After my body seemed to shut down on me on Friday morning and making it through work that day, I slept for a whopping 12 hours! I went to bed at 7pm on Friday and didn't wake up until 7am on Saturday. And...it felt wonderful, I felt so much better. There seems to be a bug going around the house where I'm living. The little ones are always getting sick and it never seems to stop, it just makes it's rounds between us all.
Not to mention we got dumped with another 10" of snow yesterday. Lovely. At least I didn't get stuck in the driveway this morning, I was smart enough to shovel the driveway before I attempted at getting out. While reversing out of the driveway, I just gunned it to the floor and made it out to the road, which was sadly unplowed. Even the highways weren't plowed! It took me about an hour to get to work. I was a few minutes late, but my preceptor definitely understood. A handful of the interns ended up getting called into work in foodservice, but somehow I didn't...
I also had my literature review today, which I'm not sure if I've mentioned before. It was an hour long presentation that reviewed literature on a specific topic, and it's completed with a preceptor. My topic was "Estimating REE (Resting Energy Expenditure) in Obese Pediatric Patients." Basically, there are about 5 equations that are used to estimate the bare minimum amount of calories needed to keep our organs going. The equations use our weight, height, sex, sometimes race, and other factors to determine our caloric needs. But, when a patient is super-obese, it can estimate that they need like...4,000 calories! Which, would probably only fuel the problem. So, the literature I reviewed (which there is basically nothing out there) and pointed out it's strengths and flaws, and so-on and...yeah. It was in on of the main auditoriums in the hospital and I had an audience of about 15-20 people, so...good practice!
This week I'm in the PCTU, or pediatric cardiac-thoracic unit. The population is little tiny babies, averaging a range of one day to 6 months. They're so tiny and cute! Most of them have congenital heart anomalies, which are surprisingly common in babies. This is going to be one of my most challenging rotations, not only because the caloric and fluid needs are so limited, but because all patients are either on TPN or tube feedings. The case studies were already more brutal. I'm definitely glad I made it into work today because I've already learned so much. I really like this preceptor, she challenges me - which I really enjoy.
So, I need my sleep because obviously by Thursday my body likes to shut down on me. This internship is so brutal when it comes to time consumption and sleep deprivation! Not to scare anyone out there...but I'm definitely getting my monies worth and exercising my undergrad education. The biochemistry, mammalian physiology, MNT (medical nutrition therapy), and advanced nutrition are coming in handy!
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