"If I haven't spent $10,000 by noon, I start to feel a little antsy"

Only in health care. The above is a quote from one of our trauma surgeons. And its so true. I've never actually tried to add up the cost of all the stuff I order in a day, but its considerable. Probably cheaper now than when I was in the ICU, but still. Labs for all, scans, tests, medications, consults . . . the list is never-ending. Medicine is crazy; every piece of equipment has an extraordinary amount of labor/engineering/technology behind it, plus the fees of the person giving it. It adds up quickly. Take the OR, for example. They charge for OR time by the minute, and although I'm not sure how much the exact amount is, I can assure you its not pennies :) If I think about it too hard I start to feel guilty about how long it takes me to do stuff like suture.

In other news . . . Wow, its been awhile since I've blogged. Its been quite a busy month, despite my being on one of the 'easy' surgery services. My first two weekends were on call, so I logged over 90 hours each week. Last week was lighter, but I was out of energy after working 22 straight days, so it was hard to get my butt to the gym after work. Now, I had last weekend off, and I'm refreshed! What a difference a couple of days of sleeping in makes! Sleeping in for me is now until about 8am (sounds hilarious, but its a weird feeling to wake up when its light out, freak out for a second that you're late for work, then realize its your day off and snuggle back under the covers).

And I've gotten to operate a fair bit. Mostly small breast surgeries, but I've done a couple mastectomies and helped with some implants on the plastic surgery service. Tomorrow I do some melanoma resections. Pretty sweet huh? I'm getting more comfortable in the OR, asking for instruments and knowing what the next step is. And I love the attendings I've been working with, they're so patient and give me great tips for how to improve. Its been overall a very positive experience. A little too much clinic time, but otherwise a good month.

Today was fabulous. Our last OR case cancelled (sad but okay for today), so I got to go home at 4pm! Its funny how a 10-hour day seems short now. Makes me realize how warped my view of life and work is. I probably wouldn't know what to do with myself if I only worked 40 hours a week. Anyhow, this afternoon I had time to work out, walk the dog, pay bills, blog, and I'm on my way to have ice cream with my surgery team. Its great to have time to do more than drive home, see the BF and fall asleep.

Several of you have asked about my BF. He's doing well, loving it here as much as I do (in other words, "It's not terrible"), but meeting people and enjoying his job for now, at least so he says. He's still working on school, but has plenty of time to watch me sleep when we hang out together. I'm not exactly sure how I keep him interested/entertained, since I do sleep so much of the time we're together, but I try not to dwell on that. I think we'll be okay here in VA, and although we might never fall in love with this area, we'll be happier and happier as time goes on.