April 25, 2005
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Physician, Sail Thyself
On the way to work, I cannot listen to Alanis Morissette’s “Not the Doctor” anymore without feeling a little hypocritical. And that’s a weird feeling. But after 5 PM (unless I’m on call), I am not a doctor, anymore. I wear my hair in pigtails and I put on my cut-up jean shorts. I probably resemble my patients more than any of their physicians, at that point.
On Friday, I saw one of the neurologists outside of the hospital. He was in a big, black trenchcoat, and had his hair slicked back like Nicholas Cage. I did not recognize him at all. He looked like a psychiatry patient I’d had once. Or one of the losers who sits on the sidewalks in Berkeley asking for spare change for pot.
Sometimes I get a little uncomfortable shopping, because I really just don’t want to run into my patients. When I’m not working, I am not working. But, I guess, people expect us to give advice 24 hours a day. It gets just a little boring to come home after a long day of asking people about bowel movements, to have a friend ask you about hers.
I just don’t wanna know. Okay?
But it does make me appreciate my father’s choice in friends. I used to think he was kind of elitist, only hanging out with other physicians. But now I understand his avoidance of non-medical people. A fellow physician understands that ya really just don’t talk shop when you’re off duty. Banana bread recipes or new puppies, yes. Deep vein thromboses or West Nile, no.
I really admire these two women in Turkey, who are building their own sailboat.
“These are the first wievs of our pirat after we moved our workshop to a seaside place in izmir. As you see our working environment is really nice with a closed roof and everywhere green
. . . . We are working on the final works just before covering the bottom of the hull. Those take a bit more time than we expected and time flies away when we begin working on the boat. . . . We are working on the thin wood sticks forming the cage of the hull, gluing is complete and we are sanding them to give a better form and ability to match the final covering plywoods.”Post a Comment
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It is a great tradeoff….having a wonderful hubby to pal around with. Thank you for the compliment on Hayden’s photo. He was being quite the ham in the sonogram. Just like his mom, always smiling or posing for the camera. =)
I never really thought about how doctor’s must feel when you are a nonpatient, perhaps a good friend, and we ask them about something that may be bothering us. I think we probably just forget a lot of the time that doctors are people too and just like we like to veg out when off duty, so do you guys. Thank goodness I don’t have anyone close to me that’s a doctor because I’m sure I would be asking a bazillion questions. And I guess the same philosophy of having all medical professional friends is the same way celebs feel. Married people, doctors, and celebs. I guess we all haves something in common after all.