Doxie Luau

Several months ago Sief found out from some LOL (little old lady) who befriended Buster that every October there are dachshund races in Tucson.  I got online and found... Meetup which has a Dachshund Lovers group.  I've been following the group now for several months, but due to my schedule have been unable to go to any of the events.  Sief was able to go to a dinner fundraiser with Buster while I was on my rural rotation - they had a Doxie fashion show and had their picture taken together.

Well, today I was finally able to make it to an event (after changing my plane ticket as I also flew home today for vacation). 

Doxie Luau

Penny and Buster got to make many friends - I didn't count but probably at least 30 dachshunds.  Short hairs, long hairs, wired hairs, dapples, and 1 piebald (that's Penny)! 

 

doxies, doxies, everywhere

 U of A fan!

 We nicknamed this one "shorts" or captain America - you choose.  

Notice the puka shell necklace.

The highlight of the luau was doxie games.

1.  Relay race

Rules:  2 separate teams, you have to tie a small piece of cloth around your doxie's tail, run to your other teammate across the lawn and trade off the piece of cloth with that doxie - run back and forth switching until it's over. 



Penny & Buster were on different teams and.... Penny's team won!!!!

Below is a clip of Penny's victory lap with her prize - a squeaky hot dog toy.



2.  Doppleganger - or something like that -basically find your twin
No wiener looked like Penny.  But Buster found a twin!  She is a small 8 year old female named Holly.

 

They looked even more alike from the top.

 
 Sadly they didn't win either.  Poor Buster.


3.  Bobbing for Biscuits!
Rules:  treats were put in the bottom of a bucket with water, some treats float, some sink - first doxie to finish all their treats wins!
 
Well, well, well....this sounds like its right up one of my wiener's alley.
Buster - he is crazy for food!   

There were 3 heats.  Buster won his heat and....he won the CHAMPIONSHIP!!!  Go my little piggy.

Happy Spring!

Get outside and enjoy the beautiful weather!  Sunshine :)

and flowers!

Love the Wieners!

Back to the Big City!

Last month I spent working in small town Arizona - near double-sized reflection of my small little hometown.  Let me say that little place kept me busy and on my toes for those 4 weeks.  I have learned and seen sooooooooooo much in my one month there - it has been amazing.  I spent the month working with a group of 3 family physicians in their private practice.  They deliver babies, do c-sections, and see their own patients in the hospital.  Most days I would see any moms and babies in the hospital and then round on the sick patients in the hospital.  After which the physician from the practice on call would come and review the patients with me.  Then we would head off to clinic for the day - heading back to the hospital as needed to check on laboring patients or patients on the hospital floor.  It was busy to say the least.
 
Since I wanted to gain as much experience as possible, I spent every night on call - mainly for the OB patients.  Waiting for them to deliver.  Let me tell you - those first few weeks, my sleep pattern was all awry.  Even though OB was the most exciting part of the rotation, the best part though of the entire month was the continuity.  I would see moms in clinic for routine OB checks, then in the hospital for delivery, and then a week later in clinic for their post-partum check along with the new little addition to their family.
It was the same for some of the patients that ended up in the hospital - I saw them in clinic, in the hospital for multiple days and then again for a hosptial follow up.  That was a large part of why I went into family medicine - to see and care for patients over time.

The month was a breathe of fresh air - reminding me of the way family medicine can be practiced.  To see family docs "doing it all."

I'm glad to be back in Tucson (and have been for 3 weeks - I'm a little delayed in my posting) - to be back with the people I care about, but I will miss my small town Arizona and their clothing optional hot springs.  haha

Below pictures from a hike nearby where I worked!

They liked me!  My goodbye cake! :)

Revival of my blog

Sooooo for the majority of intern year my blog has been neglected.  No real big surprise there.  Well - I'm tired of that and so many other things.  For most of the year I have just been go go go go.  No time to look up, no time to take in a moment to breathe or even reflect on what has happened the past year.  Seriously - I feel like I put my head down and just go through the motions.  Knowing it's supposed to be tough, knowing I'm supposed to be pushed, to work harder than I've ever worked in my entire life.
Don't get me wrong there are some good times, patients I enjoy, etc.  But it's the same - keep moving.  Have fun when you are off, because they're won't be time for it later.
Well - I'm back.  I've decided I deserve 5 minutes of me time everyday and my blog deserves a little TLC.

So here you go - post 1 of the revival of my blog.

While I was away on my rural rotations, Sarah came to visit and I took her to a local hot spot.  That's where the attendings told me I had to take her.  "It's one of the reasons people come here to visit."  Ok I said.

