How Baby Grace was identified

"How much more helpless can you be when you're 2, and you're dead."

A good question, indeed. If you didn't think you had anything to be thankful for on Thursday, think again. You're not Baby Grace.

Speaking of dead babies (what?!) I found an, um... *interesting* entry on Wikipedia yesterday: coffin birth.

Yes, I know. I have major problems. But there's a logical explanation: We had some down time at the hospital yesterday, and my friend Scott was checking CNN.com and read an update about the Natalee Holloway suspects, and mentioned to me that he found it amazing that these guys could be held without a body having been found. So I mentioned that I had read the other day that in Aruban/Dutch law, you don't need a body to prove homicide, apparently, unlike here in the U.S. In fact, I remember seeing a program on TV a few years ago where a body was never found, but the bedroom where the killing occurred had so much blood spattered on the wall and soaked into the bedsheets that they were able to prove that the loss of that volume of blood would have to cause death, and so the blood was actually the body (this was a U.S. case). And Scott refuted me, saying he was pretty sure Laci Peterson's body was never found, but Scott Peterson was still found guilty. I thought he was wrong, so we went to the best source there is: Wikipedia. And not only did Wikipedia tell us that the body was found, but it mentioned that one hypothesis for the findings of the fetus's body separate from its mother was coffin birth. So naturally, I had to look up coffin birth. Which led me to that. It was pretty morbid-but-fascinating (a recurring theme in my life).

We told the other people in the room with us (residents, physicians, students, etc) of our disgusting discovery, and someone responded, "You SHOULD be an Ob/Gyn, hwong14." WHAT!? I'm pretty morbidly fascinated by lots of things, not just dead babies, and there are plenty of other medical students fascinated by dead babies who are not interested in Ob/Gyn. In what way the two go together, I'm not quite sure. Nevertheless, there you go.

In other news, I declared to the Ob/Gyn clerkship director that I'm pretty sure I want to go into Ob/Gyn and asked if I could set up a meeting with her to talk about my options. It's pretty scary, sending myself down this path.

Movies

The other thing I've managed to do recently is see some movies, so I thought I'd share.

Elizabeth 2. Very good. Not much to say about it, but it was really good. Pretty much everything I expected of it.

Lars and the Real Girl. Holy shit, you need to go see this movie. Ryan Gosling did a great job. It was pretty funny at inappropriate times and overall an amazing journey through Lars' relationship with Bianca. You must go see this movie. The best part was that there were numerous times when the only people laughing in the entire theater were Julie and me.

The Darjeeling Limited. Wes Anderson strikes again. Best moment: In the short film before the movie, Jack and his ex are about to have sex when she says, "If we fuck, I'm going to feel like shit in the morning." Jack says, very evenly, "I don't care." The only people laughing? Eric and the guy sitting behind us. And then me, for realizing they were the only two jerks laughing.

Plus, seeing movies like Lars and Darjeeling means I got to see previews for movies like Juno and Margot at the Wedding. Looking forward to them!

Catching up with photos

Paige, Brian, and Lea came to visit back in September. Lea did a lot of thinking.

Surgery finally, finally, finally ended in mid-October and I went home for a week. On the way back, we decided to drive through Virginia and West Virginia on Route 50. We didn't take it all the way to Cincinnati (maybe some other time), just until we hit I-79. We got a late start leaving and I was in a bad mood that morning, but when we hit the highway, for some reason I was all "you only live once" and suggested we take the scenic route, and Eric was up for it. The scenic route was really scenic. We drove through a couple tiny little cute towns in Virginia with colonial architecture and antique stores and tons of people out walking around. The rest of the time, we were one of the few cars on the road, and the foliage was gorgeous. And we saw the most unique car in the whole world.


Moxie and Mojo have been uncharacteristically friendly, if a little annoyed at having their picture taken

Last weekend we drove to Columbus, IN, which the AIA has ranked sixth on a list of cities noted for "architectural innovation and design." The town, population 39,000, has awesome buildings and public art all over the place. We also ate really good barbecue. Yum.

North Christian Church, Eero Saarinen, 1964

Eric and Mater (actually, a fire engine, not a tow truck)


Bartholomew County (Ind.) Veterans Memorial. We were there, coincidentally, on Veterans Day weekend.


