Jackie

2008-06-23T23:46:00.002-05:00

I can't believe its been a year since I started residency.

I also can't believe its been a year since I posted. Even though my semi-public rantings are ongoing on facebook, it doesn't quite feel the same. I'm here in the hospital on a very slow call night and I started flipping through old posts. Frickin' hillarious (if I do say so, myself) but also so fun for me to read about my time in med school. Its funny the stuff I decided to document (all sorts of funny things about various surgeries and stuff) as well as some of the shocking stuff that now I take for granted.

I'm not sure if I'm going to keep the blog going, but its kind of neat having my whole med school experience documented.

2007-09-09T22:12:00.000-05:00

Back from the reunion...

2007-08-16T21:08:00.000-05:00

In a few weekends I'm going to be heading back to Winnipeg again for my highschool 10-year reunion. I cannot believe that I have been a high-school graduate for 10 years, although when I try to think back to it, it sure does seem like a long time ago.

I'm flying into Winnipeg on August 31st, and staying until Monday, September 3rd. Coincidentally, I'll also be able to make the Funk Boat!

2007-08-04T10:49:00.000-05:00

Last weekend Terry and I went to Boston, only 6 hours away by car:

This is Terry building a fire at our campsite in Maine.
We stopped two hours outside of Boston at a beach-town with a crazy amusement park on the waterfront.
Terry playing one of the games- Western' style.

This is the city of Boston from the water- we took a ferry from Salem to Boston. On the North peninsula.

Jellyfish in the Boston aquarium.

2007-07-24T16:40:00.000-05:00

Residency is going well- but more exciting was our trip a few weekends ago to PEI:

Confederation bridge:

War memorial in Charlottetown:

The beach!

Could it be prettier?
And of course- Green Gables (Terry was so thrilled- can't you tell?)

2007-07-02T16:04:00.000-05:00

First day post-call as a resident.

I was doing CCU, which is the cardiac care unit. Its where people come when they have their heart attacks.

It wasn't horrible. The nurses were super nice. I got to sleep for 4 hours. I read a lot of EKGs.

2007-06-28T12:06:00.000-05:00

After hearing about the awful-ness of U-Haul, Terry and I decided to get movers to move our stuff to New Brunswick. This has been a series of disasters:

1. The movers told us initially our stuff would arrive in Saint John the 25th of June. Okay. We planned our drive out there accordingly.

2. On the road on the 20th in between Sault Ste Marie and Sudbury, we get a call from said movers. They were in Montreal, planning to make it into Saint John the next day. We would need to meet them there to pay them. Immediately. Oh yeah, they don't take visa.

3. After explaining to them that NO, we weren't willing to drive ALL NIGHT to arrive in Saint John and that we had friends to meet in Montreal, we arranged with our landlord to meet them and let them into our apartment. As for payment? They had no suggestions. None at all. When asking them about what they expected when they were early (this sort of thing must come up) you could hear the shrug on the other end. Finally, we agreed to wake up early and wire them the money in Montreal. First thing.

4. After getting to Montreal and wasting half a day in many banks, we finally wired them the money. They spent this time sitting outside our apartment in Saint John waiting for the transfer. When it finally went through, they went into our apartment, started to unload the truck, and THEN REALIZED that they had loaded the truck wrong, and that other people's stuff was in front of ours. Belonging in Newfoundland.

5. After dismissing the idea that they should just REARANGE the truck to make it work (after all, aren't they MOVERS?) their best idea was that they would drive to Newfoundland with our stuff, unload the stuff in front of it, and come back. On the 29th.

6. After a week of sleeping on the floor and eating out every night, we were very excited about the arrival of our stuff. Phoned them today- oh- actually the truck has been "broken" and they are leaving Newfoundland tomorrow. Maybe.

Sweet Jesus are we EVER going to get our stuff?? They now have our money and our stuff! Who knows if all of it is in some Newfoundland pawn shop by now??

2007-06-25T19:02:00.000-05:00

Parts 3 and 4- Honduras and Guatamala:

Scuba diving!!

Eating lunch in Guatamala.Antigua and the volcano.

2007-06-13T23:18:00.001-05:00

The trip- part 2- Nicaragua
In Granada- some of the architecture
Ken in his ultimate-relaxed mode.Volcano boarding!! All dressed up in the suits!

The sulpher spewing from the volcano made it hard to breathe.

2007-06-12T11:41:00.000-05:00

A few pictures from the trip- part 1- Costa Rica.

Ziplining through the rainforest in Monteverde.

The view from our guesthouse.

On the beach in Playa Tamarindo on the pacific coast.

One of our big nights out: with nachos as big as my ass!

2007-06-01T15:59:00.000-05:00

Volcano boarding- where you take a piece of plywood and use it to toboggin down an active volcano.
After doing this, we took a LONG bus ride from Leon in Nicaragua, across Honduras to the caribbean ocean and the Bay Islands. We are on Utila at the moment:

The seven of us have rented a house on the ocean that is pretty darned sweet. We are also doing lots of scuba diving. Michael and I are doing our advanced certification, which means we get to do lots of cool diving, including a night dive tonight.

2007-05-24T19:54:00.000-05:00

Now in Niucaragua-

We made our way from Tamarindo to the Nicaraguan border by rented 4x4. Quite the way to travel- we had to switch our car at the border which ended up being helpful, as the Alamo guy helped us through the convoluted customs procedure. We spent the first night in Granada.
The next morning we dropped off our car in Managua- also known as scary-land. The guidebook advised women ¨never to go out alone EVER¨. Luckily we only spent an hour or so here before catching a van to Leon.

Leon is like Granada, except a bit more lived in, and a bit grittier. However there is more stuff to do here than Granada. I think tomorrow we´re going to either go to the beach or some boiling mud pits- and then the next day its VOLCANO BOARDING!

2007-05-21T12:29:00.000-05:00

One week into the holiday-

We spent one night in San Jose at the bar. We wandered around a plaza and found a few fun places (with a few missteps- one bar we were turned away from because "you will get hurt in here"). I don't actually think San Jose is dangerous, we were just WAY off the tourist scene. We also picked up an Australian- Shane- who has been travelling with us.

The next morning we sat around at the bus station for hours to wait for the bus to Monteverdi and the rainforest. After a 5 hour trip on some pretty scary roads, we made it to the top of the mountains and some beautiful rainforest. There we met up (coincidentally) with a few people from our class- Jill, Ange, Noam, and their friends Erin and Abe. We partied in their room that night with some consequences, including a naked english man wandering over from his room and telling us to PLEASE keep it down.

The next day we went ziplining over the rainforest, which means attached by a harness and cable and flying. Big adreneline rush. In the afternoon we got a van down to some natural hotsprings in the jungle.

The next day we made our way to Playa Tamarindo- the beach town. We were able to book the "fiesta van" or a van filled with all 10 of us! The beach here is awesome, marred only by the fact that it rains every afternoon for a few hours. Yesterday we went surfing and lounged around on the beach. We are also staying in a sweet hotel with a pool, so its making for some very beachy times.

However today- disaster! Michelle got her bag stolen while she was asleep on the beach, which included all of her credit cards and her passport. We are trying to organize for her to fly back to San Jose and get it all sorted out.

2007-05-16T14:17:00.000-05:00

We·re in Costa Rica! After spending the night in Miami after our Chicago-Miami leg was delayed. It was okay though- they gave us a hotel room and ate at a Latin Cafe and it was kind of fun. Our hostel in San Jose is nice and I've just been in the pool. In a few hours Michelle, Krista and Ken will be here and then the party will start!

