25 and still alive

WOOT!

As far as weeks go...

Docs to be!!

I'd have to say that the past week was one filled with many firsts!! Such as doing a complete pelvic exam; although when I do it again, I won't be quite as walked through as I was on Monday, and it may not be to a woman who's had a pile of kids. I was sooooooooo nervous. But after doing it, Dr. Yarwood said "Now when you're listening to an old guy's lungs in a couple of months, you'll say 'This is easy! I've done a pelvic exam!'" And it does feel pretty awesome to conquer a fear and realize hey, I think I can do this alright.

I also learned how to start IVs (yeah sticking each other! Only one person vomited and one passed out...and they were PLACING the IVs when they did so). And to top it off---suturing pig shanks! That's right---140 people in one room, each with their very own pig leg, making cuts and pretending to know what the F Dr. Holliman is rattling on about. We all ended up figuring it out and gettin the short-cuts from the other facilitators; but my favorite part was about 20 minutes in, when many of us kept asking each other "wait, wrap what around with your left hand?," Bill turns to me and says "I think this guy is talking to just to hear himself talk." For Dr. Holliman had indeed continued to speak about the 17 million different patterns of suturing possible as we all struggled to understand step 3.

It hit me when I looked around that room. 140 people fumbling with darning needles to sew up pig shanks. This is indeed a special time.

Friday was a simulation of placing catheters and nasogastric tubes, as well as central lines. I feel like it's not going to be so benign when I actually perform those things on real people!

Over the past week, we had NO studying to do! So fun times definitely occurred:
Dinner with fun fun fun people!



Aaaaand blogger will not let me post further! So the next will have a couple of shots.

=)

A Chi-town Classic

Last week I was fortunate enough to spend a few days with some of the most amazing people I know. Wednesday night turned out to be a Cubs game treat with 13 people total! And these things happened (photos courtesy of Suzer):

C.J. complete with Cubs Claw















always being the Documentress















Three women at the Gingermann. I love all of their hand gestures.
















Ooooo la la La Grange triomphe! Quite a favorite of mine.


















I think the best part of the week was when 17 friends gathered around a long German table to drink some beers out of HUGE mugs. And the common thread amongst the friends was that I knew them all. It was my mini-wedding, and here is a picture that sums it aaall up:

Um, PERFECT.

We were also encouraged to be as loud as possible. And I think we did a fairly good job at that. Polka music kept the drinking tempo and shenanigans ensued!





Time for a side-story! I like public transportation and found out last year how much I liked taking the train into the city by myself, and just walking around the town people-watching. I orchestrated this visit so that I had one such lone train ride to the city and got to walk the streets of the Loop on my way to meet with the friends imaged above. I had music in my ears and a snappy, youthful summer outfit as I bopped down the blocks past suits and skirts. And best of all, it was niiice and hot out, the warmest day for me to date this year.

I saw a man trying to direct a truck around a tight turn down a side-street without its scraping a streetlight, and failing. It happened inches away from me, and I couldn't help taking part in the staring. I put my feet in a fountain with a bunch of screaming and laughing children swarming all around me. I saw a woman with her tiny baby at her breast in the shade of a tree. I passed underneath the Bean surrounded by amazed tourists as they counted how many times over they were reflected in its sloping walls, and I stood in the center, looked up, and smiled. Then of course I walked around the side of it to see the perfect skyline of a beautiful city reflected and magnified across its convex surface, complete with blue sky and sun, and half cursed myself because I did not have a camera. The image can only remain in my mind.

Then I almost caused an accident by trying to cross the street seconds before a firetruck came zooming around the corner, and got a stern talking to by the traffic cop who'd yelled for me and a gaggle of other pedestrians to move back; and even that was slightly perfect, as I had been talking to Sarah on the phone AND had headphones on at the same time.