Inscribed on all those pillars were letters from soldiers. They were all really sad, but this one made me cry.



In a fit of creative photography, I was instructed to pose along with the creepy children of "Crack the Whip." All 5 of us are ready to be transplanted to the lobby of Freedom Village.

The art and sculptures were more interesting than some of the architecture. I have to believe the AIA folks that some of those buildings were truly noteworthy; I found a lot of them to just be ugly. Nevertheless, it was a really cute town and it was fun to drive around and see all the buildings (we had a list and a map and a plan and everything).


Yesterday, I made a delicious pot of soup -- sausage and corn chowder. It was so easy, so quick, and so delicious. Plus, I got to use my beautiful Le Creuset dutch oven (in kiwi).

Recipe: Cut up some sausage (I used a pre-cooked andouille sausage I found on sale) and some onion (I was out of fresh, so I used some frozen pearl onions) and throw them in the pot to saute a bit. Add a can of potatoes, cut up, and about a cup of water. Let everything simmer for a while. Add some salt and pepper to taste (I made mine nice and peppery; you probably won't need too much extra salt because of the sausage). When you feel like it, add a can of corn, drained, a can of creamed corn, and about a cup of evaporated milk. Or, instead of water+evaporated milk, you can use all regular milk, but I didn't want to use all of ours up -- we need it for cereal! There's no set amount of liquid -- use your judgment. Make it look like a chowder. Everything's pre-cooked, so you're just letting it heat up. Add some paprika and fresh flat-leaf parsley to garnish/flavor, and enjoy! Really, it was totally delicious, and all from cans. It was so tasty, I wouldn't even bother to make it the "real" way next time (that is, making a roux and adding milk). Just make sure you make all your chunks of sausage, onion, and potato the same size, for easy eating. If I were a TV chef, I'd say serve it with a nice hunk of crusty French bread, but we ate it with Ritz crackers instead. I'm definitely restocking the pantry with corn, creamed corn, canned potatoes, and evaporated milk, just for this recipe. I've had the frozen pearl onions on hand for a while because I totally intend to make beef bourguignon and coq au vin (both also perfect for the Le Creuset!) at some point... soon...

Well, that's my last few months from a non-work standpoint. I'm just about done with outpatient pediatrics and I start inpatient on Monday. While I really like the hours of outpatient (9-5, with a 1-hour lunch!), getting home at 5:30 means there isn't time to get much done -- all the other businesses are closed, too! I can't believe I'm about to say this, but being on call will be much better for dealing with life stuff -- after all, if you're on call one night, you're post-call (and free!) the next. Jeez, what is wrong with me?

Taking a break from studying

Of course, because that's what I do best.

This evening I walked over to Borders to pick up a birthday present for someone (shh, it's a secret!). I spent over an hour browsing around the store, looking for clearance deals (my specialty) and new books to read. I LOVE Borders's new Paperchase section. The next time I'm in the UK, I have to go to one of their stores. I also like the line of postcards they carry from artunlimited.com, but I've discovered that their website isn't nearly as exciting to browse -- there are so many postcards to look through that it's just wearying.

Anyway, back to the story. So many cool books that I want to read!

Skinny Bitch, by Kim Barnouin and Rory Freedman
I don't know that their dieting advice is anything new or innovative, but their writing is hilarious. Here is an excerpt from page 14, when they are telling you to give up diet soda, which contains aspartame: "When methyl alcohol, a component of aspartame, enters your body, it turns into formaldehyde. Formaldehyde is toxic and carcinogenic (cancer-causing). Laboratory scientists use formaldehyde as a disinfectant or preservative. They don't fucking drink it. Perhaps you have a lumpy ass because you are preserving your fat cells with diet soda." Ha! Love it.


Another Day in the Frontal Lobe: A Brain Surgeon Exposes Life on the Inside, by Katrina Firlik
What can I say, I like science and medical stories. You'll see that this is a recurring theme in the list. I didn't even flip through it, so it might be horrible, but it was also short, so it would probably be worth it for a few stories from a neurosurgeon that 1) are cool, and 2) would help reconvince me that I have no desire to be a neurosurgeon. Or a neurologist. And it IS kind of cool that she's one of only a couple hundred female neurosurgeons in the entire country.


