Turning the big 21!

My 21st has already come and gone - a few years ago. My 21st was spent in San Antonio studying for the MCAT (the SAT of med school). I went out to dinner with a few friends. My first drink was an apple martini. After that we headed to a comedy club (BYOB) and I drank vanilla vodka and diet pepsi out of my nalgene bottle.
Aunt Ed remembers going to a bar in Willows with Grandma Ann and ordering a martini (she doesn't remember what kind, but what she does remember was that it was disgusting).
How did you spend your 21st?

My cousin Taylor just turned 21 in the middle of December. This of course calls for some celebrating. She went out with her friends on her 21st. I was still in Hershey. The Aunties and cousins went out a few nights ago to help Tay celebrate.
Here are some of the highlights of the evening.


All the girls - out to dinner, before the young one's had to head home.


After dinner we headed to Panama's for good cheap drinks (the best is still the Orange Julius which tastes like a 50/50 ice cream bar!). Played some dice and lost some money.


Then we headed to The Crazy Horse - where...they actually ID'd my Mom, A. Tina, A. Sara, and A. Ed. Can you believe it!

And you can't go to the horse without riding the bull!
Here's a description of what went down, before the video below.
Taylor walks up to the bull and is ready to mount it. She places her hands on its back and jumps...she pulls with her arms...and slides off. Ok, we'll try this again. The pretend rodeo clown gives her a tip and tells her to toss her leg over. Alright...arms on the bull's back, jump, leg up, and...she slides off. Third times a charm, right? Not for Tay. Repeat previous scenario for a 4th and maybe a 5th time. I lost count, because I was laughing so hard.

Finally, the rodeo clown told her to step on a different part of the mat that was harder. He could have given her a boost or at least just grabbed her by the belt loops and thrown her up there. Oh well...we enjoyed watching Tay try and get on the bull.
Once on, well you can decide for yourself how you think she did.






Photo op. This time they had some help getting up on the bull.


You can't end a night of drinking without a DD! Thanks Colby!

Christmas Pictures

They say a picture is worth 1,000 words - so here are a few pictures from Christmas this year.

In San Fran - Union Square tree


Cousin Colby proudly holding up her lovely white elephant gift!


A. Sara as Nacho Libre?



The newest member of the family - Taylor's baby Calvin


The Chun Family


Grandpa, Grandma and the grandchildren!

finally home

My journey home started at 4:15 am on Sunday morning. My good friend Rich picked me up to take me to the airport, so I would make my flight at 6 am. It was an icy morning. It had been raining the day before - so a nice thin layer of ice covered the ground everywhere. Rich warned me - "it's really slippery." Out I walk to his car. I slip a little here, slid a little there... and then of course my right foot flies out from under me and down I went. I land smack on my ass and catch myself on my right hand. Thankfully, I have some junk in my trunk which helped protect my fall (which is still a little sore, but no bruising). A little scrap on my palm and I was good to go. Completely relieved that my laptop was not in my backpack or else it would have been history. Also, very grateful that I am not a little old lady with osteopenia / osteoporosis - otherwise I would by laid up in a hospital somewhere with a shattered pelvis and a broken wrist. I am somewhat proud that I've been in Pennsylvania for 3.5 years and this is my first spill on ice.

Made it to the airport with plenty of time to spare. 20 minute flight to Washington DC. I slept. Then a direct flight to San Francisco. This was delayed for 2 hours due to mechanical issues, which wouldn't have been so bad, except we were stuck on the plane for that extra 2 hours. Thankfully I wasn't catching a connecting flight in San Fran.
One of the greatest traits I inherited from my father was the ability to fall asleep quickly and to be able to fall asleep anywhere. Airplanes are the perfect napping place. Sit me up beside a window and I will nap on and off all day. I have fallen asleep while sitting on the runway, only to wake up as we are taking off. There was even a time I slept through take off and woke up to find out that we were in the air!

My parents and I enjoyed a few wonderful days in San Fran - shopping, eating, walking, etc. Walking around Union Square and San Francisco Center you would not guess that there is a recession! People were everywhere! I'll be posting pictures later.

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas!

3.5 years done!

I am now officially halfway done with my 3rd year of medical school (assuming I passed this last test).
I leave tomorrow and will spend a few days with my parents in San Francisco, before returning home to enjoy the rest of my break. 2 weeks which surely will not be long enough.

