An Irish Thanksgiving

I am sitting in gate B26 at the Denver International Airport, where they are kind enough to provide me with free wireless internet in an attempt to appease me and keep me from killing the super annoying family that has plopped themselves down right next to me. Usually it would be the kids who were the problem, but this time it is the parents. They are obviously tired and just keep bitching at each other about this and that and the other thing, and there is absolutely no way I can get up and leave because they have spread their luggage out in such a way that I am literally trapped.

Moving on, my Thanksgiving was fantastic. I only worked Monday (wahoo) and then flew out Tuesday morning to Philadelphia, where I spent the night at a super budget hotel near the airport. In the morning I got up and took the train into Philly where I did some sight-seeing and spent a couple of hours at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. I've never been to a big art museum before, so it was really cool for the first 2 hours. Then it was beyond boring so I left. I walked a few miles down to South Street where all the cool shops and cafes are. Still I managed to find myself a Starbucks (once a Seattle-ite, always a Seattle-ite) and read for a bit until my uncle from Delaware arrived at we met for dinner. After some delicious gyros we went back to the airport to pick up my mom as she arrived, then made our way down to my uncle's house in Wilmington, Delaware.

I finally got to meet my cousins, Onar (pronounced Honor) and Niamh (pronounced Neve) - they are Irish names. Anyway, I have met Onar only once at my high school graduation and she was just learning to walk. Now she's almost 9 years old, and little Niamh whom I've never met has just turned 4! They were so cool - being that my family emigrated when I was quite young, we never got to spend holidays with our cousins, so it was really nice to finally have a big family holiday. By the time the turkey was ready, we had my mom, her two brothers, their wives, my two cousins, my sister and I all around the table. We ate and drank and ate and drank...and then the songs started. My uncle Paul broke out his guitars and we sang along to the classic Irish tunes like Danny Boy, Cockles and Mussels, Spancil Hill, The Wild Rover and of course, The Parting Glass. We might as well have been home in Dublin, as the Irish spirit was truly alive on this American holiday.

I learned a lot about my mom's side of the family this holiday, and was finally able to get to know my relatives as an adult, and let them know who I was. I heard stories about their childhood, my distant family and long-dead ancestors. I tried to soak up as much of it as I could so that I can remember the stories and tell them to my own children when the time comes.

Now I'm just a layover and a 2 hour flight away from being back in Coeur d'Alene. It is hard not to be going "home" after a holiday like this, and I really miss CJ. Still, I have a job to do and I am determined to keep my attitude positive. I am looking forward to seeing my roomies, and have a date with one of them tonight to watch a $2 DVD we found about a female gang of kung-fu fighters. I intend to drink enough vodka tonics to make sure that the movie is FANTASTIC.

Here is a picture of my sister and I with our cousins:

Singing along with my Uncle Paul:
Here are the lyrics to Cockles and Mussels, a very popular Irish pub song:

In Dublin's fair city, where the girls are so pretty
I first set my eyes on sweet Molly Malone
As she wheeled her wheel-barrow
Through streets broad and narrow
Crying cockles and mussels, alive, alive-O!

Alive, alive-O! alive, alive-O!
Crying cockles and mussels, alive, alive-O!

She was a fish-monger, but sure 'twas no wonder
For so were her father and mother before
And they each wheeled their barrow
Through streets broad and narrow
Crying cockles and mussels, alive, alive-O!

Alive, alive-O! alive, alive-O!
Crying cockles and mussels, alive, alive-O!

She died of a fever, and no one could save her
And that was the end of sweet Molly Malone
But her ghost wheels her barrow
Through streets broad and narrow
Crying cockles and mussels, alive, alive-O!
Alive, alive-O! alive, alive-O!
Crying cockles and mussels, alive, alive-O!

I'm a happy little Irish girl. I hope all of your holidays were as full of joy as mine were.

