Happy Un-birthday to Me!

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It wasn’t my birthday on Wednesday.  It was, for the most part, a rather un-birthday-like day, and more of a typical-research-mom day, with typical events like: Baby wakes up at 5:45 am, despite strong recommendations to stop doing that. Get into car only to realize it does not have enough gas to make it to the City and thus foil plans to finally show up for a meeting on time. Due to back-to-back meetings, unable to pump for 6 hours only to find out that left boob is apparently broken and ready to quit. Get stuck at doctor’s office bc her clinic is running behind over an hour.  In attempt to be productive during wait, somehow lose most recent version of abstract due Thursday. Getting home late, no time to cook, end up cobbling together deluxe meal of frozen foods that can all be eaten without utensils. When getting ready to pump that night, suddenly realize that I have left pumped milk in car all day and should probably dump.

BUT. but. That doctor’s appointment? It was part of an annual follow-up for a recurrence of papillary thyroid carcinoma that I had two years ago and it’s all good. Boo-yah!!

Questions I think you might have but maybe you don’t

1. Will you give medical advice on this blog?
Heck no, I haven’t seen a patient in a long, long time. Go look elsewhere on the Internet so you won’t cite me when you go to your next appointment.

2. Is it really necessary to get both an MD and a PhD?
No, of course not. In the same amount of time, you could have started Facebook, built it up, had Aaron Sorkin write a screenplay about you, and become a gazillionaire.

3.Do you have to be really smart to get the dual degree?
I would say the smartest people I know in medicine became radiologists and have jobs with nice working hours, loads of vacation, and get paid large sums of money to see a minimal number of patients. However, for really smart people, see #2.

4. Do you have any advice for getting into medical school? grad school? dual-degree programs?
Yes. Yes. No. I did the first two, not the last one. Believe it or not, you will probably get better advice from someone you know, not a random person on the internet.

5. When should I have kids?
There’s never a perfect time. Only you can know what is the least bad time. I posted my unsolicited opinions on having a baby during residency here.

Things I should be doing instead of blogging

1. Unpacking our last 20 boxes from our latest move.

2. Preparing dinner.

3. Exercising.

4. Spending time with my child, rather than paying for the back-up holiday daycare that I found at the last minute.

5. Communing with the unborn child in my uterus, perhaps with my headphones placed lovingly over my belly and blasting Mozart.

6. Paying bills.

7. Calling my mother.

8. Oh! Uh, working on my dissertation, my excuse for not doing items 1-7.

So why I am still doing this, now, of all times?

A. My dissertation is boring me to tears.

B. I am lonely, but I don’t have time for social interaction with adults.  Other than getting my daughter dressed and fed, and then fed and undressed, plus a few minutes each day of playing guitar on a Spongebob Squarepants ukelele, my life is quickly dissolving into all-dissertation-all-the-time. If my husband manages to get home before bedtime, he is treated to upwards of 30 min. of me sitting next to him with my computer while he watches TV. We also moved recently, so I don’t have a lot of friends around here, and anyways, my friends deserve better than an IM conversation that goes like this: me: I hate my dissertation! Wah! oh. btw. how are you. [pause] You are no longer signed in to chat.

Between A. and B., I am going a little crazy, so this blog is my way of talking to someone else other than the voices in my head.  Even if that someone else turns out to be crazy commenters  on the Internet who have no purpose but to tear you down with harsh judgments about your choices in profession, parenting, hairstyle, and font.  If I stick to my (new! revised! better than ever!) schedule, I will reward myself with a few minutes’ worth of posting.  Or, let’s face it, if my forehead is plastered to the desk and I can barely stand to look at my failed models again, at least I can look forward to complaining about it.