So how does it feel to be a year and a half away from getting that degree? Great. It's been a long hard road. Medical school has been very different from what I expected. The material is not extremely difficult. It's the amount of material, it's the hours of work required, the mentally and emotionally draining part of it all that makes it so hard. Ironically, there is so much isolation and oftentimes selfishness that comes out of wanting to work with people and help people.

The Battle

I want to run, I want to hide Get me out of here Doesn't matter where - anywhere, but here Yet here I sit, here I stay My chosen path, I chose this way
Everyday I walk through this battleground
Rarely a moment to ever look around
One step at a time, an occasional misstep
A stumble or two
Down on my knees, I scream out
Muffled I must hide the pain
Silent streams of tears lost

When I signed up for this - I didn't realize the cost
It's all worth it - they say
I'm in so deep, no choice but to stay
Battle it out & rise above
It is not a war to win
But a compromise made
I am different and will be different still
When I walk off this battlefield
Scars and pieces of me lost
Tougher I will be, more jaded too
It's inevitable

Getting ready for x-mas

Lady at home anxiously awaiting my arrival.
One week until x-mas! Just wanted to remind you, in case you forgot!
Test tomorrow, California on Sunday!

life's little surprises

Some days life just likes to spice it up a bit and throw a surprise your way. These little surprises are never quite what you expected and somehow even if you had an inkling they were coming - they still can hit you like a wave of happiness/joy or knock you down like a ton of bricks. Life's little surprises aren't always good. It's times like these when your not exactly sure what to feel, or maybe you don't even know how to feel.

Today I had one of those surprises that hits you like a ton of bricks, even though I knew it would happen at some point. I'm not sure how I'm supposed to feel. So I decided to just let myself feel - let the emotions take their course. Naturally, I tried to rationalize some and tell myself it will be ok. And it will - it always is. I was a bum today, unsure of how to feel, how to react, or how to behave. I guess that's ok. It's all part of growing up. New experiences, new emotions. In a way you could say I'm lucky to have the opportunity to feel this and experience this - whatever it is.
It's days like these when I wish my best friends were right here to sit with me and just be together. Words don't necessarily need to be shared, but just being together. Knowing that other person is there and doesn't care that I don't know how to feel, or act.
Once again thank you to the technology of the cell phone - friends and family are just a fingertip away.

Here's to life's little surprises and me growing up just a little bit more today.

Gyn Surgery

Oh my! Can you believe Christmas is right around the corner (12 days). I still feel there is still so much to do! Only a few more days working in the ob/gyn clinic before taking my exam and then finally getting to fly back to Cali! Yeaaaahhhhh can't wait.

The last couple of days I have spent observing gyn surgery. I've seen quite a few hysterectomies. They can do them vaginally, laproscopically, or open (transabdominally). Laproscopic surgery is when they place 3 ports in your stomach - 1 in your belly button (camera) and 2 laterally. They puff your abdomen up with air so they are able to see and move around once inside. Then the other 2 ports are used for various tools to remove pieces, etc. It's really interesting to see a person's anatomy that way - relatively undisturbed.
Something I found surprising was that a normal sized uterus is smaller than I thought - probably about the size of a 3-4 inch apple maybe. Not as big as one would expect. And it's an amazing organ, especially after you think about how large it must become to accomodate a baby!

I thought there was a possibility of me really enjoying surgery, because I really enjoyed dissecting in anatomy. The human body truly is amazing. It fascinates me to dissect and see how all the different parts fit together, work together, and how it appears so seamless. If you gave me a chance to dissect another cadaver (without all the studying and stress that goes with anatomy) I would probably jump at the opportunity. But...not so sure surgery is for me. Don't get me wrong - I think it is truly astounding what is being done in some of the operating rooms today. But I just don't think I want to be the one doing it. A general surery residency is way too long for meand I want a life. As a gynecologist - your surgeries are all about the va-jay jay and it's friends. Not so sure I really want to have my head stuck in a woman's parts for the rest of my career life. Unless a baby was coming out. The Obstetrics part, I loved. C-sections I also truly enjoyed, but surgery - not so much.

