snow, glorious snow!

it's been a delightful few weeks, full of snow, snow and more snow. the forecast for today was, you guessed it, more snow. 3-5 inches. just to prove that this winter will be nothing like last winter, we got 9 inches today.

the only not-so-great thing about so much glorious snow is shoveling it. our house, while lovely in most aspects (high ceilings, lots of sunlight, energy efficiency), the roof is constructed in such a sloping fashion as to dump all the snow in front of the garage doors. my poor obliques!

on a side note, i went to an applicant dinner tonight and found my jaw on the floor when no one in the room knew who gloria steinem was. Ms. Gloria Steinem! i think i may have finally figured out what is wrong with this world. the young ones have forgotten gloria. or maybe never learned about her at all. but they benefit from her courageous spirit every day.

An open letter to Ron Paul

Dear Dr. Paul,
As a lifelong Democrat, I was unexpectedly moved by your message. Small government, taking responsibility for ourselves, the fundamental right to privacy...these are incredibly powerful ideas that resonate with many people. However, I find that I cannot support your candidacy due to your unenlightened views on abortion. Moreover, I find your views on this issue to be incongruous with the rest of your platform.

I am a pediatrician. I see the effects of unwanted pregnancies in stark, unfiltered detail everyday. Abuse, neglect, emotional scars that never heal, generations living in poverty. Personal responsibility encompasses many things and includes making responsible family planning choices. Whatever her decision, it is a woman's fundamental right to choose whether or not to have a child.

Our society is unenlightened on this issue. Abortion has existed, hidden in the background, throughout history. As long as women have been able to bear children, women have chosen to prevent or abort a pregnancy. Due to Roe vs. Wade, women in this country can now obtain safe, legal abortions that do not kill them or result in subsequent infertility. Due to organizations like Planned Parenthood, women can obtain reproductive and family planning services regardless of their ability to pay.

I respectfully disagree with your views on this issue and wanted to let you know that I will not be voting for you.

Sincerely,
girl MD

199

there have been several milestones in the last few days that i thought i'd share, if there are any readers left with such a long hiatus. sorry. but read on and you'll see why i've been absent.

1) i am done with the nicu. i just finished my last call of my last month in the nicu. this is a huge relief. i made it through 4 months of this crazy unit without having any babies die on my watch. some, if the universe was truly merciful, should have, but none did. to be sure, there will be consults when i am a fellow, but it just won't be the same.

2) for the first time in my life, i have pneumonia.good old community acquired pneumonia. of course, my community is a hospital and my crackles were focused in one lobe of my lungs, so i'm getting two weeks of moxi, but it could be worse. i figure better to have it now than when i'm a pulmonary fellow. better now, so i can have more empathy for my patients. of course, i haven't missed a day of work. people cringe when i cough, but i wear a mask. the mask i wear is a badge of honor. or so they tell me.

3) to explain the title, today i have broken the 200 day threshold. 199 more days of residency. but who's counting?

please feel free to share your milestones...i'm quite sure they are more impressive than mine.