My green thumb

Remember Sisyphus, the guy who for various and sundry reasons was sentenced to roll a rock up a hill every day for all eternity only to have it roll back down just before the crest? Well, I certainly feel his pain. My rock is just metaphorical rather than literal.

First, a residency vocabulary lesson:
rock: a patient with no endpoint of hospitalization on the horizon, usually due to placement and/or disposition issues (eg patient refuses nursing home placement but daughter refuses to take him home again); implies medical stability

wreck: a patient with no endpoint of hospitalization on the horizon, usually due to a plethora of acute and/or chronic medical problems (eg infected diabetic foot wounds, heart failure, kidney failure, and cancer); often used as part of the phrase "train wreck"

VA six pack: coronary heart disease, diabetes, chronic kidney insufficiency, emphysema, cancer (any type), chronic low back pain

rock garden: phenomenon occurring when multiple rocks accumulate on a service

I am growing quite a rock garden, my friends, which I feed and water with TLC. Day after day we round on them, say our hellos, crack a joke about the food, and wave our good-byes. Poor guys, the situations aren't generally their fault, but whew! They weigh my service down. Just when I think I have a disposition lined up, something bad happens. A fever. Rejected insurance. Or the infamous "hey, doc, I haven't been able to move my legs for two days." Why yes, that has really happened to me. You can't make this stuff up.
But my end is finally in sight. Only 6 more days. Then elective. Which will involve a dash of ortho clinic, a sprinkle of musculoskeletal radiology and a healthy dose of roommate reunion part II. Sounds like Eden to me.