First Week of Sub-I? Check.

Encouragement from the Hubby

My first week of Sub-I is behind me and I think it went pretty smoothly. Especially considering these 10-14 hour days are long and I am beyond exhausted. I was not the biggest fan of internal medicine during third year, but I have to admit that this time around it has been kind of awesome.

I was paged for the first time two days ago. The conversation went like this:
Me: "Hi! This is Jasmine the sub-I, I was just paged."
Nurse: "Yes, this is nurse _____ on 4West, patient X's blood sugar is 322 and she is supposed to get 9 units of correction insulin in addition to the 5 units with meals. Do you still want to do that?"
Me: :thinking but trying not to take too long so I sound competent: "Yes, that should be fine."
I quickly called my resident verify that this was in fact the right choice, and it was :-) I know it sounds insignificant, but too much insulin can pretty much put you in a coma so I was making critical clinical decisions folks...haha

Morning commute praise break

Since then, I've been called about medication changes, chest pains, and cross-cover patients for other sub-Is... Friday night, my team was on call until 9PM and the day flew by because I was able to do so much as far as making decisions for my patients.

It helps that I have a great resident and staff who both ask me what I want to do and then let me actually do it - unless its way off in left field...then they reel me in a bit lol

Finding time to pump has been the biggest stress so far. My resident is cool with me taking whatever time I need, but honestly, I get so busy and by the time things quiet down its pretty much the afternoon and 6+ hours since I fed Izzy before I left home. Ouch. Regardless...I make time each day and so far it is working out. The nurses at the station by the hospital's lactation room have been the absolute sweetest. A couple of them are pumping too and let me keep my pump and stuff with theirs so it's more convenient for me and I don't have to run back to my locker on a different floor.

The family is adjusting pretty well too. Not sure if it will even continue into the second week, but I managed to get dinner cooked 3/5 days. That's a huge feat for me because I am quick to take an L on making dinner...no shame. Natey is used to mommy leaving early and returning late but I feel like every time Izzy looks at me she is questioning if I am leaving soon. I know I'm just being crazy but you know I have a chronic history of Mommy Guilt :sigh:

I'm trying to imagine what life will be like next year when I am officially an intern and this month has made me pretty excited because I know I will be ready!