Jen

Gossip

So last night I had to go to my first ever _____ (fill in worthless piece of junk here) party. You know, one of those horrible "parties" that women throw where the whole purpose is to sell you crap you don't need? Last night's was a Partylight candle party, and I absolutely had to go, because it was hosted HERE, by one of my roommates. Her aunt is the one that sells the crap, but apparently she was roped into "hosting." The other roommate and I just drank the free wine and rolled our eyes all night. I resisted buying a $21 candle....
Anyway, this story has a point:
Some of Amanda's (roomie #1 and hostess) family members were here and they were asking where I was working, etc. Turns out, they know my PA's nurse (she is only our nurse like 40% of the time, otherwise he has no nurse). Apparently this nurse, we'll call her Jane, is as crazy as they come. "Jane" dated Amanda's uncle, and was in the habit of faking pregnancies - one of which she faked all the way up to the ninth month, then one day while "the father" was out hunting, she apparently went into labor, got to the hospital, had the baby (it died) and drove herself back home....all in about 6 hours time. No funeral, no death certificate, no nothing. Obviously enough, they didn't date after that.
The members of Amanda's family were actually almost scared of this woman. They thoroughly warned me not to trust a word she says and not get close to her. There was also some talk that she never even went to nursing school and lied to get the job?? I'm not sure why she would still be working there or whatever, but this was apparently told to Amanda's aunt by one of the OTHER nurses who works in the office.

DRAAAAMA!!!

Now, I'll tell you this: when I first met "Jane," I thought to myself, "hmm...this seems like the kind of girl whose bad side I do not want to be one." She definitely had that streak of "I could screw things up for you" but I just always smile and I'm nice to her and we haven't had an issue. We are definitely not "close," so I suppose that works in my favor.

Now, I know better than to believe a gaggle of women point blank when they are gossiping about another woman, but I doubt the family members were exaggerating too much about the nurse. I could totally believe that she is kind of nuts. She has that look in her eyes.

I'll be observing closely in the upcoming months....for lack of anything else better to do.

Speaking of which, my preceptor sent me home early yesterday because there were SO FEW patients. This morning there were quite a few more so I saw 6 patients, which is enough to keep semi-busy with. This afternoon looks dead slow so I may try to weasel my way out early again...only because I'm leaving right afterward to head home to Hillsboro and see my other half!!

Otherwise the rotation is going better. Its been slow getting my preceptor to TALK to me...but slowly and surely he's opened up and it turns out there is just a ton of drama going on in his life at the moment....I no longer question why he was a bit distracted the first week. Instead, I see patients, do notes, and try to read something worthwhile when it is dead (I ran out of journals, moved onto my clinical dermatology book). I wouldn't say I am learning a whole lot of fresh information, but, I am getting a little faster at running an appointment, which is good. Plus, the hours are pretty awesome so I can't complain about that.

Well this is just rambling. So....The End.

One week down

I was a bit nervous about spending my first weekend in Coeur d'Alene...nervous that I'd be bored, lonely, etc. It turned out, however, that things went pretty fantastically.

Amanda, roomie #1, is in Vegas this weekend, so it was just me and Sabrina (roomie #2). On Friday night Sabrina and I went to work out, and afterward we got all dolled up so she could show me around "the strip" - aka the CDA bars. We didn't end up leaving the house until 11:30pm, so it was a short night! We went first to the Iron Horse where she knew the bartender and he poured us the biggest, strongest rum and cokes ever. We just sat at a table, people watching and chatting...it was quite the mix of the young crowd and some older people as well, but a lot of fun and great music. Next, we went to The Beacon, which Sabrina described to me as "the preppy bar." It really was just that...it took forever to get a drink even though there weren't that many people there, and everyone was dressed to the nines. We grabbed a table again and continued to get pretty darn buzzed as we continued our conversation and people watching.

Finally, she took me to her favorite "dive bar," Lakers. I could smell the cigarette smoke from down the street, and she wasn't kidding about it being a dive, but the older couple who owned it were lots of fun and quickly handed us 2 PBRs before we'd even fully sat down at the bar. It was there that I met a couple of people Sabrina was friends with....definitely an odd pair. One guy's name was Steven, but he went by "mole." Not sure why. The other was a guy named Jess and he played the harmonica...quite brilliantly actually, but still, a little out there. We ended up leaving just after 2am and it was a good thing because I was on my way to sleepy-land.