Here's a random piece of advice for you. If you are going in for laproscopic surgery at any point in the future - make sure you clean your belly button before you go! They'll clean it for you once you are knocked out and you would be amazed at what they find in some peoples' belly buttons. You don't want to be that person! haha :)


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Ok, in order to earn my way back on my Aunt's good side. She sent me a much better picture of her and the new hubby!
Tell me he doens't look like Old St. Nick! :)

movies, popcorn, and video games

photo taken from the Chico ER article

As many of you know, I grew up in the small town of Willows, California. A town where you graduate high school with the same kids you started kindergarten. The entire town has a total of 5 stoplights. It's like many other small towns in this regard, but the one thing that made Willows better than Orland (our high school rival) - was the fact that we had a movie theater (AMH opus theaters). A decent place to watch or rent movies. It's a small theater with 4 screens- theater 2 is the big theater where all the new top movies would always play. Theater 1 was smaller, but closer to a bathroom and theater 4 had a creepy mannequin in the back.
I grew up with that theater.

I most likely saw my first movie in a theater there (even though I was too young to remember).

According to my mom we watched the Little Mermaid enough times that by the end I was singing all the songs.

School field trips often ended up happening at AMH.

I slammed my thumb in my Aunt Ed's car out side of AMH and set it in a cup of ice, probably while still watching a movie.

My mom always liked the fact that you could buy regular sized candy bars, not just the king size ones.

In high school, we often walked to AMH from campus for lunch - pretzel with cheese and a medium diet vanilla pepsi (not the pre-made vanilla, but the vanilla that they would squirt in for you) was always my favorite

Getting into rated R movies before I was supposed to

Stolen kisses when the lights turned down low

My A. Ed tricked me into thinking we were going the night before to get tickets to the 1st Harry Potter movie and .... surprise we ended up watching the movie at a midnight showing the night before it opened!

The best Ms. Pac Man game in the entire world. It's awesome because it's a table top, not the kind that stands. I eventually made the high score board.

My A. Ed and I would walk down and play video games. You know the new touch screen video games where there are multiple games to play at once. Like find the differences in the pictures, or word search, etc. Well, I bet that you didn't know they have a dirty version of those games. Andy (the owner of AMH) turned off the sensor so A. Ed and I played the dirty version. (don't know if I ever told my parents that one)

AMH was a staple, a solid part of my childhood and the memories that I have of home. I am sad to say that Andy Houston, the owner recently passed away. He provided for Willows, so much more than movies. He was an icon and a wonderful friend to many. He was always at the theater, there was never a time when I was there without him stopping me to say hi.
I have pasted links to articles about his passing and the history of AMH below. He apparently rented videos out of his parents house before he opened the theater. He was always into movies and dreamed of owning his own theater. In recent years, it has been harder and harder for him to stay afloat, but Andy never gave up. He loved that theater it was his baby and his dream.

The community of Willows truly has suffered a great loss. Thank you Andy for all the memories.

chico er article
Willows journal article

Ho Ho Ho

Ho Ho Ho...On Dasher, On Dancer, On Comet and Blitzen...
That's the sound of Santa (said in an exciting kid voice)! And guess what?! Santa is now officially my Uncle. He's actually been my commonlaw uncle for quite some time now - dating back to me being in middle school - I think. Ok, what in the world am I talking about? Well, the family gossip of the year just exploded at my grandma's house. My Aunt Edwina (aka my 2nd mom and disneyland tea cup riding partner for life) got MARRIED!!!! You see my A. Ed married a man who looks just like Santa Claus.
"His eyes - how they twinkled! His dimples how merry! His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry! His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow, and the beard of his chin was as white as the snow...he had a broad face and a little round belly, that shook when he lauged like a bowlful of jelly. He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf" (from the night before x-mas)
You get the point. But he really does look like Santa. Right around now, he tends to wear red and children when out and about with their parents will stop and stare. Ahh...to still believe!
Very un-santa like though - they were married on my Aunt's favorite day of the year! October 31st (and yes we just found out like 2 days ago). I wish I had a picture of my new uncle to share, but as you can imagine he's quite busy this time of year. I will try to get one at x-mas after his work is all through, that I can bring back and share with you.

My A. Ed - pictured above. Who may very well take back my x-mas present for this post! haha
Love you Auntie Ed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

How do you like medical school?

