My Specialty

Okay, I’m almost done my binge watching of every single Grey’s Anatomy episode so scuse me that it’s on the brain.

But I’ve actually taken a lot of consideration into what specialty I would go into if, for some reason, I found myself done medical school and in the middle of my residency. Yes, I know I’m crazy and normal people don’t think about these things. Whatever.

I only have Grey’s Anatomy to base this off of so sorry in advance about all the things I have no clue about!!!

From what I can see, you can pick from ortho, gyno, trauma, general, cardio, neuro, pedes or plastics. There are probably also more specific ones like proctology but who wants that.

Right off the bat I can cross trauma off that list because do you know how stressful that would be? Making snap decisions and doing everything quickly but correctly? I’ve already had a taste of that with getting my lifeguarding certification and would not love to do that any more than I have to.

Gynecology and plastics are both pretty legit but also both don’t interest me. Like having to deal with pregnant ladies and babies is not my cup of tea and then the perfectionism that comes with plastic surgery as well as the types of surgeries you get don’t interest me.

Cardio‘s actually pretty cool but I would be too freaked out every time that this was the organ that basically keeps the entire body alive and one wrong move could drastically change everything and also spurt blood. Ah.

Neuro is basically the same as cardio to me except even more interesting!! Like this slab of meat controls everything you do and somehow your thoughts also happen in there. Crazy. But one wrong move and your patient is alive but can’t speak. Obviously right now that’s incredibly stressful but still, I’d have tons of training if I were to go into that so it’s definitely my favourite option.

I don’t even think of general surgery as an option because it’s just all the squishy parts of you in your torso. Pancreas, spleen, bowels. Nope. No way.

I don’t think I’d have it in me to do pediatrics because I simultaniously love kids and think they’re adorable and great and funny yet at the same time I have a really hard time hanging out with children for long amounts of time. So basically I’d be annoyed while they’re awake and traumatized if they die.

Finally orthopedics sounds really awesome, just working with the skeletal system. It might be a bit extreme with all the sawing and drilling and setting of the bones but it still sounds pretty fun and wouldn’t even be uninteresting so it’s my second best option!

All this of course is hypothetical because no way do I have the stamina to be in school for that long AND be an overacheiver. Like I love excelling in what I do but I like having a natural talent and not have to put in too much effort. Yup, the laziest perfectionist you’ll ever meet.

Your turn! Just for fun put down in the comments which specialty you’d choose and, if you’d like, also put why.

Paying For Your Health???

How do you Americans do it?

If you haven’t already guessed from the title of this post, I’m referring to medical care NOT being free south of the border from Canada. It might be like that in other places. I’m sorry that I am ignorant about you guys but for now I’m just going to direct this at the US of A.

So, random fact about me, I love watching Grey’s Anatomy. Super awesome show. You get the crazy, intertwined lives of a bunch of people but also cool surgeries. That’s not actually the point. The point is that I am jarred every time they mention someone not being about to afford life-saving surgery.

From what I can understand, people’s jobs usually cover any expenses if they have good insurance but this insurance can be maxed out if you need too many surgeries?? And if you can’t pay for something, the hospital will actually turn you away or make an attempt to make the surgery pro bono? Like that’s a real thing: being told “sorry, you’re going to be in a lot of pain and then maybe die later on because you are not rich enough for us to keep you living.”

And everything is craaazy expensive like in the show they do a wackload of tests on people who show up in their ER and I remember them saying that one type of test was worth $8000. That’s almost the cost of a full year of university in my program. Seriously insane. Like what if you have cancer or something where it requires a lot of steps in a lot of time to get you on the road to recovery. Do they just stop your treatment the moment you can’t pay anymore? Or do you just go into debt and as soon as you’re well you get to work your butt off to pay off a loan that you had no choice in getting because you would have died otherwise.

Free healthcare here is such a blessing, I had never really realized this. You can go to the hospital to get something you’re worried about checked out and possibly catch something life-threatening early rather than fret over the fact that what you’re feeling could be no big deal and whether or not it’s worth it to go in and waste a whole bunch of money on it. That is NOT the mindset one should have on their health.

ObamaCare is the president’s initiative to make the US healthcare system something like ours, from what limited knowledge I have on the subject, which should be a very good thing!! But there are people who think it’s a bad idea?? That people who don’t have the money for it shouldn’t be served? I don’t understand where their priorities are or what they think is going to happen. Like it’s not like it’s a radical idea if you just look up a bit you can see a fully functioning country with that exact thing going on in their health care.

This post isn’t really going in any certain direction I just want to get my thoughts out there and possibly get some responses from people who live in the US and what they think about all of this. It’s just so confusing that they haven’t already switched to publicly funded healthcare because it benefits so many people and who doesn’t want that!!

