DC = Disaster & Chaos

I write to you today from the DI lab in the basement of Washington Hospital Center. If you can't find it, just follow the dead bodies. That's right! I'm four doors down from the morgue. How's that for a cheery greeting every morning? Allow me to recap my first couple days on my first every clinical rotation. Monday started innocently enough. I rolled out of bed at 4:00AM and made it to the train by 5:10. The train ride was harmless. Then everything went slightly south for the rest of the day. Starting with Metro. My preceptor told me to exit the station to the left, which I did - only to find myself in an alleyway in NorthWest DC. Not a good place to be! So, I went back down the 100 steps I had just climbed and promptly exited to the right - and consequently back up another 100 stairs. I found my shuttle bus and made it to the hospital just fine. When I got on the elevator, I pressed the "B" button to head to the basement. Much to my surprise, I went to the second floor. Even more to my surprise, the doors didn't open. So I'm sitting on the second floor...doors not opening...sitting...doors not opening...sitting...doors not opening. Finally on the verge of a major panic attack, I start pressing the "B" button rapidly. The "B" button lit and I traveled the basement. Apparently the "B" button needs to be depressed forcefully to recognize that you are traveling to the basement. Otherwise, it returns to the second floor where it hovers until someone else wants on. I then sat in the DI room for an hour and a half by myself because my preceptor forgot I was starting my rotation on Monday and consequently took the day off. The receptionist, may that the TWO receptionists, failed to notify the assistant director that I was here. Finally at 9:30, I stepped back into the lobby and asked if anyone was ever coming to see me. You could've bought the receptionist for a nickel. The assistant director raced downstairs to find me. She apologized several times and then took me to her office to lay out the "game plan" for the rotation. Fun stuff. The best part is, she kept calling me Christie - which is not my name, nor is it anything close to my name. I'm sitting less than three feet from here with a name badge on that has my name in no less than 20 point font. I corrected her twice, and then just gave up. I find myself responding to the name Christie now. After a morning of hell, I dragged myself up to the cafeteria for lunch. It is surprisingly nice inside...and I get an employee discount! :) Cheap food is always good. After lunch, I left the cafeteria in search of the stairwell that would take me back to the basement. (This facility is 42 acres and some enormous amount of square footage). As I was walking the hall, I stumbled upon a dead body. It was laying on a gurney with the sheet pulled over it - but it was still a dead body. I took it as a sign of things to come. The rest of my first day was painfully uneventful. Tuesday was riddled with meetings, that I was not able to attend. I spent my morning lounging about in the medical library with the medical residents. They sure are a fun bunch. (note huge amounts of sarcasm) Then I met up with the assitant director again. She was no longer calling me Christie...I had now become Christine. Great. (Should this woman be allowed access to drugs??) Wednesday I went to Grand Rounds with the three pharmacy practice residents. Free food...and an hour with the fun-loving medical residents. The past two nights on the train home, I have discovered that people REALLY hate commuting to DC every day. They apparently cope with this by drinking heavily on the way home from work on the train. The drinking doesn't bother me (in fact, tonight I may join them) - however the loud screaming and yelping is bothersome. The one guy had his shirt off and his tie wrapped around his head. This lovely character took the train all the way back to my hometown, while the rest of his friends got off four stops before. He looked so lonely up there passed out on the seat, sleeping in his own drool (the train is a double-decker). So as you can tell, every day is a story. I have a ton - just not enough time to tell them all. Stay tuned for a post Friday or Saturday about the Scandanavian Scabies. :)