2007-05-14T15:15:00.000-05:00

I'm in the middle of a Scrubs marathon and this website came up. Man, scrubs is awesome.

2007-05-13T13:18:00.000-05:00

Well, I'm all graduated, after a long week of ceremonies and ado.
I'm trying to be excited about finishing school- but I'm sad about all the fun people I'm leaving behind. Every time I see our friends there is someone else that I'm saying goodbye to-FOREVER (well not forever, its not like anyone's dead, just for a long time into the forseeable future- unless you count facebook and skype encounters, with maybe a possible trip to Alberta here and again.)

2007-05-12T14:33:00.000-05:00

After I got home from the grad party, there was a strange package waiting for me. It was a fedex envelope, with no return address, sent to "Dr Jackie Derks". Hmm.

Inside-

Two Birks boxes with silver jewellery. In the shape of Inuktakuks.

Who in the world sent these to me? I've been wearing the necklace- its very pretty, but I'm also a bit nervous, like there is going to be radioactive material in it, or a GPS tracker or something.

2007-05-11T22:29:00.000-05:00

Med School Grad 2007- The "intense media coverage. "

I'm in the paper! Although blurry.
Terry also got interviewed, although it seemed like they had a bit of an agenda in exactly where we are training and is he planning on coming back? In the end when he said there was a return of service agreement with Manitoba they found someone in our class who was from Toronto and interviewed them saying they planned to set-up practice in Ontario.

Here's the link to the article.

2007-05-09T16:13:00.000-05:00

We had our grad breakfast today- which is a lead-up to the grad ceremony tomorrow. Everyone looked very pretty. Its crazy hot out today and I'm chilling out at home trying not to get sick like the rest of my family. Tomorrow is the ole cap'ngown and then a dinner-dance. Very high-school. Its nice that the similarities between high school and med school continue right up until the end.

2007-05-09T00:39:00.000-05:00

The weather in Winnipeg is beautiful right now- it was 30C today. Perfect for the first weekend at the lake:

This picture looks a bit cold because it was taken on Friday when it was a bit rainy.

2007-05-03T01:03:00.000-05:00

I had my wisdom teeth removed today. Word for the wise- when they ask you if you want the general anesthetic- GET IT. Don't try to be brave and get local or else you'll end up hyperventilating off the exam table kind of the way I did.

2007-05-02T01:26:00.000-05:00

So I wrote my licencing exam today. It was okay. Hopefully it will garner me a licence to practice medicine.

I'm also done medical school- and I guess now I'm a doctor which is kind of a trip.

2007-04-30T14:07:00.000-05:00

I need advice: should I go to Costa Rica-Or Spain:

for my holiday?

2007-04-23T19:43:00.000-05:00

On the heels of a post wondering why blogs were dying, I decided to take some initiative and update. It hasn't been that I don't want to- its just a bunch of decisions about my life were made in the past month and reliving them via blog is going to be a big exhausting.

So- I got into internal medicine at Dalhousie. Initially I was based in Halifax (the main program) and Terry was based in the new satellite program in Saint John, New Brunswick. The cities are about 4 hours away from eachother-but each of our program spends about 3 months in each city so we would have been together about 6 months of the year, and apart about 6 months.

So it would have been okay- but not perfect. Also we were excited about living together and this arrangement meant that we would have had to gotten separate apartments.

BUT- the program directors in Saint John found out about our situation and asked me if I wanted to change programs over to the Saint John site. So we thought about it and decided to do it. So that's the story.

So I'm moving to Saint John, NB! We went there this weekend to check it out- its very cute. Like Halifax but a bit smaller and a bit more sleepy. We are going to be living in right downtown- which means we are close to lots of cute bistros and cafes and the market. We went out there this weekend and found an apartment. This is the street we live on.

Here's the market close to our house:
Here's the retored theatre- you can see this building from our apartment.

So that is going to be my life- Internal Medicine in New Brunswick! (And part of the time, in Halifax).

2007-04-14T02:04:00.000-05:00

Okay here are the other two:

Menno in Med school two: representeth.

Menno in Med school three: CaRMS.

2007-04-02T22:07:00.000-05:00

Check out what some guys in my class have been up to:

Mennonites in Med School.

2007-03-15T13:00:00.001-05:00

Halifax Internal medicine!!!

2007-03-14T09:18:00.000-05:00

T-minus 2 hours. I'm trying to think zen-like thoughts.

2007-03-14T01:47:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the long absence: I couldn't get into blogger in China. But now I'm back.

Holy crap and Match day is tomorrow.

That's the day when we find out where we train for the next 5 years.
Holy crap.

2007-02-19T20:17:00.000-06:00

Last interview, last CaRMS flight:

Off to Vancouver for the weekend! Where it is sunny and warm and it feels like spring. We cut the timing a bit fine as our plane landed at 10:45am and the interview was 11:30...

Interview #12 (and last!) UBC family medicine

People had said that this interview was "weird" and that they asked "weird questions" but I did't find that at all. It seemed pretty standard to me. I rambled on about my life and my goals and they nodded appreciatively.

Our friend Jess (who is from Vancouver) was also interviewing and offered up her house for a bunch of us to stay in.

Here's Terry and Jess on the beach in Vancouver.

They were filming a movie on the beach with a plane wreck scene, and so it was quite bizarre to come across this broken jetliner:

I got quite sick overnight so I really just hung out in Jess' house while everyone else went out. The next day we had brunch and chilled out and Terry and I caught the plane back to Winnipeg in the evening.

Next stop- CHINA!

2007-02-15T18:25:00.000-06:00

I'm sick.

I guess it shouldn't be a surprise, given the hectic schedule. I started to feel it coming into Newfoundland, and then it got worse back in Toronto. By the time I made it to Edmonton I was pretty miserable (and whiney, no doubt). Terry and I splashed out for a fancy hotel room so that we could relax on one of the last legs of the tour.

Interview #10- University of Alberta Internal Medicine.

Edmonton has one of the best programs in the country, and Terry and I had both done electives here so I think we have a good chance. However, I really wasn't feeling this interview. People kept telling me that it was very relaxed and friendly, however I really didn't feel that way during mine. I think that I rambled on a bit, and that they really weren't feeling it. Anyway.

There was a meet-and-greet in the evening at a pub that was luckily attached to our hotel, so I could go for an hour and then crawl back to bed. The next morning we flew back to WINNIPEG in a tiny plane. We both quickly washed clothes and slept and got ready for the next morning which was

Interview #11- University of Manitoba Internal Medicine.

U of M is a bit of a dark horse. I really think that we have one of the best programs in the country and that the residents are extremely happy and extremely well taught. However a lot of people across the country discount coming here simply because they would have to move to Winnipeg. Luckily enough the orientation session was EXTREMELY well done (best I had seen on this tour) and they really sold the program. I was very proud to be from Manitoba. My interview was actually probably the best one I have had. It was basically the opposite of my Edmonton interview. It was very friendly and I felt like I had a good conversation with the panel- I also feel like at the end they had a good sense of who I was and of my goals. It was nice to have such a good feeling at the end of this day!

Only one more to go!!

2007-02-12T10:44:00.000-06:00

Ugh. More flying.

I woke up at 4am to fly to Newfoundland for an internal medicine interview. The flight was long and I slept through most of it (and I slept in the airport, on the shuttle bus, in the airport, on the cab on the way to the interview...)

Interview #9 MUN Internal Medicine.

All these intervews are starting to run into eachother. It went well. There weren't really any hard questions. This was the first time they actually asked a medical question "what would you do if you were called to assess a patient with a fever?"

