Where the Wild Things Are

Two weeks into my pediatrics rotation and I've embraced my inner child. Saturday I went to see "Where the Wild Things Are" in all its dappled golden sunlight glory. It's a beautifully filmed movie, but I honestly think I preferred the trailer to the full length film...it captures all the sweeping emotion and magical creatures and the nonexistent plot isn't really an issue. I spent Sunday at the Children's Museum of Indianapolis visiting the King Tut exhibit on its last day...most recent theory is that he died of an infection after breaking his femur right above the knee...who knew? Also played with the dinosaurs, trains, water clock, glass fireworks, dollhouses, mirror maze, etc. So much fun!

Outpatient peds has been fun too. I'm down in Bloomington working with all the doctors at Southern Indiana Pediatrics including my own pediatrician! Of course, due to H1N1, my very first week here was apparently the craziest week they've seen in 10 years. Great. Plus I was sick even before I started so it was a little rough getting through the days without coughing on the kids (generally bad form). It feels like half the kids in town have fever, chills, cough and runny nose and I've seen most of them. At least I finally got my H1N1 vaccine (and I got to administer the nasal mist to myself). It's been a good experience working with a different doctor every day because you get to see different styles and figure out what works best for you. Love the bird sounds and handouts (and Dr. McDaniel referring to everyone as "little buddy" which is my nickname for Catastrophe), not so wild about the doctor who put all kids in a death grip in order to see their ears. I also get to see the newborns at Bloomington Hospital...right back where I was born! There have been some interesting patients along with all the flu and otitis media...a toddler recovering from neuroblastoma, a kid hospitalized with cystic fibrosis, and a sixth grader with albinism, a concussion, and sorta freaky congenital nystagmus.

With general pediatrics so much is about the interaction with the kids and their families. Our clerkship director told us today that in order to be a primary care pediatrician you need to get joy out of reassuring the family that their child will be just fine and it's just the flu, or contact dermatitis, or an ear infection. At the same time you need to be prepared in the rare case it is something more serious. I've enjoyed every one of the 200+ kids I've seen in the past two weeks, even the fussy ones. It's just more fun working with kids and it's nice to see reasonably healthy kids after all of the pediatric surgery patients I encountered at Riley. Next up I have my inpatient pediatrics rotation with Hematology/Oncology at Riley so it will be back to the seriously ill kiddos. I can definitely envision a pediatrics residency in my future...