Oh What A Day!

Today was the first day I had something "official" to go to for residency.  I had my neonatal resuscitation course to attend. I left the house earlier, not really knowing what "big city" Omaha traffic would be like. I got to the med center in 15 minutes {not bad!}, and located the parking ramp I was supposed to park on the top floor of. {I guess that's where you park when you don't have a permit to park in the ramp.} I had to take a couple detours to get to the top of the parking ramp though. Every level of the ramp had it's own entrance. Who knew?! I just drove in the bottom level, drove all the way around looking for the ramp up to the next level and then exited when I was unsuccessful. I'm sure I'm not the only one that has ever done this as I've been in many parking structures and this one is one of a kind. Once I parked, I had some spare time before meeting up with the other interns for the course so I chatted a little with my parents.

Then it was time to meet up with Morgan and Jake {two of the three other obgyn interns} and Jake showed us the way to the classroom as he went to medical school here and is familiar with the campus. It was us three in this class and a whole slew of peds residents. We filled out some paper work and then sat there for a bit. The then instructor asked for everyone to hand in there certificates from completing the online quizzes. Online quizzes?!? Ummm....What is she talking about?! Jake, Morgan and I had no idea there were online quizzes that needed to be completed prior to this class. There was obviously a miscommunication somewhere along the line. All three of us had read the assigned text book. I thought the instructor would just make us stay after and complete the quizzes as they were over the textbook material but no, she kicked us out. She made us leave! So all three of the obgyn interns got up and left. Seriously. So we went to check in with the resident coordinator to let her know that this requirement wasn't going to get fulfilled today and as we walked into her office, she was on the phone with the course instructor. So now we have to go back sometime in July and take the course for real. I've now completed the nine online quizzes {which took only about 45 minutes} so I should be good to go.

Since we were on campus, I went and got my ID badge. It was pretty humid out so my picture is awesome - sweaty with frizzy hair. Hello. My name is Ashley Thorson MD. Please do not judge my abilities as a doctor based on my picture. Thank you. *sigh* Oh well. Who takes good ID badge pictures anyways?

After that, I got back in my car and exited the ramp the same way I came in. I might have exited through the entrance as there was a giant arrow pointing up {like, "drive up the ramp to get to the top level"} as I was driving down. Serioulsy?! What is with this parking ramp?! I did not see a down ramp so thank goodness no one was trying to enter the ramp as I left.

As I got a few blocks away from the med center, I realized I had forgotten to go to employee health to get my mantoux {tuberculosis screening test} read as I got it placed on Monday and it has to be looked at in 48-72 hours. So back I went to find a parking lot and then actually find a parking spot. Lucky for me, there was a parking lot and not a ramp outside the building I needed to go to. So I park. I go in. They call my name. They read my mantoux. It's negative {yay - no TB for me}. And then they look up my Hepatitis B and Varicella {chicken pox} titer to make sure that I am properly immune to the both of these. Hepatitis B: nonreactive!! Nonreactive! Ugh, that means that the series of three Hep B immunizations I received a few years back over the course of 6 months didn't provide me with immunity {or actually I think that I received them so long ago that my antibody levels are currently undetectable but I would likely be able to mount an immune response had I come in contact with Hep B, but that doesn't matter}. According to the CDC, a nonreactive titer mean no immunity, repeat the series. So I get to start my Hep B series over again. My varicella titer is still pending. We'll see what happens. I know I had the chicken pox with I was little so I should have a reactive titer.

I feel like a pin cushion or like a kindergartner getting all these needle sticks lately. To recap: on Monday I had a vile of blood drawn so they could measure Hep B and varicella titers {one stick}, my mantoux {two stick} and my tdap (tetanus, diphtheria and acellular pertussis (which is whooping cough)) {three stick} all in my right arm. Oh, my poor right arm. For those who haven't had the pleasure of getting a tetanus shot lately, they make your arm HURT. Seriously. Make sure to move your arm around a lot after you receive that puppy or it will hurt even worse! My shoulder is extremely tender right now. I can't even lay on my right side as it will hurt my arm too much. So I have a sore shoulder and two bruises on my lower arm from the other sticks - I always bruise after I get injections :( Then today I got shot one of three for my Hep B {four stick}. This one had to go in the left arm and there are no good areas left on my right arm at this moment. Okay, I just have to complain once more and then I'll be done. The Hep B shot hurt! It stung like something fierce. The nurse told me Hep B shots hurt more as the volume they are injection is double what some of the other ones are. So, I'm all set. Well, unless my varicella comes back nonreactive...

Since arriving back home this morning, I have managed to take three trips to Home Depot {oh brother, don't ask! I'll just post pictures eventually someday.}, unpack two big boxes of office stuff and two boxes of bathroom stuff, and completely make our bedroom look like it was hit by a tornado. Pretty successful day thus far :)

~Ashley