Champagne all around!!

Lechaim!!!!

No, sadly I am not engaged... But maybe you know someone for me? ( I can hear the voice of my mom in my head.. "Nu, 27, a gorgeous doctor, what could be the problem?")

Better news,

Today, 4AM 7/14/2006, in the ER, I had my first "champagne tap"! This does not mean I got deliriously drunk on the bubbly( though I might after my shift), rather I performed a lumbar puncture ( spinal tap- needle into the fluid that bathes the spine) and there was not a single red or white blood cell, totally clear fluid!!! aka "champagne" in color. This is a somewhat big deal. It means a "flawless technique"- ok, really just luck and a lot of help from the big man upstairs! And it means the patient is healthy- good news all around!

Sometimes when you get your first champagne tap, you get a bottle of champagne from your attending. I might get bubbles instead of bubbly, this is pediatrics after all!

Now the next reason this was so important to me is because as a resident I often feel like I walk around with a giant "kick me" sign on my back. It is easy in a place where the stakes and expectations are so high to feel completely inadequate at all times. For me, this meant my 3 attempts to do this procedure in the NICU were such great failures, I swear the babies were going to jump out of their isolettes, grab the spinal needle right out my hand and say "hey, stupid resident, even I , a little NICU baby can do this!"

I lived in fear of spinal taps

avoiding babies

refusing to drink champagne

I even considered therapy- but we know I don't even have time to do laundry!

now, may finding my husband be this easy!

SG