A Vacation in Eyes of a Patient

I have officially started my 2 week vacation.  YaY!  2 weeks of freedom, sleeping in,  2 weeks away from the hospital and patients....or not ;)

Life is a constant journey and learning does not stop when vacation starts.  Since the start of my vacation, I have spent some time each day in a hospital.  I am not held down by the weight of my white coat, nor do I know the halls like the back of my hand.  My stethoscope does not  hang across my neck and the patient's in the rooms are not my responsibility, well all but one.  Grandma Ann is mine.  My job is to sit, keep her company, and try to get her to eat.  No orders to write, no heart to listen to - my time is spent nearly on the opposite end of where I spend my working days.  Not quite a patient, but a family member - watching and waiting.

I've learned a lot in the past 3 days.  Observation is an extremely valuable tool.  I notice details that as a physician writing orders and stopping in to see the patient once maybe twice in a day that I otherwise miss. I hope that as a family physician, I do better at looking at the entire patient and addressing all of their needs compared to a specialist.  That is what my training is supposed to do.  I'm learning so much right now.  I watch and see more of what the nurses do - how much time it takes to check on each of their patients, to change IV meds, etc.  I listen as my grandma's roommate calls for someone to help her to the bathroom, not once, but twice in a 20 minute period and does not get help until her visitor finally steps out into the hall to get someone.

It's weird to be in a hospital and have no power.  To anyone passing by, I'm sure I look like my grandmother's 15 year old grand daughter sitting on the bed next to her.  Or maybe college aged.  I ask a lot of questions and maybe seem to know more than an average teenager.  They probably believe I hope to be pre-med or maybe they just see me as one of those annoying family members who asks too much.  I try to sit back and let things happen, but it's hard to see her in pain and not be able to go write an order for more pain medication.

After spending this time with my grandma, I know the next time I walk into my own hospital - white coat and stethoscope on my outlook will be slightly different.  I will be reminded to look at the bigger picture - to try and take the time to care for the entire patient, to better explain the treatment and what is happening.  How long will my new found knowledge last?  a few days? a week?  a month?  Hopefully it will be incorporated into my daily routine and will not be something that falls to the wayside as my work increases and the time I have to do it in decreases.

Here's to a vacation full of learning.  My education continues tomorrow...

A doggone good day!

Great weekend so far.
Friday night, Sarah and I made grown up mac and cheese and had another friend over.  We just lounged around, drank some wine, watched some tv, and laughed A LOT.  It always feels so good to have a nice good long laugh and to just be silly.
Buster included - he has a new game - it's called, "put my chin on your mouth while lying down."  For whatever reason when you lie on the ground, Buster runs up and puts his chin on your mouth and if you move he moves his head to keep his chin on your mouth.  It's ridiculous!  I'll have to get a video soon and post it.

Today, we went out for dim sum.  It was mediocre at best, but I didn't expect much seeing as we are in Tucson.  The dim sum will do in a pinch, but doesn't hold a candle to San Francisco.  Even the dim sum in the San Fran airport was better.  But the dim sum in the airport was 3x's as expensive.
Next up on the list was taking Buster and Penny to Reid park.
At Reid park, Buster proceeded to chase the ducks and geese, until.....one of the geese turned and started trotting toward him.  You can bet he turned and bolted.

Next up at Reid park was the dog park.  This is the nicest dog park, I've ever been to.  There was a section for big dogs and another section for little dogs.  Penny and Buster had a blast running around the dog park.  Well not exactly.  I think Penny was freaked out half the time, but she did a pretty good job.  She followed me most of the time, but she did make a few friends.  Buster on the other hand ran wild.  At one time he was being chased by 4 dogs, leading the pack.  I thought it was all fun for Booster, until Sarah informed me he was being violated and.... sure enough as soon as he stopped this little Chihuahua like dog started to lick Buster's wee wee.  Then Buster would run and then Oscar, the Chihuahua would start humping him.  Poor Buster.  Oscar was another little boy dog, wearing a red collar with a red flower on it.  He was infatuated with Buster.  Sarah had to pick Buster up to keep Oscar away and Oscar would just follow Sarah around, jumping up and down trying to get to Buster.  Oscar's mom finally got him, but eventually he found Buster again.

Here's a picture of Aunt Sarah saving Buster from Oscar.

After the park, we got frozen yogurt with another friend and her kids, then off to dinner.  

Here are the babies snuggle buggin' after their long fun filled day!

Hope you are all enjoying your weekend.  I will be in the hospital tomorrow, working all day long!  

