Drinking Diet Coke may be Hazardous to your Health

So, on my way to work everyday, I grab a diet coke, just an eye opener you know (yes, i'm addicted). This morning, I didn't particularly feel like going to work, as I had put in a good 32 hours earlier.  So of course I'm running late, I grab a diet coke and some Hawaiian Sweet bread rolls (aren't they great?) and run out of the door.  I'm speeding in my car toward the hospital, and as I shove the third roll down, I realize I'm quite thirsty and manage to open the diet coke with one hand.  I swallow the last piece of bread and take a BIG gulp of diet coke.... then I realize, OH MY GOD!!!

 this is BEER!!!!

I had grabbed the first silver can I had seen, and instead of diet coke, I had grabbed my roommate's beer. 

My second thought is shoot, I'm speeding, I'm literally drinking and driving, and I have an open can of alcohol in my car.  So I take my foot off the gas, cover the beer with a plastic bag, and stopped at the next gas station to dump the beer and buy myself a diet coke.  Ew.  I would occasionally burp up the taste of beer.  What a horrible excuse, sorry officer, I thought it was diet coke..!!!!  So what have I learned?  Always, Always... go to work on time.  No, Ha!.  just kidding.  is it to stop drinking diet coke?   no again!  I've only learned to always look at what you drink before you drink it.  Important lesson don't you think?

For those who know me and maybe somewhat care about what's going on in my life but don't actually get to talk  to me, because if you did you'd know my life is "H E double hockey sticks."  Yes it can be that bad.  When it's inpatient, which it is every other month, my life is gone and I'm stressed, tired, and eat only one meal a day.  I've lost weight, but it's not the good kind of weight loss.  My patients are super sick, are literally on the verge of death or catatonic states. I've learned a lot, but not always the good kind of learning that comes out of lectures.  My patients are often living examples of Murphys law. I can see why the residents are so well trained.  Everything that can happen, does happen here.    On the plus side, the residents are smart, people are nice, and patients who need care, get it here.  The patients are usually very grateful and pay attention to what you say.  My Spanish skills have also really improved and I'm working on my Korean.

Some generalities:

1. if you're korean and have stomach problems... do not hesitate to go to a hospital, but not Harbor.  If you come to Harbor, if you are a young korean male with stomach problems, you WILL have stomach cancer.  Hands down the most common malignancy among koreans that i've seen. 2nd most common in older males is liver cancer from hepatitis B/C and drinking too much.  kimchi and beer.  killer combination.

2. if you have lumps all over your body... do not wait to get insurance before seeing a doctor.  we will see you, insurance or not. 

3. calling all males (and some females): do not drink to excess.  cuz when you're 40, and looking like you're 60, it's really not attractive to start vomiting blood all over the ER floor because your liver died on you.

4. Finally, for those of you thinking about medicine:  If you want sleep, go to Cedars.  If you really like being annoyed by radiologists, violating the 80 hour work week rule on a regular basis, running up and down stairs all day long, but want autonomy and the chance to learn from really sick patients, Welcome to Harbor-UCLA!

Europe!!!

Hey guys!!!

I'm heading to Europe on Tuesday and I decided to start a new blog to commemorate the occasion.

It's www.xanga.com/Soy_eats_Europe

appropriate, don't you think?

so come on over, write comments, make me happy and i'll do my best to post as often as I can. 

Woohoo!!

Match Day!

Match Day was yesterday and for those who don't know, it's when medical students find out what residency program they have "matched" into.  So in June, I'll be starting in the Internal Medicine Program at Harbor-UCLA in Torrance, which was my first choice and a great relief.  Almost all of my friends got their first choice, only a few had to go somewhat down their ranks, but everyone is in good programs.  I'm so proud of my friends!  Our class did very excellently this year. 

