These Are Your Heels On A Psychiatry Rotation. Or, Jessica Simpson Causes Large Fluid-Filled Lesions.

I haven't said nearly enough about my foray into the sleepy, "I can't believe they're letting me do this!" world of clinical medical education. Now, this has been entirely different from the first two basic science years of medical school. First and most imporant, we have to dress up every day (blah blah blah professionalcakes) instead of looking like we just woke up four minutes before. And unfortunately, I'm too fat for most of my "professional" clothes, so I had to buy a bunch of new stuff (that's not the unfortunate part - the unfortunate part is that I'm quickly approaching the size of a small house.) I had to be careful in top selection - cap sleeves must be avoided at all costs, because a shirt with cap sleeves might as well say, "Look at me! I have sausage arms!" They're worse than sleeveless, even. And then we move on to shoes. Since safety requirements dictate that we wear shoes that are completely closed-toe, and comfort requirements dictate that I can't wear much of a heel or anything like that - I pretty much look like I'm sharing shoes with my great-grandmother. The very first day, I wore this cute pair of Jessica Simpson wedges (ballet flats with a wee heel - the marriage of cute and comfortable. Or so I thought.)

At the end of the day, I had blisters as big as my head (and that's BIG.) I later managed to rip the skin off of the blisters by dutifully walking a couple of laps around the park in my orthopedic-looking-but-very-comfy-and-functional Masai Barefoot Technology shoes from Bliss. Check out my scary blisters, and my cracked heels which I cannot fix despite the 1,023,872 heel creams I've tried. And when those suckers crack, they HURT - a lot more than something that small should hurt. I have a crack on the bottom of each heel right now, and I have developed this odd walk-on-my-toes mechanism, which makes me look like I might be cognitively impaired. Anyway, the blisters:

And the next day, I still had to wear shoes, because barefoot student doctors are generally frowned upon. So I ended up buying TWO sets of not-at-all-fashionable shoes with toes - a regular pair in a couple of different colors and a backless pair in those same colors. (I love shoes, though, so I can't really complain. I just wish my shoes in current rotation could be could be cuter.) I actually like being dressed up, though - I feel like a real grownup going off to work or something. (Ha ha, I'm so not a real grownup, though.)

As you know, I'm on the psychiatry rotation, which is known for being the easier one. This was a good one for me to start with, since I don't adapt to change well and it takes me a little while to get used to new routines and such. So it's better that I don't have 4:45AM-8:00PM days (see "Surgery") right off the bat. Eeeeugh, 4:45AM. I really don't know how I'm going to manage that, y'all. I have a hard time rolling out of bed at 6:30. And I've learned that my psychiatry preceptors (i.e., the psychiatrists) are not unlike me. One of them told me that he hates morning. A couple of them don't roll into the hospital until around 9:30 or 10. That's AWESOME. I might consider going into psychiatry solely for that reason. Just kidding. Although I do think this rotation has been really interesting, particularly the inpatient stuff. I'm learning a lot from my patients.

And now I'm tired. To be continued. I also need to tell y'all about my Pain Clinic experience.