Settling back in

Well, I survived my sinusitis/bronchitis....a special shout-out to my preceptor for taking one look at me and writing a prescription for antibiotics. Pretty awesome.

I forgot to mention an interesting patient we had last week: mid-thirties female presenting with one YEAR of vague symptoms including forgetfulness, fatigue, headaches, lightheadedness, clumsiness and myalgias. My clinical red flags went up and my preceptor, though he was sure it was nothing, allowed me to explore my intuition. He let me order a brain MRI to look for space-occupying lesions, plaques, or anything else that would spell serious trouble. Got the results back today: Normal. So much for clinical intuition....but at least she doesn't have brain cancer.

Today was a fantastically busy day...and it was all weird stuff. There was the woman with all the signs of pregnancy without actually being pregnant, the guy with two different rashes at the same time, and a patient whose chronic pain is almost certainly a psychiatric, rather than physical issue. I swear, all day, if it wasn't this, it was that. It was kind of fantastic, but a little bit of a rough way to start out the week - I'm exhausted!

This last weekend I was able to go home to Seattle to have the Christmas that I missed (due to weather) with my mom and sister. It was lovely! We exchanged gifts in a skeezy diner called Cyclops and drank overly-peppered bloody marys. Then I met up with CJ (who was kind enough to drive up to see me), and we spent Saturday night at a dive bar celebrating one of my best friend's 26th birthdays. What a fantastic weekend! I got to see my whole family, my boyfriend, almost all of my best friends, and CJ and I even went and had dinner at the old sushi place we used to frequent when we lived in Ballard (complete with fried green tea ice cream for dessert!).

It is always so hard to say goodbye, especially to CJ, and yesterday I was definitely feeling a bit bummed. I really didn't think it was going to be harder as time went on to be away from my loved ones so much, but I'm really struggling right now. I know that once I finish up these next 4 weeks, I have another 6 weeks away. Then I'll be home for PPS II, but rotation 8 is still as yet unassigned, which probably means I'll be sent to Timbuktu. I sometimes wonder if this year will ever end!!!

It will end, right?

Jen