The next morning we decided that we might do some early Christmas shopping together, so I looked at my bank account and was greeted with a not-so-friendly number. So, instead we decided to go on a little hike around part of Lake Coeur d'Alene, and then wander around the town. We had such a nice time! I even got to meet the crazy old man who sits in his garage and carves walking sticks with a knife. He will let you choose any walking stick you'd like and have it for free. They are all a little different because he glues natural stones (amythests, garnets, etc...stuff that he finds) on each one. He had like 80 in his garage, and he was making another one while we were there. We each picked a stick (Sabrina has like 3 now) and off we went.

We visited a store right downtown called "All Things Irish," which of course made me so nostalgic! They had everything from the Irish candies and tea that you can only find in the UK, to Irish sweaters, last-name keychains and Guinness apparrel. I spent a moment talking to the owner who was from Dublin - he started to get misty-eyed meeting someone from Ireland. It was a very sweet moment.

That night, (Saturday) a couple of Sabrina's more "mainstream" (normal) friends came over. I had a drink with them before they headed out to go bowling. I was invited, but figured that my financial situation was not agreeable to it, so instead chose to spend a cozy evening at home catching up on Grey's Anatomy, The Office and 30 Rock online (the girls don't have cable TV). I made it to bed at a reasonable hour and it felt good to have a little peace and quiet.

Today I tried to go to Les Schwab to figure out if my tires will make it in the snow, but quickly realized how small this town is when I found that BOTH of the town's Les Schwab's were closed on Sundays. WTF?! So instead I went grocery shopping and did some laundry. I'm off to the gym now because it is only 3:43pm and it already getting dark outside. It is a bit depressing to just sit around and watch the sun go down at such an ungodly hour, so I figure pushing myself to run more than a mile for once in my life might be a good alternative.

Oh, and I did buy a digital camera, but returned it not 24 hours later after looking at my bank account. A special shout-out to Best Buy for not charging me the 15% restocking fee. Here is the one picture I took of Sabrina and I on our way home from the Friday night fracas:

Don't judge us too harshly....this was at 2:15am after quite a few drinks. We were happy but exhausted (and cold, its well below freezing here at night).

Jen

Apparently I'm Not Crazy

So the first thing my preceptor does when he comes in this morning is sit down and ask me: "how can I make this rotation better for you?"

Huh?

Then he starts talking about how he has been distracted with this and that, and while he likes to throw students into the work right away, he doesn't want me to feel as though he isn't teaching me. Then he tells me how I've hit the ground running and that this is going to be just super.

I have to say, it made my day, and it was only 8am. He was definitely a little more engaged today, and I'm trying hard to ignore the fact that his car has a McCain/Palin sticker on it (I hope he doesn't ask what I was for Halloween....) Unfortunately, he gets a lot of the walk-in type appointments (sinus infection, back pain, cough, etc). These are the kinds of things that, by now, are pretty run of the mill for me. I thought they would never get old, but they are kind of getting old. It is, however, great practice for me to work on my speed, and I'm pretty sure I'm not supposed to be getting cocky only halfway through, so I'll assume that something will walk in the door tomorrow that will make me feel really stupid. Oh well.

Still loving my roommates. Tonight roomie #2 make taco salad and it was fantastic...tomorrow night is my turn to make dinner (chicken cordon bleu, pre-made from the Albertson's deli, with a side of fresh asparagus and minute-rice).

I have even managed to go to my new gym 2 days in a row. Yesterday I took a hip hop cardio class (I never take group classes...but thought I'd try). The instructor turned out to be some 40-something woman who, while quite a good dancer for her age, was stuck in the early 90's. She kept showing us these horribly dorky moves (ie: the box step) and then saying "you can take this one to the clubs!!" At one point she even mentioned something about pouring funky salt on yourself.

Needless to say, today I returned to the free weights and cardio machines for a solo workout.

On a complete sidenote, I have yet to see a person here who is not white - a huge culture shock coming from Hills-burrito! I miss the fantastic Mexican music that radiates around our neighborhood on Sunday afternoons, and delicious smell of homemade carne asada on the grill. Who ever thought I'd be homesick for Hillsboro????

Jen

Improvements

Both my preceptor and I seemed to step up our game yesterday. He, having finally looked over my SOAP notes, realized I wasn't a complete retard. I, having snapped myself out of my sulking, decided to go in with a positive attitude.

It worked out pretty well.

