It has been a very long since I last updated my blog. I am taking a short break from studying for my oral exam for surgery next Thursday.

Surgery is pretty intense, as most people can imagine. Getting out of bed by 3:30 and being in the hospital at around 4, then the day begins. It begins with pre-round during which I check my patients' vitals, lab results, notes from consults, records of patients from the nurses, and finally my patients. I still feel really guilty when I wake them up in the morning around 4:30, usually after repeating several times of "good morning" they finally stir. I can't help but apologize for waking them up, and usually try to do a quick physical exam in 5- 10 minutes, so they can fall back asleep....only to be waken up again in an hour. I've had a couple old guys...and they are the ones who usually make me smile from within. Then at 5:30, we round as a team, visiting every single patient on our list of 25-30 pt. Most of the time we get done by 7AM... And the day really begins, sometimes with conferences, sometimes with clinic, and sometimes with operations... We also get the trauma patients who come through the ED. None of the trauma cases that I have seen so far are penetrating traumas. There's no gun shots or knife stabs. Most of them are people involved in car or motorcycle accidents, falls, drownings, or simply transfers from other hospitals that cannot handle the patient. I wouldn't say the service is constantly busy, but the day is long... usually ends around 6PM. By the time I get home, eat dinner, finish showering, it is around 8-8:30PM and my time for bed... So the week goes on like this... A good 14 hr day in the hospital...plus a call night which has been all night for me for the last several weeks...

I spend at least 70-80 hrs a week in the hospital, so when I am not on weekend call, Saturday is the day when I get a glimpse into the real world outside of the hospital. It makes me happy that I can wake up early and take a walk/jog through the park. It has become the one thing that I look forward to every Saturday. Walking under the blue sky, breathing fresh air that's saturated with the sweetness of the grass and flowers, watching the early birds who are bustling through the farmer's market... And finally I arrive my favorite bakery shop that's filled with freshly baked pastries and the baker George in his white chef custume saying "hello" with his heavy Maine accent. It has almost become a routine for us. He would know what I want for breakfast (my favorite ginger lemon danish, which happened to be his as well) and offer a small cup of coffee to me. Today, one of his neighbor/helper was also in the shop. When I asked for coffee, he asked, "Which type? Decaf? Dark? Medium roast?" It was then when I realized that I never knew what type of coffee George usually fills for me. I always thought that there was just the regular and decaf... Today, I learned that he usually get the medium roast for me, because of its "robust flavor". Before I left, George brought me back to the kitchen part and showed me his white chocolate raspberry cheese cake that he just made and shared a piece with me to taste the flavor. It was YUMMY! I love the sweet and sour combination in desserts... After finding out that I am going to study for the rest of the weekend, he packed a piece of that cheese cake for me to help me study. That was very sweet of him.

I wonder if it would be too much to ask...but I'd love to learn how to make those danish and bread from him... It'd be nice if I can make them for others some day. I wish there is more time for me to do all the things that I want to do in life....like baking, dancing, playing the piano, walking in the park, reading for fun...

By the way, I also brought Jenny with me to the bakery...in the hope that she'll make a new friend with George, too... Then I'll have a buddy to go to the bakery with. :). I hope she enjoyed her breakfast.

Charlie is coming in a couple weeks... I can't wait to take him to the bakery and share a bunch of desserts with him. :).