The locale?  Natural hot springs.  The choice? A nicer place with tiled bottomed floors and chlorinated water or ... a hippie place where it's a more natural feel with free flowing water, private clothing optional rooms.  Where did we go?  The choice was easy!

Hippie Place - HERE WE COME!

Interested little gift shop - kind of reminds you of grandma's house.

Our little Asian themed hot spring room.  That black painted PVC pipe would be the handrail to the steps inside the pool.

Sarah enjoying the hot spring.  Ok - maybe more like a sauna.  It was not the best planned out trip as it was 90 something degrees that day!

Now for the full effect - this is what the little rooms look like from the outside.  Oh so nice!

More...um...yeah - you get the picture.

Small Town America

WoW!  It's been over a month since I've blogged.  And well, I've been working.  6 days a week, 12 hour days - doesn't leave much time for blogging.  I got 8 days off in 2 months.  Thankfully that stretch is over.

Now I've moved on to small town america.  How would one describe Willows, CA?
population ~5,000-6,000 people
1-2 main streets (4 stop lights)
Wal Mart, Starbucks, and fast food
anything else?

Where I am at for the next 4 weeks - Safford, AZ
population ~9,000 people
2 main streets (>4 stop lights)
Super Wal Mart, Starbucks - inside a Safeway, and fast food
hospital and medical center where family docs do it all!

I am at the start of my rural family medicine month is Safford, Arizona, a near equivalent to Willows, just a little bigger.  The cool thing here is that family docs do everything.  Today was my first day and it included: inducing labor, rounding on patients in the hospital, going to clinic, seeing a patient in the Emergency department, admitting 2 patients to the hospital, and now waiting for the deliver to happen.
Crazy?!!!!

I'm hoping this busy trend keeps up and I'm able to do and see a lot.
The house I'm staying at doesn't have internet, so I may not be able to upload photos until after I get back to Tucson.

Racing Wieners?!

The Wienerschnitzel Nationals are coming to Tucson - March 3rd.  Not sure if I can make it, but I'm sure Buster would be able to win.

Back to work

I've been back for two weeks now from vacation.  That first week back seems so very tough.  By the end of last week, I was zonked- I felt so completely drained.  Saturday night I went to bed at 9pm and slept in until 7:30am.  Heck, I was happy that was 10 hrs of sleep.

Right now I'm on inpatient medicine - which means that I work in my base hospital and take care of adults who are in the hospital for various problems - ranging from shock to heart attacks, from pneumonia to osteomyelitis (bone infections), from diverticulitis to altered mental status, from deep venous thromboembolism to urinary tract infections and everything in between.  It is interesting to say the least.  It is one of our harder rotations, but also one that I learn A LOT nearly everyday.

I was going to take the time in this post to share with a quick view of what an average day is like, because if you've ever been a patient or a visitor of a patient in a hospital - you are probably wondering where is the doctor?

I wake up between 4:45-5:00 am, let the dogs outside before Penny decides to pee in the house.  Feed the dogs bfast.  Shower (or not if I did the night before), throw on some scrubs, grab a quick bfast then head out the door by 5:30-5:40.  Sign out (which is where the night doctor tells us if any significant events happened overnight with our patients.  Then 6:15-6:30ish we look at any new labs online, vital signs, etc and go see the patients.  We meet at around 8:00-8:30 and round with the attending.  (This schedule is what happens in a teaching hospital where there are residents - in other settings some of these steps are removed and many physicians still run clinics during the days while they check in on their patients either in the mornings or evenings).  Rounding consists of us presenting the patient's to our boss.  Going over the new problems, what we are doing to fix the problem, physical exam, etc.  This is where a lot of our teaching happens.  After rounds, the we go back to put orders - such as changes in medication, diet, new tests needed, etc.

In the afternoon we work on getting discharge paperwork finished.  There is A LOT of paper work that has to be filled out to get patient's discharged from the hospital.  In addition, we often have to act like detectives trying to track down old medical records or call pharmacy's to find out the dose of patient's medication, because.... well - they often don't know what their medications are or if they know the meds, they don't know the doses, etc.  We also call consults if we need a specialist opinion, follow up tests, and admit new patients that come in from the emergency department or the clinic.  Which surprisingly can keep us busy all afternoon.  In addition - nurses are calling asking questions.  Each time the phone rings - I think to myself silently, please let me able to answer this question.  My knowledge is growing, but I still have a LOOOONNNNGGGG way to go.

This keeps us busy all afternoon until evening signout at 5pm, where we tell the night team what to watch out for, who to follow up with, etc.  That takes us until 5:30-6pm and thus there is your 12 hour day x 6 days a week.  Whew - let me tell you it wears on you and man am I tired by the end of the week.

Tomorrow I promise a fun blog post that will be sure to make you smile :)