M--- and I will have to try it in the future.
On a similar note M--- recently received an email from the medical school implying that a couple got caught having sex in the on call room. The email further cautioned people from attempting to have sex in the on call room in the future. Apparently, the administration will now be keeping an eye on it. I do have to admit there is something kinky about sex in the on call room after seeing Scrubs and other medical dramas. You'll have to stay tuned to find out what happens with my residency based fantasies.
On a similar note M--- recently received an email from the medical school implying that a couple got caught having sex in the on call room. The email further cautioned people from attempting to have sex in the on call room in the future. Apparently, the administration will now be keeping an eye on it. I do have to admit there is something kinky about sex in the on call room after seeing Scrubs and other medical dramas. You'll have to stay tuned to find out what happens with my residency based fantasies.
Friday, March 20, 2009
Match Day 2009!!!!!
M--- matched to....
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center!!!!!
Which means that for the first time in our marriage we will be living in the same city long term and possibly acting like an average married couple. This is very surreal right now since it is something we have been working toward the past 3 years. Ever since I took a 1.5 year leave of absence during which we were married and this year we have been doing the back and forth between Nashville and Pittsburgh matching to UPMC was always the culminating goal.
I have to admit I did not realize how stressed I was over the situation until after the match. During the match families accompany students to receive their match letter in front of the entire medical school...students, deans, program directors, etc. They then announce their chosen specialty and read where they matched. I told M--- that I wanted to be the first to know where he matched and that he couldn't announce it until I read the letter. I remember reading it once and not knowing what I read, collecting myself, reading it a second time and not letting myself get excited, and finally reading a third time to a feeling of great relief.
After match we called our respective parents and siblings and it was when I was talking to my mother that I realized how happy/relieved/thrilled I was with the result. I haven't been happy enough to cry since our wedding day and I started tearing a little when I talked to my mom. It was just like being married a second time becuase for the first time we get to spend our lives together uninterupted.
The match video can be found at
match video and M--- was called pretty early on around minute 18.
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center!!!!!
Which means that for the first time in our marriage we will be living in the same city long term and possibly acting like an average married couple. This is very surreal right now since it is something we have been working toward the past 3 years. Ever since I took a 1.5 year leave of absence during which we were married and this year we have been doing the back and forth between Nashville and Pittsburgh matching to UPMC was always the culminating goal.
I have to admit I did not realize how stressed I was over the situation until after the match. During the match families accompany students to receive their match letter in front of the entire medical school...students, deans, program directors, etc. They then announce their chosen specialty and read where they matched. I told M--- that I wanted to be the first to know where he matched and that he couldn't announce it until I read the letter. I remember reading it once and not knowing what I read, collecting myself, reading it a second time and not letting myself get excited, and finally reading a third time to a feeling of great relief.
After match we called our respective parents and siblings and it was when I was talking to my mother that I realized how happy/relieved/thrilled I was with the result. I haven't been happy enough to cry since our wedding day and I started tearing a little when I talked to my mom. It was just like being married a second time becuase for the first time we get to spend our lives together uninterupted.
The match video can be found at
match video and M--- was called pretty early on around minute 18.
Monday, March 16, 2009
How has it been 3 months!!!!
I have been thinking on and off that it had been a while since I posted anything but I didn't realize it had been 3 months...yikes!!!! I will make time to update everyone about what is happening in my life and has happened in the past few months. Updates that are coming will include a recap of the X-mas holidays, details about our rambunctious cats, cadaver ball 2009 Fast-times at Vandy Med/ M---'s birthday, Residency match (this is what is keeping my stress level up), and details from the crew in Pittsburgh. Stay tuned - a marathon of writing and updating will commence soon.
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