Intern Year

Where did the year go? Intern year is done in a couple weeks. Yay! Yikes! Two more years left of Pediatric Residency! The other day someone asked me if I like kids more or less since starting residency. The answer is a resounding MORE! Kids are awesome. Babies are the best. Adolescents...(nevermind, I don't want to get into that). It has definitely been a blessing taking care of sick and healthy babies and kids throughout the year. Med school taught me a lot about the reality of life. Intern year puts you in the front lines of that reality. You learn to not take things for granted. That stuff happens. That bad stuff can happen. That you can't control that. That sometimes nothing you do as a parent or a doctor will change much. That there are lots of things we can prevent, but sometimes I personally will not change a situation. Some of my favorite moments:

- Talking to an 8 year old girl and her mom in acute care after this girl was sexually molested by a good family friend. I talked to her about strong women in the Bible that had gone through terrible things, talked to her about her journaling to God and listened to her mom's concerns.

- Taking a 1.5 year old boy waiting for a liver and small intestine transplant to the helicopter pad to be transferred to another hospital where he would be put on the transplant list. The housekeepers said their good-byes to him. The security guard said, "You know you're kinda cute!" even with his bright yellow jaundiced skin and yellow eyes.

- Getting my first champagne tap (nice, clean lumbar puncture) on a 2 week old who came to the ED with a fever. Phew. Proud moment.

- Holding one of my NICU babies with classic congenital CMV (blueberry muffin rash, hepatosplenomegaly, thrombocytopenia, neonatal teeth) and soothing her to sleep. I was always so upset when her parents came because then I couldn't hold her. :-P

- Treating a patient for typhoid fever. Another for malaria. In Baltimore. And every type of rare genetic disorder I never knew existed. And 5 STDs in one patient including Syphilis, which I thought just didn't exist anymore....

Basically, being a pediatrician is awesome. Yes, sometimes I don't get to sleep as often as others or go to every single social event but when I put it all in perspective, I still have an awesome job. I often wonder what kind of baby and child Christ was. When I hold a "normal" baby, it is such a great feeling. What then did Simeon feel as he held the Savior of the world, his Creator?!