Resident nightlife

Or should I say lack there of.
Average evening - lucky enough to get off a little early and had time to the take the dogs for a walk.  Ate some dinner, watched a little TV and now up writing clinic notes, eating hot chocolate, with a doggie in my lap.
Hey - it could be worse :)

Part 3 to present

Most recent hike.  "Hiking through residency" hike #2 - apparently these are quarterly hikes!  I need to go much more often.  There are sooooooo many places to go, just not enough time.

Hiking pals - Penny and Buster.

Honeybee Canyon - it's a flat hike that is supposed to be good for taking children and doggies (or at least little doggies like mine)

If you look closely you can see snow on the mountains!  

Maybe you can see it now?!  It does snow here and get cold, brrrr...

Nice wide trail, helps to keep the doggies out of the cacti.  

90% of the walk I had one hand out in front holding Buster back and the other hand behind me dragging Penny along.  Walking 2 dogs is harder than it looks!

--------

Now I know it's sunny in those pictures and I will admit that it was warmer that day than I expected.  Wearing my ski socks and a sweatshirt made me a bit over dressed and a little sweaty by the end of the hike.  

But I swear it does get cold here.  About a week ago, I woke up to get ready for work - walked in and went to the bathroom, I flushed the toilet and as I was standing at the sink, thought to myself that sounds funny.... Hmm... I turned on the faucet and had my answer.  A trickle of water came through the tap.  Uh oh.  That's when I realized that our pipes had froze!  Didn't expect that in Arizona now did you?  Well neither did we.  I was on call the whole day, but Sief wrapped our pipes and thankfully we got home all had been fixed.  He also left a faucet downstairs dripping to release pressure in the pipes ( i know not eco-friendly, but better than busted pipes).  Apparently relieving pressure is what prevents the pipes from bursting.  

Golden weekend this weekend - both Saturday & Sunday off!  Yippee!  What shall I do???

catching up - Part 2

One of the most exciting events of the year - a new family member!!! 

Introducing... BUSTER!!!!

(I stole the name from my mom - named after Giant's rookie of the year - Buster Posey)

He's Sief's baby boy :)  Yeah!

And he's the exact opposite of Penny.  He's fun, energetic, runs everywhere, and is always wagging his tail!

Here's nap time at the Chun/Naser household.  

Every boy needs to rest!

This year I went all out for Christmas - yup real tree and all!  Not some small 4 feet tree.  No, no, no - go big or go home.  6-7 footer!  Thank you very much!  She was a beauty too!  

Penny and Buster ornaments made my their grandma!  They survived the year without getting chewed - I was pretty impressed :)

My lovely tree in all her glory, minus a tree topper - next year!

A surprise fun purple tree from my boy.

And penguins, too!

My favorite ornament - attached to a lamp before I had my tree.

A view of the kitchen!  I also had garland going up the stairs with fake poinsettias.

Almost caught up.  One more post and I'll be there.  Going to sleep now - I have some sleep to catch up on before work tomorrow!  

Catching up - Part 1

New's year resolution - be a better blogger.
So here's me catching up via pictures for the last few months/half a year that I've been a bad blogger.
This of course is all the fun stuff I've done.  I don't have pictures of my clinic or the hospital.  ;)

At the Scavenger Dash, I entered a raffle and WON!  Tickets to a BBQ cookoff!  Of course I took Sief and it was SUPER YUMMY!

BBQ COOKOFF

Prime Rib and garlic mash!  

Mini double backed potato, caramelized onions and some sort of meat! 

Sief's professional shot - notice how he got the BBQ smoke rising in the background.

Pretty golf course - site where the cook off was at!

Next up was the "All Souls Procession," which is a Tucson spin off of the Day of the Dead.  Tucsonians come together one evening and have a procession through part of downtown Tucson.  Many in costume.  The procession is to celebrate the life and memory of those who have passed the year before.  Penny joined us in the event.  Sorry the pictures are poor, but there were literally thousands of people and it was dark out.  One of my favorite displays was a fake goose covered in oil being escorted by people dressed in jumpsuits as if cleaning up the oil spill.

Sief with appropriate skull attire.

Happy Thanksgiving!  I was lucky enough to have Thanksgiving Day off, but was not prepared!  Which means I made a trip to the grocery store on Thanksgiving morning - always a good plan!  Sarah came over and helped me cook and we had another co-resident of Sief's over to celebrate with us.  

No turkey, but still delicious if you ask me  :)

Sarah making butternut squash risotto.

Cheese and fruit plate.  Brie, herb coated goat cheese, and smoked gouda.

homemade hummus!

Trader Joe's stuffing, anyone?

Risotto all done!

Chicken (not turkey) stuffed with cranberry apple stuffing.

Crescent rolls.  Not Aunt Ed's cornmeal rolls, but still good and a lot less work.

green bean casserole - I insisted on making :(  not next year.  Worst dish by far.

Full and happy!

More to come tomorrow!  Update - Thanksgiving to now!