Last week, I've had the worst birthday ever. It must be dumb luck, but I've never spent my birthday while on duty at the hospital. And with my current schedule of being on duty on for three straight days then having one day off, it's a miracle that my birthday fell on the day I can go home. For several years now, I don't really see the reason why I should celebrate my birthday. There's the obligatory lunch or dinner with close friends, something I do look forward to, especially if friends that I seldom see are expected to come... but beyond that, there's really nothing extraordinary about birthdays. Like Christmas, the magic has long gone. Birthdays seem so special when I was little.Anyway, I was really glad when I found out that I can go home on my birthday. I didn't want to celebrate as usual... I just wanted to rest. Rest would be the best birthday gift that i could receive, just one day away from all the toxic work in the hospital. And the last three days prior to my birthday was incredibly tiring. From the emergency room, to the operating room, to the wards--- i was completely worn out. To add insult to injury, besides having to deal with all the work, my senior residents kept scolding and nagging me, almost non stop. i really needed a break! i had to recharge! but guess what? that didn't happen. There's this annoying senior resident that I really despise. She's only on her third year in residency training, yet she feels as if she's one hell of a surgeon already. She always points out our mistakes as if she's so perfect, that motor mouth of hers running non stop. In truth, she's not that good in surgery. Female surgeons are mostly bitchy, probably to compensate for their lack of balls, to create the impression that they can live in a world dominated by men (the department of surgery)... but this resident is extraordinarily bitchy and annoying, I'd always try to control myself from mutilating that darned mouth. First thing in the morning that mouth started running again, about me not being able to do this and that, about me being slow, blah blah blah. And she eve threatened me that I won't be able to go home because I wasn't able to do certain things. That really pissed me off. She does not have the authority to keep me from going home. I was looking forward to going home for days! And It was my birthday for Christ's sake! I told her to watch me go home later. The look on her face was priceless.
Then I had to assist in a long operation. I missed lunch. By the time I got out of the operating room, it was already 6 PM and I still had a lot to do in the wards. So much for being able to go home early. Maybe I would have received better treatment if i told them it was my birthday? I doubt it. I'm sure I'd still be given the same amount of work, and I have to treat these people with lunch or dinner, some of them I'm not even close to. Some of them i really hate, that I cringe at the thought of spending my hard earned money for them.
managed to go home by 9 PM. I thought I'd invite a few people, though I doubted if anyone would show up because it was such a last minute invite, and a lot of my friends' houses are far from mine. No hard feelings if they don't show up... A few did show up, and I really appreciated their efforts. did manage to smile genuinely. My birthday this year is my wost birthday ever, but it wasn't all gloom, thanks to my friends. They've managed to keep me sane. All I needed was to talk to normal people to shake me back into reality.
