Today I attempted to make "Junker's scones." Dr. Junker is one of the ICU docs who I recently worked with on my ICU rotation. ICU was a difficult rotation for me, for many reasons. First, my patients were so sick. Fortunately the ICU is staffed with excellent nurses who watch their patients like hawks. But life is so fragile at that moment, and within an hour one can quickly turn from stable to dead without careful monitoring. As a new doctor, it's intimidating to be responsible for such critically ill people, especially when managing several at once. Some people live on ventilators with no chance of a functional recovery because their family members "believe in miracles" and other very young and sick people are "compassionately extubated" (the breathing tube is removed with the expectation that the patient will pass on his/her own) because their families recognize that there is no hope for functional recovery and any quality of life as the patient would have wanted - either way, its heart-wrenching stuff. As you might expect, those experiences forced me to think about what I would want for myself, or for Dylan if we were ever unfortunate enough to find ourselves in that situation. Some people are so concretely sure about this... I heard one doc say this week that once he could no longer watch and follow a Pats football game, that would be the time to "pull the plug." How do you define quality of life for yourself, at this point in your life? Dr. Junker said that his measure of life worth living would be whether he could come back to work and effectively do his job. Not that he's so dedicated to his job per say, but that this is his measure of function that would allow him a good quality of life. In addition to the mental exhaustion, it was also a physically demanding rotation with a difficult schedule and long hours...26 hour shifts and many sleepless nights. All the while I am still scrambling to find time to pump for Dylan! But if you are fortunate to be on weekend call with Dr. Junker, you get to try his homemade, incredible scones! He shares his recipe here. I had to order the ingredients for the cinnamon scones from King Arthur Flour - a nice company that re-sent me flour at no charge after the first package exploded on the way here. Anyways...they came out pretty good! (But not as good as the real deal). Next time I'll try the bacon cheddar ones!