Another week on L&D (labor & delivery) for me! Today the resident I was working with asked me, "So how do you like medical school?" I let out a small sarcastic laugh and a smile - knowing he would understand. It's not quite what I expected was my reply. In all honesty, I'm not really sure what I expected, but this wasn't it. I've thought about this many times before and there is a lot about medical school that is exciting and cool - as many of my posts end up being about such things. Yet, I don't think that I give you the full exposure to what it is really like.
So here's sort of my response and most likely somewhat rambling answer to "How do you like medical school?"

Sometimes I am amazed that at one point in my life I was practically begging for this opportunity. All I could think of was getting into medical school. I worked hard for 4 years and it all came down to applying and matriculating into medical school. People would say that the information is not hard, it is just the massive amount that is thrown at you. It's like being given a phone book and having to memorize it. Truly massive amounts of information that even if you studied everyday all day you still wouldn't know it all. It's impossible. Life in medical school is relatively unbalanced to say the least. There are feelings of guilt when not studying, because there is always more to do and more to learn. I am getting better and making time for me, but it still is difficult.

3rd year is better than 1st & 2nd year, because there is less book work and more time actually spent with patients. Yet, I am paying to work more than 40 hours a week and am still expected to be studying on top of that. Right now I'm lucky, because I really enjoy my attendings and residents. As a 3rd year you are lucky if you get along with your resident, because that person essentially becomes your best friend for the week. I spend more time (8+hrs per day) with the resident I work with than any other person in my life. My job is to follow them around. All day.

That's what you do as a 3rd year - you follow, try not to contaminate the sterile field in the operating room, and attempt to not appear out of place. You write notes and take histories, but it's all for practice and not really worth much. Some days you sit there and the doctor gets up to leave - do you follow them? or are they just going to the bathroom or going to get a piece of paper? If you don't follow - well then you may miss out on something, but if you do follow, well you may look like a little puppy dog following it's master. Right now I don't feel like a puppy dog. On this rotation the residents and attendings have been great and I feel more a part of the team.

I'm not trying to complain. I'm just trying to give you a better understanding of it all. This is what I want to do with the rest of my life - not the following part, but the medicine part. I cannot imagine doing anything else. You have to love it to survive and stay sane. I would never encourage anyone to go into medicine. No way. You have to really want it to put yourself through this. Heck, I'm lucky because of the 80hr work week law that was past for residents years ago.

Med school - it's tough, it's grueling, and some days it feels like a battle just to keep afloat. Yet on most days I am still glad to be here. I will survive, but in the end I will have been changed by this process. I just hope I can hang onto my idealism a little longer. 17.5 more months and I will have a long white coat. (Medical students wear short white coats and actual MD's get to wear long ones)

3 thanksgivings

Happy late Thanksgiving! This year I celebrated thanksgiving 3 times and not one with my own family. I was stuck in Hershey this year - because ...
1. it costs too much to fly home for a weekend, 2. it takes too much time to fly home for that long and 3. I had class all day today :(

Instead a few weekends ago I spent with my friend Rich and his sister Ann in DC with Ann's friend's having an early t-giving. Then on Sunday another thanksgiving with some of my medical school friends here. And Thursday I spent with another friend in med school who is from Hershey. He was kind enough to invite myself and a few others over since we were unable to go home! It's nice to be around family on the holidays even if it's not my own.

I was able to call home and had the phone passed around to everyone so I could say a quick hi. I must say I love cell phones, the internet, e-mail, etc. This is the technology that allows me to be so far from home, but still keep in close contact with my parents, family, and friends. I called my mom at least 10 times the Wednesday before thanksgiving to ask 1,002 questions about making an apple pie and other randomness. We actually ended up making our apple pies at the same time - just a couple thousand miles apart!

It's funny - how at 18 I was ready to get out of Willows. I was ready for the city, or at least something bigger. Let me loose, on my own. Now here I am 6 years later and can't wait to get back. (well maybe not Willows, but closer) Residency - it's West Coast or bust!

Home Sweet Home

Above is my cheater version of making a gingerbread house. Definitely worth buying the stuff pre-made, because I do not think that I would have the patience nor the time to actually make gingerbread and then make it into a house. Most likely something would go wrong before the assembly.




Pictured above is my fellow gingerbread house builder, Sief (pronounced safe). Here he is carefully mixing the frosting (aka glue) that will hold our lovely structure together. The frosting was extremely sticky!



