Savage.MD Blog

Fellowship is going fast. I'm now nearly 7 months in to my first year as a heme/onc fellow. I'm still very happy I chose this career and I love my program. Treating patients with cancer is such a privilege. I often imagine myself in the shoes of my patients. How intimidating and scary would it feel to have a diagnosis of cancer? Would I be as strong as my patients in confronting such a diagnosis? One thing I know for certain is that I would want the expert guidance of a seasoned hematologist/oncologist. Each day I try to learn from the patients I am caring for so that I can be the guide throughout my career. I've had a lot of touching experiences recently.  Last week I met a man with widely metastatic colon cancer. I took the time to get to know him, his values, and his family support system. Ultimately, he decided to start hospice care. Time seemed to stand still in the hour I was sitting in his sunlit room talking to him. I turned off my pager and phone and just listened....

 Yesterday I worked my first ever shift as a medicine attending. My hospital was looking for extra weekend help, so I volunteered to cover one of the gen med teams on Sunday. It was really a lot of fun. When I was an intern I occassionaly had to cover the whole list (up to 12 patients) solo with an attending on the weekend. I remember those days being very stressful and busy. I felt like it was a lot to round on 12 patients, write 12 notes, update families, manage discharges, and be sure that all orders were placed. Plus, I had to make time to "round" with my attending and see the patients together. That usually took about an hour.  Yesterday I was providing care for 10 pretty complex patients. I arrived at 7 am to "pre-round" and chart review. Then around 9 am, I walked the hospital to meet each of the patients, examine them, and update them on the plan for the day. Around 10:30 am I took a pause to call into the multi-disciplinary rounds to update the case manager...