Other fun things: eating dinner with your entire family...TWICE; celebrating Meg's birthday by being drunk in front of Naz until the police roll by; calling Jon Martin at like 3 AM EST and completely forgetting you did so until he approaches you in LR-B and says "hey I got your message!"; crazy Target portrait studio "Ya-Ya" family pictures (those will be on here soon); the primary mode of Friday-night cross-town transportation being 10 people shoved into just one PT cruiser; and finalmente, night-swimming in a swanky condo in your friends' loaned undergarments, and you have a the most special cap to a break ever.






Suz calls this one "Dr. Beer."









Oh thank goodness for my people.

strange days

Well, today I took Step 1 of the Boards. It wasn't my favorite thing ever, as 8 hour tests go, but it was OK. I'll let you know the outcome in 6 weeks.

More importantly, to whomever even reads this: I know you've heard it a thousand times, but tell your loved ones you love them. Reality hit everyone when a good friend's father suddenly passed away yesterday. It is a lesson in things I usually push aside and try not to think about; the fragility of it all. There is not much else to say except that it is surreal, and my thoughts are with him.

Anyway, tomorrow I fly home to some of my most favorite and precious people on the planet. I cannot wait to see you all!

Goodnight

the Boards are tomorrow!!

Oh my goodness!!!!


P.S. Soccer (or should I say futbol) players are hot. And they have such interesting hair!

pretty....awful

Isn't this lovely?



Too bad it is a papillary carcinoma of the thryoid.

Good news is that the prognosis is excellent!

on last thing..

Hope you're all surviving in Central Standard Time....

By the way, take a peak at that:
http://users.aol.com/s6sj7gt/mike666.htm

omens?

So in light of the date I couldn't help but post before it was over. Well, at least I couldn't help but START the post before it was over. Just 7 minutes away from midnight----and if the world is to go down within that time span, I'll have been sitting here and writing this to the world.

Too bad I don't have a highly philosophical treat for you. But today was quite a day indeed. I took an 8-hour simulated Step 1 test, and, needless to say, it drained me. But I did OK, and now I know what I especially need to review before taking the test (ahem, the big B's--Biochem and Behavioral Science!).

I would LOVE to share a Behavioral Science question with you (don't tell my question bank); it was strikingly similar to a friend's (shall we say semi-scandalous?) situation:

"A 24-year-old woman comes to see her male physician complaining of pain and stiffness in the left lower quadrant of her back. During the physical examination to locate the extent and severity of the pain she says, 'Wow, you've got great hands, Doc. Just having you touch me helps me feel better.' As the patient is getting dressed, she asks the physician if he is married [I'd like to add that it is highly odd to just stick around as a patient is getting dressed again], and then asks if he ever dates his patients. The physician is unmarried, is attracted to the woman, and would like to see her socially. At this point his best action would be to do which of the following?

A. Begin to see the patient socially as long as she understands that it must be kept separate from the medical relationship
B. Explain that as long as she is his patient, no social relationship is possible
C. Have the patient sign a liability waiver and begin to see her socially
D. Refer the patient to a colleague and begin to see her socially
E. Refer the patient to a colleague and refuse to see her socially
F. Refer the patient to a colleague, wait six months, and then begin to see her socially
G. Tell the patient that he will not pursue any social relationship with her, but that he would like to continue to be her physician."

Answer revealed at a later date! I know what WOLFE would do.

So after this lovely test, I went to the Christian coffee house because it has the best Chai Tea in town and the people are so nice there; I went despite the fact that last year they had a HUGE (I'm talking HUUUUGE) Bush-Cheney '04 sign that made my roommate gasp when we first drove by it. I didn't have cash, and usually you need to have $5.00 to use a card, but the nice boy let it slide. Some Christian boys with Bible camp shirts gave me the eye (or as Suz says, tried to slip me the fish...eww), but I didn't commit because they'd only ditch me 5 seconds later when they learned I wasn't as Christian as they are. Regardless, I thought it perfect, getting tea from the Christians on 6/6/6 and drivin around in the sunlight, talking to Banannie on the phone as I swung by a bank to get cash.

