Sometimes You Win, Sometimes You Lose

*Warning: Sarcasm and Whining ahead*
(but sprinkled with optimism)

I’ve got some good news and some bad news. I found out yesterday that I passed the clinical exam that I took in Philly 12 weeks ago!! Yeah, it took them long enough to let me know! I was all but convinced that I had failed, but anyways, moving on to the bad news:(.

Today was the first day of our short orientation at our hospital before our start date of Sunday, July 1st. Umm, what about church?! Church, what church?! Yeah, that’s not happening. Anyways, that’s NOT why I have bad news. It turns out that the call schedule has been totally revamped since I’ve rotated and interviewed at Methodist. Instead of the split call method of day call and night call which makes each intern have night call once every 10 days, now it’s only night calls, Q5! (Q5=every five days) That means we have a 30-hour shift from 8pm to 2pm (the next day) every 5 days. For example, my month of July schedule shows that I’m on call (30-hour shift) SIX times with 4 days off. The reason for the change is that this is the more traditional internal medicine call schedule and previously the interns were too swamped on their shorter calls so now the work is more spread out over a longer call. Hmm, during my interview, the speech was “we really work hard while we’re at the hospital, but we have more time off compared to other programs.” Now I'm hearing, “there’s too much work to be done, so we are doubling your night calls, which is the normal IM schedule at most programs anyways.”

Yes, I should not be such a complainer . . . but I will anyways because I want to vent. Both M (my good friend/co-intern) both lamented over the fact that one of the major reasons we chose this hospital was because of its nice call schedule. (I was in my 'all-about-work-life- balance' phase). To have that changed on us on the first day of our orientation is just, well, upsetting and disappointing!! When you are married and have a home, it’s ever so important to maximize your time with your loved one, and it frankly makes me angry to think that it's taken away. But you know what hubby said at the news? “Oh, that’s good news; you’re getting longer and better training.” No, I didn’t physically harm him, but I did flash a very dirty look while thinking, ha ha, that means more scooping Kitty’s litterbox for you while I’m spending my nights at the hospital!

Okay, *deep breath*, I'm done. I still love the hospital, it was good to be back there, like good memories rushing back to my head. I met some of the other interns, a nice bunch, I think. In the end, it’s all about sacrifices and dedication, and I’m ready. I just had to vent a little, you see.

One more piece of good news because I want to end this on a good note. I’ve been meaning to write about Blacky, the lovable stray I took care of months ago. Joyce, the amazing cat rescue lady, found him a forever home! Actually, I’ve known for weeks now but just haven’t written about it. I received an e-mail from Blacky’s new owners and they just love him to death. Joyce finally surmised that Blacky was a victim of animal abuse because of his scars. Also, his new owners continue to call him by my last name, but he’ll always be Blacky to me. The story just warms my heart everytime I think about it. Blacky was headed to euthanasia but by God's lucky timing, he went to Joyce, his guardian angel, instead. Yeah, in this life, you really do win sometimes, and lose sometimes and I think I’ve own more than I’ve lost.