Tic Tic Tic

I received a wonderful email today from Gina my Pal with a capital P. As you may recall Gina has been a practicing doctor of chiropractice medicine and decided that this was not enough for her. We have now been classmates for two years in the anesthesia program at the University of Southern California and will be graduating soon….this month in fact. This short note came today in an email from her which I just had to share. I will get back to you about what has been going on with me and why it has taken me so long for any new posting on this web site. Her letter follows. Thank you Gina for for your friendship and genius. You have been an inspiration to me.

Dear Class,

The clock is ticking my dear friends and we are so close to the end, my pulse is quickening as I type this. My very best hopes and wishes for all of you as you start your careers. You are such an amazing, talented group of people, and it has been a tremendous privilege to know you and experience this adventure with you. If ever I can be of service or help to any of you, please never hesitate to call.Which brings me to the point of my email. We are spending our last moments as the class of 2006, and already are starting to spread our wings; we know amy is headed to the great Northwest, and several others are looking across the country for our first positions (Aloha, Manda Manda?). I would like to propose that we elect one of us as a point of contact person for the Great and Wonderous USC Class of 2006; someone whom we could email or call for current contact info on a classmate. Douglas won’t have that usc.edu email address forever [unless he starts an affair with Dr. McDonaugh (sp)], and I’m pretty sure Helen will be getting a new address and phone number once she’s married. I know from past experience, as I’m sure you all do, how quickly a class can get scattered to the winds, all the more so with a profession such as ours where mobility is a key feature.

Is there any of us who would proclaim themselves stable enough for such a role? If I want to know what Joy’s new email address is, or Lunsford’s phone number, who could I call? Keep in mind that we could be using each other for letters of reference as our careers develop. Or in the case of Lunsford, I might just be thirsty and want to have a beer with my old friend from USC (Downtown Brown, of course). Remember part of why we chose USC was for the alumni connection. Since it’s not bloody likely most of us will be active in the USC Alumni Association proper, let’s create our own little Association. Let’s stay connected.

I immediately thought of either David Godden or Karen for the role, as they are both Uberorganized, and soon to be entrenched, I mean immersed at LAC/UH, which sounds pretty stable to me. Either of you interested? Somebody else feeling ultra stable and want to volunteer? I just don’t want to risk losing touch with this group of people I have learned to love like family (without the hairpulling, namecalling, and clothes borrowing dysfunction).

BTW, Karen, Godden, and Manda Manda, Dr. Yasafusifusi from Cedars spoke very highly of you today.

Have a great finale everybody. Looking forward to seeing you on the 2nd.

gina~ They can’t stop the clock!

So there you have it from Gina. You are such a peach. My bet is that Gina will be world famous one of these days. She has that special something, the charisma and intellect to really make things happen. It has been such a gift meeting her and the rest of the friends that I have made during these last two difficult years. Which brings me to why I have not posted more in the past months.
This is actually difficult to write or disclose. School, that is academics, is easy - at least for me. Many people struggle with memorizing vast numbers of facts but not me. I am pretty good at that. What has been difficult is dealing with the scrutiny and criticism of a few during clinical rotations. I wish that I could tell you that all it takes to be a great practitioner is intelligence. This is not the case. I have thrived in the clinical arena and done well in supportive environments and have suffered during difficult assignments where small people feel better about themselves when they can dominate and put others down - that means me. I guess this is important information for anyone that is interested in going on and pursuing nurse anesthesia. It is a difficult road where the gauntlet must be run well and no one comes through unscathed. This last month has been particularly brutal. I have survived and continue to thrive which is the good news.
This month of clinical rotations is in General Surgery at a big County hospital and it is our last. This past week has been very busy but wonderful, coming home and back to friends that I have grown up with in anesthesia. The surgeries here at the County have been complicated and intense but really interesting and handled well. My confidence has increased a thousand fold this past week which is the good news. I am so glad to be home.

So I have not written anything for a while now because I have been too stressed out, busy and just plain tired. Working 12 to 14 hours in the operating room then the travel time not to mention all of the preoperative preperation that has to go on just leaves little time for writting. You understand. Maybe this is all good information and will be taken to heart by anyone interested in nurse anesthesia.