Residency Commences

 #USA

Post#19

Residency commences:

June 1st arrived. My residency ( first year of which is called internship here)officially started. I was in for a rude surprise. June was assigned as my vacation month 🤦🏻‍♀️. It was a big disadvantage because not only would I not get a break for an entire year starting July but my fellow interns would get ahead of me in knowing the workings of the place. 

July 1st I was up early. Abhay gave me directions and I set out for my first day of work. There was no cell phone, leave alone smart phone with GPS or Google Maps. I followed precisely the directions he had given me. From the 5 freeway I took the 10 Freeway as he had told me . I was aware when I was in the vicinity of the hospital but I couldn’t see the exit he had told me to take. I kept driving to the next exit and one more and realized I’m heading away from the hospital. I took the exit and turned back and managed to find my way to work. He had given me wrong directions, east instead of west freeway. First day was already off to a memorable start😅

USC medical center ( if anyone remembers the big building shown at the start of episodes in the US daytime soap opera General Hospital) was a huge place. It took a few weeks to get oriented to this monumental place.

 I had been out of touch with patient care for nearly 4 years ( 1990- 1994). There were no computers at KEM Mumbai in 1990. And here they had computers, though much rudimentary compared to what we have now. We had to check labs and radiology reports on the computer at the time. It was all novelty to me.

My first rotation was in Cardiology. It was the last week for the senior fellows before they graduated. The new fellows would join the following week. My fellow on the first day was a kind hearted Tamil speaking young man named Dr Muthiah. The attending expected on rounds was a very senior professor, world renowned in the field of valvular heart disease. Dr Shahbuddin Rahimtullah. I had to present a case on the rounds. It was a patient with severe aortic stenosis who was awaiting surgery to replace the faulty valve. Muthiah coached me perfectly. At the end of the rounds Dr Rahimtullah stopped to tell me I had done a good job. Muthiah gave me a joyous thumbs up after the professor turned his back. From that day I had become a  favorite of Dr Rahimtullah. 

Sometime later that week he enquired with me about which medical college I had attended in India. When I told him it was Seth GS Medical College in Mumbai he was so excited to hear that. He told me he had secured admission to the same college after graduating from St Xaviers college Bombay in 1947. But partition happened and his family moved to Pakistan. So he ended up getting his medical degree from Karachi medical college. The GS connection most certainly strengthened his affection for me.

On the rounds one day he put up an X-ray on the display board and asked the medical students to give him the diagnosis. When they looked blank he turned to the cardiology fellows. They rambled “ the heart looks enlarged , left ventricle must be hypertrophied “. He stopped them and turned to me, what is the diagnosis? . I was a mere intern, a nobody in front of the fellows. I said “Mitral Stenosis”.  He looked at the group and said “ This is the training in India “. 

Everyone thought I knew the patient and his diagnosis from before the rounds. I did not.

I am not sharing this story to blow my own horn. I was an average student in my class in Mumbai. But I was the beneficiary of learning from the best teachers. A straight heart border on a chest X-ray is mitral stenosis ! This was hammered into our brains right from the day we started our clinical rotations. Even a student who didn’t want to become a cardiologist would know this. While education in the USA is considered world class ,students from India have an edge over the majority because of a firm foundation. 

This was my first rotation on foreign soil and I found myself on a firm footing thanks to Dr Rahimtullah and Dr Muthiah ! 

Today’s saree is a pure linen in a tomato red color , lighter shade on the body, deeper on borders  and pallu. White stripes along borders and across the pallu add slight contrast. A no fuss saree that is colorful yet simple. I wear it to work frequently.Again no old photos in this saree.