Topics
Page Two
Masthead
|
Topics |
Page Two |
Masthead |
|
|
| ||
| ||
A Day in the Life of a Pediatrics Resident By Yousef Turshani The boys’ pants were up near their chests. The thin brown boys pointed and laughed at the pictures and figures adorning the wall of the clinic. They occasionally looked at me pensively, like they somehow understood what I was saying in a language that was foreign. Their grandma was on the phone, leaning on the table, a hefty woman with a slow confident manner. The translator on the other line was trying to decipher the children’s medical history in Hindi. The boys were seven and nine; brothers who had arrived in this strange land one week ago from south India. The grandmother was realizing the extent of vaccines, paperwork and visits needed to get them into school. And here I was, left leg crossed over right, wearing scrubs, trying to make sense of what vaccines they had already gotten and also trying to understand why his teeth were falling out. By the end, the brothers got poked for blood, given cups to put poop or pee in and sent on their way to return with more papers. The father spoke little and at the very end, when he glanced at my ID, smiled and with a nod said, “Khuda Hafiz” an Urdu term used among Sunni in south Asia, meaning “may God protect.” Returning the greeting, I returned to my clinic list: two-year-old living with her mom at a drug rehab. A Salvadoran family with four children. A 16-year-old Honduran soccer player who just moved from NYC already becoming a versed Latin lover. Each room has a different air, a tempo that I quickly adjust to, like walking off the plane into a new land. My smile radiates at the beginning, end and many other times throughout the conversations in English, Spanish or a little gesturing body language. The nurses are gathered near the immunization room and ask where I’m from. The guesses begin to fly as I drop off charts and three continents are represented in the first five tries. The elder Filipino woman puts her hand on my shoulder, “You’re from a land where they take siestas, because you always look so rested.” A deep chuckle erupts from the group and I leave them with the hint of the first letter being “L.” Leaving the clinic in a hurry, I page my fellow resident awaiting me across town as I unlock my bike and wrap a scarf around my neck. The night shift ahead of me will be a good one, more laughter and touching moments with a fleeting scare of a newborn baby not moving the way she should (she jumped and started crying when disrobed and had cold hands laid on her). After dinner, a three-year-old sibling of a patient staying in the hospital twiddles with my stethoscope clipped on my hip. He offers me a half-eaten french fry but I take a hug instead. A memorable Valentine’s Day full of love in different shapes. Yousef “Dr. Yo-Yo” Turshani is a UCSF Pediatrics Resident. This was written to an old friend who asked for a narrative to describe his workday.
|
Thank you to The Canyon of Malibu for helping to support Synapse programs. | |
Synapse is part of the Office of Student Life and Student Academic Affairs. | ||