116 students in match this year

97 !! stayed in california (those outside matched to really good programs on the east coast)

23 alone stayed at UCSD (they wanted to stay here, don't worry!)

my friends all matched into either LA or north cali

LA division:
Phillis - olive view (just north of Burbank), internal medicine

Ali- UCLA, pathology

johnson- cedars-sinai (next to the Beverly center!), internal medicine

sumi- cedars sinai, pathology

christine- cedars sinai, 1 year of prelim medicine, then UC davis for 3 yrs optho residency

me- harbor-ucla, internal medicine

n.cal

carol- UC davis, ob/gyn

ada- kaiser oakland, pediatrics

kimmy- UCSF, psych

rex- stanford, psych (possible fast-track for child psych)

don- Stanford, orthopedics

It's so nice to have everyone clustered together.  LA people are all really close together, we'll probably live within 20-40 min of each other (dep on traffic of course).  Which means massive eating on friday nights!  all you can eat korean bbq, chinese, or brazilian anyone?

n.cali people are a little more far apart, maybe 60-90 minutes, but very close to SF, napa, and tahoe, which also means more great eating, getting drunk, and good skiing. 

I'm really sad to move away from these great people, but i'm also finally starting to get excited about residency.  The best part of residency so far is that i think i might be able to room with Deborah again, my roommate from 4th year at UCLA.  I see good eats and fun times heading my way!

Yeah for me! Yeah for everyone else too!

Yes, self congratulations can be rather obnoxious, but I feel I deserve it, just this once.  On Sunday, while my sisters were sleeping in, I woke up at 5 AM to run a half-marathon at 7 AM at Huntington Beach.  For those not in the know, that's 13.1 miles of burning feet and leadened thighs.  That last 0.1 mile is a killer!

Funny thing is, I hadn't trained all that well for this.  Unlike my smarter friends (all UCSD classmates + 1 significant other), who obviously earned their way into medical school, i procrastinated.  I did not truly train until 3 wks ago.  Which can work for exams, but not so well for half-marathons.  Until last week, the longest distance I had run was 4 miles.  I was seriously worried about this race.  The night before instead of carb loading, I had a whole bunch of meat and fat, along with rice of course.  I had only 5 hours of sleep and I was running in new shoes less than 2 weeks old.  Oops.  hehe. 

Actually, the day, although foggy, was perfect for me.  I do better in moist air, when I swim, I never have breathing trouble as the air above the water is very moist.  So no problems breathing.  And the weather was nice and cool but not cold, so no overheating or freezing.  And volunteers were handing out water and electrolytes every 2 miles, so no dehydration either.  I managed to run 8 miles without stopping, and then only for 1/4 of a mile.  I eventually ran the entire 13.1 miles in 2 hours and 27 minutes, for 11:40 minutes per mile.  yea me!  I will never do this again!  yea!

So the drive back to San Diego was killer.  The morning after was killer.  The casualties were my quads and my feet.  But my stomach was a winner as I let myself eat anything and pretty much everything in sight. We calculated that we burned off 1,700 calories that morning alone. 

I would also like to congratulate my fellow runners (lt to right):

Sumi, me, Rex, carol, Justin and Ali (behind Carol), Brian, and Phillis.

I would also like to thank our super star cheerleaders, Christine, Johnson and Bradley.

They're the ones in normal clothing.

s'more pics.  That's me right before the finish line.  The first marathon runner came in at the same time I did, so even though my friends were cheering for me, I couldn't hear them  : (  

And I have to say thanks to Kimmy and her dad and her sister, Mary, for cooking an awesome and most fulfilling lunch for us after the run.  Thanks again!

Next up: Mammoth skiing (did u guys hear about those guys who died? sheesh)

after that: las vegas baby!

What a weekend!  Graduations, Rehersal Dinners, Weddings, Father's Days, Birthdays, Exams and the END of THIRD YEAR!!!!!  all in that order...

