| It's been 23 days since I've updated... |
[Apr. 5th, 2006|11:14 pm] |
| [ | mood |
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| [ | music |
| | thunder | ] |
...and I totally blame it on FaceBook.
Spring Break went by in a blur. Watched TV, slept, ate, sent out STARS application, watched an ndn movie with Connie and Diane, watched another one with Cissy, Amy, Emily, and Jing, and job-shadowed a doctor on the 31st (which was quite an experience). I had soooo much fun. The doctor I shadowed was Dr. Raman, a family practitioner. I've known Dr. Raman for 12 years. I usually call her Gayathri Aunty, so it's really weird for me to be calling her Dr. Raman right now. In fact, I went to her wedding when I was 5 (my first ndn wedding...woot!). She's like an older sister to me and is extremely supportive when it comes to my medical school endeavors. I spent a whole day with her, from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM (Aren't these surprisingly great hours!?). She has many different types of patients, so we saw a whole gamut of issues...from depression to charlie-horse to appendicitis to simple-everyday physicals. The cool part was that there were no patient charts; all patient info was stored in computers. All the doctors walked around w/ laptops...wow. Lunch is basically free everyday because drug representatives brought lots of food and free samples of their drug for everyone (we didn't actually eat the drugs for lunch tho lol). It's amazing to see the extents that drug companies go to just to get their drug sold...they'll do anything. Each doctor had their own secretary and nurse. The system fit together like a puzzle. Yes...March 31st was probably one of the best days so far this year. But there was one patient (lets call him Bob) who, in a matter of 5 minutes, made a profound impact on me as a human being. Imagine this: you've had a heart bypass surgery, you were expected to die 4 years ago, you're obese, you're depressed and possibly suicidal, you're on nearly 20 prescriptions at this moment, you can't afford to pay for all of these meds, your only will to live is you wife, and you're ONLY 53 YEARS OLD. This is the situation Bob is in, and I can't stop thinking about him. This may just sound like some media cliche but it's true: seniors are having to choose between groceries and medicine. Before March 31st, prescription medicine prices didn't really really bother me. I thought, "hey, i'm healthy, living comfortably,so what's the problem?" When I heard stories about people like Bob, I thought, "Aww...how unfortunate. Let's hope that our government can fix this problem." But on March 31st, I met Bob, and he changed everything. Just seeing Bob and listening to him brought tears to my eyes. I literally had to fight back tears when Bob was talking to Dr. Raman. Typing this right now gives me shivers. I know that I can't do anything about it. There is at least one time everyday when I think about Bob and how he's doing. Sometimes, I even pray for him.
Well, as soon as I finished job-shadowing, my family left for Chicago...the best city in the US. We arrived in Chicago at about 11:30 PM. The next morning, we went to the Navy Pier for our Spirit of Chicago lunch cruise on Lake Michigan. It was fairly small boat, but it did have a dance floor. And after lunch was served, the emcee/DJ played Michael Jackson's "Beat It" HAHAHAHAAHAHAH I couldn't stop laughing and singing it w/ an ndn accent. My parents were like "what the hell is the matter w/ our Divi?" (OK they didn't actually say that, but I could sense that they were thinking it). Later on, after a yummmmmy dessert of a) Creme Brulee cheesecake and b) Chocolate Truffle Layer Cake, I decided to do the cha-cha slide w/ large bunch of strangers (pics will be posted soon on facebook). And for those of you who know me as a party dancer, I don't dance unless I'm completely surrounded so that I know I'm not the only one making a fool out of myself. It was quite uncomfortable.... After the lunch cruise, we decided to go to Shedd Aquarium. But we wanted to avoid having pay yet another Parking Fee, so we decided to catch a bus. Well, it turns out that you have to take the 29 to State Ave. and then the 146 to Shedd Aquarium. That's 2 buses. The only type of bus that I've been on in my life is the big, yellow, school kind (I've been on a bus in india, but that was totally different). Each ride was $2 a person...which would have been a grand total of $12.00 just to get there. We finally get to Shedd and the place is gonna close in an hour and a half, and there's a mile-long line outside of the building waiting to get in. We were at Shedd till 6:00 PM. Because we didn't want to pay another $12.00 for a bus ride, so my dad called a taxi (=my first taxi ride!). It turns out that we should have just driven to Shedd Aquarium and paid the Parking Fee; it would have been cheaper than our Chicago-public-transportation charade. And at Navy Pier, I saw a restaurant called "Connie's Pizza." Coincedence?...i think not. That's basically all that happened on Saturday. On Sunday, we went to the temple in the morning. After that, we headed down to Devon Street, which is the Desi Capital of America. Lots of ndn restaurants, boutiques, grocery stores, jewelry stores etc etc. I wanted to buy a nice salwar or gagra, but everything was >$400. I tried to convince my dad to get a carrom board, but he said no for some reason; he loves the game of carrom and is very good at it also. (I'll tell you what carrom is in my next post.) That's it for Chicago...that's it for spring break.
PS--to diane: I have 3 things to tell you:
1) Yes, family practitioners do perform paps
2) No, I did not actually see a pap being done
3) grow up
this post is hella long---sry! |
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