That Extra Half an Inch: Hair, Heels and Everything in Between, by Victoria Beckham ("The Smash UK Bestseller!")
I love reading about fashion, which is funny, because I am not that fashion-forward myself. Nevertheless, I love watching Project Runway, What Not to Wear, and reading similar types of things. Although I don't usually read any fashion magazines. Anyway... Posh Spice tells you how to wear different items of clothing, which brands she loves the best (for instance, she likes Abercrombie and Fitch ("an American brand," she informs her British readers) for "vests" (which I discovered meant tank tops)), and how to pull off all those looks. Not that you'll be able to afford her recommendations, like Manolo Blahniks (although she does search for her signature large sunglasses, which she wears to hide her tired mommy eyes, at thrift stores), but it would still be fun to read. She also offers mommy (sorry, "mummy") fashion advice -- like, she usually carries a large purse for all her assorted baby stuff, but she's also figured out a way to roll baby wipes, a credit card, and a nappy (that's the cutest word for a diaper!) all in a tiny clutch, so not as to kill her outfit. And then she gives all her lipsticks and whatnot to David (as in, Beckham!) to store in his various pockets, "like he's a spy." It's actually a pretty endearing read (I skimmed a few pages), she seems like a fun girl to hang out with.

The Book of Lost Things, by John Connolly
So, call me superficial, but I liked this book because of the cover art, but the one I saw in the store had a red background and the vine pattern was black, which stood out at me a lot more. I don't like the version in this picture; maybe I won't read it anymore. Haha, just kidding. Sort of. I mean, I didn't open it, I just read the blurb on the back and it didn't sound horrible, so I based my desire to read it 80% on the cover and 20% on the fact that the blurb didn't suck. Yeah, I'm superficial.




A Spot of Bother, by Mark Haddon
My hyperlink is to the Google Books entry, but I took the cover art from Amazon, because that's the version I saw in the store, and again, it was the cover that drew me in. I don't know, there's just something intriguing about a man with blood pouring out of his hip, you know? Then I noticed it was by the same guy who wrote The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, which was a really good book, so now it's on my to-read list. I have no idea what it's about. Damn, I'm brand- (or author-) loyal!

1,000 Places to See in the USA and Canada Before You Die, by Patricia Schultz
I have the original book, but while it's nice to aspire to get to the 1,000 must-see places in the world before I die, and I have seen some of them, some of them are in countries that, frankly, I'm probably not going to get to. So maybe this list is a little more attainable.



Son of a Witch, by Gregory Maguire
I've been wanting to read this book for a while but never got around to it. Wicked was really good, and so was Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister and Mirror, Mirror. Actually, Maguire's writing is a little heavy-handed and overly-descriptive, but I find myself continuing to turn the pages because I want to see how he's going to use the plot that I already know. If he weren't re-writing fairy tales, I don't know that I could stand to read his writing. Sorry if that's cruel, but hey, at least I still want to read about Elphaba's son.

The Ghost Map, by Steven Johnson
A book about John Snow, every epidemiologist's hero! God, I'm such a nerd. It's about the London cholera epidemic and how John Snow figured out how the cholera was spreading (not miasmas, you silly Brits!) and took the handle off the town well. From reading the Amazon material, it looks like Johnson may try to make some links between John Snow and 21st-century epidemics, with varying degrees of success, but that's OK by me. I'll still read it.



The American Plague: The Untold Story of Yellow Fever, the Epidemic that Shaped Our History, by Molly Caldwell Crosby
I don't know that I would call it "untold," but maybe not everyone knows about yellow fever in Philly back in the 1700s. My favorite anecdote of that epidemic is how the rich folks from the city fled in boats and hid in caves under the banks of the Schulkyll River to escape the disease. It's fun to picture. And here's another interesting tidbit of info: in looking for the cover image for this book, I came across another book, An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793, by Jim Murphy. It's apparently geared more toward middle-schoolers, but the name is very similar, and possibly a little more interesting (a "terrifying" story!).



Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science, by Atul Gawande
Yeah, it's another doctor's memoirs. But we all know that I like surgical stories, so what do you expect? Besides, Dr. Gawande is an awesome writer. He writes for the New Yorker, and you may recall a previous entry where I linked to an article of his, The Score, which is one of the best things I've read in a while. And, it turns out he's written a newer book, Better: A Surgeon's Notes on Performance.