It was only a half day, but I still saw 7 patients independently and even managed to get a "good job" at the end of the day. It is difficult when the appointment slots are only 15 minutes, because there is no way I'm up to that speed yet. Therefore, I'm constantly getting us "behind," and my preceptor has every right to act a little irritated about it. That being said, I don't expect that I'll be running on schedule for quite a while. Doing a whole appointment in 15 minutes as a new student in a new clinic is just not a reasonable expectation. Perhaps in a month or so I'll be scooting along much quicker.

I'm a little irritated at my rotation schedule at the moment. My elective rotation, dermatology, all of a sudden disappeared from Typhon. I was contacted to give my preference for a replacement rotation. I said dermatology. The response was that "that will be difficult to find this late in the game." Sigh. Additionally, I'm almost positive any "last minute" rotation will be an "away" rotation, which means that rotations 4-8 will all be away from home. That is 6 months!!!! I realize that you are all dealing with the same situation, but it just sucks, and so I'm venting.

Anyway, time to finish getting ready for my 3rd day of work. I hope today will continue the upwards trend.

Jen

PS- still love my roommates.

Day 1, Rotation 5

Was initially very happy when I arrived at my new clinic home. The preceptor is a long-time PA who takes on a lot of students and seems to genuinely enjoy teaching. He sat down with me for a few minutes to talk shop, and even mentioned that he would be teaching me the art of medicine more than the science of it, which I was thrilled to hear.

Then the day got started.

I observed one appointment with him before I was doing them on my own and just presenting. That part is fine - I can appreciate not having my hand held. But then he seemed to just get stressed out and was not quite as friendly as he had been at the beginning of the day. Not mean, but just short with me, especially when I forgot something, (gasp, on my first day? Unacceptable.)

Finally, the end of the day came, and he turns to me and says, "well...that was an okay first day."

I realize that "okay" isn't "horrible," but I thought it was an extremely successful first day, considering I was pretty much left to my own devices. (Yes, I made mistakes, but I also did a lot of good stuff too).

Then he starts talking about how it will be most helpful to us both if I can do my own progress notes. I say that I agree, and that I think I got them done for all the patients I saw.
He says "oh you got a start on them all? That's good, that will help you to finish them later."
I respond, "Oh, well...they're actually already finished."
He looked at me like I was lying, or I must have written the most piece of crap notes ever to have gotten them done already.

We have Tuesday mornings off, but he says he will be in to do his own charting and review my notes and "clean them up." I thank him and say that I welcome his criticisms and suggestions, (which I actually do...not many preceptors have taken the time to critique my notes).

Now, a good portion of the reason why I am not happy with this whole first day is that I am a perfectionist and really wanted it to be an "excellent" first day, rather than an "okay" one. I also realize that I tend to take things the wrong way, and it is entirely possible that I am being too sensitive. I am going to try my hardest to make today better than yesterday.

Jen

Coeur d'Alene

I am here.

After an uneventful drive, I rolled into my new neighborhood at 5pm this evening and found my new home (which is quite beautiful). I was greeted inside by roomie #1, who was cooking pasta sauce, and roomie #2 soon followed after returning from the store. I was promptly offered a glass of wine and some dinner, and after the first hour or so the awkward silences drifted away as we put in a movie and relaxed together.

Initial judgement: I really like my new roommates.

My new bedroom is fantastic, especially since it is the master bedroom and has its own bathroom (yyyeeeaahh!). The only things missing are CJ and Mary (the dog). These are unfortunately two vitally important things, and so despite the fact that everything has gone as well as can be expected so far, I'm still pretty darn sad.

But...I try to remember that there are 41 other souls out there...some currently at home, some farther away than I am, but all whom understand exactly how I feel right now.

1st day of family medicine rotation is only hours away....

Jen

Procrastination disaster

I knew that I was going to pay the price, but I didn't realize I'd pay it this badly...

I completely procrastinated on all of my assignments for this rotation, including a 5 page paper, a daily log of all patients seen and a "daily journal," which I can assure you, I did not write in daily (in fact, I did not start it until last week). I've been staring at my laptop for the last day and a half because of my procrastination, and I am hating it.

What is good about my procrastination, however, is that it is keeping me busy and avoiding the task of preparing to leave my home until next March. Oh sure I'll be home over Christmas, and maybe a weekend here or there, but I'll not be living at home again until I return from rotation 7...all the way in March.

