Have you heard about the pandemic?
It has been perhaps the longest gap since I started this journal.
So many things have happened!
The transition to NYC from Baltimore was bumpy but pleasant. For the first year here, we lived in a small apartment on the Upper West Side, right across from part of Riverside Park.
Then in March 2020, everything changed with the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. My brother's trip to visit on the weekend of March 14 was canceled, the Grand Rounds I would have presented with my co-fellows - a set of cases with discussion - was canceled. Medical students, then residents, were dismissed and redirected. Our didactics went virtual. I didn't see my co-fellows again in person for well over a year -- long after we graduated. The city experienced a surge of cases, I made a lonely trek across Manhattan via empty streets, empty subways, through chasms of tall buildings, frightened but eager to feel like I could do something (anything!) to help. I vividly recall the arrival of the hospital ship, which we could see down the Hudson practically from our windows. A week, probably more, of seemingly endless sirens, ambulance after ambulance, passing by on the West Side Highway. Incredulous, I took photos almost every day walking through the city -- thinking, forever on people will ask one another about this time and what we were doing. Virtual meetings, family gatherings, several cousin graduations, weddings, babies born (including nephew!) -- so so much happened in that strange in-between space. I was never virtual; I went in every day. I was never reassigned to work on a medical unit or in the ICU. I continued seeing patients at Bellevue Hospital, though for many patients I would call their room phones if they were able to answer. And then, in the midst of it all, my fellowship was over...
After 15 years, I had my last graduation (virtual, of course!) I became an attending, board-certified, practicing psychiatrist at Columbia University Medical Center. How did that happen!? I work with fellows, residents, medical students; I teach, do clinical work, have some research projects; I get to work with neurology and the ICUs and the medical units and the rehab service and so many others; I'm helping with the ketamine treatment program and working on lots of things best summed up as...novel therapeutics and neuromodulation. This is all definitely a lot of fun -- and has components of what I've always dreamt of doing. Even if my younger self couldn't have predicted the exact content of what I'm doing, there would be no surprises about the process, the way I'm working with people, the bigger-picture things that I'm engaging. Look, it's not all perfect, and I know that things are always set to evolve, and thinking back...so much has been sacrificed to get here. I think it's all been worth it, and I'll be excited to see where my career goes; things feel so much more open now. There's not a set track that I'm following for once! I really like my schedule, the people I work with, and the life we're living in New York right now -- we've been to shows, from orchestra to Broadway to opera! We've been to museums, restaurants, bakeries, and parks! It's a totally different way of living than I've ever experienced before. One branch of my ancestors came into the US through New York to start a new life. My grandfather was born and raised in Brooklyn - in fact last year I went and ate at a Polish restaurant in Brooklyn on what would have been his 100th birthday, in his memory. I wonder what they would all think of this, just a couple of generations later, the glittering skyscrapers of Manhattan, and me among it all. They apparently really prized education, despite not having the opportunity for as much formal education themselves. I hope I will make them proud! The pandemic is not over exactly, but it's certainly in a different phase. I got my first vaccine dose -- Moderna -- last year on Christmas Eve!
We continue to enjoy Augustus, the best dog in the world and certified Canine Good Citizen. He walks in Riverside Park, Central Park, and around the streets of Manhattan every day. He has many friends, many fans, and posts on his Instagram every day (for almost 1000 days in a row at this point.)
Just finished a day of (mostly) virtual outpatient visits. Visited three inpatients this morning that I had already staffed with one of the fellows. Covered another hospital service yesterday because someone has been out. In-laws visiting this next weekend. Spent last week at the cabin in Ohio for Thanksgiving. I guess that's all for now -- a slightly scattered window into the past few years!
So many things have happened!
The transition to NYC from Baltimore was bumpy but pleasant. For the first year here, we lived in a small apartment on the Upper West Side, right across from part of Riverside Park.
Then in March 2020, everything changed with the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. My brother's trip to visit on the weekend of March 14 was canceled, the Grand Rounds I would have presented with my co-fellows - a set of cases with discussion - was canceled. Medical students, then residents, were dismissed and redirected. Our didactics went virtual. I didn't see my co-fellows again in person for well over a year -- long after we graduated. The city experienced a surge of cases, I made a lonely trek across Manhattan via empty streets, empty subways, through chasms of tall buildings, frightened but eager to feel like I could do something (anything!) to help. I vividly recall the arrival of the hospital ship, which we could see down the Hudson practically from our windows. A week, probably more, of seemingly endless sirens, ambulance after ambulance, passing by on the West Side Highway. Incredulous, I took photos almost every day walking through the city -- thinking, forever on people will ask one another about this time and what we were doing. Virtual meetings, family gatherings, several cousin graduations, weddings, babies born (including nephew!) -- so so much happened in that strange in-between space. I was never virtual; I went in every day. I was never reassigned to work on a medical unit or in the ICU. I continued seeing patients at Bellevue Hospital, though for many patients I would call their room phones if they were able to answer. And then, in the midst of it all, my fellowship was over...
After 15 years, I had my last graduation (virtual, of course!) I became an attending, board-certified, practicing psychiatrist at Columbia University Medical Center. How did that happen!? I work with fellows, residents, medical students; I teach, do clinical work, have some research projects; I get to work with neurology and the ICUs and the medical units and the rehab service and so many others; I'm helping with the ketamine treatment program and working on lots of things best summed up as...novel therapeutics and neuromodulation. This is all definitely a lot of fun -- and has components of what I've always dreamt of doing. Even if my younger self couldn't have predicted the exact content of what I'm doing, there would be no surprises about the process, the way I'm working with people, the bigger-picture things that I'm engaging. Look, it's not all perfect, and I know that things are always set to evolve, and thinking back...so much has been sacrificed to get here. I think it's all been worth it, and I'll be excited to see where my career goes; things feel so much more open now. There's not a set track that I'm following for once! I really like my schedule, the people I work with, and the life we're living in New York right now -- we've been to shows, from orchestra to Broadway to opera! We've been to museums, restaurants, bakeries, and parks! It's a totally different way of living than I've ever experienced before. One branch of my ancestors came into the US through New York to start a new life. My grandfather was born and raised in Brooklyn - in fact last year I went and ate at a Polish restaurant in Brooklyn on what would have been his 100th birthday, in his memory. I wonder what they would all think of this, just a couple of generations later, the glittering skyscrapers of Manhattan, and me among it all. They apparently really prized education, despite not having the opportunity for as much formal education themselves. I hope I will make them proud! The pandemic is not over exactly, but it's certainly in a different phase. I got my first vaccine dose -- Moderna -- last year on Christmas Eve!
We continue to enjoy Augustus, the best dog in the world and certified Canine Good Citizen. He walks in Riverside Park, Central Park, and around the streets of Manhattan every day. He has many friends, many fans, and posts on his Instagram every day (for almost 1000 days in a row at this point.)
Just finished a day of (mostly) virtual outpatient visits. Visited three inpatients this morning that I had already staffed with one of the fellows. Covered another hospital service yesterday because someone has been out. In-laws visiting this next weekend. Spent last week at the cabin in Ohio for Thanksgiving. I guess that's all for now -- a slightly scattered window into the past few years!