NaNoWriMo! and some other things

Ahhhh November. Glorious fall colors are alive all around, and winter is creeping in one finger at a time. I *heart* fall in the midwest, even if it makes my nose itch and my eyes red so no matter how much my feet itch to go out I stubbornly stay home.

My most recent attempt to get off Zyrtec was pretty disastrous - I ended up with an itchy, runny nose paired with psychopath-red eyes. My insomnia might have contributed to the red eyes, which thankfully didnt hurt or itch.

So November is National Novel Writing Month aka NaNoWriMo, and being the absolutely crazy person that I am, I am participating. I very wisely told a lot of people about it, so now I am working on that 50000-word novel. The target, for those who don't understand, is to complete a 50000 word novel in any genre any story in thirty days, from Nov 1 to Nov 30. Check out the Nanowrimo website, its a cool place. I'm an official participant.

I started off okay, then three days in my story dried up, the words wouldn't come any more. 1700 words a day is a huge word belch for me. But then I switched stories, a random seed, and my chatterbox gene came alive a couple of days ago so I powered up Potential Novel No.2 from 500 words to 10900 as of right now. It is really weird because I have been waking up at 4 without needing an alarm for the last couple of mornings to write uninterrupted for two hours before hitching on the all's-perfect-with-my-world mask and leaving for the hospital. I'm currently doing a full-time elective in Pediatric Cardiology, so I'm also reading and researching for that. I am getting more comfortable with reading EKG's, which is good. I'm also picking up murmurs and the differences between the different kinds of murmurs, that is encouraging. All the earphone listening hasnt damaged my hearing, apparently. That is definitely good news.

I've been hitting atleast 1500 words on my morning word belches over the last couple of days, which is great for me. My personal target is 15000 words by tomorrow morning, since I have to devote a couple hours to grocery shopping and shopping for other essentials, such as toilet paper, today. I'm completely out of stock and eating at Au Bon Pain (which is where I'm posting this from - I'm here for the free wi-fi and a change of scene - and for lunch, because I have no food except dry saltine crackers at home) is pretty damn expensive on my strained student budget.

I attended peds cardio clinic today where I saw a three year-old girl with an irregular heartbeat (she has nothing to worry about - she is fine). I was playing and interacting with the busy, curious little kiddie while gathering information from the mother and grandmother about the history, and it was surprisingly easy to handle. The kid was entranced by my stethoscope, and she wanted to play with it, so I gave to her for a couple of minutes while I scribbled my notes and kept asking grandma questions. I let her listen to her own heart, then mine, (she liked my heart better because I was only wearing a single shirt while she was wearing three layers of clothes). I demanded her breakfast cereal from her, because she was my friend and we were supposed to share everything, and it made her laugh because it was in her belly already... It was a fun interaction with the family.

All this joy in less than seven minutes (I blame the step 2 CS for my obsessive timing of clinical encounters), during which I completed my note as well. I have a natural organizing system in my head, a pretty useful tool for presentation. As I offered my opinion to Mom and grandma (with the understanding that my verdict is not yet gold, just a feather yet) along with reassurance that my "friend" was completely fine, grandma asked me a question out of the blue: "Are you going into pediatrics sweetie?"
I just smiled and nodded, while she continued, "I hope you are, darling, we need more pediatricians like you. This is the first time *** has come to a doctor's visit and not cried - she is actually laughing and playing, when it is usually the other way around. God bless you!"
I didn't know what to say, so I just thanked her and ducked out to get my attending, I was pleased and embarrassed. My assessment was pretty much correct and reaffirmed, and the family left with another "God bless you!"

This is one of the first times that I have been so completely comfortable handling a family on my own, though it isn't the first time I have been told I am good with kids. It made my day and lifted my spirits to hear the lady's words, because it reaffirms that I've made the right decision to devote my life to working with children and their parents.

In my last post where I revealed six embarrassing things about myself, I said that I am not comfortable with people, and kids terrify me. It is true that I am an introvert and by extension, I am extremely uncomfortable with being in the spotlight. But I am good with patients and families, and I have an issue with constantly underestimating myself. My fear of interacting with kids comes from my childhood with several cousins younger than I - they all cried as soon as I entered the room they were in, but they would gurgle and coo and babble with my brother. Their mothers would think I was doing something to their babies, and I often got scolded/chastised for "scaring" them. Needless to say, it made me jealous, and left this lasting belief that I am not good with kids. The things you learn about yourself in med school... seem to be varied and interesting. My reluctance to be around people stems from my nerdy and bookish interests, none of which were common in the environment I grew up in. Sure, my mother shares my love of poetry, but she is my mother, not my classmate. Trying to explain the intricacies of iambs and meter and why writing haiku or sonnets is fun to my friends was a waste of energy and dignity, so I ended up being everyone's friend and no one was truly, really mine. Now, I have a voracious appetite for peopling. Having been denied for so many years, medicine is a banquet for my human-starved writing, and a lot of people find their way into my poems and words.

This has been an incredibly long, incredibly random post. I'm amazed at my wordiness considering I've crossed 2000 words on my NaNo today, plus all the other's I've written and spoken, and there are more bubbling up in my head that I am trying to catch.

Today, life is good.

Six Unspectacular Things About Myself

Brenda tagged me to reveal six embarrassing things about myself.

1. I cannot wake up in the morning - I think 8 am is early, but I manage to kick myself out of bed by 6:30 during the week. Don't ask me how.

2. I read/write poetry during study time.

3. I cannot sit still in a classroom atmosphere - I zone out, write poetry/stories/journal entries. I'm still able to answer questions and participate in intellectual discussions - no idea how. My multitasking talents are honed to perfection, I guess.

4. I abhor paperwork, but I am entering a profession where it is the be-all end-all. God save my soul.

5. I am not comfortable dealing with other people's kids. Or with people, period. I'm going into Pediatrics. Yikes.

6. I don't have a single picture from a single birthday since my second one. Even though I celebrated some of them.

Terms & conditions!

1. link the person who tagged you: Brenda
2. mention the rules on your blog: (these are them).
3. list 6 unspectacular things about you: (see above)
4. tag 6 other bloggers by linking them: Brenda, do you honestly think I read blogs other than yours? Yikes.