Summer vacation - a picture essay

What did you do on your Summer Vacation? - By Jen.

After the first week of school picking out my clinical research topic, I spent July 4th weekend with CJ in Olympia. We had fun hanging out with the other agency interns from Statefarm, especially when we all went go-kart racing and CJ and I took 1st and 2nd place.


We spent the holiday up at the Tacoma Freedom Fair eating way too much food, watching a cool airshow and seeing fireworks. The best part was a stealth bomber hovering over the water and doing quarter turns. Amazing!


After that I spent a week up in Seattle to visit friends and family, but mostly to see my sister who was moving to New York at the end of that week. I did some fun stuff, but the whole week was overshadowed by having to work on the first draft of my paper, which was due only 9 days after I'd actually picked a topic. I did get to go to my first Mariner's game of the season though, which is always a delight (even though they lost).


Finally, I returned home and spent the next two weeks with CJ cleaning and packing up stuff in the house to get it ready to sell. Holy moly, was our house dirty. You never take the time to look at how much dirt is on doors and walls and skirting boards, but once you start washing the suckers, it's disgusting. We also did a lot of yard work. Ivy is the devil .

My mom came into town to visit us and she and I took a roadtrip to Bend to explore my soon-to-be home. It was a great trip even though it was super, super hot. We drove around to see the sights, walked through Drake park, ate at McMinamens, and drove around to look at some rental properties (very affortable!) Just before we left, CJ's mom called and said that she was also in Bend, so we got together for lunch and the two moms finally met! (mine is the one on the right, in the green).



Soon after, my mom left for Seattle and CJ and I headed on a 4 day trip out to the Tri Cities for BOAT RACES! (their version of SeaFair...hydroplane races, food, fun, alcohol and thousands of half-naked people. Brilliant!).


We also drove over to Pendleton that weekend to work an MMA fight, which is always SO much fun. I did pre-fight physicals and was an inspector, and CJ judged. There were a few last minute drop-outs, so we got CJ's friend Yoni to be a judge and Yoni's awesome girlfriend, Siouxie, was the timekeeper!!!



Finally, when we got home last Monday, I realized that I'm a failure and am still unemployed, so I started making cold calls to the clinics in Central Oregon. Its been very frustrating, because most of the time I get voicemails, and they are rarely returned. Still, there has been some positive news. A doctor at the large pediatrics group in Bend got my CV and emailed me. He said they are looking for a midlevel provider and would I please call him next week when he is back in the office? YES, I WILL. Also, I saw a craigslist ad for a "FP/Internist," which I assume meant physician, but I left a voicemail anyway stating that if they would consider a PA, I'd love to send my CV. Well, they called back and asked me to fax it in! That was yesterday, and no word yet, but I'm keeping hopeful. It sounds like a small clinic with offices in Madras and Redmond, and I would love internal med, so I'm crossing my fingers.

This weekend should be pretty relaxing - just hanging with CJ tonight, BBQ'ing with Cindy and Zack tomorrow and I think we have something on Sunday too, but I can't remember. Next week my dad is coming into town, and hopefully I'll be going to Bend for some interviews!!! If everyone would please send some good "employed" energy my way, I'd be forever grateful.

Thinking of you all, graduating in T minus 15 days!!!!

Jen

End of an Era.

Well, tonight is my last shift as a PA student. I'm here in the resident lounge, waiting for traumas to make my night go by. I've finished my paper, my 2 drug summaries and am almost done Typhoning. Tomorrow I walk out the doors and into the great unknown.
So how do I feel about it?
Relieved, unsure, scared, ecstatic, exhausted, fired-up, etc. The same feelings the rest of you have, I'm sure.
I've learned a lot at Legacy - the hours are tough, but I've gotten to do so many procedures, become really familiar with hospitalist medicine and even got some more surgery practice that I actually enjoyed! I'm thankful this was my last rotation.
CJ is pretty thankful this is my last night. Apparently I've been quite grumpy. My plans for the summer are as follows (so far):
This weekend: Sun Valley, ID
Next week: Hillsboro, paper crap
July 4-10: Seattle
July 11-23: Paper
July 24-26: Tri-Cities for Boat Races and an MMA fight
July 27-Aug 7: Paper

Oh, and somewhere in there a great job is going to land on my plate magically.

I hope you're all as twitterpated as I am.

Jen

Party-Pooper

So after trying to rally the 09-ers with Curtis to go to the PA picnic today, I slept through it.

I set my alarm, and from what I can tell, my alarm went off....I just didn't wake up.