Ken and Sara were there so we went out for dinner and found an awesome candy shop in St Johns:

The next day Ken and I flew back to Toronto (really EARLY) and had a few hours in the city before needing to go back to the airport.

This is construction they're doing on the Toronto Museum.

Later that day Terry and I flew to Edmonton. We checked into a nice hotel (a nice splash-out after spending a lot of time staying on people's floors...) and today is another interview.

2007-02-09T11:22:00.000-06:00

Interview #8 Toronto Internal Medicine.

The big one!! The mecca of medicine, Toronto. I was definitely expecting some grilling here.
But actually it was very relaxed, and if I can so venture- laid back?? Something I defintely did not expect from Toronto. And (although this may not be seen as a plus by some) there were no hospital tours so I just get to come back and hang out in the apartment and see some of the city this afternoon.

2007-02-08T20:57:00.000-06:00

Interview #6 McGill Family Medicine.

Terry's plane touched down in Montreal at 7:10 this morning, and so after letting him into Heather's place so he could drop off his luggage, we were a bit late for the 8am orientation. No matter. I was quickly whisked away for an interview by a single staff member. The whole interview seemed to go well- a bit disjunct- he kept asking random questions about my CV- jumping around from place to place- and then sometimes jumping into another question before I had finished answering the first one. After about 20 minutes, I was let go, where I quickly hopped a cab to Montreal General Hospital and had

Interview #7 McGill Internal Medicine.

This was my first IM interview since Halifax and I was nervous. The interview was basically 10 minutes. I'm not sure how it went at all: it was like they had already made up their mind one-way or the other. It was nice to be interviewed at the same site I did my elective at: I felt like I knew the staff and it was nice to see the residents I knew. Still, bizarre interview.

After a few hours at Heather's house, i whisked off for the train to Toronto. I'm staying with friend of Terry's, who has an apartment with a kick-ass view:

I'm off to have dinner in Toronto!

2007-02-07T18:16:00.000-06:00

Just wandering around through Montreal. Browsed the shops on Ste Catherines Street. Walked further east into the seeder areas, including some interestingly titled shops:

Then I walked down St Denis and treated myself to some sushi:

Looks good doesn't it?

2007-02-07T14:29:00.000-06:00

Sitting in a cafe in Montreal, the same cafe I sat in a few weeks ago here when I was doing an elective here.

This whole CaRMS process is so bizarre: never before have I done this much travel in such a short period of time. I like travelling normally; its fun seeing different places. But this travelling is kind of exhausting- and i end up back in places I've already been with a weird sense of deja-view.

I've now become very well acquainted with Air-Canada's personalized TVs: thank goodness they changed the movie selection yesterday- I was starting to run out of things to watch. Now when I'm in Montreal, sleeping in the same bed that I slept in when I was here, the thing that is exciting me the most isn't that I'm in Montreal and its cool, but that I get the chance to SLEEP IN.

After I finish arranging things for the afternoon (arrangements that will mean another trip to Newfoundland, and then to Edmonton over 48 hours) I'm going to go over to St Joseph's for some peace and quiet. And then maybe check out the shops.

2007-02-06T21:04:00.000-06:00

Sitting here in the plane, waiting to take off for Montreal. Luckily I'm able to pick up a wireless signal from somewhere.

Interview #5: U of Alberta Family Medicine. The interview in Edmonton was fine: all of the family medicine interviews are really friendly. I felt a bit at the beginning like the interviewer might be trying to open with a few not-so-friendly questions, but after I answered and she saw that I wasn't really nervous and was articulate she eased off a bit.

The drive back to Calgary was blustery and snowy, but not as bad as the drive up. Today we drove to Lake Louise and went SKIING!!

Conditions weren't great: there was a lot of fog and the visibility wasn't great. However it was still a good time.

We rushed back from the mountain to get me to the airport for my flight at 5:20 pm. I thought I had lots of time when we got back into the city around 3:45- then despair hit when it took me 50 minutes to get across town! Luckily I managed to get there in time: in fact, with far TOO much time- we've been sitting on the runway for an hour and a half waiting for them to fix some technical problem. Tomorrow I have the day off in Montreal where I get to think about the bulk of my internal medicine interviews that are coming up.

2007-02-05T12:09:00.000-06:00

Interview #4: Calgary Family Medicine.

We got into Calgary around supper time and rented a car. I had never rented a car before: unfortuantely because Terry is 24 he can't drive it! (that's what comes with dating a younger guy...)

We spent the night with Terry's Aunt and Uncle and I interviewed the next morning. Terry was interviewing for internal medicine only a few days later. The best part about this interview was that there was a whole bunch of people from our class there and that we all got to catch up. The interview went really really well! One of the better ones I'd say.

After the interview both of us hung out with Jess, one of our classmates who was also interviewing for family med. Here we are in our suits:

Later that day we drove to Edmonton in the blustering snow (doesn't Edmonton EVER have good weather??) and saw about 4 overturned vehicles in the highway ditch on the way there. Today is Edmonton family medicine.

2007-02-03T11:22:00.000-06:00

Interview #3: University of Manitoba family medicine.

After getting into Winnipeg at 1:30 am the night before, I probably wasn't at my best for this morning interview. Fortunately it was the one I was least worried about: the Manitoba students are almost guaranteed a spot in family medicine if they want one.

The whole setting of the interview was surprisingly formal: the interviews took place at the Fort Garry Hotel. As I was applying for the bilingual program, my interview was in french. Its very hard to interview in a second language. I found myself struggling and wondering if I sounded as unpolished as it seemed to me.

The best part of this interview was seeing all of my classmates at the lunch. After being away for 6 months, it was nice to see some friendly faces!!

Today off to Calgary, for another interview tomorrow...

2007-02-02T01:58:00.000-06:00

Interview number 2: Memorial Family medicine.

I had never been to Newfoundland before, and when I got there, I was completely blown away: it is BEAUTIFUL.

Also the people there are amazing: we stopped and asked people for directions and then they would DRIVE us to our destination. Our cabbie turned off the meter and gave us an impromptu tour of the town and the sites before dropping us off at the airport.

And the interview went fine.

2007-01-31T09:10:00.000-06:00

First Interview: Dalhousie Internal Medicine.

Its now over!! Phew!
Actually it was a very relaxed interview and a great way to start all these interviews off. Also I got to see Halifax a little bit today.

Tomorrow: St John's, Newfoundland!

2007-01-22T22:26:00.000-06:00

Last week in Montreal, Terry and I went to an interesting restaurant: O Noir.

In this restaurant everyone dines in the dark. Not in the semi-dark or in candlelight, but PITCH BLACK. You are led in by blind waiters and assisted into your seat; once you are seated you can' see the food in front of you, the other diners sitting across from you, or even your fork.

It was started so that people could experience what it was like to eat without sight: and once you got past not being able to see what was on your plate, it definitely enhanced the food. Terry and I both got the "surprise" dish which meant we didn't know what it was until we started eating it.

Just one of the more interesting dining experiences in Montreal.

