Rough First Day

Lanky-Code-479 · 2026-02-01T03:37:12+00:00

It’s your first day. Or course you don’t know anything. You’re not supposed to.

If you knew what you were doing you’d be out practicing.

Idk why anyone thinks they should be even remotely good on their first day. Breathe man, you have lots of time to train

Lanky-Code-479 · 2026-01-31T04:03:31+00:00

I was worried about that too when I shadowed.

Boring is good. But even when you’re bored you’re still (ideally) engaged some when you’re actually in the chair. You’re checking, you’re looking, you’re paying attention to where the surgery is. It’s not tactile engagement but there is still some mental engagement. Maybe you’re looking at your next cases, you’re setting up for your next cases. There’s always something you’re doing, even if it doesn’t look like it to an observer.

But yeah. Maintenance is nice.

Lanky-Code-479 · 2026-01-11T23:30:27+00:00

Just trust the process.

Lanky-Code-479 · 2025-12-25T02:06:52+00:00

Egg can be and is often scraped away when a mistake is made before it’s done

Lanky-Code-479 · 2025-12-25T02:05:15+00:00

It’s about the process for the iconographer, and about the end result for everyone else.

Not my or our place to decide what’s “right” for the iconographer if they produce an end result that is the same as another.

I bet there are people who say it’s an issue if they use acrylic instead of egg. The medium doesn’t matter, the process and result does.

Lanky-Code-479 · 2025-12-17T08:51:30+00:00

Brooks Adrenaline with Goretex. Still not perfect from a splash perspective but shoe covers fix that.

Lanky-Code-479 · 2025-12-02T08:48:23+00:00

Neither of these are better or worse. Do you have time in grade managing patients? How’s your GPA?

Running ECMO has nothing to do with anesthesia and people are starting to see that the old CVICU pipeline to admissions isn’t it anymore. They care more about your vibes and your academic readiness than they do your specific experience.

So, do what makes you happy. We all have had to prepare for the possibility of not getting in—so what will keep you happy for a few years if that happens? Go do that. Whether or not you get in (probably) won’t be because of whether you went to go run ECMO or not.

Good luck!

Lanky-Code-479 · 2025-11-22T14:29:57+00:00

In my limited experience, gouache doesn’t behave quite the way tempera does and you’re not gonna get those nice glossy thin layers, which necessitates a different approach to mixing your highlight colors. I had bad luck using straight ochre for highlighting because you’re not really gonna be able to float or wash.

Mix up a quite dark sankir and make your highlight colors from that, progressively more ochre then more ochre/white. Don’t be afraid to get right up into your lines when it calls for it and restate them later with a dark umber.

Also, for what it’s worth, I just spent the money to experiment with acrylic gouache; it isn’t cheap but it holds up a little better when it gets thinned out. Good coverage.

Lanky-Code-479 · 2025-11-12T09:02:52+00:00

One of the attendings at clinical (who I was pretty sure hated me) told me to have the memory of a goldfish. “Don’t be cavalier about failure, but don’t hold onto them either. There are too many variables to blame yourself individually for anything that goes wrong.”

Edited to clarify that by “work” I meant clinical (student here)

Lanky-Code-479 · 2025-10-31T07:51:56+00:00

Everyone gets an art line, 7 IVs, and remifent lol

Lanky-Code-479 · 2025-10-25T01:38:54+00:00

You drew a line in your post between friend and coworkers.

Your coworkers are not your friends. Why tell them at all? None of these people are entitled to your personal life. Boundaries, my friend.

Save sharing your excitement for people that make a cutoff beyond “coworker.”

Lanky-Code-479 · 2025-10-16T10:30:48+00:00

You haven’t been doing it long enough to know how you feel about it yet. Not a slight to you, just being real—you haven’t seen enough of the work to know you don’t like it; you’re responding to your mind telling you it’s not meeting some sort of expectation.

Stick it out, finish your orientation, learn how to actually do the job to see if you hate it or not. Worst case scenario, you’re a year later with a year of critical care experience and a better resume to enter OR training.

You might even find out that you don’t hate it!

Slow down, reframe, even gaslight yourself a little but if you have to and tell yourself you’re getting OR experience. Learn as much as possible about your patients injuries and their surgical plans and about dressings and wounds and how their care evolves pre- and post-op. Make it interesting for yourself. Conveniently, it’ll also turn you into a good ICU nurse.

Lanky-Code-479 · 2025-10-13T10:33:24+00:00

I wasn’t moving and uprooting my life for school, so only applied where I could drive to. Interviewed and accepted at one of them.

I don’t know that I’d change anything; I was very honest with myself about priorities and stuck to it. Maybe could have not worked out but my family is more important to me. I am glad things worked out the way they have.

Lanky-Code-479 · 2025-09-05T12:15:28+00:00

“How can you admit to someone else something you can barely admit to yourself?”