3 walls up, one more to go and then the roof. We started building before thoroughly reading the instructions which tell us to wait a 2-3 hours after assembling the walls, before attaching the roof. I think they want the frosting to dry and set making the base stronger. Well, we started this relatively late in the evening with no time to wait. Sooooo.... we just threw the roof on right away. I was worried the entire time that our roof was going to come sliding off. I can confidently say that so far it has not fallen. (keeping my fingers crossed)



Construction done - now on to decorating.




Decorating was more fun than I remember from a kid. The best part about it is the more ridiculous, colorful, and gawdy you make it the better the gingerbread house it is! I love the colorful gumdrops and the snow icing!

Now.... the finale - a tour of the house


Front view with a beautiful purple wreath over the top with a lovely bow. A gumdrop flower garden and a candy lined walkway!




Skip around to the side to see the lovely candy lined base and beautiful icicles. Please note the random red wreath? atop the middle of the roof. This in true gingerbread house fashion is the coverup of a rooftop decorating mistake! :) Love it!



And the back with an exquisite evergreen tree under an arch of color and a lovely red heart (just in case you couldn't tell what it was)!



Ta-Da!!!!

Decorating the house was more fun than I expected. I don't think I've made a house since elementary school! It takes you back to being a kid again. The whole point is the colors, the sticky mess, and your imagination! I think this is a new wintertime tradition. Next year I have plans to use food coloring and dye some of the frosting different colors!

before winter fully sets in

This is a quick post, because I have to run a few errands before I head off to work. My last night of night float and more importantly... The Office is on tonight! The good news of the morning was I found out the resident I work with also loves The Office - now all we need is no one to be delivering babies around 9-9:30 this evening.



It snowed a little more today, but nothing is sticking yet. The ground is still too warm and not enough snow. So before winter completely takes over I'm posting a few fall pics I never got around to posting earlier.


I like this tree, because the color of the leaves slowly change from the top of the tree to the bottom.

I haven't forgotten you

It's been a while. Night float hasn't been too bad thus far. I've been able to sleep the nights I have been on. The exciting things that have happened since being on L&D which I did not get a chance to write about earlier. I was able to deliver a baby! A resident was right by my side and helped suction the little one while I just held on - amazed. Even though babies come out in blue/grayish, covered in gunk it's still amazing each and every time. The Ob doc hands them off to the nurse or pediatrician and is right back to mom. The peds dry off, suction, stimulate, etc getting the baby to cry wake up and turn pink. Then there's that moment after the baby looks like a baby and is all bundled when mom and baby are united. It gets me every time.

In other news of the area. Yesterday was SNOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ok maybe not snow snow, but FLURRIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I hope you can gather the excitement that I am feeling about this.

still exciting

I have not forgotten you. I've just been very tired after work and yesterday I went to see the new James Bond movie - in which I pulled a Nava and fell asleep for part of it. I'm off today for an early T-giving with Rich (a good friend of mine from school here) and his sister and her friends this evening. I'm not sure when I will be back to write more and fill you in on the rest of my first week on L&D - probably sometime on Sunday night or Monday day. I will be back to work on Sunday at 5:30pm and will be working until about 7-7:30 am or so. This is my week working as night float. We'll see how much I can mess up my sleeping schedule!

but I can say the remainder of the week continued to be exciting!

Pimping

Today, I was pimped. what? you might be thinking. Pimping in medical school refers to an attending (the doctor in charge of the med students & residents) or a resident who asks us questions. This can either be done with good intentions to help us learn or more maliciously to demonstrate to us our inferiority. Thankfully for me, my attending this rotation is awesome. He pimps in a friendly sort of way as he told us on our first day of orientation.
My one big pimping question for the day was to come up with 20 reasons for a C-section. Ready go!....

Let's just say this took me a while, with quite a few wrong guesses and with the help of some nurses and a 4th year medical student. But I learned. I'm going to attempt to list all 20 reasons from memory for you.

1. non-reassuring fetal heart tones
2. gastrochesis (when part of the abdominal wall is missing and guts are spilling out of it - no sac covering it, if a sac were covering it then it's an omphalecele)
3. Breech position or abnormal positioning
4. macrosomia (large baby - must be over a certain size, but this I do not remember)
5. Multiple gestation (twins with one baby presenting abnormally)
6. Abnormal Labor (failure to progress, etc)
7. placenta accreta
8. placenta previa
9. placenta abruptio
10. Herpes outbreak
11. HIV
12. Infection
13. previous uterine surgery
14. aortic stenosis
15. trauma, maternal death
16. cancer - gyn
17. cervical fibroid
18. previous classical CS
19. repeat CS
20. elective CS
21. cerclage (the 4th year came up with this one)

There you have it. the list. I'll admit I did have to cheat and look at my notes for about 5 of them.

