Alphabet Soup Overdose

I just returned from a conference where I was one of very few pediatricians surrounded by a mass of internal medicine physicians. I spent the week hearing case example after case example about PEs, anticoagulants, PSAs, mammography and stroke prevention. Ugh. Don't get me wrong, I loved the conference and learned a ton. But talking about medicine surrounded by physicians who don't care for kids is a lonely place to be for a week. They did try though. When I asked how a particular statistical method could be demonstrated using a pediatric case example, I was told "There's some great articles out there on otitis media." Oh. Is that what you think we spend hours and hours of studying and years and years of training to treat? *sigh* Such is life as a misunderstood pediatrician trying to make their mark amidst the high powered and intellectually complex yet lucrative adult medical world.

So you can imagine my delight when I saw this article in the New York Times by Dr Perri Klass, a pediatrician. She is the author of "A Not Entirely Benign Procedure" published in 1987, about her journey through medical school. I read this book while I was in medical school and loved it. This was well before I even thought about being a pediatrician! Writing this now makes me want to read it again before I start my position as pediatric clerkship director, if only to remember what it felt like to be that naive, awkward and endlessly excited all at the same time. The article in the Times is about what adult medicine can learn from pediatrics. It definitely gave me a boost of confidence after sitting through debate after debate about the merits of the latest study looking at the newest anticoagulation med for atrial fibrillation. My favorite line of hers is "When it comes to certain aspects of medical treatment, especially hospitalization, perhaps it's time to acknowledge that adults are really just big children." Everyone needs a cookie, a blanket, or a hug at one time or another, regardless of how old they are!

Hello March. I've Been Expecting You.

I have no excuse for being MIA for the past few weeks other than I was sucked into the black hole of February. I think this happened last year too. Yes, I just checked. It did. What the hell February?!

Anyway, let's talk about careers. Big news this week....I was just selected to be the new Director of Pediatric Medical Student Education at my institution. Basically, I will be in charge of all things 3rd year medical students + pediatrics. Score! I'm super excited and see this as a big opportunity for me to advance in the field of education. I'm also nervous...I've never been in charge of something so important before. I'm struggling with the fact that I will have to cut back on my clinical time to half of what I do now in order to have enough protected time for my new job. This is awesome for me, not so awesome for my coworkers. Yes, my guilt fairy is in full force, sounding like Piper Laurie in the movie Carrie "They're all going to resent you! They're all going to resent you!" I'm hoping we can hire someone to fill the gap I'm leaving and I can make the transition with a minimal amount of unrest. This is about as likely as Kanye West saying anything that sounds halfway intelligent, but a girl can dream.

I caught up with a close friend of mine from residency, also a pediatric hospitalist, and she shared with me her dissatisfaction with her job. She just started this job last summer, but already the honeymoon is over. What we've failed to realize until now is that no matter how hard you worked in medical school and residency, there is no one person, group, or institution who will value you as much as you value yourself. There are always flaws. Much like marriage right? You gather pieces from all over to put together the house of cards that is your life and hope like hell a strong wind doesn't blow through. And if it does? You build again. Over and over again. The most important thing I learned from my life coach was that we make our choice of how to view the world, every day. We create the constellation of our life and consciously choose to whom we give our emotional energy. I choose to put my family, my friends and own personal growth at the center of my constellation, with other things scattered near or far depending on how much weight I give them. And most of the time it works.

Speaking of creating and careers, my husband just made his very first batch of homebrewed beer. He ceremoniously tasted it over the weekend. If he was going for a watered-down Bud Light flavor, he nailed it. I'm proud of him for trying something new and exploring something he loves (beer, not watered-down Bud Light). He'll try again and I know he'll achieve whatever flavor profile he wants with a little practice. Can a scientist move from the lab to the brewery and be successful? It's spring and new things are sprouting all over the place. Why not?