Bloodletting & Miraculous Cures: Stories, by Vincent Lam
I've been hearing buzz about this book for a while, and I read an excerpt online somewhere a while back. It's a series of short stories loosely connected to each other, loosely based on the author's experiences becoming a physician (yes, yes, more doctor's memoirs, sort of). But it's not just me -- Lam won the Scotiabank Giller Prize (a Canadian fiction writing prize) in 2006, the first debut author to ever do so. So other people think it's good, too.



Well, there you have it. My if-I-had-time-to-read reading list. And add to it the book I'm currently trying to read, which my dad lent me, The Great Influenza: The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague in History, by John M. Barry, and the book I've been trying to request from the library for months, How Doctors Think, by Jerome Groopman (really, you don't have to comment on the very obvious pattern of reading topics I pursue), and you'll see that this will keep me occupied for quite some time.

Now back to actually learning medicine.

Right- brained or left?

Look at this picture and tell me if the figure is turning clockwise or counter-clockwise:



Can you make her turn the other way if you try hard enough?

Apparently, if you see her turning clockwise, then you are a right-brained thinker, according to this article from The [Australia] Herald Sun, although they don't give any explanation for that association. And if you see her turning counter-clockwise, then you are a left-brained thinker. And most people can apparently make her spin the other way if they try hard enough, or if they stare at the screen long enough.

In case you've forgotten, here are the qualities associated with right- and left-brainedness:

LEFT BRAIN FUNCTIONS
uses logic
detail oriented
facts rule
words and language
present and past
math and science
can comprehend
knowing
acknowledges
order/pattern perception
knows object name
reality based
forms strategies
practical
safe

RIGHT BRAIN FUNCTIONS
uses feeling
"big picture" oriented
imagination rules
symbols and images
present and future
philosophy & religion
can "get it" (i.e. meaning)
believes
appreciates
spatial perception
knows object function
fantasy based
presents possibilities
impetuous
risk taking

Aside from being occasionally fantasy-based (you know, thinking that I'm one day going to live in a mansion and be dictator of the world) and impetuous, I'm a pretty left-brained person by most accounts. And I cannot make that damn dancer spin the other way! Grrr.

Luckily, I shouldn't feel the need to base my entire life on this spinning girl. Scienceline explains the origin of the right- vs. left-brained theory and tells us that it's not so simple. It's essentially just an optical illusion. But I STILL can't make her spin counter-clockwise, DAMMIT!

Stayed home sick Thursday

For the first time in.... I have no idea how long. I'm not counting days that I'm just "sick" of work or school, obviously. I've been fighting this stupid cold all week (today is day 7 of "7-10 days," yes!), but Wednesday night I felt honestly lousy. You know, where you're nauseated and your skin hurts? I'm pretty sure I had a fever, too, but guess what -- we don't own a thermometer. That makes me very embarrassed, because this exchange is probably the most annoying one I have with patients:

Me: So, has your child had a fever with all of this?
Parent: Oh yes, he had a fever two nights ago.
Me: How high?
Parent: Um, I'm not sure. I didn't take his temperature. But it was high.
Me: ARGH!

Anyway, I crawled into bed at 7 pm, crawled back out when I realized I was too hungry to fall asleep and Eric wasn't going to be home anytime soon, crawled back in at 9 pm, and fell asleep. I woke up Thursday morning with pseudo-intentions of getting up, but ended up calling in sick and sleeping until noon. Fifteen hours, and I did NOT feel exhausted in any way, shape or form prior to that! That's what I call being actually sick.

I felt much better yesterday, so I'm hoping it's not the flu (flu usually lasts 3-7 days). But just a reminder: if you're between the ages of 6 months - 4 years, or older than 50, or the caregiver of someone between the ages of 0 months - 4 years or older than 50, or a healthcare worker, then you need to go get a flu shot. Children under the age of 9 receiving the shot for the first time in their lives need to get 2 shots this year. I also highly recommend that if you come into close contact with me at all, you should get the shot, even if you don't fall into any of the above categories (meaning Eric). And no, the flu shot cannot give you the flu (it's a killed vaccine). But you can get the flu shot and still get the flu -- it would be a different strain of flu not included in this year's vaccine, though.

Get vaccinated! Staying home sick when you're over the age of 10 is not fun!

Next post: How to use over-the-counter cold medicines properly and what to expect of them.