Now on to the EXCITING part of my day.
I got to scrub in on 2 of the C-sections today AND I delivered a placenta! After the baby is delivered the uterus is pulled out of the mom and placed on her stomach. It's amazing how small the uterus becomes right after the baby is born. It contracts and clamps down to a much smaller size. It truly is fascinating. Outside of the body I think the uterus sort of looks like an uncooked chicken or turkey. Pulling the uterus out allows the physician to exam the uterus, the fallopian tubes, etc and I think grabbing the uterus helps stimulate it to contract. Also, drugs are given to augment contraction. I was allowed to follow the umbilical cord into the uterus and feel where it inserted on the placenta. Then he had me place my hand under his and he removed his had and had me move my hand in between the placenta and the uterus. I was basically scraping the placenta off the uterine wall. It was cool. Then he had the 4th year student stitch her up and we were on our way.
Watching the C-section was fascinating. It reminded me how much I enjoyed anatomy lab and dissecting the cadavers. The human body is amazing. I can't really describe how cool it is to see how different layers of the body separate from one other and that it's ok to just pull out a woman's uterus and plop it on her stomach stitch it up and plop it back in.
I'm interested to see if this becomes old had seeing C-sections and how much I enjoy gyn surgery. This is the one field I thought may pull me from my passion for family medicine. Even though it's only been 2 days - I don't know. I just don't know. Only time will tell if it's so exciting and interesting because it's new or because this is IT.

Blood & Guts - Oh My!

1st day on L&D (labor and delivery). I'll sum it up in a few words for you in no particular order: gas, wait, vomit, push, poop, blood, fluid, lots of fluid, crying, babies.

There you have it mashed down to a handful of words - the glorious bringing of life into this world.

I would love to write more, but it's 7pm and I haven't eaten anything since lunch. I must read before bed, because I will be working with an attending and a 4th year resident tomorrow. Rest is much needed, because I am hoping tomorrow is a busy eventful day for me!

tata for now!

Peds

So my pediatric rotation is over! bye bye York - Hello home!!!!! I'm so very happy to be back in my own bed at my own place. Once again I am able to take a shower without wearing sandals and can fall asleep without the sound of a flying helicopter. Oh the luxury. I took my Peds shelf exam (test at the end of each rotation) on Friday and then enjoyed my weekend. I do apologize for the long hiatus without writing.


the view from my room at York. Please note the helicopter pad not more than 500 yards from my window.



Here's my beautiful room - we've starting the packing process and were getting ready to head home!

Now the question arises, could I see myself as a Pediatrician? My answer is I don't think so. I do enjoy kids and the newborns. Healthy little kiddos can be very cute and entertaining. There is also a lot of parental education involved in Pediatrics - more than I realized before. Patient education is very important and an aspect of medicine that I do enjoy. Ingrained in the specialty is the concept of preventative medicine, which I think is of the utmost importance. So you're probably wondering why not peds? For the most part there are happy little tykes who come to the doctor for their well-child visits, but those kids in that age range where stranger anxiety has set in and they scream throughout an entire encounter are not for me. I'm talking about kids who shiver in fear of the doctor and sit there crying while I'm just talking to mom - not even touching them. I'm sorry, but I would rather not deal with that a few times a day. Once in a while I could handle it, but not everyday. There is also too much talk about poop! All babies - are they drinking/eating and pooping ok. Mom's will come to you with all sorts of questions about poop. The frequncy, consistency, color, etc. Heck, they'll even bring in diapers to show you. I myself may one day fall victim and become a poop watcher if I have my own children. But I don't feel the need to hear about poop 15x's a day. An adult conversation is needed every once in a while. I think peds is a good speciality with a lot to offer certain people. It's also needed, because raising healthy kids and educating parents on how to do that is a difficult thing.

