Vermont Foliage

This weekend, M and I went to see the in laws way up in the Kingdom. Northeast Kingdom, that is. No, I'm not joking, that's how they refer to it. These pics reveal why....

Week 3 Survived

After having a mini melt down Tuesday night, I find myself drinking a Bailey's Irish Creme on a Friday night having survived the week which did not seem possible on Tuesday.

The week in review:
Tuesday was an incredibly long day...clinical all day, home for dinner, then class from 7-10. I came home, slammed the door, responded 'Long' to M's question about how my day was, then went upstairs and proceeded to have my mini melt down. M provided lots of reassurance that I can and will, in fact, survive this semester. I am unsure of his judgement but we'll see. This is an extremely intense semester, I'm literally taking it day by day. At least my colleagues at school are all feeling the same way. Every spare moment I have is spent studying (save for writing this blog and I force myself to not study on Friday nihghts, I can't even absorb any more info at this point so it would be a waste of time)

Wed/Thurs
One normal and one completely crazy day at work with much follow up on situations on Monday morning.

Friday
Clinical today. I decided today that I do like my preceptor, at first I was unsure. Perhaps it's his liberal use of the word 'bullshit' or perhaps I have finally seen proof that he does care about his patients and he is more on top of things than I initially gave him credit for. He has started asking what I would do for treatment in the patients that we see, I'm wrong 70% of the time still but at least I'm right 30% of the time. I think after having worked in my job for so long, I think the worst too often. There's a phrase used in medicine that I should keep in mind more often 'If you're in Kansas and hear hoof beats, don't think zebras'. I think I tend to do this given my backgrond and keep in mind the other famous medical phrase 'Common diseases occur commonly'.

Sat/Sun
Heading up to VT tomorrow morning to see the inlaws new addition and new pup! Also, they'll be a low key birthday celebration for M's pops.

Weekend

Is it bad that it's only Sunday and I'm already looking forward to next weekend? The weekend went so fast...too fast.

I did manage to have some down time though, we had some friends over last night for a grill out so I was forced to be social and unbury my nose from the book.

This week went well overall, the classes this year are extremely helpful and relevant to what we are doing in clinical, it really ties everything together. I think the program really focuses it's energy and efforts on the students in the last year of the program. My current issues with the program were that I felt like I wasn't getting help or answers to my questions regarding the clinical placement process, this semester my advisor has already sent my resume to a possible placement site for my final rotation in OB/pedi. It was totally unsolicited and a place that is something I really would enjoy.

The classes are very well organized and packed full of useful information and great links to bookmark as references. One of my classes is online and has two hours of lecture to listen to each week complete with slides. I have quickly realized the slides/lecture is my favorite part because I can knit during the lecture. I pay more attention that way than stopping to take notes while she's talking, then missing the next few seconds of what she's saying. Plus, you can save all the lectures if you do need to go back.

This week in clinical was pretty good, some of my judgement calls ended up being correct. I think my times are improving, getting what I need from the history and doing the targeted physical in about 15 minutes or so, depending on what the issue is. We did not see anyone last week that needed a pap...but I think he understands that I do need to do them so that's an improvement.

Well, I'm off to continue reading for this coming week. The topic for one class this week is coding (billing correctly for services offered) and for the other one it's dermatology (which is disgusting by the way, do not try to eat you lunch and watch slides of dermatology at the same time FYI).

What Free Time??

Dear Readers of the Blog,
I had the best of intentions...really, I did. I was going to regale you with tales of birthday celebrations, end of semester stuff, and other minutae but my formerly calm life has turned into a ball of chaos with the beginning of the Fall semester leaving me with no time to dwell on the past, only look forward (longingly) to the future.

Every second spent posting is a second not spent reading and that is a luxury I do not have at this point. My time of being a blissfully ignorant grad student is gone, now this camper must buck up and pretend like she knows something.

I'll try to post, scouts honor, but it will be sporadic at best. Things like spherocytes, hemoglobin electrophoresis, and red blood cell morphology have my rapt attention for now...

Counting down the days till my sanity returns,
N

Waning Light

It's my favorite time of year, not just because it's my birthday season. Rather than spring, I always feel like fall is a time of renewal, odd since everything is dying. A few of my favorite things 'round this time of year:

Cider
Crisp air
Earlier darkness
Sweaters
Socks
Hats
Scarves
Leaves on the ground
Seeing my breath in the air
The cold breeze in the house when M opens the front door to take out the garbage
Using heat in my car for the first time
Baking
The intention to go apple picking even though I have yet to make it
Impending holiday to dos
First snowfall
A warm toasty home