2007-01-17T19:32:00.000-06:00

Want to see a hectic schedule? Check out my February as I'm interviewing for residency positions:
Jan 30th travel to Halifax
Jan 31st Halifax, travel to St Johns
Feb 1st St John's travel to Wpg
Feb 2nd Winnipeg
Feb 3rd travel to Calgary
Feb 4th Calgary, travel to Edmonton
Feb 5th Edmonton
Feb 6th travel to Calgary, then fly to Montreal
Feb 7th Montreal
Feb 8th Montreal, travel to Toronto
Feb 9th Toronto
Feb 10th Toronto
Feb 11 fly to Edmonton
Feb 12th Edmonton
Feb 13th fly to Winnipeg
Feb 14th Winnipeg
Feb 15th Winnipeg
Feb 16th Winnipeg
Feb 17th Travel to Vancouver
Feb 18th- travel to Winnipeg
Feb 19th pack for China
Feb 20th LEAVE FOR CHINA

2007-01-10T21:25:00.000-06:00

New elective: 2 weeks in Montreal doing General Internal Consults. Here is my hospital: it is at the top of a hill:

I am also finding out all about CaRMS interviews: they are the job interviews we are applying for and will determine the next 5 years. They are also VERY STRESSFUL.

So far so good though...

2007-01-07T11:56:00.000-06:00

In this week's issue of the CMAJ:

CanWest set to challenge ban on DTCA.

Although many don't know it thanks to the US TV feeds we are able to get by living so close to the border, it is actually illegal to advertise drugs directly to the public in Canada. CanWest would like to change that (of course, given the deep pockets of the drug industries and their ability to pay for prime-time commercial spots).

I think that any furtherment of our system towards the style of American health care would be disasterous. Why do you think Americans pay outlandish prices for prescription medication leading to whole sectors of their community being unable to pay for medicine? Its not because they are covering all the R and D costs, the way people would like to think. Of COURSE its because they are paying for millions of dollars worth of advertising so that the uninitiated can get a good message about what kind of blood pressure medication they are taking.

Of course its wonderful for people to make informed health decisions about the medication they are taking, and I am not advocating taking away people's right for information, especially when it comes to drugs they are putting in their own body. The problem with these ads is that you are not getting an impartial opinion about medication. When this happens in advertising campaigns normally, you are able to sort-out a levelled opinion for yourself. Of course the breakfast cereal they are advertising isn't going to make you lose weight just by eating it. that's ridiculous. Of course the batteries aren't going to last FOREVER. However when drugs are advertised to a public that is not trained in medicine or pharmacy, and pushed onto people who are not able to sort out fact from fiction, it is going to lead to misinformed people pushing their doctors to try new, outlandishly (thanks to the ads) expensive medication, possibly with very little difference, or even detriment.

It really comes down to trusting your doctor to prescribe the best medication for you and asking them relevent questions during your health visit. The other resource people don't use are pharmacists- located at any Shoppers Drug Mart and very willing to answer questions about medication. Wouldn't you think that they would be better resources for drug information than your TV?

2007-01-05T17:57:00.000-06:00

There are a few characteristics movies can have to pretty much guarantee that I will like them. These include:

1. Dystopian visions of the future (aka 28 Days Later, or V for Vendetta, even the Matrix)
2. Set in Britain (not always a winner aka Calender Girls, but generally a good bet.)
3. Girls triumphing over adversity in some capacity.
4. Girls playing sports triumphing over adversity. (A league of their own, as cheesy as it sounds, is one of my all-time favorite movies. I also liked that soccer one with the girl from ER.)

With those criteria in mind, (especially the first 2) I am super psyched to see Children of Men.
I saw the trailor months ago, and the Internet Movie Data Base has led me to believe that those in Europe who had seen it already thought it was pretty good.

I was excited to see that it was opening December 29th. That Friday I was all psyched up to attend a matinee. Little did I know that it was ONLY opening in Toronto that day. In all of Canada. I now have had to wait 2 weeks for the rest of Canada to catch up.

Keep in mind that this day is the General Release day, not the "select cities" release date, which was December 25th. And this movie has been playing in Europe for months now.

You would think that with the internet and all the illegal movie downloading that can be done, it would be within the movie's best interest to open everywhere on the same day. Because for people like me who really want to watch it, but can't physically attend a theatre show, downloading the movie seems like a pretty darned good idea.

I actually didn't download it because I wanted the whole big-screen experience. But still.

2007-01-04T01:15:00.000-06:00

Sorry for the delay; it seems like I have been posting less and less even though it feels like lots has been happening. Among other things, I'm going to try harder during the winter to update and keep everyone informed. One of the nice things I noticed about meeting up with friends this Christmas was that most of them were fairly well informed as to my comings and goings thanks to the blog!

So much so, in fact, that Terry started his own blog for his highschool friends: you can check it out here.

I used to get bored over Christmas holiday and spend the last few days of the vacation subversively wishing for it to be over. Not this Christmas. Every day I woke up at 11 or later, spent the first hour or so leisurely reading the paper, playing videogames, and drinking coffee. Every night I went out with friends, most of whom I hadn't seen in months.

Now I have only 4 days left of vacation and I'm still having fun sleeping in and going out at nights. I'm even having fun staying home in my pyjamas and watching cheesy latenight TV (as per tonight.)

Sunday it all ends and I'm off to Montreal for 2 weeks of general internal consults.

2006-12-26T12:59:00.000-06:00

Merry Christmas!!

I am home from Ottawa and it feels so good! I really missed everyone. My sister Alexis came back from Europe Christmas day and Terry is back from Vancouver so really everyone is back at home!

I would really like to get together with people while they're in town. Hopefully tomorrow night I'll go out with Westgate people? And then hopefully U of W people later on in the week? At the latest New Years, when Sarah is having her party.

2006-12-18T19:53:00.000-06:00

New elective: Nephrology in Ottawa.
I've been spending my weekends in Montreal with my friend Michelle. Here we are at the Habs game:

They won 6:3- see? We were sitting in the nosebleeds, but it was the "beer section" and so everyone was really rowdy and fun.

Here I am eating smoked meat at Schwarts' : something that must be done in Montreal. I'm not sure if Michelle appreciated my stop, considering she's a vegetarian.

We also did a lot of shopping, but I didn't really take any photos of that. I'm getting kind of tired of my travels and am really looking forward to coming home for Christmas.

2006-12-04T17:39:00.000-06:00

New elective, new post. I've just come from Edmonton where I've spent the past 3 weeks doing Intensive Care. Which is awesome. I love intensive care. Not only do I get to do a bunch of cool procedures, the patients are fairly sick which means that we are pulling out all the stops to make them better. And its all very physiologic and sciencey and good.

Some stuff I got to do when I was there:
Arterial lines- putting a catheter into someone's artery. Its harder than an IV, because your arteries are deeper than veins, and they spasm. I did a whole bunch of these, because every ICU patient has one.
Also, I got to do a TRACHEOSTOMY!!

Usually its done in the OR, and it counts as ACTUAl surgery! You put a tube inside someone's trachea. They let me do the whole thing, and I've never heard of a student doing something like that before.

Edmonton was fun, but cold. And snowy. Terry was also doing an elective there, and we went skiing 2 of 3 weekends.

Here we are skiing!
Terry and Ken at the Sunshine lodge.

The last day we went was great because it was sunny! and you could see all the definition of the mountain.

Now i'm here in Ottawa. I can't believe two days ago I was in the mountains and now I'm across the country!

2006-11-10T14:40:00.000-06:00

I've been back at home for 3 weeks, on the Chest Medicine service. For the unfamiliar, this is the service that looks after lungs, and all things lungs-related. Lung tumours, lung infections, lung fibrosis...that's all us. Its been a bit slow on the service, but there were some highlights:

1. M and M rounds. That stands for Morbidity and Mortality, which is code for discussing the mistakes that are made when treating patients. On TV its all very dramatic, with yelling and accusations and stuff, but in reality these turned out to be pretty low-key, with a few powerpoint presentations and helpful suggestions by other staff.