There is more. I learned that I highly doubt inpatient hospital medicine is for me. I hate waking up patient's early in the morning who are trying to recover in order to get a history of the previous days events and perform an exam. Discussing patient's during rounds is alright. (rounds - is where the team who is caring for the floor or a group of patient's gets together and goes over all of the patient's on the floor and what the plan is for them, etc). Then during inpatient you order tests that need to be done that day and then you sit and wait. Wait for one of the patient's to need you or you wait for new patient's to be admitted. I do not feel I see enough patient's while on service in the hospital and you only know them for a brief bit before they are off and on their way. The other big deterrent from inpatient is the smell. Thank goodness the Peds floor didn't smell, but there was another adult unit I walked through to get to peds that reeked. Not cool.

So there you have it a brief summary of my peds experience. I still have more stories to tell from there and will hopefully get to them soon.

Now I'm on to my next adventure (if you want to call it that) - the world of obstetrics and gynecology. I have heard my classmates describe babies looking like aliens and placentas smelling like egg yolk. Oh the fun I have to look forward to!

Making History

Yes We Can!
I helped make history yesterday. I exercised my right to vote, even though I didn't get a sticker to prove it :( Oh well. I stayed up late enough to find out the results, but went to bed before Obama's acceptance speech. I watched it today on my computer though. Yesterday truly was history in the making. I do not think it's fully sunk in that something has changed. Watching his acceptance speech seemed surreal, because when you say President of the United States - I don't necessarily see a picture of George Bush pop into my head, but rather a generic image of an old white guy. That's about to change!
I'm sitting here trying to think about what to write. I'm stuck - all I have is a feeling. America jus took a big step forward. It feels big. Now all we can do is hope it turns out good.




Picture of celebratory cupcakes mel and I made!

self diagnosing

I know, I know - I have stories to fill you in on that I've been hinting at, but have yet to write about. Soon, I will get there. The weekend's busy with relaxing and studying. I have a test coming up on Friday. Worked today and have a 1/2 days for the rest of the week. VOTING TOMORROW!!!!!!

They say as medical students go through medical school that oftentimes we will become hypochondriacs and self-diagnose ourselves. I went to the doctor once and he specifically asked me what we were studying in school, because he wanted to know if that's where my symptoms were coming from. I've been pretty good at not falling into this trap. In 2nd year during every organ system block (cardio, gastrointerology, hematology, etc) I did choose which diseases I thought were the worst and would never want to get, but I didn't usually come down with the signs and symptoms. Well...the other day while studying I came across something that explains nearly perfectly something I have had for a few years, but never really worried about. It's a random sharp chest pain I would get once every few months, no association with anything, etc.

Below is what I've diagnosed myself with...

"Precordial catch syndrome is a benign cause of chest wall pain. It is by far the most common cause of chest pain in children but is of unknown etiology. It occurs most commonly in adolescents and is characterized by sudden, sporadic onset of sharp pain, usually along the left sternal border, which is often exacerbated with deep inspiration. These pains are brief, lasting seconds to a few minutes, and resolve spontaneously. The pain can often be "broken" with a forced deep inspiration."

I've never tried the forced deep inspiration to break the pain. Next time I'll know what to try ;)

Happy Halloween Part 2

I found something else that might scare you. This one makes my stomach churn. I can look at blood and see water gush out of a woman's uterus/vagina (bed I surprised you there! - I saw some births over the past few days, which I will write about soon). In the mean time below is a picture of something that if I stare at it long enough makes my tummy feel funny. And yet I keep looking because I have a certain fascination with it.
My Aunt Edwina sent this to me in an email today. She works at a wildlife refuge outside of Willows.
This was outside our back door at work this morning. Someone saw this outside their backdoor at work on the wall.

Here's here e-mail:
It is about 2 inches from front legs to the back legs. It is covered with babies. Rachel (co-worker) saw on the morning news if you were to see a spider on Halloween it meant that your deceased loved ones are watching over you. Happy Halloween. Ed

I guess all the babies are there to make sure everyone at work is being watched over today!

I highly suggest clicking on the picture - this way it will make it larger so you can get the full effect and really appreciate the 100s of babies on the spider's back! ewww...

Happy Halloween!

Creepy, crawly, it's that spooky time of year!

Below are some pictures of various decorations that are scattered about my house.

Here's a link to a scary story to spook your imagination.
The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe.
Tell me that a dismembered heart doesn't scare you!

Happy Birthday G-ma!