Then I got a slice of pizza at Jo-Jo's---still treating myself because of this test---and it only costs $1.86. A little old man came in to pick up his order ahead of me, and the cashier did not have any singles. "You'll have-a-to take all dis change!" And the little old man looks at me with a comical "what the fuck?" face, and we all had a laugh. I liked that he decided to share his moment of incredulousness with me. Of course, just coming from the bank, I only had finskies and some change, so I left with $3.20 of janglin silver in my Costanza wallet.

If that's the worst of 6/6/6, then bring it!



P.S. The planet's still here!

For the homies

I just tried to predictive text "premenstrual" to a friend and it came out "spendstsual." I think it was trying to say "stupendstrual," which makes me want to chuck the phone for its trying to be a smart-ass. Similar mishaps occur when you try to type obscenities; sometimes it is worth the typing out letter-for-letter.

Today has been quite the study day. I did not reach study goal, but I made so much progress I cannot help but be satisfied with where I am and just hit the sack. I would like to mention that studying reproduction in a coffee shop is slightly sketchy---you sometimes wonder if at any moment, someone will look over your shoulder and see you with your nose just inches away from pictures of genitalia. It's quite a special, dangerous feeling.

I want to give shout outs to a couple of people before turning in to get a little shut-eye (Suzer can now punch me twice for those choice turns-of-phrase):

To Varak and Wolfe, whose highly entertaining IMing kept my spirits up mid-day.

To Moog, a beautiful Ya who kept me sane in the evening hours.

To my family, for keeping it real on the homefront, and sending me pictures to prove it.

And to the shmether man, who, I was informed today, was hit by a car while riding his bicycle. He's ok, but he has wrist and shoulder fractures. This is his awesome blog that I highly recommend: http://www.whetherman.blogspot.com/. (December 10-13 2005 are ones to watch!)

One mere week until the big day! AHHH!!!

Peace-aha-with-a-duck

Immunology and the Mook Man

Ok, so I couldn't really stay away from this too long today, especially because I have been wondering about something. This shall be the first of my geeky posts, and it is about a dog (which is fitting, since this is a Dawg blog---by the way, for those who do not know, "Maietta Dawg" was my nickname in college via a Nat and a Nate. I still call the Suzer by this name, and when I shout things like "No WAY, Dawg!" to her while on my cellphone outside the med center, I sometimes wonder what people overhearing me think about that).

My dog has several grass/tree allergies, as confirmed by skin test about 2 weeks ago. Prior, he'd been hit pretty hard by bacterial and opportunistic infections because of them. When he has a break-out, he licks his paws a bunch, irritating them more, which is why he sometimes has to wear socks: Now, it is being discussed that Mookie needs to have weekly allergy shots. Does anyone else know of a dog that has to have allergy shots?

My question is, do dogs, like people, when they get allergy shots, eventually become less sensitive to their allergy? And how on earth is giving MORE allergen schooling the immune system to quit freaking out if the allergen is what is causing the Type I hypersensivity and all the IgE and mast cells causing all histamine outpouring and the wheals and flares and constrictions and bad bad baaadness? I suppose T and I will have to have a good long talk when I get back to Chi-town.

In other news, if you have no ATP, your myosin can't get off your actin. So when you die and you're not making any more energy/ATP, your muscles can't relax anymore---which is rigor mortis! Also, the sun just came out!

Welcome to the Dawg Blawg!

I know I know, the blog name is a mite cheesy, but I have a rough time with blogname creativity. In any event, just like my friends Babs and E, I now have a blog! don't know how often I shall post, but I would like this to be a place where I wonder out loud instead of keeping it all in my head or putting it on my away messages.

I'm about to take one of the biggest tests I've ever taken, so I gotta go study for that now. But in the future I'm gonna post anything and everything I feel like---and since in July I'm going to start rotating through hospitals, I'm sure I'll have some stories to share with you guys!

(This blog will make every attempt to comply with HIPAA laws)

Enjoy your day!!

=) Katie