Quality of Life

I feel weird posting something of a different nature and tone after such a serious previous entry.  But I guess that's a life in medicine, every day is different, and you can't really dwell long on anything without having it take over you.

It's really important not to neglect your quality of life on rotations.  I went about two months eating the same thing every single day: the free mystery sandwiches, bottled water/coca cola, and a cookie.  The same meal almost 50 times can get old but the thing is, you could honestly tell these sandwiches reached room temperature and probably had been at that temperature for probably 30 minutes or so.  Just thinking about it makes me want to vomit in my oesophagus a little, but you know, that's a dumb first world problem.

I started cooking Italian food and bringing it with me everyday  I'll actually feel like I've eaten something wholesome and not have that lingering feeling of an uncomfortable knot in my stomach.  Italian food is very easy to cook and doesn't take long, the same can be said of stir fry and vegetarian dishes.  It'll actually save you time as well, so you don't have to go run around to a place then wait in line and run back.  I'll take a little bit of cost and cooking time to have a really nice meal I can enjoy everyday, especially on long days.

For a while I had been drinking soft drinks just out of lack of energy and desperate need for calories, and I'm glad I've gotten pass that phase.  It doesn't leave you feeling very good after a number of days.  Now I'll mix probably 10-15% of sports drink with water and carry it with me in a water bottle, because you really do dehydrate even just running around in a hospital, and you don't even notice until your urine is the colour of aqueous methotrexate.

Don't neglect your own health, or it'll show when you're taking care of your patients.