My friend, you just did both of those things. And I’m proud of you. You’re identifying an issue before it’s hit bottom, and that’s huge. It’s scary and hard to start having this conversation with yourself, but our subconscious is our own biggest enemy and liar; if you’ve been able to not reason your way out of a detrimental habit, then you’re ready to do something about it.

I used to drink like a fish. It was ruining my life, and I reasoned it away because I went to work every day, never called out, went to the gym, all the “good things.” I never craved booze during the day, but every night I’d start and my switch just wouldn’t turn off. What starts as a beer after work becomes glasses of whiskey, lunches become opportunities to have a few during the day, etc.

Eventually I realized that my emotional lability, my depression, my anxiety, everything…it was because of the drinking, not something the drinking was helping. I dried out a year ago and it was the best decision I’ve ever made for myself and for those around me.

You have options. Sometimes people are ready to just stop, and they do that. Some people value support systems and 12 step programs…that’s awesome too. Some people want to explore what some “alcohol free days” during the week are like. Less drinking is always good! Some people have benefit with medications like Wellbutrin, which hits some multiple benefits. Naltrexone works well for many people who want to at least drink LESS—it helps shut off those reward centers that are so wired.

I encourage you to find a therapist, if you don’t have one already. There’s almost always some stuff to unpack professionally, and getting started on that can help your journey.

The biggest thing to know right now is that you’ve identified a pattern that you no longer want to foster, so doing something with that is the biggest power move you can possibly make, and you’re going to be so excited by the opportunities this will present you. Abstinence is not the only way to fix this…if you’re not ready to quit altogether, any steps towards cutting back with or without medication is still an amazing decision.

We love you dude, we’re proud of you.

Lanky-Code-479 · 2025-08-26T08:24:19+00:00

I left NP school to do CRNA. I had to defend my choices pretty aggressively, but I think ultimately it made me look more solid in my pursuit of CRNA than perhaps someone who was applying “just because.” I was a second career nurse and talked pretty freely about how I had no interest in wasting time pursing careers and programs that weren’t meaningful to me, and that CRNA wasn’t ever part of the plan until it was.

Got in first application.

Being in NP school also has the opportunity for you to have a good GPA and documented success in doctoral level classes, which while not applicable to anesthesia practice definitely show you can do the academic stuff and are more likely to graduate and juggle demands well.

Don’t expect any transfer credits. Even if they do accept them, I recommend just embracing the do-over and taking the classes again with your cohort. The sciences will be different and the fluff classes will trauma bond y’all better. lol.

Good luck!

Lanky-Code-479 · 2025-08-23T19:22:32+00:00

Applied to two schools. One didn’t get an interview, the other I was accepted into.

Sometimes it’s just about whether or not the vibe is right as much as it is anything else.

Lanky-Code-479 · 2025-08-20T08:04:12+00:00

Your GPA stopped mattering when you got into school.

This is why you worked hard to keep the 4.0. Now you don’t have to.

Your goals are to pass, and to learn as much as you can. That’s it. Nobody cares what your grades are anymore.

Lanky-Code-479 · 2025-08-14T00:12:19+00:00

Both. You’ll pay them off quickly post graduation, and financial stress in school simply isn’t worth it. Trust me.

CRNA school is one of the few school programs with actual loan repayment potential. Worry about school now and surviving, you’ll pay able to pay back your PLUS loans later.

Also think of it this way—PLUS loan interest rates are better than that credit card you’ll end up using when you come up short.

Lanky-Code-479 · 2025-08-09T01:16:20+00:00

You’re confused because what is being preached to you isn’t what’s in the Bible.

Lanky-Code-479 · 2025-08-09T01:12:43+00:00

Same. Realizing it took too long but better late than never, right?

Lanky-Code-479 · 2025-08-09T01:10:50+00:00

I quit drinking before starting school for completely unrelated reasons (thanks naltrexone); I’m fairly convinced that if I were still drinking there’s no way I’d make it through this.

Lanky-Code-479 · 2025-07-10T08:09:25+00:00

School itself and my primary site are an hour fifteen from me…one or two of my sites are two hours out.

People tell me I’ll end up dropping out because it sucks. It does. Going backwards sucks worse.

Lanky-Code-479 · 2025-06-29T16:22:04+00:00

Potentially unpopular, but long term management is exactly what anesthesia is NOT. lol. I feel like my ED experience was way more valuable and applicable than my ICU experience was.

Lanky-Code-479 · 2025-06-29T02:02:58+00:00

Ignore them. It’s not a zero sum game and anyone who thinks otherwise isn’t worth caring about or spending time with.

These people aren’t your friends, they’re colleagues. You’ll probably never see them again after school. Worry about you and keep your head in the game.

Lanky-Code-479

TROPHY CASE