The NICU is a whole new world. Babies are the size of my hands, their veins are as thin as strands of hair, the doses of drugs we give them are less than a droplet of fluid at times. Sometimes, we put the babies under UV lights to help break down high bilirubin levels (making them look like they’re laying out at the beach). Other times, we knock them out with drugs so that they don’t fight the resipirator keeping them alive (making them look limp and lifeless). At times, it’s pretty spooky.
My one huge issue with working in the NICU, though, is that I’ve been reduced back to the level of a third-year medical student. The language is different, the computer systems are different, the hierarchy of care is different. Most of my decisions have to be filtered through about fourteen levels of approval; in some cases, that’s appropriate (it is an ICU, after all), but in other cases, it’s depressing that I can’t do things on my own.
“Families is where our nation finds hope, where wings take dream.”
Bush Horrified to Learn Presidential Salary. “I know my dad made a bundle off the Gulf War,” Bush continued. “But I guess it wasn’t through the job. I’ll have to ask him just exactly how he did it. Maybe something like that would work again.”
I’m honored to be included in Nik’s We Didn’t Start the Weblogs, and on the same line as Rebecca at that!
ESPN has put together a Subway Series home. I’m sooooo excited about tonight’s game, Leiter vs. Pettitte, southpaw vs. southpaw. I’m rooting for the Yanks, but I’d love to see this drawn out into a competitive series, unlike last year’s brutalization of the Braves.
Of course, Bostonians aren’t too happy about the Subway Series; perhaps it’s because they can’t deal with the perpetual suckiness of the Red Sox.
The season premiere of Law & Order was pretty good, but I’m not sure that I’m going to like Dianne Wiest as the new New York District Attorney — she doesn’t have the crotchety, everyone’s-opinionated-grandparent appeal that Steven Hill had. Only time will tell.
On the other hand, this week’s episode of The West Wing was terrific. By far, the best scene was when President Bartlett appropriated the oft-forwarded Open Letter to Dr. Laura; it was one of the best-executed anti-Dr. Laura tirades I’ve heard, and coming from the the (faux) President, it was priceless.
Thanks to Anil for letting the world know that the Unix command ln has come to Windows 2000.