I also didn't wake up for the alarm I set to by UFC Portland tickets, and now the cheapest seats available are $200.

Madness.

I'm very disappointed on both accounts.

The uni(handed)bomber

The guy on the news from Salem who blew up his hand...

I (HIPPA)'d his (HIPPA) and helped (hippa) his (HIPPA). His (HIPPA) is MESSSSSED up!

...that's all I'm gonna say.

Lucky Number Seven

That's it...after tonight's shift is over (4.5 more hours), I will only have 7 more shifts left of my whole clinical year. Legacy has been a difficult rotation to end on, because working 72 hour weeks with a nasty case of senioritis is difficult to do. I can only imagine how worthless my clinical project is going to end up being.
I've got some anxiety brewing at the moment about a lot of different things: finding a job, moving to Bend, wondering how CJ's job is going to play out, etc. I always assumed when I graduated that there would be an abundance of jobs to choose from. I hadn't anticipated moving to central Oregon, where I've barely driven through, nevermind made business connections. It's ruffling my feathers a bit, and I'm trying to brush it off, but it is difficult.
One thing I am really looking forward to is the last weekend in June. I will finish my last shift at 6am on that Friday morning and will be on a plane by 1:30pm with CJ heading to Sun Valley, Idaho for Kate's (my stepsis) wedding weekend. Not only will I be heading to a sunny spot with my man, but my dad and sister will be there as well, in addition to other good family and friends, with whom I cannot wait to celebrate and relax. I need some good "life is more than work and money" vibes, and I think this vacation will be just what I need. I'm bummed I'll have to head back so soon in order to complete clinical project week, but the sooner I get that whole mess over with the better.
So, that's me. Sitting around in the Legacy resident lounge, waiting for a trauma or 6am, whichever comes first, running on fumes at this point.
Jen
PS - also excited to see some of you at the PA picnic this weekend?!?!

Hot June Nights....

Finally on the night shift at Legacy...3 weeks away from being done with rotations FOREVER!

Started the night shift last night (Saturday) which was super rough...I hadn't managed to sleep in as late as I wanted to, so I had already been awake for 9 hours before I started my 12 hour shift. We had 11 traumas last night, which means that aside from a 45 minute lull where I ate a sandwich at 9:30pm, I was running around in the ED all night. There wasn't anything too exciting, the usual drunk suspects, including an 18 year old kid, who while celebrating his high school graduation with his friends, accidently got stabbed. I guess that's why mom says "don't play with knives." I sewed up a couple of facial lacs on a drunk guy who kept telling me (in Spanish) that my eyes were beautiful (and then would laugh hysterically for no reason), and I got to do the whole trauma evaluation (head to toe) on the kid who got stabbed, because it wasn't really a trauma (so the attending left almost immediately), and the PA was busy closing up his wound. Overall, a good night. By the time 6am rolled around I felt as though I was actually being more helfpul than not, which was nice.

I went home today and closed all the doors, shut the curtains and slept for 8.5 hours straight. Got up, quickly walked/ran the dog, showered, and back to work I went. Tonight I'm on with a different PA, who I'd initially thought was a bit cold, but as I've gotten to know her better, I've really enjoyed working with her. She's been a good teacher tonight and friendly, so despite no traumas (yet), I've quite enjoyed myself. We did get to go in on one surgery (she assisted, I observed), which was an emergency repair of a ruptured AAA. About 40 minutes into the surgery the time of death was called. The guy had lost so much blood, and the PA told me the rupture in his aorta was huge. His BP got down to 17/13, he was in v-tach and not responding to transfusions, epi or atropine. I'd like to say I was deeply saddened and really affected, but I wouldn't be cut out for this job if I was. I do hope he had the opportunity to say goodbye to his loved ones prior to the surgery.

So, for now I'm signing off and going to try and catch some shut eye...should probably be working on my assignment....

PS....this paper writing thing sounds awful, not looking forward to rotation 10!

Update

My Legacy trauma experience so far:

1) I actually quite enjoy this rotation most times...it was a bit of a steep learning curve coming off a buttload of family practice that seem cushy in contrast, but now that I'm more in the groove, there is a lot to soak in and learn.

2) My dream of looking cute in scrubs was shattered by the horror of how I look when I am forced to get up at 4:30 in the morning. And I have to wear my glasses all the time, and they make me look like I'm 12.

3) Green food cards. Brilliant. Just fantastic. Free food is underrated.

4) Sleep is precious, I go to bed early (when I can block out the fact that it is still sunny outside).

-Jen