6 days ago
Borrowed from my brother, @gadrouny “Heroes Wear Scrubs.
I come from a family of doctors and healthcare professionals—my dad, sister, aunt, uncles and cousins—so the admiration I have for these men and women runs very, very deep. The risks they take each and every day cannot be overstated and with everything that’s going on right now, these risks have been increased to utterly terrifying levels. They are heroes in every single sense of the word and deserve your admiration and support now more than ever.
Simply put, they are saving the world.
Batman took on the Joker, Two Face, Bane, etc. with an array of high tech tools and weapons—his grapple gun, nightvision goggles and Batarang being some of the more notable. For healthcare workers, their tools for taking on COVID-19 are a bit simpler: N-95 masks, latex gloves, hand sanitizer, body suits and more. Unlike Batman, however, many of these real life heroes are going into battle under-armed and under-protected. As a result, thousands upon thousands of them have contracted the virus and, sadly, many have given their lives to protect us.
If you have any spare N-95 masks—among other items—please find out where you can donate them to your local healthcare workers. Google it and you’ll know where to donate within a matter of seconds.
Trust me, they need those masks FAR MORE than you do.” #COVID19 #HeroesWearScrubs
6 days ago
Thank goodness it’s national puppy day... surely a welcome break from all the posts about #covid_19 and #socialdistancing in our feeds today.
This is my sweet girl, Daisy. She’s a rescue pupp who stole my heart during “hospital week” of my chief year in residency. 4 years later, she’s my little buddy and goes with me almost everywhere, including the office on most days! (What can I say? #momguilt is real!!) Thank goodness for the gift of dogs, especially in times of such uncertainty. Here’s to our furry friends! Happy puppy day!
2 weeks ago
International women’s day.
I know I’m a day late, but there’s no way I’m not going to acknowledge all the incredible women in my life, especially after I just spent the whole weekend with the smart, intelligent, caring, hardworking women who I get to call my staff.
In an era where there’s a “day” for everything, international women’s day can easily get lost in all the other noise. But seriously, how badass are women??? We literally bring life into the world!! And lucky for me, I get to bear witness to awesome, fierce women all the time.
In my world, it’s always international women’s day.
#whoruntheworld #girls #internationalwomensday
3 weeks ago
It’s not uncommon that patients will have to transfer care midway through their pregnancy because of a change in location or change in insurance. Our practice loses patients all the time due to the hardships of living in the Bay Area and as a native, it breaks my heart that my hometown is no longer capable of fostering growing families. Fortunately, we also occasionally get transplants moving TO the Bay Area mid-pregnancy, like this young couple, and that certainly quells the heartache of losing our other patients.
Also, how adorable are the matching mommy-daughter outfits??
1 month ago
This photo makes my heart sing with joy for many reasons, but primarily because my patient specifically asked for a photo with my MA, Cassandra. Don’t worry, my feelings weren’t hurt at all (and of course I still got a photo of my own) but I think it’s pretty cool to see how attached my office staff gets to our patients. And vice versa.
After 9 months of care, our patients start to feel like family to us, and when that feeling is reciprocated, it makes all the emails/phone calls/paperwork worth it.
Everyone likes to feel like they’re part of something, so if we accomplish nothing else in 9 months of care, my hope is that my patients walk away feeling like we’re part of their family. Because they’re certainly part of ours.
1 month ago
We had a saying in residency: long days and nights, but short months and years. 4 years of residency flew by in the blink of an eye, yet the day-to-day felt it would never end.
About 6 months into practice, I had the revelation that up until that point, I had I've gotten used to living my life in 4 year intervals: 4 years of high school, 4 years of college, 4 years of medical school, 4 years of residency. Now that I was finally an "adult", this was it. For life.
And now, 3 years in, I've felt myself getting a bit antsy lately, bracing myself for the next big life shift that is surely looming around the corner. But it's not, and while it's nice to feel stable for the first time in my adult life, it's weirdly a bit unsettling.
Rather, I find myself now living my life in endless 9 month intervals. Just as quickly as the years passed in residency, I feel like I barely blink an eye and that adorable couple I could swear I just met last week is back in my office with their 6 week old for their post-partum visit. I'm sure my patients would argue otherwise, but 40 weeks feel like they fly by, and before I know it, that couple has blossomed into a family of 3. It’s not MY big life shift, but rather one for my patients, full of new and exciting challenges. It’s different for everyone, but, regardless, it’s a pretty amazing thing to witness time and time again.
2 months ago
I had the pleasure of reuniting with my residency classmates yesterday and catching up on all that life and our “adult jobs” have thrown our way.
It’s hard to really capture what these 3 girls mean to me. Residency is an experience that is really only best understood by those who experience it with you and trying coordinate 4 physician schedules is difficult to say the least. The last time the 4 of us were all together was over 2 years ago and yet it never feels like any time has passed, even though our “girls nights” include a few new members and finish at 7:30pm now 😉
