Kobayashi Maru II

Today was my last day at the hospital. Tomorrow I have an evaluation and then I'm done with this term. I'm still waiting to hear back on one of my final exam grades. I may have to retake one class depending on how that went. (I got the grade this afternoon. I passed so I don't have to retake anything.

Just to tell you how awful the term was, of the seven students who transferred with me back to the main campus from the satellite campus, at least four failed one or more classes. In my clinical group of seven, three failed one or more classes. Only one student (besides myself) overlaps both groups. So out of twelve students, six failed one or more classes. It was bad enough that two people I know are leaving the program altogether.)

So today was my last day at the hospital. We brought bagels and coffee in for the staff. Last night the students brought donuts. The students on the shift before that brought pizza. The staff were all junk-fooded out by the time we showed up.

Mid-morning I turned my badge around to hide my last name because I was taking care of a man who is tight lipped about exactly who it was that riddled him with bullet holes. The police officer guarding him sat just inside the room, not outside the room like the other officers. (Several women in the program are married to police officers. I listened in to the cross chatter between two of them who were exasperated to see the med techs flirting with the officers. They hear stories from their husbands about the kind of women who chase the uniform. (I've seen pictures of both of their husbands. Those women aren't just chasing the uniforms.) I butted in to suggest that they tell the techs of the officer on the ward, "Oh, my husband knows that guy. He's gay.")

I stopped in and talked with the same patient I had the first week. He'll be in the hospital another month then will probably be transferred to a rehab facility. He's trying to make good on past bad karma, doing his best to spin straw into gold. Whatever that means. (What he's really doing is killing himself the long way around.)

And after my evaluation I have a month off. I have a million things I want to do. I'm planning on going to the studio a whole bunch and I'd like to clean the house from top to bottom. I want to get the patio in order. I want to take at least one overnight trip somewhere, even if it's just to Santa Fe to see a museum or two.

But never fear, I have school-related tasks that I need to complete over the break for next term. One thing I have to do is complete online training modules for another hospital, something which will require a not insignificant chunk of time.

And tomorrow is my birthday.