Category: Dr. Plastic Picker’s Great Adventure

November 3, 2022

by Dr. Plastic Picker

“This is a big moment for me. I’ve been invited (albeit virtually) back to Harvard to give Grand Rounds at MGH later this month. Just finished filling out the attestation form and seeing Mass General and the partners address was kind of surreal. And was just invited to speak in April at the 2nd annual Mass General Center for the Environment and Health (CEH) symposium as panelist for “Exploring spheres of influence to achieve health and sustainability for planetary health.” As a former resident and chief resident, who left Harvard because we were trying to figure out life with two kids – this is honestly a big moment for me to be recognized at my training home. I wish it were in person because I would 100% fly back, but I’ll take the virtual invite! Just sharing my joy and my journey, and that what we are doing at Kaiser San Diego is important and impactful. “

Just reflecting this morning. I did post this on my actual personal facebook and also my professional social media accounts. I hadn’t had really time to process everything and realize how important these two invitations to speak back at Harvard meant to me. At some point I’ll take down the blog and write the book and maybe I’ll just name it my talk title, “The Power of Joy and Mentorship in Climate and Health Advocacy: A Burn Out Story @drplasticpicker.”

The actual first talk at MGHfC isn’t for another week of so. I have a talk tonight at our Bonita Optimist Club, and that presentation is all done. I’m doing that talk with a student Ashley Teo and it should be a friendly audience. The Bonita Optimist website and the audience were really inspiring, and I think I’ll just use this title for a while. I have so many talks now, as I try to update the talks to focus on what my current climate projects are. Tomorrow I think I’m giving a talk at the Regional Asthma Symposium? I need to check with the organizers as I hadn’t heard confirmation and I don’t have a microsoft teams invite?

I do have to say for the MGHfC talk I have to wake up at 5am!!!!!!!!!!!!!! For the Bonita Optimist talk tonight I am missing dinner with my kids (but they are feeding us). And tomorrows regional asthma symposium talk which is an internal HMO talk, I had to use 1/2 vacation day. But it’s all worth it and I am master of my own time and finances. No one pays me or gives me time to run this whole operation, except the earth and the universe. The universe pays me back so much in love and positivity, as long as I put our children and the earth in the forefront.

I wonder if MGH and Harvard will allow me to promote myself? I have friends in San Diego who want to hear my talk live. Although I’m not sure if they will wake up at 5am to hear me? You can hear my all over the internet.

Ooohh, here is a pretty slide I’m using. I love this slide.

Its 644am and I’m drinking my matcha green tea soy latte. I’m grateful for all of this. It’s still a planetary code, truly a code red for humanity. So I’m going back home to where I trained to let all my residency friends know about the planetary code to see if they can’t lend a hand.

Oh, and our family’s pseudo kdrama? It’s all good. We are all firm friends now and hopefully will be going to dinner at some point. We’ll let the protagonist grow up and decide for themselves. I’m pretty sure they’ll meet on the streets of New York as young adults and realize they are perfect for each other. But until then, we’ll keep them firmly in the friend-zone. Two adorable kids with crazy Crimson University (really Harvard University) neurotic parents. Actually, I’m the only off-kilter one. The rest are absolutely wonderful, beautiful and good hearted people.

September 10, 2022

by Dr. Plastic Picker

It’s muggy outside and there is a hurricane coming up from Baja California, that has brought much needed rain to us. There might be too much rain though. One of my longtime parents who is also a climate advocate told me the rain is helping put out the 20,000 acre fire in Riverside County. Pakistan is currently 1/3 flooded. We are living through already major weather events and natural disasters that were foretold, but even Dr. Plastic Picker did not listen soon enough. It’s interesting but certainly scary. The world is in mitigation mode, as recent American investments in climate including the Inflation Reduction Act and the recent California legislative wins that brought another $54 billion into climate investments – we are now all doing something.

Oh the title!!! It’s really funny isn’t it? It sounds like a curse word but it’s the medical term for “fake lens” for a patient that has cataract surgery. Pediatric cataracts are rare, but can happen and after someone has surgery this is what is placed in their chart to describe the presence of the artificial lens. Pseudophakia. Again, sounds like a curse word. I was having fun playing with the term yesterday and used it in dinnertime conversation. I find life interesting and stimulating, even having the mental space to learn something with each patient encounter. It’s the curiosity that I had when I was a child and in high school. I feel like a child again with that curiosity, and that’s a beautiful thing.

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March 25, 2022

by Dr. Plastic Picker

I think I need to change the name of my book, that I’m writing. Maybe I should just do a children’s book? My daughter completed my computer science final assignment, and indeed dear readers it was a honest to goodness videogame about her mother!!!

I think I will write two books then. I children’s book to tell the children that pediatricians are really trying, and then a short 150 page Physician wellness book. I have enough material on the blog already. And now that I’ve been freed from the circus show that is middle management, I will have lots of mental space for it!

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