Email from the Extroverted Feeler this morning. He sent it on the 26th, two days ago, since he's 13 hours ahead. He and 7 other exchange students decided to try a small amount of alcohol. Expressly forbidden. Later, one of them wouldn't wake up. They tried and then my son went to the chaperone for help. The kid was taken to the hospital. My son apologizes because he drank and expects to be sent home from Thailand early for breaking the rules.
I am deeply proud of him. He chose to care for his friend, knowing he might get sent home. He told them that they broke the rules. I've always made him read the articles in the paper about teens dying because they've had too much to drink, vomiting and aspirated, or crashing carloads of teens. I would rather he didn't drink at 17 but after that, he made the right decision. He said that the not waking up was not from alcohol and the kid is fine. I emailed right away and said how glad I was that he made the decision to get help.
The Introverted Thinker moved in to his old room yesterday. My beau asked her what her brother would think about that. She explained that she cleared moving in to the room with her brother, using his under the bed drawers and all, before he left for Thailand. She has his permission. He left on August 5. I was not a party to any of this. She was wonderful yesterday, systematically moving things in to the room. I asked if I could help and she said, "I'm moving clothes in to the closet. I would like to work on the bed in about 20 minutes, so why don't you help then." At bedtime she said it felt a bit like a cave, but then she climbed into her bed and said, "Ohhhhh, it feels just like my bed." She snuggled down happily.
I start my commute and temp job tomorrow, going for 3 months. I am not looking forward to the commute, but otherwise I AM looking forward to it. I have missed that sort of work. The setting up the business work is different and alien. I keep pooping out by 3 pm and feel guilty, until I remember that I was up at 4:30 working on things, so really I've already put in a pretty full day. Target date for opening is the first week of April.
The hospital has hired another family practice doctor who does obstetrics and cesarean sections. Damn. So they really won't want me in the call schedule. I wonder what will happen to the obstetrics culture. The two previous newest female doctors who do cesarean sections were fighting with the nurses big time. Our little rural hospital had been way hands off and non-interventional for obstetrics, which is how I wanted to be. The two new ladies (!) were much more interventional. The senior one kept hearing about my cases. She would come tell me what to do. Luckily it was always right after I'd talked to the perinatologist at Swedish. She would advise me and I would respond, innocently, "Oh, thank you, that is so helpful. But I just got off the phone with the head of perinatology and HE said to do this other thing so I'm going to do that....." I've been doing obstetrics for 18 years now, 13 of them in rural hospitals. She may have the extra year of training in ob, but I have more experience. And I didn't agree with half of what she advised me to do. I finally called the Swedish perinatologist and described a case that made me uncomfortable. He said, "Where did she train?" I replied. Long silence, then, "They have interesting ideas at -----." Hee, hee. Anyhow, the newest family practice female doctor with the year obstetrics fellowship was trained at Swedish, so they may have imported someone with ideas more like mine than like theirs. This rather makes me gleeful.
I will miss doing obstetrics, but I don't want to move. The IT is in 6th grade and I want to stick. And if the hospital runs low on obstetrics providers, they'll be calling me. And then it will cost them a SERIOUS signing bonus, honey, serious. I am not really missing call. It is fun to do other things, though I do mourn the obstetrics. I love catching babies. I'm sad to see the culture change, too. I had a patient coming from an hour away, avoiding her bigger town hospital, because we have such a reputation for being hands off. Hands on when we need to, only. Many of the nurses have worked in both places and have told us that it's an entirely different culture. At least, it WAS a different culture. I don't know, now. Don't miss the pressure and politics and hostility. In my new clinic, the CEO, the office manager and the doctor can fight like cats and dogs and all be wrong: they are, of course, all me.
And wonder how the guy-docs-who-do-obstetrics are doing? They done imported alpha bitches who took over. Daggone, they might be missing me. I felt sorry for the two clinics who have ousted me and replaced me with people who are at least as big a pain in the ass, so I took them big Christmas baskets, with candy AND with real food. And a card that said it was for the front office people, nurses, and only added the "providers" as an afterthought. It was all sealed grocery store stuff so they didn't need to worry about laxatives in the fudge. It must rankle a bit to have me bounce around town looking rested and happy, while they arm wrestle the hospital politics. The hospital keeps trying to "standardize" the doctors. Good luck.
It was so nice to be welcomed with open arms by the formerly hospital employed doctors. We are the ones who attend the Continuing Medical Education lectures piped over from Virginia Mason and University of Washington every Thursday and Friday: the employed doctors are too frigging tired. They almost never show up. Dr. L, who is an employed physician, does show up and it annoys the crap out of him that none of the others do. He said to me that he hopes they are "keeping up". As the senior dude and the buddy of the CEO, he ignores the quota of patients and other rules. And he's at the age where the bylaws say he no longer has to take call. All the younger docs have small children and are chronically tired. Bummer, dudes. I offered the new lady docs a discussion of women-doctors-in-our-local-hospital-culture, but they done chickened out. Also, since they have that extra fellowship year, there's a bit of "we are specialer than you", so whatever I've learned in 10 years here couldn't possibly apply to them, could it? Heh. Well, the young ones just gots to learn on their own. Fun to sit back and watch the trajectory. We've been losing slightly over one primary care doctor per year over 10 years, let's take a bet on who will be next!