What Residency Looks Like CXV: Accomplishments

Monday: 

Graduated from Internal Medicine Residency (no more shifts!). I dressed up for the live-stream, although no one could see me except in the selfie I posted on Facebook. Even Dear Husband was on a different Zoom meeting.

Earned a Certificate in Medical Education. Was "voted" most likely to give a history of medicine lesson on rounds. Sore that the foodie award went to someone who isn't even a Yelp Elite.

Friday: 

Took a knee against white supremacy, racism, and police brutality. Medical professionals around the city gathered at noon to reflect and kneel for 8 minutes and 46 seconds, but I was not on campus due to graduation. So I had my own one-woman protest on the busy street corner in scrubs, a white coat, a refurbished version of the "White Coats 4 Black Lives" poster that has lived in my rear car window since medical school. I didn't do it for likes on social media, so I didn't have Dear Husband come take pictures or video or anything. I did it for the white man who started crossing the street, turned around, and came back to ask what I was doing. I did it for the black city bus driver who honked and waved. I did it for the black woman who asked to take my picture. I learned that 8 minutes and 46 seconds is a long time to support my weight on one thigh, and that the pavement is very hard when the soft neck of a Black person isn't underneath.

Graduated from Pediatrics Residency (1 Emergency Department shift, 12 more hours of jeopardy, and 3 weeks of out-patient elective to go!). DH, my parents, and I gathered at my colleague's house for a graduation party. Since Allegheny County had moved to Green that very day and there were still fewer than 10 of us, we figured it was safe. I confess that sitting on a friend's couch to watch a pre-recorded ceremony with an adult beverage in your hand is absolutely a superior way to experience a graduation. Big surprise: I was awarded the American Academy of Pediatrics Med-Peds Resident Recognition Award for my advocacy work, and the program director read my poem, "In the Trenches."

Provided by-stander aid to an older gentleman who fell off his motorcycle due to a near-miss with a car. Good thing there was a house full of doctors on the corner, and good thing he didn't really need us!

The ambulance driver who came to pick up the biker was definitely
laughing at us as she drove down the street after the accident...

Saturday:

Repaired a closet shelf that had collapsed when we moved in and I tried to store too many boxes of books on it. (Credit: Father Man)

Acquired a blister from a lovely walk in Frick Park in inappropriate footwear.

BBQ shish-kabobs (Credit: Father Man, who wore his new "My Favorite Doctor Calls Me DAD" tshirt)

Games after dinner included the tallest-ever Tier auf Tier tower (Credit: DH). We also made up rules for Gluecksferkel, because the instructions were missing from the box (I acquired 3 German children's games for free back in grad school).

Sunday:

Adult Forum finished talking about Barbara Brown Taylor's Holy Envy: Finding God in the Faith of Others; Zoom church went off more or less without a hitch; and DH had very thoughtfully picked up Klondike bars with which to mark the start of "summer church" (we're still meeting at the same time, however, since we don't have to move to the cooler worship area at an earlier time due to the lack of AC).

Re-upholstering my rocking chair. It was 10 years old when we got it with the dining room table and chairs from another history graduate student; at that time I replaced the stained blue-and-white coverings with green-and-brown stripes. 10 years and 2 cats later, however, it was time to replace the fabric. Mother brought a beautiful dark blue cotton with light blue flowers that remind me of blueberries and Maine for the front and ottoman, which we paired with a sturdy light blue polyester for the back.

45-minute hike in North Park (Mother and I are wearing matching face masks that she sewed)

Successfully ordered burgers to go (it only took two tries in three days, as the first time we accidentally landed on the site for a burger joint 30 minutes out of town!); watched Top Gun; chilled

Monday:

Had second breakfast together and said our good-byes until...mid-August for family vacation?

Older

Newer