What d'ya say?
  • Home
  • BLOG
  • India Adventure
  • Scuba Diving
  • Meddies
  • Travel Pictures
  • Falmouth, Jamaica Pictures
  • Chichicastenango, Guatemala

Fabulous Fun with (66% of) the Family

6/6/2009

0 Comments

 

I have to preface this with saying that I miss my Emmy and Matty Boy.  It isn't quite the same without them here, it seems like something is missing.  The house isn't as loud, there isn't as much food to cook, and there are less people the boat with.  They were my tubing buddies who for years I hauled on to Big Bertha, the tube.


Despite the void today was a blast.  Nothing much happened but what did went smoothly.  We went almost to Arkansas to a furniture store, had lunch, and came back.  Then we went down to the dock to spend the remainder of the afternoon.  There was reading, fishing, and conversation.  By far my favorite part of the day was preparing, cooking, and eating dinner.  It was a family affair with new foods tried and recipes cooked.  Something like the winey goat cheese were a hit, others such as the grilled sweet potatoes crashed and burned (literally they were very black!)

What made it so nice was that everyone was together in the new open kitchen/dining room/sunroom area which allowed us to all talk.  Dad practiced his knife skills by cutting the potatoes, tomatoes, and strawberries.  However, he still needs to master cutting the fluffy foods like angel food cake.  He has the tendency to use force to cut through which makes to bread or cake deformed and flat.  We will have to cook more so he can practice using a back and forth motion with a serrated knife.

I am ending the night by finishing my glass of wine, looking up at the full moon, and reading my book.  What a glorious summer...Me

0 Comments

Am I really going to be a doctor?

6/5/2009

0 Comments

 

I find myself asking that questions and still not believing I am going to be a Dr.  It is crazy to think about how much I have learned in medical school over the past year. Yet last night I was reminded how much I still don't know.  I volunteered to work at MedZou, the free clinic run by Mizzou medical students in Columbia.  As an M1/M2 you have the role of initially interviewing the patient.  I feel like I can handle that pretty well, still miss a few disease specific questions but hold me own (at least I think).  It is nicer now that the clinic flow pairs a M1/M2 interviewer with a M3/M4 student doctor.  You see in the third and forth yrs of school you are placed on clinical rotations so you actually are treating patients.  Don't worry there are fully trained doctors supervising and giving orders to ensure patient safety, most of the time.  By pairing interviewers with a student doctor we (M1s) get a bit of assistance and guidance if we forget to ask a question.  Also we get to go in and help with the physical exam.  It is a neat learning experience and there are a wide variety of people to meet.


Sorry back to the point of this story.  Last night while working I felt so stupid because I really could only interview and even when a pt came in with acne I didn't know all the right questions to ask.  I needed to ask a bunch of endocrine questions which I didn't.  Thankfully my student doctor partner was there to follow everything up.  In addition to my lack of interview skills he asked if I wanted to do the physical exam and chart it, oh crap I haven't done that since block 2.  Not to mention we flew through that but I still remember the cranial nerves!

The bottom line here is that I am not close to being a real doctor but I am on my way.  There is so much I will learn by doing in the next few years I think next year I will be able to do a physical exam and even chart it more comfortably.  I need to get over my worrying about making a mistake because I will for sure make plenty, I already have.  The thing that I forget is that everything is a teaching experience and the patients know that, the physicians know that and my fellow students know that.  As much of a hierarchy as there is I think there is also sympathy or maybe empathy is the better word for those in the beginning of their medical career.   Those individuals who are further along have all been the low man on the totem pole and know what it is like.  I just hope they remember that.

0 Comments

Closets and Cars

6/3/2009

0 Comments

 

For me closets and cars stir similar feelings.  Both require regular maintenance in order to serve their given purpose.  The maintenance light always seems to flash at  inconvenient time leading to the delayed service.  My closet for example, everything has its place so I can find what article of clothing or shoe I am looking for.  However, when it gets close to test week my clean laundry doesn't get placed in its proper spot leading to frustration and confusion when getting ready for school in the morning.  This ultimately leads me to either being late or throwing an outfit together that I am constantly worrying if my shirt is long enough.  