2. TB clinic. The clinic for those with TB. Turns out, there are many of them.

3. Chest X-Rays. The chest X-ray is most ordered radiological test. You can do them pretty much anywhere- community hospitals, clinics, anywhere with an X-Ray machine, and while they're not a CT, they are pretty darned useful at narrowing down diagnoses. As a student, you go from your first day when you are pretty unfamiliar with what to look for (uhh...I think its a chest) to having a pretty good handle on how to read most of them by the time you're in 4th year. This service was all Chest-x-Rays, all the time, so I feel like I got even better at reading them.

Terry comes home from Montreal today and then on Sunday we're leaving for Edmonton and the world of intensive care medicine.

2006-10-27T16:19:00.000-05:00

To finish up with Toronto: Alana came out to visit and we did a lot of Korean things:

Eating Korean BBQ:

It looked better pre-cooked.

We also did more Norebang. We ate at some other good restaurants, including Mexican. Also pizza.
But my elective ended and now I'm in Winnipeg doing respiriology.

2006-10-15T16:22:00.000-05:00

Not so much time for posting- too busy doing stuff in Toronto. I'm not going to talk too much about the hospital stuff- its boring for most people to read- just about the fun times we're having in the city.
Our first weekend together we went to chinatown and had DimSum.

Next, feeling very BLOATED from all the food, we walked over to the CN tower:

We walked all the way over to Little India (very far east) and then down to the beaches, on the east side of Toronto. Then we walked ALL the way back. It took a long time. It was dark when we got back.
This is a picture of the beaches. More to come...

2006-10-02T21:29:00.000-05:00

I'm in Toronto!!

We got here last night at around 10 pm and managed to find our way to our rented apartment. It is really nice, but TINY. You may notice that the bed is in the kitchen:

We actually walked by the complex the first time because it looked too nice to be our place. Here's the outside:

This morning I went to the hospital where we did morning rounds, and then I spent the rest of the day with the other visiting medical students getting all of our ID cards and stuff. We had a 4 HOUR TUTORIAL on how to use U of T's electronic medical records.

As I was walking back home on Queen street I heard a yell from a guy coming towards me. It was Johnny!!!! Jonathan Stevens, a friend from highschool. He actually has been living in Winnipeg since December but I haven't seen him at all. It took a trip to Toronto to randomly bump into him.

We went out for Vietnamese food on Spadina with his friend Sebastian:

Tomorrow is my first real day at the hospital. I haven't seen Terry all day, because he was at Emerg rounds and is now doing a shift until midnight.

More to come later!

2006-09-24T23:31:00.000-05:00

Today Alana and I did norebang and I really REALLY wish we had taken pictures because it was one of the most fun nights ever. I looked around on Google and got the experience in cartoon form:

You get your own room and a karaoke machine and get to sing a variety of top 40 hits and korean songs very loudly. Our repetoire tonight included

- Under the Sea

- Barbie Girl

- Roxette

- New Kids on the Block

- and many more

Now that I know this sort of thing exists in Winnipeg I'm going to be dragging many people there.

2006-09-17T12:36:00.000-05:00

This weekend we went to the Harvest Moon festival in Clearwater, Manitoba. Where is Clearwater? We're still not too sure. After 2 and a half hours in the car and several wrong turns (involving us being led back to Notre Dame!) we finally made it. And I finally got to see Sarah spin!

On the way back, we continued to be lost as we explored the Pembina Valley.

Here we are checking out the windmills:

2006-09-13T22:31:00.000-05:00

The Carms match has opened. Let the hyperventilation begin.

I can't feel my legs...

2006-09-07T00:11:00.000-05:00

In this, the start of my final year of med school (and almost out of the woods), I would like to address some of the past myths and fallicies that were passed onto me by previous medschoolers, premeds, my parents, and other such people. These were the myths that had terrified me during my premed days.

1- Myth: med school is ridiculously, stupifyingly hard. You will always be struggling to barely make the grade.

Fact: Okay, its a bit hard. I can see why they do all that screening, but the fact is, that the information is taught, and then reinforced, and then reinforced again. We learn concepts by reading, through lectures, through small groups, through fake-clinical scenarios, through real clinical scenarios, and through tests. After all that repetition you're bound to retain something. And while I may not be an expert on positive pressure ventilation the way I WANT to yet, I sure can treat acute COPD exasterbation. Who would have thought that I would be confident about THAT 4 years ago??

2- Myth: Med school will suck up all your time until you are an out of shape, anemic puffball who cowers at the sight of sunlight and who spends all their freetime getting to know the library better.

Fact: Okay, I spend a lot of time studying. But its not, like, my LIFE. I have lots of time for other interests, YES even THIS PAST year, my 3rd year, the one known to be the time sucker. Sometimes I have to study on Saturday, but not every Saturday, and not all the time.

3- Myth: Relationships are impossible to start or maintain during med school. If you're not attached when you start, kiss your hope of ever meeting anyone goodbye and settle in for a life with your cats.

Fact: well I HOPE this isn't true!! Lots and lots of people in my class have started dating people, have gotten serious with people, even married people they met while in med school. I guess I don't go to the bar every night, but really, would you want to meet your next date at Coyotes??

4- Med students are nerds who can't relate to normal people.

Fact: Maybe this is true. I'm trying hard for it not to be. I know that sometimes people don't get that I really find myelodysplasia really, really interesting, and sometimes I'll leave a patient's room kind of psyched that they demonstrated an interesting clinical finding. But I'm trying hard to balance that with the compassion for my patients and understanding into their lives that I wanted to have when I started med school.

So those are my myths and facts. Don't worry future med students! You're in for a good time!

2006-09-03T17:15:00.000-05:00

Andrea sent me a birthday greeting:
Isn't it cute??

2006-09-02T20:09:00.000-05:00

Alana is back!!! Finally after a year of being away in Korea, she's back in Canada for a month. Let the bad tennis games and Goldeyes's watching begin.

And I turned 27 yesterday. I'm very old. Its a bit scary.

2006-08-29T23:05:00.000-05:00

Here I am in Notre Dame, doing 5 weeks in family medicine. Its kind of in the middle of nowhere- 50 minutes from Portage La Prairie, 90 minutes from Winnipeg. Population: 650.

Its very pretty:

Its s change from being in the city- Notre Dame is a bit of a one-horse town. They had to let me out early the first day so i could grocery shop before the store closed at 5pm.

The days are good. I'm studying lots, and going on lots of walks, and hanging out in my groovy 70s style basement apartment.

2006-08-14T20:06:00.000-05:00

Just been on vacation for two weeks. Instead of going away, Terry and I spent time here in Manitoba. Lots of time at the lake waterskiing and swimming, and lots of lounging time. We also hung out in the city and went out to dinner a few times, saw lots of movies, and did a lot of sleeping in.

Woo hoo for holidays!!!

Wednesday I start family medicine in St. Anne, Manitoba.

2006-07-28T00:56:00.000-05:00

My Schedule for Next Year:

August 1-15: Vacation at home: hopefully lots of lake time
August 16-September 30th: Family Medicine in Notre Dame, Manitoba.
October 1-20th: Internal Medicine Wards in Toronto.
October 23-November 10th: Respirology at the Health Sciences Centre in Winnipeg.
November 13-30: MICU in Edmonton.
December 3-22: Nephrology in Ottawa.
December 25-Jan 3: Break
January: An elective in Winnipeg- I'm not sure what yet.
February: Flying all over the country interviewing for CARMS.
End of February- March: one Month in China
April: hopefully doing ACLS and LMCC review here in Winnipeg, not applying for the 2nd round of CARMS!
May: Graduation from Med School (holy crap, is that really 8 months away???)
June: HOLIDAYS
July: Starting Residency, as a REAL DOCTOR.

