Saturday, July 31, 2010

The Burger Joint


Sweet potato fries!!!!

Divino

What do you order at an Argentinian restuarants? A lot of meat.
Definitely coming back here!!!

Five Guys

The Cajun fries are addictingly delicious.

Man cookie

Brought to you by Leslie's cupcakes

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Yes on CA Prop 21

We all pay taxes so we can partake in public goods and services. CA Proposition 21, the State Parks Initiative would remove all entrance fees to California state parks (fees recently increased from $6 to $10 last spring). Prop 21 would add an $18 surcharge on obtaining a vehicle license, and in doing so make our state parks more accessible to all Californians. I strongly support this Proposition and hope that in November you vote yes on Prop 21with me.

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Give and Take

On Monday morning, I received an email from the Stanford Blood Center, asking to donate blood because they are very low on their stock of Type A blood for patients. I immediately called and scheduled an appointment to donate that afternoon. I saw giving blood as an opportunity to make amends for my novice blood draws at the free clinic on Saturday. It's the least I could do. It ended up being a family affair, me, my dad and my mom donated! It was the first time my mom had ever donated, but she was a champ. I even convinced Woody, a fellow med student to donate! We all received t-shirts and free pints of baskin robbins ice cream...A pint for a pint...

Life is such a give and take, and I'm glad I took the opportunity to give a little. You can now give blood once every two months, and I'm pledging to do my best to do that this year. I learned that sometimes you can give, sometimes you have to take, but it turns out alright in the end as long as you do your best...

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Novice

My first real blood draw. Real in the sense that I was going to draw blood of a real person who needed a real test. Unlike the times early in the year when I drew blood of my classmates for practice. I was hoping for a really big guy, with bulging veins to come around the corner of the phlebotomy lab. Instead a very petite Vietnamese women appeared in front of me. My hopes were dashed that this would be an easy one. I went through the checklist, name and date of birth? check. signature on lab form? check. preparation of phlebotomy materials? check. gloves on? check. tourniquet on? check. Everything going ok so far, I'm gaining a bit of confidence, this isn't too bad.  Then I try to find her veins. It's a skill to feel the vein, and then to slide the needle in properly so the vein doesn't roll on you. After about ten double checks, I think I found an okay vein, it's tiny, and I can't really see it, but it will have to do. As I prepare the needle, the patient begins to squirm. She doesn't speak much english, so she expresses her fear and concern in a series dismayed moans and scared sighs. I try to calm her down, but inside I'm just as nervous and scared as her. I certainly don't want to cause her more discomfort, which I know I'm about to. I move forward, inserting the needle into the small, hidden vein I felt a minute prior, hoping and praying to see a flash of blood in the needle so I can fill up a vial of her blood. Nothing. I slide the needle out a bit, still nothing, slide it in further, nothing. I am very dismayed. I try to explain to the patient that I'm very sorry but I will have to try again. I take out the needle and place a bandaid on her arm. She was moaning and almost crying, but then thanking me and saying "its ok its ok", so I think she understands. Then she gets up to leave-she doesn't understand. I quickly interrupt, "No no, I'm so sorry but I wasn't able to get a proper blood draw, we're going to have to try again" and show her the empty vial. She gets frightened, distraught with the understanding the she has to go through it all again. I'm not really sure who feels worse at this moment in time. Because my heart is wrenching, I inflicted pain upon her, was inept and now I have to do it again. So we go again, this time the other arm. Still no luck. Again, she doesn't understand and I have to explain that again I wasn't able to draw blood. So I call the lab supervisor and have him do it, because there is no way I'm going to try again and fail. I feel so bad for this woman, I didn't mean to inflict so much pain, I really wish she didn't have to be my first real patient. I really wish I was able to draw blood quickly for her. After her blood is drawn, she turns to me and says "It's ok, it's ok" and smiles. An incredibly nice gesture of her, it really meant a lot to me that she recognized how bad I felt for making her undergo 3 blood draws. The other part of it was that I felt bad that I was this inept, shouldn't I have been better? I mean I'm a Stanford Medical Student, I had an undergrad and a high school student shadowing me, and proved to be completely incompetent....
    The rest of the day was very successful actually, I was able to give many vaccinations and did many more successful blood draws. I did my best to put all the patients at ease and appear competent and professional. As I was driving home, reflecting on the morning, I realized that by thinking of myself as a "Stanford Medical student" I really missed the point. Although others may see me like that in the clinic or at the hospital. I'm actually just me, who will be continually thrown into new situations and procedures in my growth as a student of medicine, and I will always try my best, but if I fail, it's not a reflection of me as a person, its a reflection of being a novice, and not having much experience. If I continue to do my best, I will become the best doctor I can be. Whether or not I live up to the title of "Stanford medical student" in the eyes of others is completely besides the point. This way of thinking gave me peace with the incident in the morning. I really did try my best, my best at putting the patient at ease, as well as trying to draw blood. By not running away from the situation, I learned, and I got better and was able to do my best for others later in the day. Medicine is tough-and this was just a blood draw.

Sunday, July 4, 2010

Bens Chili Bowl

Note sign in lower right

Saturday, July 3, 2010

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Wish List for post-July 2009

To continue my quest to be top chef in 2010:
  • Wok
  • Rice Cooker
  • Butcher knife
  • Chef's knife
  • Cutting board
  • Microwave
  • Toaster Oven/Toaster
  • Good Tupperware
  • Spice rack
For my sanity:
  • Laundry drying rack, iron
  • Vacuum cleaner, mop, sponges, rubbing alcohol, baking soda, toilet brush
  • Pepper spray
  • TV
  • printer/scanner combo, shredder
In case of disaster:
  • Flashlight and extra batteries
  • Small radio
  • Fire Extinguisher
Cool tech stuff that may be necessary (or not):
  • Flash drive (minimum 4GB)
  • Powermat wireless charger (minimum version 2)
  • Telephoto lens for my amazingly awesome canon slr rebel xti
  • APC Power-Saving Essential SurgeArrest 7 outlet

So I don't freeze to death:
  • Space heater
  • Hot water maker/keeper
  • Big waterproof snow boots
  • Ultra gloves
  • Shovel for car
  • Ice scraper for car
  • Automatic starter for car
  • Car (with 4WD preferably)
  • Warm running jacket
  • Running gloves
  • Running cap
So I can be the smart kid in school:
  • First Aid for the Boards
  • "First Aid for the Match" and/or "Iserson's Getting into residency"
  • Underground clinical vignettes for step 1
  • BRS physiology review book
  • current edition Rohen atlas
  • Chung anatomy review
  • Netter anatomy flashcards
  • The book First Aid
Do you have any of these things lying around your house that you would like to give to me?
  • Can opener
  • Spatula
  • Measuring cups
  • Measuring spoons
  • Vegetable peeler/Zester
  • Strainer
  • Whisk