Snakes, stitches and shots (the injected kind)

Sooooo....three days in and I'm loving this rotation so far. It's definately not easy at all, but that is probably what I like about it. The first day I was there was a 10.5 hour long adrenaline rush. It just happened to be kind of a nutty day: 2 emergency wounds that required stitching, both of which happened right in the middle of lunch when I was there and my preceptor was not. Not that I treated either of them by myself, but it sure put the fear of God in me when I saw someone's belly ripped right open!!! Luckily my boss was just across the street and he was there within a couple minutes to take care of it, and he even let me put in a few stitches too, which was very generous of him.

So far its been kind of a "see one, do one" thing in the office. I watch Edwin (my preceptor) do a shoulder exam for someone, so the next time a sore shoulder comes in, I do the exam, and then he critiques. Luckily, this also goes for procedures, so I've gotten to do 2 trigger point injections (shots of novocaine into a spasming muscle), freeze some precancerous lesions and as previously mentioned, put in a few stitches. As cheesy as it sounds, however, I really do value the opportunity to do the simple stuff over and over: looking in ears, eyes, throats and noses, listening to lungs and hearts, and conducting the patient history. Today I got to see a ruptured ear drum on a 7 year old, and that was the coolest thing I saw all day!

Now....living in this town, let me tell you...there is no need to do any sort of a social or family history on ANY of the patients because everyone knows everyone. Seriously, it's such a small town, I can't quite even comprehend it yet. My preceptor has practiced in this town for 16 years and he knows everyone on a professional and personal level (so much for HIPPA). I really dig the small town way of life though, today the nurse's 8 month old daughter had fallen off a bed. so the nurse took her in to work for the first part of the day, and that was perfectly ok with everyone. When an elderly woman who doesn't drive needed a medication that was super expensive at the local pharmacy, but was only $4 at the Walmart in Eugene, the office billing specialist offered to have her husband pick it up in Eugene for the pt., because that is just what they do here. There was even a 4 foot bull snake right outside the clinic door today sunning itself (see picture above). Welcome to small town, Oregon!

Anyway, this is long enough, and I'll update again soon. As great as Oakridge is, I'm so looking forward to going home for the weekend to see my man and my dog! I love you all and hope you're doing well, and enjoying the sunshine that is trying to peek out.

-Jen-