2006-07-18T15:07:00.000-05:00

This is what I did at Folkfest:

Drove out with Adam and Terry...

Hung out with Anna, Sarah, and Steve...

Did some drinking... Enjoyed the scenary... And listened to some crazy guy play a 7'foot electronic pipe.

2006-06-21T17:30:00.000-05:00

I haven't mentioned this yet, despite having found out a few weeks ago...

I won a free trip to China!

Well, "won" is not exactly the correct statement. My medical school has an exchange program with the Shantou medical school- they have hosting spots for 2 fourth-year students. The trip is designed as a cultural experience for us, in a hospital setting. We're going to go to the hospital every day, but learn about the Chinese medical system, get involved in some Chinese medicine, maybe try acupuncture.

We had to write a letter telling why we wanted to go and hand in a CV. There was a selection committee and over 20 people applying so I assumed that I wouldn't end up getting the spot.

The best part of this arrangement is that they selected Terry to be the other student!
It is pretty much the best possible outcome for this trip.

I don't know very much about the details- I think we're going sometime in March for about 3 weeks. I also don't know very much about the city of Shantou other than it is close to Hong Kong and very hot and that (i think ) they speak Cantonese instead of Manderin.

Here's where it is...

But yes, its very exciting.

2006-06-13T22:22:00.000-05:00

Here are the Halifax pics-

On the plane...

Peggy's Cove:

And some ER residents.

2006-06-11T10:35:00.000-05:00

Last week I went to the International Conference of Emergency Medicine in Halifax. Twas fun!! I went with Terry, a guy in our class Jay, and many Emerg residents.
We spent a lot of time in Halifax listening to speakers, but we also went to Peggy's Cove. We also ate a lot of fish products.

I'll post pictures as soon as my computer stops being stupid.

2006-05-25T18:46:00.000-05:00

One of my Oma's friends sent me some photos of when I was little. This is me and Oma when I'm around age one.

2006-05-23T10:30:00.000-05:00

I had a great weekend!!

Friday night I went to the drive-in with some kids from school. I had never been (I know; shocking!) and so it was a new experience. I think the next time I'm going to need a big van and some blankets or something.

Saturday night I went to a BBQ at one of Terry's friends. Then SUNDAY I had a sleepover with Emily, Sarah, and Anna:

We had breakfast with everyone the next morning. Here's Anna making pancakes.

And THEN I went to the park with Terry, Jess and Michelle. Here we are enjoying the sun.

For dinner, Lara's parents had us over for steaks and cheesecake. Then we went to Corydon for Gelati with more of Terry's friends.

And NOW its Tuesday, and I don't start work until noon! I went swimming this morning and plan on hanging out on the deck in the beautiful 32C weather until I have to leave.

2006-05-15T23:16:00.000-05:00

If you have a spare 20 minutes, you should check out this: Steven Colbert Roasts the President. After watching this (twice) I have decided that he is pretty much the ballsiest news guy out there. Note the look George Bush gives him midway through the speech- it says "the secret service are going to END you after this is over."

2006-04-30T16:06:00.000-05:00

Saturday night on trauma surgery- CRAZY!!! Lots of stabbings, shootings, people getting run over by things...

I saw a lady who had a neck laceration that looked a lot like this picture (that I got from google):

Although in my case the wound was BLEEDING PROFUSELY and it was my job to "hold the neck" and apply pressure while they were getting her ready for surgery so that she wouldn't bleed out.

I also saw this crazy thing: an EMERGENCY THORACOTOMY:

Where they opened a guy's chest in the Emergency Room and massaged his heart from the inside. I was standing beside the guy that did it. It was insane.

2006-04-27T11:07:00.000-05:00

I have done a complete 180 on my opinion of Gold surgery. Last night I did call and it was AWESOME! (yeah!)

I saw a bunch of people with trauma, and I also got to put in my first chest tube.

Like this. I put my finger into someone's pleural cavity and felt their lung!

2006-04-09T19:26:00.000-05:00

So, there has been some discussion as to what to do with the two weeks off us med students get off each summer. There are some things that are going to be taken for granted, like a LOT of sleeping in. And probably some drinking. And most likely a lot of eating.

However WHERE these tasks are to be done is raising some debate. Most likely a camping trip to Paint Lake will be undertaken. Here's what it looks like:

Pretty, no?

However I am still trying to do some convincing about Jasper:

Because its slightly more exotic and not that much more expensive.

Anyway, the debate rages on.

2006-04-01T16:17:00.000-06:00

I'm done with plastic surgery and have moved onto orthopedic surgery. I like it better, for the following reasons:

1. the residents are nicer. Not that the plastics residents weren't nice. Its just- my role on the surgery 'team' isn't well defined, which means that mostly I follow people around and am a pain in the ass, and I was very AWARE that I was a pain in the ass to the plastics team. The ortho residents talk to me more, and even gave me and the other student a teaching session directed JUST at us. It was good stuff

2. The surgeries are cooler. Mostly I think because I get the concept of these surgeries more. Its like- "your hip is broken? Lets get that sucker out of there and GIVE YOU A NEW ONE." and then they do.

3. The hours are better. Slightly. No 6:00 am starts anymore. (Now its at 6:45 am every day.)

Only two weeks of this and its on to TRAUMA SURGERY!!!

2006-03-18T17:56:00.000-06:00

I've started my two week selective surgery rotation in plastics. It was a hard transition from the ICU- which I really liked- I am much more of an internal medicine person than a surgery person. And I started my first day on service with 8 hours of clinic, which means I went from taking care of people on pressers and ventilators to looking at women's breast reconstructions. (Of course, most of their reconstructions were after masectomies from cancer so its all very noble and whatnot, but it just doesn't have the same feeling of excitement, you know?)

Now that I've been on-service for a few days, I've been liking it more. They round really RIDICULOUSLY early in the morning (6am on Wednesday Friday and 6:45 all the other days) but its only for two weeks so I can live with getting up early for a while. And I've gotten to see and do some cool stuff. Including:

- taking care of the burn patients in the ICU
- stitching together someone's hand after they sliced it open with a table saw
- stitching someone's hand after they punched a glass window (a surprisingly common injury- I've seen 5 in 3 days)
- popping open someone's blisters that had covered the entire surface of their feet (okay this was gross, but oddly satisfying)
- amputating someone's finger after it had become infected and necrotic (I only watched this one)

2006-03-08T19:18:00.000-06:00

So, I did something a bit spontaneous over the weekend. Terry came down to Winnipeg on a medivac flight on Saturday night, and the flight nurse suggested that if I wanted to, I could come back on the flight with them for a visit.

So I did. This is me on the medivac flight up.

It was pretty much the most spontaneous trip ever. I left for the FRICKIN ARTIC wearing jeans, a T-shirt, and a light-weight coat, with no other luggage. Not even a toothbrush. But you know, it was hugely exhilirating to be able to just take off and leave somewhere like that. I've always wanted to go on a trip completely spontaneously like that- Mexico was close- but this definitely fulfilled some sort of impulsive subconciousness that I have.

Anyway, Rankin Inlet was very different. It was pretty small- only 2000 people live there.
It was cold,but not too cold. Here is another landscape shot:
My pictures aren't great, because I was taking them with the camera on my palmpilot. Because, oh yeah, I had no luggage.

