I'm Not Talking!

Ever get tired of being misunderstood? My reference is meant to be read in a very broad sense i.e. when you speak, when you act, or maybe just in general...any way that you can possibly be misunderstood.

I've currently decided to stop speaking. At the moment, I'm sick to death tired of saying things that are either completely ignored, taken the wrong way, misread, or repeated back to me later with an entirely different slant than was given. The easiest method I can determine to remedy this is to say nothing. Nothing at all. This could prove an entertaining prospect except that one of the senior clinicians recently expressed that it makes him uncomfortable when someone just stares at him without saying anything...

Generally speaking, I think I'm rather reserved and it floors me that when I choose to say something it is so grossly maligned. This has always been true and maybe contributes to my not saying too much. Dunno. Don't have a good answer as is true of most of my conundrums but will probably remain frustrated with the problem. Today I was set off by making a comment to a resident that I was surprised at how little cases are used in teaching here (they do topic rounds primarily, case rounds are very brief and to the point) versus where I went to school and that I had felt, as a student, I learned more from my cases than just talking about topics. She said, "But you were much more involved with your case as a student than you are as a doctor." What?!?!?!?! I don't even get the comment and I really don't think she got that I was speaking from the students' perspective and how I felt that would be beneficial for them to learn.

Rabbit trail alert! I thought we should have discussed our septic abdomen case in major detail as a learning experience but instead we pressed on with the planned topic of fracture repair. Come on, septic abdomens are ten times more interesting and don't you learn better from experience? Yesterday was good, though, because we were very busy. I love being busy and want to shoot myself when there's not much going on.

Another tangent...While I'm very proud of Can'tSpell for posting I felt that she let me down somewhat. She probably believes that the post will spare her from whatever torture I make up but it simply is not so. I asked her to post all 3 at once and to continue posting other stories and all I get is one! Will have to think of something good for her and figure out some way to carry out long distance...hmmm....

And another rabbit trail. My OCD for English is up in arms again (as usual). I noticed that the label for tongue depressors was misspelled as "tounge" and that receiving is written "recieving" on the surgery board. This must be corrected and I would have done so last night when I saw it except that I didn't leave until almost 1 a.m. and figured I deserved my 3 hours of sleep before I needed to be up and at 'em again. Today my excuse is that I forgot until after I left. Tomorrow, however, the world will be righted again.

Must go for now 'cause I have an article for journal club to read yet. Already read the good ones and am procrastinating (Me?!?! Never!!!) on the last one whose title is so scintillating I'm sure I won't be able to put it down (i.e. my eyelids will be propped open with matchsticks). In any case, can't put off any longer, we meet at 6:45 in the a.m. tomorrow for discussion.