Kathy

There's this patient on the psych ward who I admitted - she's very disorganized and psychotic. She's the patient that thought my preceptor was M from James Bond. Anyway, she continues to be very disorganized in her thinking and her behaviour is bizarre. She had a new name that she'd written on a piece of paper and she wanted to go down to admitting to change it formally in her medical records.
Anyway, today as I was walking by doing inpatient rounds with my preceptor she said "Hi" (and I don't even think she recognizes me from before) and she puts her hand out at the side like she's sneaking it and she hands me a miniature box of Smarties. She had a huge smile on her face. It was a pretty great moment.

Surviving Psychiatry

As most people close to me know I have not been the biggest advocate for appreciation of psychiatry. I know that it is a very important specialty and that psychiatrists help a lot of people but for the most part psychiatry, as a discipline, scares the CRAP out of me. But there have been touching moments in this field just like any other and the patients often warm your heart (unless they have BPD (borderline personality disorder) and then they just annoy you).

Today I went and saw ECT (electroconvulsive therapy) being performed. This is the good ol' shock treatment that people thought was extinct. Well, it's not and it is actually not nearly as barbaric as I thought it was. The patient DR said that it had improved his depression 60% already after 5 treatments and none of the medications had worked nearly as well. A lot of patients who have deep or psychotic depressions benefit greatly from this procedure. In fact, psychiatrists say that if they had a major depressive episode they would want to go straight to ECT. And the actual procedure is done in the recovery room near the OR, the patient is put under general anestethic for about 2 minutes and bagged and masked with an anesthetist present. The actual "shock" lasts 30-60 seconds and is not at all violent, you almost can't tell it's happening. This realization was a pleasant surprise to me.

Yesterday we had a patient TD who was recovering well from his depressive episode in his bipolar disorder and is being discharged today. He wanted me to read the poem he had written for the nurses to gain a "female perspective". I walked to his room and he was in front of me, some guy who I believe was psychotic was behind me and another woman who we certified on Tuesday and who has been violent to staff was passing in the hallway - physically surrounded by mental illness. It was a bit scary but I took a deep breath and all was well.

This woman who was psychotic that I just mentioned is quite hilarious because at 60something she believes that she is 10 weeks pregnant. She also tried to hit my preceptor, a very lovely 5'2'' East Indian man who she believed was "M" from James Bond and was going to lock up her brother. The other inpatients came to my preceptor's aid discussing how this lovely Indian man was nothing like Dame Judi Dench. Psychotic people are funny.

The Sad Tale of "Amanda in Boots"

This past weekend I finally, after 6 years, bought myself a pair of kick-ass knee-high black leather boots. I decided if I still wanted these boots after 6 years I could buy them so I did. I was very VERY excited and I had this very sexy outfit for my date with Foreman on Friday (we went for dinner and saw "Casino Royale"). So I put the boots on for my date and the zipper split. So I called the store and went to the store in Hamilton (I bought them at the store in Burlington) and got a new pair. We had a great date and watched a really great movie. As I zipped up the boots again (I had unzipped the sides at the movie because they're new and need to be broken in) the zipper split again. I took them back the next day and got my money back and haven't found a pair I like nearly as much. . I wait to get myself something nice and disappointment follows. But Foreman got me flowers for my "boot depression" and all is well. Maybe one day I'll find my Prince Charming Size 9 black knee-high leather boots. A girl can dream.

My Impromptu Surprise

It's been a while since I've posted anything and it's not that I haven't had interesting things happen it's that I've been constantly plagued by the incessant beast that is the Canadian Residency Matching Service (CaRMS). But today in preparation for my graduation photos tomorrow (that's right GRAD photos) I had my hair done. It was a last minute decision and I booked an appointment at a hair salon in Mapleview Mall in Burlington with a guy named Lou (the name did not inspire confidence in me for some reason). Then when I finally got there Lou was a very buff straight guy, and I'm not going to lie to you I was even more skeptical. But Lou was my surprise gift today. He was absolutely lovely. He was definitely strong and masculine which were new qualities for me in a hairstylist but he was a refugee from Kosovo who was married here in Canada and has two young kids. We talked about politics, America, the United Nations and the war in Kosovo. We talked about health care and lots of other interesting topics. He was wonderful and a fabulous hair stylist (my hair is amazing). What a wonderful and impromptu gift.