But everyone was very nice. We went over to the attending doctor's house for caribou dinner, and then I got to see the health centre the next day. Mostly we just hung out and watched movies.

The only slightly down-side to it was that I wasn't able to get a medivac flight back to Winnipeg, and so I had to pay for my flight back. Which was a bit expensive. Still, it was my chance to see the North. Good weekends had by all.

2006-03-04T02:38:00.000-06:00

I looked into flying up to Rankin Inlet with aeroplan points, because lo-and-behold, CalmAir accepts them. And this is clearly the only way I was going to be able to travel up to Rankin- the cost for me to fly up- $2200.

So I called aeroplan today to reserve a flight- and immediately the lady on the other end was very sceptical about my request. "March 10th?" she said- "you KNOW that's Spring Break". When I politely tried to convince her that I didn't think Rankin Inlet was going to be the Spring Break destination that all the college kids were going to - she got all huffy and non-helpful. And then told me all the flights were booked.

Well that's just great.

2006-02-28T22:43:00.000-06:00

So, Terry is doing his family medicine rotation in Rankin Inlet at the moment. For 5 weeks. It is WAY the HELL up North. Here is a map to illustrate the far-ness:
I talk to him on the phone and stuff, but its really quite far away, you know? So while I have been scheming to fly up there for a weekend to visit, I'm hoping quite hard that he will be able to catch a medi-vac flight down to Winnipeg for the weekend. You see, when people get quite sick in the north- sick requiring surgery or intensive care or anything of that nature- or if they are in labour- they get flown down to Winnipeg. And sometimes people can hitch rides on those flights. Anyway, here's hoping.

Addendum: When I was up-north this weekend I learned that low-risk pregnancies delivery in the community. So I was wrong, and there are definitely less pregnant women being medivac-ed down than I thought.

2006-02-23T20:13:00.000-06:00

For the philosopher in you:

This was the message on my "german-a-day" calender. Usually its just a word or two, but yesterday was really all about philosophisin'.

2006-02-23T18:05:00.000-06:00

Another day in the ICU, another chance for me to do a central line.

And- have you ever seen someone with Stevens Johnson syndrome? Because I have.

Want to take a look? (pic from Google)

2006-02-22T21:38:00.000-06:00

Now that I'm on the ICU team I get to go to all of the Code Blues. So for all of you non-medical types, that means that whenever somebody in the hospital arrests or desats or otherwise gets really close to dying and needs resusitation, they call "CODE BLUE!" over the loudspeak and everybody comes running. Including me.

This is awesome.

It means that I get right in there in all the action! Now, to be fair, there are usually 5-10 other doctors in the room at that time, which means that I don't actually get to DIRECT the action. I just get to be involved in it, you know, in a peripheral sense. (The other thing is that we don't take ACLS- the resusitation course- until next year so mostly I am useless in a code, unless that person needs straight CPR or something.)

But its usually very exciting. Today I saw somebody get shocked, just like on TV.

Yup, I'm really living the dream. Medicinally, that is.

2006-02-19T12:34:00.000-06:00

I've bought a microphone and downloaded Skype so I'm all ready to chat- except the search function isn't letting me find anyone. Especially Alana, who i KNOW has skype and has been bugging me to download it. Lan can you send me your user name?

2006-02-17T23:52:00.000-06:00

I'm done internal medicine and I've started in the ICU. This experience is a lot different from general internal med- for one thing, I'm not needed there. At all. In fact, when I showed up the first day, they said "You're the med student? We're getting a med student?" Oh great, I thought it was going to be one of THOSE rotations.

But mostly its going okay. Its very weird that there are only 7 patients in the entire ward. I went from having 7 patients to having 1. Who has a nurse looking after them 24 hours a day. And who can't talk to me because they are intubated.

The other thing is that Lisa, Alana's sister is that nurse. Which is awesome, except its becoming hard for me to be professional because I have all of these associations with her and Alana and goofing off when we were in junior high and stuff like that. Not ICU-like professionalisms.

The other thing is that there is no call on this rotation, which means that I get to go home at 5 every day and I have weekends off. Which is weird. Its Friday night and I spent the good part of it sleeping. I'm still not caught up from all the craziness of last rotation.

2006-02-12T23:41:00.000-06:00

Now that I'm almost done internal med, I'm going to have a bit more time. Only one more call-shift left!!!

These pictures are when a few of us went skiing at Assissippi. It actually happened on January 2nd but I've been so busy with the school and what-not that I haven't gotten around to posting them.
Ainslie and Anna with their snowboards. They were trying snowboarding for the first time.

Terry and me. Getting ready to brave the snow.

Some action shots. Assissippi is sort of flat, but it was good enough to quench the skiing urge in me for a few more months.

2006-02-02T16:45:00.000-06:00

I'm sitting here at home on a Thursday afternoon, after I woke up this morning and realized I couldn't go to work today. Let me expand- yesterday I fell down the stairs (for anyone that knows me, they know that I do clutzy stupid stuff like this all the time and so this isn't a big event or anything) except that i sprained my ankle doing it and now its twice the size of the other one and I can't really walk. And i can't do my job if I can't walk (how would rounds go?) so here I am.

Although this isn't so great for my service for me to be here, and I really wish I could be working because if I'm not there it means that other people have to work harder to make up for me- because I absolutely and positively CANNOT go to work today, I'm letting myself be a little bit glad that I get a day off to sleep in a bit and lie around and recoop.

Internal medicine- its pretty hard. Not only is the medicine hard, (the diseases that we're following, the pathophys, etc... coming up with what exactly is going on with every patient, like just why the FUCK are one of my patient's platelets continually falling for some strange reason??) but all the other stuff is hard too.

Like working 12 hour days. And only getting a day off a week, maybe.

And like constantly being quizzed about details that you are expected to know (and probably SHOULD know) but often don't know. And then you look like an idiot. Like when I was asked what someone's INR was three days ago. (I don't know!!) Or if the sputum cultures had come back from the lab (I checked at 10am and not yet...)

Also another hard thing is that, as a med student, working in the hospital, you annoy the hell out of people a lot. Like, because you don't know where anything is, you always have to ask the nurses, which is annoying. And because you are so busy, sometimes you have to talk to patients during dinner or- even worse- wake them up. That is annoying. And because you aren't sure of your decisions (does this X-ray look like they have consolidation? I think so, but its hard to tell. ) You need to ask a resident. So that's annoying.

Its still fun, but hard. I think it'll be more fun once I'm a little more sure of myself.

2006-01-22T21:54:00.000-06:00

I realize there's been a lack of posts. Internal medicine is kinda busy. I sleep a lot of the time. And I only get one weekend off (which has already passed) so I feel like I never really get too much of a break. This weekend I worked Friday night, which means you stay until Saturday at noon, which means that you go home in the afternoon and sleep until about 7:30pm. Not a very fun idea of a weekend.

But its still going okay. I'm nearing the halfway point.

2006-01-09T19:53:00.000-06:00

So, I've started my internal medicine rotation. In fact, I'm one week into it.

For the unfamiliar, internal medicine is the mothership of medicine. Its where all the complicated, very sick people are admitted when they come into hospital. And its considered the hardest rotation for medical students. So much so, that there is a lot of sympathy for those doing it. "Ooh, you're on internal. How are you DOING?"

And the answer is- pretty good! Internal medicine is fun. Its finally getting down to real dirt, the kind of stuff I was expecting doctors do when I signed up for all of this. We have a lot of responsibility on this ward- more than most others- I have my own patients that I follow- and I do my best to take care of them. I was expecting everyone to be very scary and mean, but all of the residents and attendings are super-nice and I never feel dumb about asking questions about what I should do.