All The Time, None Of The Progress

What is it with having all the time in the world and not doing anything at all?

It seems to me that humans work so much better under time constraints and hectic lives. Well, at least the non-motivated ones like me. I can literally get so much done if I have 5 things due by the end of the week than if I have like 3 fun, non-stressful things planned during an entire week and nothing else to do otherwise.

I don’t know how I manage to complete nothing on my to do list while simultaneously keeping seemingly busy.

It’s extremely relaxing and refreshing not being worried about grades and fitting everything in and doing it right but at the same time it’s really frustrating how little I’ve accomplished.

I’m obviously talking about the fact that in the two weeks since I had my last exam, I really haven’t done much except turn 19, hang out with friends (barely) and watch Grey’s Anatomy. Like I can’t even be bothered to clean out my emails and that doesn’t require anything different from the sitting around on the computer that I do anyway.

I think time management when there’s really nothing to manage is a learned skill. It’ll take me time to develop how to construct my days so that I manage to still feel awesome for not having a lot on my plate but still getting a little bit done each day. Taking the time for myself and for little tasks that are on my list.

Don’t know if anyone else really agrees with this idea; let me know if you’ve ever felt like this before. As I’ve probably said before, this blog is just a way to get my ideas out in writing so this is probably a super boring post but my head’s a little more clear after writing it all out so #worthit.

These Are A Few Of My Favourite Things

♪ raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens ♪

I have always been a fan of favourites. I like lists and sorting and numbers so this is no surprise. And since this is a relatively new blog, I might as well further introduce myself through the method of a Favourite Things List.

• Colour: Blue
• Season: Spring
• Song: Currently it’s October by Broken Bells and Hurricane by Panic! at the Disco but this is subject to change
• Subject: In high school it was physics or calculus, now it’s mechanics
• Sport: Football (but only when I’m playing it and when it’s touch)
• Cookie: Oatmeal chocolate chip
• Book: This is like choosing a favourite child! Graceling by Kristin Cashore and The True Meaning of Smekday by Adam Rex
• Day of the Week: Thursday, hands down
• Number: 11
• Saying: “The grass is greener where you water it”
• Name: Tobias
• Hair colour: Black
• Eye colour: Grey
• Fruit: Grapes
• TV show: Grey’s Anatomy or How I Met Your Mother or Sherlock
• Element: Einsteinium and Potassium but only because its symbol is K
• Month: May
• Food: Any form of potatoes but mashed especially
• Animal: Fox
• Dog: Collie
• Letter: K
• Movie: How To Train Your Dragon
• Tree: Aspen

There you have it. That’s essentially me in list form. Anything you could possibly ever want to know. Unless there’s more. If so, just comment with it below and I can make a part two! Also in the comments, why not pick a few of these topics and tell me your own favourites.

Enthusiastically,

Karen

Nocturnal

My sleep schedule sucks.

It is currently almost 2am and I am tired BUT I am debating on whether I should watch another episode of Grey’s Anatomy or not. And in the mean time, I’m writing something for the first real day of my blog-every-day challenge. Because even though I haven’t slept in between posting, it still is a new day.

I am a night owl so it’s not weird for me to be up this late. I actually count it as a victory when I’m asleep at midnight. Once, I was doing some homework and it was almost midnight and my friend was texting me. She asked me why I was up so late since she was only not asleep because she was finishing up her homework. (I had started mine only an hour earlier) The thought that midnight is not a time to be awake is actually foreign to me. So I discovered that then.

I find I am way more creative at night and can barely function before noon. No way am I one of those people that gets a head start on the day by being out of bed at 6am like my mother and my sister. Good thing I’m a heavy sleeper because those two have been known to be showering and getting ready for work and school as early as 5 in the morning. Maybe I’m adopted.

The thing is, I have to be careful with my sleep because, while I do like being awake until 3am usually, I can’t function on less than 6 hours of sleep and that’s already pushing it. So if there’s somewhere I have to be at a certain time the next day, I am way more cautious with my bedtime. But right now, all I’m doing is studying for an exam that I have on Wednesday. Meaning I could technically sleep the entire day away because I technically don’t need to be anywhere except my bed. But I should stop thinking about that because I will get up at 9 and get to work shoving all that c programming knowledge in my brain.

Would you look at that, conclusion about my initial dilemma and blog post for the day of December 17th accomplished all in one go. The very definition of two birds with one stone. If you looked up “killing two birds with one stone” in the idiom dictionary because that totally exists and you totally felt inclined there would be a link to this blog post right beside it.

Oh and the decision? I’m going to sleep.

Cheers,

Karen