I don't necessarily deal with the anxiety of leaving well, and thus have been nauseous for the last week straight. Luckily, as the anticipation turns into reality, I'm actually having an easier time. Last night a couple that CJ and I are friends with came over to make dinner. We had bruschetta, spinach-artichoke dip and steaks with a blue cheese topping with roasted potatoes. It was a homemade feast, and very enjoyable. It felt like a happy little going away party, and I think it helped.

Today I'm faced with finishing up my patient logging (1 week of patients left) and then onto the task of packing (yikes). I think I'm just going to throw all my clothes into a suitcase or two, grab some toiletries, towels and sheets, and call it good. This is of course NEVER going to happen because I'm an intractable over-packer. At least I'm driving, I couldn't afford those extra-bag fees on a plane.

Tonight we are going to a friends house to watch a boxing match, then tomorrow morning somewhere between 8-9am, I'll be heading off to Coeur d'Alene. Let the adventure begin!!!

PS - I forgot to mention...I met with my future roommate! I found housing in Idaho by posting an ad on Craigslist and got a response from a 27 year old girl who owns a house and rents to another 27 year old. They had an extra room with a private bath for me, so I was sold! Well, this girl (Amanda) had to come to Portland this week for business, so we met up for dinner. Not only does she like sushi, but she is super normal and really nice (and likes vodka tonics -- score!). It made me feel a lot better to know that there will be a familiar face to greet me when I arrive at my new home tomorrow night.

I have to get my camera fixed (or get a new one) soon to post pics.....

Jen

Sick Day

I called in sick to work today. I *never* call in sick. I get this horrible guilty feeling that is a result of my parents too often accusing me of faking sick when I was little (which, most of the time, I was). Today, however, I really am sick. It started with headaches about 5 days ago, 3 days ago the shaking chills started (or was that just my post-Halloween hangover? Who knows). Then yesterday it was fatigue, nausea, headache and general malaise. This morning at 3am I woke up with facial pain, tooth pain, congestion and that damn headache again. I got myself up, forced down some hot tea and went back to bed. I really tried to make it to work...I got up on time, threw myself in the shower and everything, but the noise of the water hitting the tub was making my head pound (which was just the last straw), so I dried my hair and got right back into bed.
And proceeded to sleep until 11:30am.
Now I'm faced with the daunting task of being productive...because I really don't have the luxury of wasting more time, even if I'm sick. I have barely started my homework for this rotation, so that needs to be done. I have to turn in our ballots at my local ballot drop-off location (votes are too precious to go through the mail). I need to buy stamps, fill prescriptions, mail off the receipts for said prescriptions so that my SHITTY health insurance will actually reimburse me, log my patients in Typhon, go to the bank and cook dinner. If I have time, I need to go to Les Schwab and get winter tires put on my car, as well as purchase chains (and have them teach me how to put them on), because in 6 days I leave to spend the next 4 months in Northern Idaho. Something tells me its gonna be cold....
Am I being whiney? I'll chalk that up to being sick.
I'm looking forward to my next rotation. I LOVE family medicine. I love managing diabetes, treating simple colds, helping people to quit smoking, doing preventative health screenings, etc. Most people get frustrated at the monotony, or the inability to change a patient's self-destructive behaviors. For some reason, this doesn't bother me (yet). And besides, there is always the 10% who actually do listen to you and change for the better.
My preceptor will be a PA which should be interesting, because so far I've worked with 2 physicians, a family nurse practitioner, and a PA who owns his own clinic, and is therefore essentially a physician. It will be interesting to see how autonomous this PA is in his practice. He sounds super nice on his emails...he told me there was no need for me to wear a white coat (yes!) and that he hopes they will have some interesting cases for me. Most preceptors respond with something like, "Show up at 8am sharp, see you then."
Oh, perhaps I have just added one more thing onto my list for today...fix my camera. I suppose if I am going to be in one of the most beautiful parts of the country in a Winter Wonderland, I should take pictures.
Coeur d'Alene...are you ready for me? I'm not really ready for you...but I'm determined to have a better attitude than I did in Havre, MT, so BRING IT ON!
Jen