Some stuff sucks. Like the hours, which are really long. I get there at 6:45am, and usually leave 12 hours later. Every fourth day, I have to stay over night and leave at 12pm the next day. And you usually don't sleep during all that time.

But other than that things are good. Its kind of making me think that I might want to DO internal, as like, a career. Maybe.

2006-01-05T23:02:00.000-06:00

New Years was fun. We went to Jay and Jill's house for a house party. We didn't know that many people, but everyone was ultra enthusiastic (and drunk) and so it was fun. And there were some people from my class there too. This is me and Anna.

Some Antics.

This is me and James. Can you tell we're having a good time???

2005-12-28T11:42:00.000-06:00

So I had an evening out with the Westgate kids. Here are the photos.

Everybody...

Andrea, John, Mark, and Dave.
Caroline and Matt.

2005-12-24T22:20:00.000-06:00

Merry Christmas!!

2005-12-24T22:18:00.000-06:00

I've been doing an awful lot of cross-country skiing these days. It turns out I'm not very good at it. Its funny because, as my sister says, its as hard as running in terms of cardio, but also you constantly have to concentrate on not falling down. (That's the part i'm not very good at.)

2005-12-22T17:39:00.000-06:00

Done, done, DONE!!! I'm on holidays!

But first, I had to finish up psychiatry by writing our board exam. Because the exam is written in the states (ie- NOT by anyone at U of M) its kind of hard to complain about it to any person of power at the school. But that doesn't mean I can't bitch a little, just in general.

So here it is- I was thinking that on a psychiatry exam there would be a lot of, you know, psychiatry. And they did have a bit of it- however they a whole lot of other stuff that one might not assume would be on a psychiatry exam. Like pediatric seizures. Or neuroblastoma. Or insulinoma. (For the non-medical types reading, just trust me- NOT PSYCHIATRY.)

But regardless of how I did on this exam, the point is that its finished and I'm done.

We had our annual Girl-Gift-Exchange on Tuesday night after the exam with the girls in my class. Twas very nice. I got soap and some other stuff. Then there were happenings at Bar Italia.

And I've just spent the last 18 hours in bed lounging. What a great start to the holiday.

2005-12-18T12:29:00.000-06:00

I did my last psychiatry call-shift on Friday. Psychiatry call is surprisingly good- basically anyone who comes into the ER because they are pyschotic or suicidal or hostile- those are the people we see. On friday night we saw someone on Crystal Meth, someone else with anti-social personality disorder (Google it) and someone else who threw his medication on the floor and had to be forcibly restrained by 4 security guards.

It kind of makes up for the fact that I only got 1 hour of sleep that night.

2005-12-07T20:35:00.000-06:00

I saw Charlie and the Chocolate Factory for the first time yesterday. The Johnny Depp version, not the Gene Wilder version from the 70s that's awesome and that everybody watches at school at some point (usually after reading the book.) Good movie, although I'm not sure anything could top Gene Wilder. Johnny Depp is creepy-funny, which i guess is his deal. I'm not sure if I want elementary school kids to start watching this version instead of the 1970's classic.

Okay, i know, lame entry. But nothing is really going on with me right now and its been a while since the last entry. Any thoughts for Christmas presents?

2005-11-29T13:03:00.000-06:00

I've returned from my weekend getaway out east. We flew to Montreal Friday afternoon and stayed in a Bed and Breakfast by the Plateau. It was very cute- all Grandmotherly and such. Our room was decorated was doillies and patchwork bedspreads.

After checking in, we went to a fairly cheesy bar on Cresent Street where we drank some of these:

And ate some of this:

The next morning we climbed Mount Royal:

And then we walked around the city for the rest of the day- through McGill campus, and down St. Catherine's street to Chinatown and the Old City:

This is us in one on one of the sidestreets.

The next day we took the train to Ottawa and checked into our ULTRA SWANKY Bed and Breakfast. It was one of the nicest places I've ever stayed. Picture hardwood floors and mahogany wood furniture. I'd never been to Ottawa before and so we spent a few hours wandering around the parliment buildings and the riverside. This is beside the Rideau Canal.

It was cool being at the legislature the evening before the non-confidence vote because all the news networks were setting up their camera equipment in preparation for the vote.

We went to the National Gallery for a few hours, and then found a bar to watch the Grey Cup in.

All in all, a really fun trip. It was all very romantic and what-not. Lots of fun.

2005-11-25T11:14:00.000-06:00

I'm off to Montreal and Ottawa this weekend!! I'll update when i get back!

2005-11-24T17:55:00.000-06:00

I went to jail yesterday. The doctors in charge of the ward I'm on spend a lot of time there (there ARE a lot of mentally ill patients in jail, one might be interested to know) so I went down to Stony Mountain yesterday to observe one of the clinics. It was a lot less scary than one might think. The clinic is separate from the regular jail, so I really didn't get the whole experience of walking down "the line" of bars like they do in the movies.

2005-11-19T14:34:00.000-06:00

So, psychiatry. I have to say that its not really my thing.

I'm not really sure why I'm not a fan- certainly everyone on my ward has a lot of interesting stuff going on with them- and I get a lot of time off and stuff- I think its just that I feel like I should be doing more for them than just TALKING. And more talking. And then slightly adjusting their meds. And talking some more.

Maybe its because I feel like I'm not very good at this whole talking thing. It funny because all the patients clearly recognize that I'm a student and that I kind of suck. One of them was asking me to get them a package of sugar, said "hey, this is something you can probably handle- can you get me some sugar?"

Ooh, burn.

2005-11-13T15:25:00.000-06:00

We had our Obs/Gyn exam on Thursday- for some reason, our school decided that we should be writing the American National Board exams for all subjects, so that is what we did. Mostly its not a big deal, except for the fact that all of their lab values are in weird units. (How much is that person's blood sugar?? Is that high or low?) The test went... well, its hard to tell how it went. It was one of those tests that didn't feel especially great, but probably wouldn't have gone better even if I had studied more. Because I just wouldn't have studied what they wanted me to know on this particular test.

Now I've started my Psychiatry rotation. I'm on the forensics ward- which means that everyone there has been convicted of a crime. Yeah, so I'm like that court psychiatrist on Law and Order who assesses everybody and determines whether they are fit to stand trial. Except with a lot less court appearances.

I thought everyone was going to be really scary on this ward (you tried to murder WHO in your psychotic episode???) but it turns out that mostly this isn't true. Everybody is pretty stable, and a lot of the crimes that they were convicted of are pretty minor. Also, there isn't a huge role for the med student- not like some of the other wards, which are fairly resident/med-student driven- I'm mostly along for the ride. And everyone is psych is super nice. Like, far far nicer than I was expecting. I sat down in the nurses' lounge my first morning, totally expecting the nurses to completely ignore me (kind of like they do on all the other wards). But they ALL sat down and introduced themselves. I was kind of blown away.

2005-11-07T22:35:00.000-06:00

Why am I ridiculously excited? I'm going to Montreal and Ottawa in 2 weeks! Which isn't so ridiculous in itself, but the fun part is that I'm going with Terry.

So yes, its going to be a whole romantic thing. Hopefully not cheesy romantic- with like firelit dinners and gazing into eachothers' eyes and all of that stuff- but something a bit toned down from that. We're going to do some sightseeing. And he said he knows a good bed-and-breakfast.

Anyways, its going to be fun. I'm psyched.