Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Five Things That Keep Me From Going Crazy In Winter


I hate cold weather. Every winter, to keep from turning into a bitter hermit who never leaves the fireside, I try to remind myself that there are a few good things about the cold.

  1. Stars are brighter in the winter sky.
  2. Hawks are easier to spot in leafless trees.
  3. It’s cool to watch dogs sniff like crazy in the brisk cold air.
  4. Coat pockets mean more carrying space for keys, phones, wallets…. Unless, of course, those coat pockets are filled with the accessories of winter: gloves, Kleenex, a flashlight because it is dark from 5pm until 8am and half your dog walks are in the dark, cough drops, lip balm….
  5. More time for reading because it is somewhat socially acceptable to be a bitter hermit who never leaves the fireside. No one else wants to change from slippers into shoes and get out from under the blankets, either.
And that’s all I’ve got. Any additions to my list? (Comments about how awesome snow is will be ignored.)

Thursday, December 9, 2010

New publication


I have to say, it’s pretty cool to have new papers published long after you have left the place where you did the research. The original article Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy After Neo-Adjuvant Chemotherapy in Breast Cancer was published online on Monday in The Breast Journal. It will appear in the print edition in a few months. As I read the paper for the first time in over a year (how slowly the wheels of research and publishing can move!) I was struck by several things.

1) It seems like a lifetime ago that I was doing this work. It’s only been a year and half since I left the hospital for vet school but it feels like much, much longer. Everything about vet school seems set up to make time fly. The amount of material we learn, the time we learn it in, the intense immersion in all things vet-med – all serve to make even yesterday feel like an ancient memory.

2) Although it seems like ages ago that I did the research and wrote the paper (in fact, I don’t have a clear memory of really doing these things – I know I did them, but as a matter of fact rather than a true memory of things – more about this in a minute) I still very clearly recognize my own words. Let me explain. The way I wrote papers with my colleagues was this: I did all the writing. I met with my co-authors for comments and suggestions. I changed some things and wrote more. We met again for more comments and suggestions. I wrote more. We met again. Repeat and repeat and repeat. So the bulk of the words in my paper are mine. The organization and tone are mine. Heavily influenced by my colleagues (and our medical editor, bless her), yes, but still mine. But every once in a while, one of my co-authors would insist on including a particular sentence or phrase in the text. Even though I don’t remember which sentences they were, when I read the paper now I can pick them out. It’s just a gut feeling of “I wouldn’t have said that.” These don’t stand out to any other reader but they stand out to me.

3) I feel a much weaker connection to the research in this paper, and my breast cancer research overall, than I do to my melanoma research. It’s really not that surprising, I guess. I cut my teeth on melanoma and know a lot more about it than breast cancer. I can easily quote melanoma facts and research results; with breast cancer, I’m left with this feeling of “Huh? I kind of knew something about that once.” I think it probably also relates to the timing of the work. My entire last year of that job was spent in a kind of fog as I applied to vet school, interviewed for vet school, waited to find out if I got in to vet school, and then kind of mentally and emotionally checked out of work once I got in and knew I would be leaving soon. I didn’t intend to work like a robot that year, but I think it happened.

This paper also reminded me of just how much work goes into collaborative research. Even this short and simple project took lots and lots of work. I really burned out on research at my old job and am still not ready to get back into it.

Saturday, December 4, 2010

First Post!


I know y’all are excited about my new blog! I don’t have an adorable baby (http://babystobbster.blogspot.com/) or a globetrotting adventure (http://www.globalundertaking.com/) to write about. But I do have cats and that’s almost as cool, right? I’m going to try not to write too much about “life in vet school” – there must be hundreds of blogs about that. Of course, there are none yet about my life in vet school, so we’ll see…