Here's a little Happy Birthday post for my Grandma Ann!
I Love You!





And a couple of fall pictures from this year that I promised.
Lots to tell - I've been busy these past few days, but it's nearing my bedtime so I will have to post about the excitement later in the week!

Giving Back

I don't know why, but recently I have been thinking about Trinity a lot. Partially I guess in reference to my last post. The subject of college came up again in a conversation this past weekend, which of course always takes me back. I wouldn't give up those 4 years for anything. Trinity prepared me well for medical school and life. The dorm experience and being part of the Trinity bubble for 4 years was a wonderful experience. I enjoyed watching the campus change over my 4 years there & I look forward to the day that I get to travel back to SA town to eat at those familar resturants and wander around a campus that is sure to have changed since I left.

Last night my phone rang with a 210-999-xxxx number, which signifies an on-campus number. I didn't answer because I was busy and later put together that it's Phone-a-thon season. Soon students will be calling to ask for donations for scholarships. Well tonight they tricked me. Anonymous came up on my phone tonight & the curiosity got to me - I answered it. A little while later I had donated $20.06 to Trinity in recognition of my graduation year. And you know what - it made me feel good. To give back if even just a little to a place that has given me so much.

Thank you TU and thanks to all of the amazing people I met there who shaped my experience and me.

Round 3

Deja vu - that's the feeling I have about this year. It's taken me 3 times, but I now recognize the pattern. Here I am in my 3rd year on the brink of rest of my life. I've stood here 2 other times - as a junior in highschool and in college. Again I am realizing that after this year I have one year left, before I move onto the rest of my life. In high school that meant applying for college, anxiously awaiting with my fingers crossed for acceptance letters.



Flash forward 4 years - there I was as a junior at Trinity, compulsively checking my email for med school interview opportunities and daily checking my mailbox hoping for the infamous thick envelope deciding where I would spend my next 4 yrs.



Flash forward 4 years again realizing that hopefully I have 1 year left on the east coast before I once again move onto the rest of my life. Yes - I've changed, I've grown, and I've learned. The funny thing is that the emotions are still the same. Excited yet scared. Wanting to explore my surroundings that much more, because I only have 1 year left. Knowing that I will be leaving my friends here for another one of life's great adventures. We will always be connected by medical school. As I am connected to my childhood friends from Willows and my Trinity friends.
I look ahead at the year and now realize these feelilngs I've felt before. It's odd. In less than a year I will repeat what I did 4 years ago - apply for residency and then compulsively check my email for the opportunity to interview. Then cross my fingers and hope I match on that infamous day in March.



In a way after next year I will repeat this cycle one more time. Residency for 3-5 years or more depending on the specialty I choose. Then interviewing for a job.
Cyclic just like the seasons...

an escape

Quick post tonight, because I just got done working a 16 hr shift. The last few hours I've just been studying, but we were pretty this afternoon/early evening visiting kids in the ED and deciding who to admit and who to send home. It was a good, but tiring day. So now it's shower time and then bedtime - repeat tomorrow (only 11 hr day!)

Today I thought I would share with you one of my daily pleasures - reading my mom's cousin Corey's blog. (not that I don't enjoy reading Ashley, Nava's, and now Sammy's blog) Corey is pretty faithful about posting everyday and takes beautiful photos. Her latest entries have been of pictures from the Musee d'Orsay in Paris (where I visited 7 years ago!). Her blog is often times my little break from reality - transporting me to France, to antique markets, and famous museums even if only for a few minutes.
Here's a link: http://willows95988.typepad.com/

It's Here, It's Here!!!!

Fall has finally arrived. The cool crisp air that hits your face and fills your lungs making you feel completely alive.

The leaves are starting to turn, the breeze is picking up.



Warm sweatshirts, hot cocoa, and the outdoors calling my name.

This weekend there will be a picnic - outside amongst the leaves!

Ahh... the changing of the seasons to remind one of the cyclic nature of the year and our lives. A reminder to enjoy each moment, for fall will be fleeting and soon winter will set in with snowflakes and the holidays!

So get out there and enjoy the weather. Go for a walk, take a deep breath and breathe in the beauty of fall.

P.S. These pictures are from prior years! I haven't had time to take pictures this year, but will this weekend. Pics from this year to follow. and don't think I've forgotten I owe you all pics of my dorm here in York. I will eventually get to them I promise! :)