BUNKO!

(Today's picture is the result of a google image search for "gout,").

So I finally played Bunko for the first time tonight. Michelle (my new temporary roomie) invited me to play with her group and I was thrilled to go, because I've heard a lot about it but never had the chance to play. I enjoyed it, and would play again....but maybe I didn't drink enough, because it was just ok. Perhaps it was because I only knew 2 of the other 11 people there, or the fact that I didn't win a single prize, but like I said, it was fun, and I'd play again.

Moving on...the last two days at work have been pretty good. On Monday my usual preceptor was not there, but instead it was a female PA who is actually a graduate from my school. She comes in twice monthly to do a bunch the women's annual exams, because a lot of the ladies in town don't feel so comfortable with a male doing their PAPs, especially a male who is their neighbor. She ended up being great: super laid back, full of good advice and really friendly - which made for a great day.

Today Edwin was back and we tackled a reasonably full schedule. I wasn't doing a whole lot before lunch, mostly shadowing him, and I actually had an hour during lunch to come home and take a super quick power nap (rare!). After lunch, it was like my preceptor had read my mind, because he threw me into a bunch of work! I ran a couple of appointments mostly by myself, did another male rectal exam (the poor gentleman was so nice about it), and even wrote up about half of the chart notes for the day. Oh, and at the end of the day we had a very precocious 8 year old boy come in who had a big gash on his head...I was the lucky one who got to inject the anesthetic around the cut before we stapled it...try getting an 8 year old to stay still while you're sticking a needle into his head!! I have to laugh though because the kid was trying to be very brave, so despite the fact that I probably injected the anesthetic all wrong, he insisted that it didn't hurt. Points for me.

I realize more everyday that there is a lot I need to work on, but I'm ok with that. So what if I thought a case of gout was a staph infection? So what if I had NO CLUE what the treatment for gout was?! I'll know next time, right? Besides, these patients just crack me up. For some reason there is a disproportionate number of senior citizens in this area. And I don't mean your average 65 year old. I see a handful of people in their 80's and 90's every day. Today's superstar senior was a 95 year old guy who couldn't hear a word of what I was saying. I was talking so loudly to him in the exam room that all the office staff had heard me word for word. So much for patient confidentiality. Either way, as much as I've sworn I'd never go into geriatrics, I can definately appreciate that the older folks don't bitch and whine. They've been through so much in their lives that dealing with an idiot PA student isn't the worst thing in the world....and I appreciate that.

Tomorrow is a busy day in the office as the family nurse practitioner, Mitch, will also be there all day. There is barely enough room for just Edwin and his staff, but add Mitch and I and it just gets hectic. On the plus side, I get to go with whoever has the most interesting patient, so it should make for an interesting day.

-Jen-