give it up for the supernatural ability of mom
I was studying for my psychiatry shelf exam but felt compelled to write this post.
What is it with moms? Are they born with some psychic antenna or does the ability to read minds develop after childbirth? It’s weird. There are a few people on the schizophrenia ward here who think they have a psychic antenna. One of them thinks that he can use his psychic antenna to read my mind only when I tilt my head downwards. This is not the type of psychic ability that I am talking about though.
Today I was hanging out on the ward during some down time. Okay okay, I was making my own downtime by sneaking away from the ward to take a nap. In any case, I took off my white coat and noticed just how nasty it has become. In all seriousness, I should have washed this thing a few weekends ago and had made every effort to do so except for making the effort to bring it inside the house from my car. That would have been too big of an effort. Now the collar is yellow to brownish and the rest of the coat is more gray than white. Anyway, the first thought that came into my head was a flashback to high school when I was living at home and that thank God my mom wasn’t here to see this coat because I knew that I would never hear the end of it. As an aside, Mother Mudphudder is very much into cleanliness and professionalism. Not for nothing though, my own personal feeling on a doctor’s white coat is that it is supposed to be a little dirty–it gives it character–like my shoes. Also, it shows people that it’s being used, which is a good thing. A clean white coat is like a clean lab bench. It looks nice but it’s a very obvious indication that someone hasn’t been doing any work.
Anyway, of course five minutes later–I remind you I was at the hospital in the middle of the work day–I get a phone call from my mother and what does she want to talk about???? My white coat?!?!?! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!?! Better yet, her natural assumption was that my white coat is a nasty mess. But really: IS THIS FOR REAL??!?!!? Let me tell you, the patients on the schizophrenia ward got nothin’. This is the real deal–I’m still freaked out. Anyway, I just wanted to say that we gotta give it up for the supernatural ability of mothers.
To end, of course I gotta throw out my own personal shout out since we’re on the topic: I love you mom. But then again, you already knew I was going to say that.
February 5th, 2009 at 10:49 pm
“A clean white coat is like a clean lab bench. It looks nice but it’s a very obvious indication that someone hasn’t been doing any work.”
Hey! I resent that! I always have a sparkling clean lab bench and I do lots of work! In fact, disgusted by the general bench messiness in the lab, my PI instituted a weekly “Clean Bench Award” for whomever had the neatest bench. After I won 6 weeks in a row (without trying to do anything different, I am not THAT much of an ass-kisser), the lab protested and the contest was dropped. Not my fault that other people are too damn lazy to put things back in order at the end of the day.
February 6th, 2009 at 6:13 pm
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!
6 weeks in a row?!?!? That’s awesome. You should call yourself “Super-clean Julie” instead of “Disgruntled Julie”!
How about a compromise? A clean bench suggests that either someone hasn’t been doing any work or that others are too damn lazy to put things back in order at the end of the day. This coming from a guy who started pondering the dirty white coat while slipping away in the middle of the day to take a nap… I guess you know which side of the fence I fall on.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!
February 7th, 2009 at 10:57 am
And, it’s pretty obvious on which side I fall… my husband’s white coat gets bleached on a monthly basis. I don’t know what’s going to happen when he moves away in June… good thing he’s going into a pretty “hands off” field, because I don’t think his mother will be anywhere near as good with the white coat upkeep as I have been!
February 16th, 2009 at 5:35 pm
[...] MD/PhD student Mudphudder has a mother with an unusual gift for lab coat analysis in Give it Up for the Supernatural Ability of Mom. [...]