The same thing happens with a car, the smart mother board computer tells you that regular maintenance is due (even though you just had it serviced) so you call the car place to have them explain how to turn the computer off.  After trying to figure it out I realized I didn't have the "right touch" it needed.  No big deal I can live with the light but crap now I am out of windshield fluid.  No big deal I have the gallon of fluid that I can refill it with.  Of course I put that off to until I am driving down the road and can't see out my windshield because it is frosted over.  I guess I shouldn't have put that off.

Another aspect that both share is that you can only trust certain people to care for your closet and car.  When it comes to my closet, I love my mother to death but please leave my closet alone.  Furthermore I would never in a million years want her to go into my closet and clean it out.  I don't know why it matters to me so much but I kind of go crazy when she tells me "we are going to clean out your closet today."  I revert back to the 5 yr old throwing a hissy fit in the grocery isle when I am told I can't have M and M's.  Cleaning out my closet is something I dread, I don't mind throwing things out or getting rid of things I don't need.  It is just something about the set goal of getting rid of X number of articles of clothes from my closet that sets me off.

As far as cars go you really can't just trust anyone either to fix your car.  I guess I have gullible written all over my forehead when I walk into a car place to get my oil change or my emissions test or to get the steering checked.  It seems that unless I go to this one car repair place in good ol' Wash MO I end of getting screwed.  They changed the oil but didn't check the tires.  They checked the emissions but your breaks are need to be replaced.  How am I suppose to know the insides of a car, the human body is enough to learn.

Hmm I guess that is what Dads, brothers, and boyfriends are for....Meg

0 Comments

On the Road Again...

6/2/2009

0 Comments

 

Yes I have again found myself in the passenger seat on the wonderful roads of Missouri. It is 11pm as Ad and I venture home to Wash MO after watching Conan’s first night on the Tonight Show.  Conan makes me chuckle and I will probably watch him if I am up but I am still a Jay fan.  However, to be honest I probably won’t watch Jay at his new time.  Hopefully I will have other things to do.

I did block out time to watch The Bachelorette tonight with Charlotte, a guy in my medical school class’s wife.  They just got married about 2 wks ago and I am really excited that they live down the street from me.  It was just a 5 minute walk and I was there.  I can’t explain my attachment to the show but I get sucked in.  It is like when the movie A Few Good Men or The Fugitive is on TBS, you find yourself watching it while the DVD is next to you on the self and you have seen it 20+ times.

True love via a reality TV show is a concept I don’t think works for most people.  Occasionally there is a lucky couple who fall in love and end up happily ever after.  That is due to luck more than anything else.  The reality shows I guess give the opportunity to meet people somewhat like a bar, it is just makes me wonder what type of people you are recruiting for the shows.  How do you know they are there for the right reasons, do you really have enough time to get to know them, do they like you or is it the helicopter ride over Hawaii and the dinner on the beach that makes the night so special?  I’m a skeptic.


0 Comments
Forward>>

    Author

    My name is Meg and I am currently a Geriatrics and Palliative Care Fellow at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City.  I started this blog several years ago as a way to remember and talk about what I experienced while studying abroad in Rwanda during the summer of 2009.

    The blog has now continued and still serves as a way to let my friends and family know what I have been up to and a way for me to open up.

    Disclaimer: The contents on this site represent my personal opinions, views, and experiences.  They do not reflect the views of my employer or sponsor program.

    Archives

    January 2016
    March 2014
    February 2014
    May 2012
    February 2012
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    May 2010
    April 2010
    March 2010
    December 2009
    November 2009
    October 2009
    September 2009
    July 2009
    June 2009
    May 2009

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.