the thousand dollar test and other happenings

I'm very sorry. It's been a long time since I've posted anything. There has been a lot going on in my life most of it involving a thousand dollar test called Echo boards... and then it was time for a much needed vacation... and then it was starting a new rotation where I get to create cyborgs every day. not really, but kind of.

let me explain.

The thousand dollar test

Echo boards is short for the echocardiography board examination. Echocardiography is an ultrasound test of the heart that gives us real-live pictures of the heart that cardiologists use to diagnose issues like pumping function, issues with valves, and heart attacks.

Echo boards for those who don't know, is a two hundred question test that covers the most important questions pertaining to imaging the heart with these ultrasound waves. It's something that most cardiologists should be able to interpret. So I had to spend quite a lot of time over the past 6 months, but really the past 2 years, studying for.

echos look like this.

After this ridiculous amount of time and after the five hours of testing ... I'm still not a board certified echocardiographer. It will take at least 10 weeks for the American Board of Echocardiography to grade the test and send everyone that took the exam an email.

The other thousand dollar test

I'll spare the details but now I have to sign up for (read: pay) and take another expensive test to read nuclear stress tests of the heart. Yet another skill I've spent time practicing over the past 2 years.

One day I'll add up precisely how much money I've thrown down the toilet taking these tests. It's a lot of money and I wouldn't have been able to afford it without a lot of help.

For fun

Despite studying for boards, I have been reading about food and how it intersects with our health. In Defense of Food is a solid book by Michael Pollan who almost exclusively writes on food and health. The book was great and really eye-opening. I'll write more about it later as I definitely need to go through that book a second time.

I went to Hawaii with the family! We all had a great time and you can watch the video here. It's not a very long video. Highlights include: watching my parent get dunked in the ocean, my sisters first wedding anniversary celebration, and delishy authentic poke bowls.

Cyborgs

I committed my life to the electrophysiology branch of cardiology this past year, and I'm low key super excited for this. I finally get to focus on exactly what I want to do for the rest of my life. Electrophysiology means that I'll be studying the electrical system of the heart and putting in pacemakers, shock boxes, and trying to get rid of that pesky atrial fibrillation for people.

What does that have to do with cyborgs?

Everyday that I'm helping my attendings put in a pacemaker, I'm creating cyborgs. We implant a device to take over or assist the electrical system of the heart on a daily basis; and I think that's pretty cool. I'm amazed every day that I get to do this and constantly impressed with he science and technology that we're putting into people on a daily basis, fixing issues with people's hearts with a device that keeps track of everything and can replace certain functions of the heart.

The diet

In other news, I've fallen off the diet train. I'm getting back on it, but I decided to relax a bit after taking my boards. Now it's time to get back in on it. This week will be different. The work days can be hard as I sometimes have to go all day without eating because there is literally no time jumping from cases to working up cases to paperwork to more cases - you get the idea. There's a lot that goes on and then when I'm done I'm famished and will munch on anything in site. So when the EP lab has a locker full of cookies.... I tend to go for those. I think I need to keep a baggie of carrots near me for those times. I think that'll help.

I've got lots more to write so keep coming back. I'm trying to post about once a week. Let me know what you want to read about.