Finally had my “magical paeds moment”

The little girl had come in hurt and bleeding. No too bad, a small gash that was easily approximated and taped (gosh, I love steri strips). Next: the Tet tox. She doesn’t know about it yet. For a moment I consider not telling her at all, but she is old enough to feel betrayed. So

The Threat of Fun-employment

Applying for my first post-comserve job is a bit like the whole “what do I want to do when I grow up” crisis all over again.

Why I Paed

Whenever I talk about my love for child health, and my intention to pursue it as a career, I get this kind of response:

“Oh, I could never work with kids. It just breaks my heart to see them suffer!”

Working in the Land of Milk and Honey

I recently realised that some of my posts have disappeared into thin air. I’m not sure how, but I’m reposting them courtesy of the web archive. By some kind of dumb luck, I am doing my Community Service posting at an incredible children’s hospital in Cape Town, rather than the archetypal middle-of-nowhere clinic post we all

End Of Internship

This morning, I finished my post-intake ward round, said a few unceremonious goodbyes, and walked out.

And off I went.

Does It Have To End?

I enjoyed paediatrics in medical school, but never as much as this. How wonderful it was to be excited about work, to enjoy it so much that I willingly and eagerly read up more.

Baby-CPR: Full Circle

The first time I partook in a baby’s resuscitation was during my fourth year of medical school. It was a disaster: the wall-suction malfunctioned, the nursing staff were in the precarious business of changing shifts, and all algorithms flew out of the window.

I vowed optimistically that when I was a doctor, I would not let a baby die that way.

What If Everything You Knew About Breastfeeding Was Wrong?

How does one react to seeing a book cover that claims breast feeding is “big business and bad policy”? If you’re me, you request a review copy of that book, fully intending to expose how wrong it is. As a medical student, one of the important things I was taught again and again is this:

Everything, Everything | SCID, Snark and Sweetness

“I’ve read many more books than you.”

What a first sentence! I liked Madeline immediately. She obviously liked books, and she’s mouthy. She has a tumblr and she reviews her books. Books remain an integral part of the whole story! Booknerd alert: I basically love her. Sometimes she re-reads her favourite books from back to front, and she writes things in the front of her books, like this:

But I Don’t Want To Have Surgery | On Children and Consent

The little girl cried while the nurse removed her dressings so that we could inspect her wound. Hidden underneath a hip spica cast, her skin graft donor site had gone horribly septic, and we were trying to remedy it.