First of all, Congratulations to my sister Janice!  She is the last of the Lee's of this generation to graduate high school.  And following in the footsteps of my other sister, she'll be going to Berkeley to study English.  I am so sorry that I couldn't make it to your graduation, but just know that I would have loved to be there and that I'm so proud of you!  Go Bears!!! (That will be the ONLY time you'll hear me say that... GO BRUINS!)

I couldn't make it to her graduation because I was at my cousin's wedding dinner, which isn't a rehearsal, but more of a banquet, since so many of the groom's family was from Chicago and other far away places.  I guess they wanted another excuse to party before the wedding.  No pics of that.. I forgot my camera.  My family stayed up in LA to see Janice graduate and I got voted the family representative at the dinner as it was in San Diego and Friday night traffic is awful anyway.  I did get to see my new cousin Justin, who is only 4 mo old, and like his older brother, Ryan, inherited dimples from his mother, a first cousin of mine.   So cute!  And his mother lost all her pregnancy weight and looks absolutely gorgeous!

The Wedding: Bride- my cousin Ruby, 35 yrs old, baby-sat me as a kid, I totally looked up to her as she was a cheerleader and just oh so cool.  I loved playing with her pom-poms.  She actually lived with us for a few years and our family is probably closest to her as she doesn't have much family except for a brother in Korea and our grandmother who raised her. Now teaches physics and chemistry at a posh private school in La Jolla.   Groom- Tim Marks.  37? yrs old, PhD candidate in cognitive science at UCSD, he waited 7 years before popping the question!  Also a great singer and dancer and a very quirky sense of humor.

pics:  

My sisters and I were Junior Bridesmaid (whatever that is), we showed up in our matching dresses, handed out the programs, walked down the aisle, sat down, and hid in the background.  My sisters and I have never worn matching clothes before.  It's a new low.  That's my mom in the center, and some other relatives.

My parents and my grandmother in the first, and the bride and groom and all the bridesmaids and groomsmen in the second.  If you look closely, the ringbearer is yawning a really big yawn!

My cousin was escorted by our uncle and our grandmother to halfway down the aisle, when my grandmother's wheelchair made it impossible for her to go on. Then the groom came to escort her the rest of the way.

The ceremony was really beautiful. It was held at the Prado in Balboa park in San Diego.  My cousin was so excited she jumped up and down once and the groom cried during part of it.  He's Jewish so a Rabbi did the ceremony, even attempting some Korean.  During this part, they're putting their hands on each other's heart.

Husband and wife and the kiss. 

My parents are dancing!  My mother has no rhythm!  (my dad normally isn't that red... it's not the camera, it's the wine)

Those are two other cousins, Sue and Ann.  (I have a lot of cousins, my grandmother had 6 kids).  They're sisters, Sue is younger and she's the one with the dimples and the two sons.  Ann is (shhh, don't tell) probably going to be married soon as her boyfriend asked her parents' permission to marry her on the day of the wedding.  As soon as she gets married, I will be the oldest nonmarried female Lee.  Darn.

That's us, Janice, Joan, Me.  At some point during the wedding, my uncle made all of the Koreans get up, and sing arirang.  I died!!!!  And he wasn't even drunk. 

The highlight of the wedding.  A chocolate fondue fountain made from dark Belgium chocolate, with fresh pineapple, strawberries, cream puffs, other fruits and marshmallows.. .yum!  all the brown stuff is flowing chocolate, I felt rather agustus gloop like.

Ok, i'm really tired from all that, i'm getting carpal tunnel bilaterally. To sum up the rest, there was a wedding brunch on sunday (what's with the 3 day weddings?) which I could not go to as I was working all day at the hospital (another 30+ hr call), but i did manage to see my dad and wish him happy father's day.  And then Tuesday was the summer solstice, the longest day of the year and also when I turned 25 yrs old.  Although I feel older.  I have a test coming up, so I didn't really get to celebrate, but I'll do enough of that this weekend when all the med students will also celebrate the end of third year.  No more shelf exams!!! ahh!  only one more year until I can write prescriptions! 

Back to the wonderful world of neurology.