Updates

With all of the comments I've gotten wondering where I am, I feel like a total schmuck for being so neglectful of this blog.

As for the biopsy - I will get the results Wednesday. I'm not sure why that doctor's lab takes so long. But the doctor who did the biopsy said he wasn't worried, but to call to get the results just to be certain it was nothing. Keep your fingers crossed, just in case.

I finished up my clinical rotation at Radiation/Oncology, where I'd had the somewhat accidental radiation exposure. I learned a lot about radiation. I'm not sure I'll be the one to take it on, but there is definitely a great opportunity for someone with that interest to dive in to developing a palliative care program for a radiation oncology setting.

I also spent a few days with my Palliative Care preceptor whom I will be doing my residency with this coming Spring. It was a pleasure to work with her again. Returning to her hospital felt like returning home.

I had some remarkable patients I met during those two days, too. One patient's spirit in the light of his dire prognosis was particularly inspiring to me. He couldn't speak due to the disease that was killing him. And his frank honesty in the questions he asked in his written notes to us was impressive. Most people don't seem to want that kind of honesty, especially when it relates to their potential death. I had to wonder if writing his thoughts down made him more open with us than if he'd been able to speak to us.

I gave a one-hour lecture for some new grads (newly graduated nurses) recently on end-of-life nursing care. I was very excited about the opportunity, but quite frustrated at how little I could fit into a one-hour period of time. I am devoting my career (and much of my free time) to educating myself about end-of-life care, so to try to condense all I've learned thus far into one hour is almost insulting. But I hope that what little I was able to say inspired at least some of those new grads to explore end-of-life issues on their own as well.

Sorry I have been so neglectful of this blog. I haven't forgotten you all. I will start school again in September. I've kind of taken the summer off from my self-learning, which is usually what inspires my blog posts. But I'm sure my classwork will get me back into gear here, too.