Bittersweet Holidays

My memories of holidays at home are nothing but good. First of all, waking up to watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade with my siblings. Afterwards, the 6 of us (before my youngest brother came along) sitting around the dining room table having the traditional Southern foods for Thanksgiving - turkey with mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing, pecan and pumpkin pies. Then we would get together with all of my mom's family and have even MORE food - more turkey, with dressing, giblet gravy, pies, sweet potato casserole, Aunt Belinda's broccoli and cheese casserole. But the holidays this year are different. I am married, and so I have my own family. Last year, we visited both families' houses at Thanksgiving, which required a cross-state trek. However, that leaves us feeling like we haven't even had a holiday. We had to do something different. So thanksgiving for me this year is a get-together with friends and my husband. The food is the same, but we have something missing from Thanksgiving this year - our families. It's a bittersweet holiday. We are making our own pecan pies, and adding some things of our own to the tradition (like Brie en Croute, in the picture above. A wheel of Brie baked in a pastry shell with cherries and pecans - nummy!) In one way, it's fantastic to have my own family to celebrate with. On the other, I miss what came before. Is there a way to merge our own celebration with our families' celebrations? Or are the holidays doomed to always come with that feeling that something's missing?

How do you guys merge your own Thanksgiving with that of your families?

Half?!?!

So my husband directed me to this news article earlier today. It's pretty scary. For those of you who don't want to follow the link, it is a news article entitled, Half of primary care doctors in survey would leave medicine. The jist of it is that half of primary care doctors they surveyed said they would opt to leave medicine in the next 3 years if they had an alternative! As a medical student, this is something that really gives me pause. I am hearing more and more about doctors not wanting to be doctors anymore. This article only addresses the issue in primary care doctors, but the problem is more widespread. There are actually people who go to medical school, see what it's really like, and choose not to go on to residency. There are options such as insurance consultants or pharmaceutical reps in which people would make more or the same money and work less hours. Then there are other options that have nothing to do with medicine - some medical school graduates choose to open their own business. In this news article, it wasn't so much a money issue as it was all the extra paperwork the government has made a part of Medicaid/Medicare. So there are people - the same people who go to medical school because "they want to help people" - realizing what it is really about, and leaving! Guys, this is a big problem! We are already short in this country of primary care doctors. Fewer and fewer medical students are choosing to go into primary care, and more and more primary care doctors are leaving primary care! And in medical school, you can guess how much education we get about issues such as this. That's right - zilch.

Something has to be done. The question is what? Part of Obama's healthcare plan includes switching medical records, billing, etc. to computers. Perhaps that would take care of the paperwork issue, but I don't think that is the only problem here. There are fundamental problems with out healthcare system, and I'm afraid it's only going to get worse before it gets better.

For me personally, this hits close to home. I am really torn at this point between wanting to do primary care and wanting to specialize. Articles such as this make me want to steer clear of primary care - and this is exactly the opposite of what we want medical students to be doing! So what is the solution? Trust me, if I knew, I wouldn't be putting it on this little blog. How about you guys? Any comments on the healthcare system or how it should be changed?

For every drop of rain that falls, a flower grows

So it was pouring down rain as I left for school today. My main concern: protect the precious hair! Getting to school looking like a drowned rat is just not on my list of things I like to do. Umbrellas are a huge hassle to try to carry around all day, since I've already got a bag full of books and a computer to carry around, but I had to have some kind of protection. So I had on a hoodie - hood on, completely zipped up. I probably looked like a thug. So simply walking to my car had me frustrated and grumpy - it is just not possible to avoid every large drop of water that may wet hair through a hood. As I was driving to school, though, I saw something that gave me pause. There was a gentleman walking down the sidewalk in the rain. Perhaps he forgot his umbrella, you say? No, he had an umbrella. But it was dangling by his side as he sauntered along, ostensibly enjoying the rain. I'm going to say that again: enjoying the rain. It made me think back to all the times as a child that I went out to play in the rain, usually along with a sister or brother or two. So many happy memories! I loved when it rained! We would play outside for hours, getting soaking wet, playing make-believe. I wonder, what happens to us as we "grow up" that causes rain to go from a fun play thing to a nuisance? We just don't have time any longer to stop and smell the roses or enjoy the rain. I have resolved to care a little less about my appearance next time it rains, and maybe even stop and take time to enjoy it.

Anyone else have any fun childhood memories of the rain?

P.S. Sorry for the rough photo and title - I'm still working on it!
P.P.S. Photo was taken from http://www.flickr.com/photos/nickwheeleroz/2469056619/.

Introduction

Hello! Welcome to my blog!

While writing this, I sat for a minute just staring at those words. What to say?

It may come as a surprise to some of you that I am doing this. I am generally a fairly private person, and it goes a bit contrary to my nature to expose my thoughts to strangers, and even worse, those I know! So bear with me.

It seems to have become "cool" or the "thing to do" recently to start a blog. But that's not why I started one. I'm a 24 year old married female in my second year of medical school. There are so many things that happen in my life that make me angry, sad, or just make me think. Sometimes it's a patient I come into contact with, or something I see on the news. Whatever the precipitating event, it always seems to somehow help to write about it (I refuse to use the word "blog" as a verb.) So that is what this blog is about - just my thoughts, and perhaps sometimes a way to see what other people think about these topics. Sometimes it may be controversial. Whatever the topic, I promise to be as honest as I possibly can about it.