Why I'm proud of my hospital

When leaving work on Friday, I ran into our chief of surgery. He and I have a jovial relationship, but he was somber.  He is Haitian.  I asked if he’d heard from his family.  He said he’d had contact with half of them, and was leaving for Haiti the next day to do what he could to help and hopefully hear about the rest of his loved ones.

Here is a man at a zenith in his career who came from humble beginnings.  He has never forgotten this, I have always respected that about him.  However, to see a man of his power so scared was humbling,  because in this kind of situation it does not matter.  Money isn’t going to get you anything in Haiti if there is no water, when there are no roads, when the situation is that bad.  Yet, we hope. He is traveling to Haiti with a medical team. They will treat whoever is brought to them. He hopes to find his family.

My heart bled talking to him. I told him I couldn’t go this weekend, but if there would be future trips, I’d go.  He said he’d be returning in a few weeks.  I’ll try to go, if they need me, and my boss will let me. When I entered the medical field, I always believed that I’d spend a fair portion of my time working in developing nations, but I chose a technology dependent specialty and travel is limited.  However, if my skills could help in Haiti, I’d go in an instant.  Because it is the right thing to do.

I’m proud that our head of surgery understands this and supports it with his own time and skill.

The World According to Dr. Lisa

Several of my friends are shocked that I'd post my age on the internet, but age is really a figment of time and place, right?  Not a question of yourself.  I mean if I lived on Mars, I'd be younger as defined by the number of times my home planet orbitted the sun, but still the same time would have elapsed.  Or is that a little existential.  Seriously, though, I have now been 39 for a week, and I'm good with it.  I know who I am.  I have been on the journey that is my life with all of its ups and downs and I am the sum total of that journey. Of course there are things I wished would have happened by now, but I can only worry about what I can control.  My grandpa, who was a wise man, had a motto "never begrudge getting older, it is a privilege denied to many."  There is a lot of truth to that.  So, while yes, I'd love to have fewer lines on my face and not be fighting gravity.  (At least people no longer ask if I am old enough to be their child's doctor.) I see no point in lying and saying that I'm younger or trying to hide my age.   I can't imagine being 30 again, that wasn't such a great year.  So far life at 39 seems pretty great, and 38 was out of this park.  So, if things keep getting better, no clue what could happen next..  I might just run the world by the time I'm 40, and let me tell you, the world according to Lisa would be pretty cool.  So, I embrace my age and I'm going with it.

Birthday Soiree

Being born in December, I have grown accustomed to having my birthday passed over.  What with all the holdiay craziness etc.  The past year has been so amazing, and I fully expect the amazingness to continue so I decided that that would just not do.  I organized myself a little birthday soiree.  I invited a bunch of my favorite people, people I know in a variety of different ways.  I made food, cocktails and set my house up for a party.  My friend, Kim, made me a cake.  I laughed, I smiled, I entered the last year of my 30s on a good note.

Thanks to all who came and helped me celebrate my birthday.  This has the beginnings of a pretty good year..

Guest Starring... Me

Last night I was on BlogTalkRadio as a guest on the Dr. Anonymous show.  We talked about how I got into the blogosphere the impact that blogging has had on my life.  Why I did a triathlon, and issues related to protecting our privacy as physicians in the blogosphere and our patient's privacy as well.  I had fun, I hope that those of you who listened did too.

Below is a link to the archive of the show. Sadly no video due to some trouble with the video feed last night. Oh well, I guess Dr. Anonymous will have to have me back...

Where you'll find me tomorrow night!!

I have made some friends in the blogosphere and am followed on twitter by a bunch of very interesting doctor types who are also in the blogosphere.  Somehow through one of these connections I have been invited to be a guest on the Doctor Anonymous Show on BlogTalkRadio tomorrow night, December 3, at 6pmPT/ 9pm ET.  We're going to be talking about stuff--- Neonatology, my trip to Mongolia, my life as a doctor, my experience as a patient and whatever else anyone finds intersting.  Join us, won't you.

My Happy Place

I joke frequently about finding my happy place. Most of the time I am referring to a state of mind.  A state where my mind is clear, quieted, calmed; thereby, allowing me to focus on whatever requires my attention, or at least not be distracted by the stuff that surrounds me.  Putting it in other words, getting my mind where it was in Bali, but Bali is very, very far away.  So going there to sort stuff out would be impractical to say the least.  Therefore, alternatives must exist and fortunately they do.  My happy place can be many different places, but it always involves fresh air, typically water in some form (snow, lake, river, ocean, fountain- I'm not so picky), some nice pine trees and maybe a sunset. Sold!

Really though when I speak of My Happy Place as a real place it is Lake Arrowhead.  Or more specifically that little corner of Lake Arrowhead where I have spent so much time in over the past 35 years.  It meets all of my criteria-
Water- check, there's the lake, a stream running by our place, and sometimes snow
Fresh air- check, it's the mountains, silly
Pine trees- done, it's the middle of the forest after all, we even have 2 Sequoias and if those aren't grand trees I don't know what is
Sunset- sure the sun sets there and you can watch it from the dock or our porch

So yeah, that is my happy place.  Most of you who pay even the slightest bit of attention to this site know the last few weeks were a little rough.  So I made plans to escape for the little free time I had this holiday weekend to Lake Arrowhead.  I arrived up there and felt the mountain air begin to do it's work that was then aided along by waking up to a world blanketed by the first snow of the season.

I am thankful to know where my happy place is and to be able to go there.  Happy Thanksgiving all!

Diction

A few months ago I wrote about how difficult it is for me to speak truths to the family of my patients some times, about my realization of the power of words, and my pursuit of speaking clearly.  I am still a work in process in this regards as in so many others.

Today as I prepare for a family meeting, I am thinking about some of the words/phrases that I use on an almost daily basis that are thankfully foreign to most.  Things like "limits of viability," "incompatible with life," "allow natural death"...  These phrases have very specific meanings in my world, but they sound cold, harsh, unfeeling.  Yet sometimes that is reality and there is no sugar coating it.  I wish there was.