Over a year later, I've decided that it's time to dust off the rusty right brain and get back to writing. Maybe it's because I can't get myself to finish any books that aren't non-fiction. Maybe it's because I'm bored out of my mind on vacation (I have eternal "ants in the pants"). Maybe once in a while my right brain gets jealous of my left brain and wants to prove that it's still there.
Lots of things have changed since my last post. I'm in my final year of veterinary school and have applied for the next chapter of my life: internship. This year of intensive training as a new doctor could be anywhere from Massachusetts to California (minus the deep South) and I won't know where I'm heading until February. Although waiting has me on edge, I do feel as though I'm ready to move on from good ole' Lansing. My internal clock is telling me that four years is up, and just like in years past, 4 years mean it's time to switch. First, Methuen High School. Then, UMASS Amherst. Finally, Michigan State. Where will I go now? While in each location, I've moved multiple times from dorms, to apartments, to better apartments, and finally to a house. It feels nice to be able to change up my environment so often, and for the ability, I am grateful.
As for now, I'm sitting in a Starbucks in a little swanky town in Pennsylvania called Sewickley. The windows are all fogged up and some Beatles acoustic cover is playing on the radio. I'm sitting at a table with my grande iced coffee wearing a North Face jacket and writing...a major cliche. Practically every setting in life reminds me of commercials and movies. Heck, even walking outside with Todd's dog makes me feel like I'm part of some big tv drama. I've been watching far too much Dexter, and it's getting to me. I keep expecting to get confronted while out at night or come across a chalked-up crime scene. I should probably stop watching. It's not good to get so densensitized to blood and guts and root for a serial killer. But I genuinely like it and the writing is good.
Speaking of desensitized, I've decided that I love emergency medicine. There is far too much death, but for some reason, I'm okay with. Once in a while there will be a case that really bugs me, at least for the night. Like a GDV (gastric dilatation-volvulus) that is brought in for 4 hours of emergency surgery only to die upon recovery from dilutional coagulopathy and subsequent blood loss. I thought about that dog for a while. But in general, it's relatively easy for me to work and leave work at work. I'm grateful for this ability too, because if I had to carry home every sad story of Boxers with cancer and heart blocks and little kittens with panleukopenia then I'd be a bawling hot mess on the sofa.
I recently read a nonfiction book about neurosurgery. It was one of the few books I could actually finish. I like to feel that I'm improving myself in my free time, and nonfiction at least gives me some true facts to learn. Until another fiction work as good as Harry Potter shows up, I'll stick to nonfiction. But anyway...the neurosurgeon in this book talked about how many surgeons become near-sociopaths. The fact that they may have taken away someone's father/son/mother/daughter with one wrong scalpel swipe is just far too much for many to bear, so they become completely numb. The author talks about a surgeon making someone paralyzed by accident at breakfast, and golfing at lunch. I have not yet reached this level of numbness, and I hope I never will. I've come to grips with the big "C" of cancer looming over so, so many veterinary patients, but I have not yet been able to move on so efficiently from mistakes or missteps. I still think about them and wonder what could have been done differently. I think that that's healthy. Otherwise, how will you improve?
This whole post has been one big jumble of thoughts, but that's what I figured it would be. There's no way to sum up the past year of life. In my next posts I hope to highlight new stories from work (changing names of course) or interesting happenings in life. But who knows...I may not end up posting again. I always intend to let my right brain drive but then end up reverting back to reading internal medicine textbooks in Starbucks instead. We'll just have to wait and find out...
Lots of things have changed since my last post. I'm in my final year of veterinary school and have applied for the next chapter of my life: internship. This year of intensive training as a new doctor could be anywhere from Massachusetts to California (minus the deep South) and I won't know where I'm heading until February. Although waiting has me on edge, I do feel as though I'm ready to move on from good ole' Lansing. My internal clock is telling me that four years is up, and just like in years past, 4 years mean it's time to switch. First, Methuen High School. Then, UMASS Amherst. Finally, Michigan State. Where will I go now? While in each location, I've moved multiple times from dorms, to apartments, to better apartments, and finally to a house. It feels nice to be able to change up my environment so often, and for the ability, I am grateful.
As for now, I'm sitting in a Starbucks in a little swanky town in Pennsylvania called Sewickley. The windows are all fogged up and some Beatles acoustic cover is playing on the radio. I'm sitting at a table with my grande iced coffee wearing a North Face jacket and writing...a major cliche. Practically every setting in life reminds me of commercials and movies. Heck, even walking outside with Todd's dog makes me feel like I'm part of some big tv drama. I've been watching far too much Dexter, and it's getting to me. I keep expecting to get confronted while out at night or come across a chalked-up crime scene. I should probably stop watching. It's not good to get so densensitized to blood and guts and root for a serial killer. But I genuinely like it and the writing is good.
Speaking of desensitized, I've decided that I love emergency medicine. There is far too much death, but for some reason, I'm okay with. Once in a while there will be a case that really bugs me, at least for the night. Like a GDV (gastric dilatation-volvulus) that is brought in for 4 hours of emergency surgery only to die upon recovery from dilutional coagulopathy and subsequent blood loss. I thought about that dog for a while. But in general, it's relatively easy for me to work and leave work at work. I'm grateful for this ability too, because if I had to carry home every sad story of Boxers with cancer and heart blocks and little kittens with panleukopenia then I'd be a bawling hot mess on the sofa.
I recently read a nonfiction book about neurosurgery. It was one of the few books I could actually finish. I like to feel that I'm improving myself in my free time, and nonfiction at least gives me some true facts to learn. Until another fiction work as good as Harry Potter shows up, I'll stick to nonfiction. But anyway...the neurosurgeon in this book talked about how many surgeons become near-sociopaths. The fact that they may have taken away someone's father/son/mother/daughter with one wrong scalpel swipe is just far too much for many to bear, so they become completely numb. The author talks about a surgeon making someone paralyzed by accident at breakfast, and golfing at lunch. I have not yet reached this level of numbness, and I hope I never will. I've come to grips with the big "C" of cancer looming over so, so many veterinary patients, but I have not yet been able to move on so efficiently from mistakes or missteps. I still think about them and wonder what could have been done differently. I think that that's healthy. Otherwise, how will you improve?
This whole post has been one big jumble of thoughts, but that's what I figured it would be. There's no way to sum up the past year of life. In my next posts I hope to highlight new stories from work (changing names of course) or interesting happenings in life. But who knows...I may not end up posting again. I always intend to let my right brain drive but then end up reverting back to reading internal medicine textbooks in Starbucks instead. We'll just have to wait and find out...
