With all due respect to Em.in.em (who I strangely love), it is not as interesting as he makes it sound. We are T-minus 3.5 months and counting from the big move from Whooville to NewCity. Mr. Whoo has been a packing machine (watch him get down), and we are getting ready to pack the first of our P.O.D.S. in anticipation of the move. Unfortunately, the closet has been begging and pleading for our mutual attention. We have been fortunate enough to be blessed with a home with a large master closet. Well, I guess I mean blessed and cursed, because every damn thing that does not have a home ends up in our spacious closet. Oh, shit! Company coming? Shove it in the closet. Stacks of paper with no where to put it? The closet sounds like a good idea! No time to deal with it now? Put it in the closet. And so on, and so forth for 3+ years and counting. Except now? We need to show the house, awesome closet and all. Not to mention the fact that we need to pack, and, my lord! Do we really need all of this *stuff*?
So, for the last few days, we have been working on the closet. I have been forced to go through all of my clothing, hanging on hangers in the closet since 1991. I am not kidding. There were clothes in my closet that I wore in high school, and I have the yearbook pictures to prove it. To me, this begs the question...why in the *hell* am I holding on to these clothes? For one, there is no hope in hell of me fitting into my old high school clothes...ever. And, even if I managed to get back down to 110 pounds soaking wet, would I really be wearing a flowered shirt from The Limited? Really? (Does that store even exist anymore?) I took the plunge, made some hard (ahem) choices, and managed to purge more than half of my closet in favor of donations to Good.will. Going through the clothes was kind of therapeutic and fun, in a way. I finally parted with the cute gray skirt I would wear out on chilly nights in college with tights, and the sundry "dressy" skirts I would wear to my sorority chapter meetings. There were a lot of good memories in that closet, and, hopefully, the clothes that I donated will go on to a new owner (someone that can actually fit into them) and be a part of their memories. I feel a bit anthropomorphic, thinking of my clothes this way, but hey, I am the girl who cried about packing away stuffed animals because I thought they would miss me (damn you Veleveteen Rabbit book!)
I am finding that the more of the clutter that we pack away, the clearer my mind becomes. I have loved visiting the past by sorting through old clothes and sundry items stashed in the closet, but I have also felt comfortable leaving them behind and moving on to better things. I feel good about moving forward, and I am happy to be getting closer to a new life...one closet at a time. I hope you all are well...Happy Friday the 13th!
Friday, March 13, 2009
Friday, March 06, 2009
Why I Do This
Lately, for me, all you have been hearing is bitch, bitch, bitch about how this or that sucks big hairy balls (can't wait to get the misguided google searches on that one). So why, you collectively ask me, either outright or in your minds, do you put up with all that you do? Why not quit and become a garbage collector or something? This list, my friends and frenemies, is why:
~ Bringing babies into the world is, quite simply, awe-inspiring. I love it. It is so special and intimate, that moment when a family is born (and re-born), and I feel privileged to be a part of it.
~ I love helping women. Women are way too busy taking care of every one else to worry about taking care of themselves. It is good to have 15-20 minutes to sit and listen to women, and make suggestions on how they can better care for their own needs.
~ I like to *fix* things. I am, at heart, a fixer. I want to change things for the better, and being an Ob/Gyn allows me to do this more often than not. I find this infinitely satisfying when I can make things better through surgery or medical treatment.
~ I enjoy the continuity of care that being an Ob/Gyn affords. I love being able to deliver multiple babies for the same patient, and then be able to take care of their Gyn needs once childbearing is over. I like the lasting relationships the field can foster.
~ I like to do Gyn surgery. General surgery, to me, was overwhelming, but Gyn surgery affords me the ability to do a variety of cases in a limited area of the anatomy. The perfectionist in me enjoys the focus on one organ system, but there is always good enough variety to keep it interesting.
~ Procedures are fun. Not just surgeries, but colposcopies, LEEPs, IUD insertions, polyp removals, and endometrial biopsies are all very enjoyable, and the results are often immediately evident. Highly satisfactory.
~ There is a limited amount of pharmacology. For me, it is pretty much antibiotics, hormone replacement or suppression, birth control, anti-inflammatory meds, the occasional hypertension or diabetes med, and some anti-depressants. I loathe polypharmacy, so I enjoy the clean and simple pharmaceutical profiles that Ob/Gyn provides.
~ The patients. That's right, for all that they do to drive me crazy, it's the patients that keep me coming back for more. Be it the infertile woman that I helped to conceive, or the anemic, miserable woman whose ills were cured by a simple procedure or surgery, or even the chronic pain patient who got the correct diagnosis, treatment, and subsequent improved quality of life. I do this for the patients, plain and simple.
~ At the end of an exhausting day, I feel that I am making a difference and an impact for good in people's lives. That fact makes the unbearable actually bearable.
So, look, I love my job. I love it. For all of my whining, I wouldn't do anything else. I hope this answers the questions out there. Thank you for listening.
**cross posted at Mothers In Medicine
~ Bringing babies into the world is, quite simply, awe-inspiring. I love it. It is so special and intimate, that moment when a family is born (and re-born), and I feel privileged to be a part of it.
~ I love helping women. Women are way too busy taking care of every one else to worry about taking care of themselves. It is good to have 15-20 minutes to sit and listen to women, and make suggestions on how they can better care for their own needs.
~ I like to *fix* things. I am, at heart, a fixer. I want to change things for the better, and being an Ob/Gyn allows me to do this more often than not. I find this infinitely satisfying when I can make things better through surgery or medical treatment.
~ I enjoy the continuity of care that being an Ob/Gyn affords. I love being able to deliver multiple babies for the same patient, and then be able to take care of their Gyn needs once childbearing is over. I like the lasting relationships the field can foster.
~ I like to do Gyn surgery. General surgery, to me, was overwhelming, but Gyn surgery affords me the ability to do a variety of cases in a limited area of the anatomy. The perfectionist in me enjoys the focus on one organ system, but there is always good enough variety to keep it interesting.
~ Procedures are fun. Not just surgeries, but colposcopies, LEEPs, IUD insertions, polyp removals, and endometrial biopsies are all very enjoyable, and the results are often immediately evident. Highly satisfactory.
~ There is a limited amount of pharmacology. For me, it is pretty much antibiotics, hormone replacement or suppression, birth control, anti-inflammatory meds, the occasional hypertension or diabetes med, and some anti-depressants. I loathe polypharmacy, so I enjoy the clean and simple pharmaceutical profiles that Ob/Gyn provides.
~ The patients. That's right, for all that they do to drive me crazy, it's the patients that keep me coming back for more. Be it the infertile woman that I helped to conceive, or the anemic, miserable woman whose ills were cured by a simple procedure or surgery, or even the chronic pain patient who got the correct diagnosis, treatment, and subsequent improved quality of life. I do this for the patients, plain and simple.
~ At the end of an exhausting day, I feel that I am making a difference and an impact for good in people's lives. That fact makes the unbearable actually bearable.
So, look, I love my job. I love it. For all of my whining, I wouldn't do anything else. I hope this answers the questions out there. Thank you for listening.
**cross posted at Mothers In Medicine
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