Keeping the Faith

So, yesterday was my final follow up with NeuroDoc. I feel terrible for the patients that came after me, because NeuroDoc really, really, really likes to give me advice about med school, careers in medicine, handling a marriage while being in medicine. I really appreciate all the advice he can give me, but when I walked out of there, I'd been in my appointment for over an hour, and there were people waiting when he got to me in the first place. I really do learn a lot from him though. One thing he has me working on is changing my dominant eye from my right to my left. He's pretty convinced, and I am too, that my eyes will stay the way they are for, if not forever, a very long time. That is to say, by the time I'm a third year medical student using ophthalmoscopes (to look in eyes) and otoscopes (noses and ears), my right eye will still be sub par, and the blind spot might keep me from seeing all there is to see. So I need to be able to look with my left. To me, this is like trying to write with my left hand. Not easy. So in order to do this, he recommends that I use a patch on my right eye for about a half hour or 20 minutes a day while I watch tv. This way my brain will start to pick up on the fact that it's my left eye it needs to get the most info from, rather that my right eye like it's used to. I also need to practice, practice, practice. It's not just the lack of vision that makes this little maneuver difficult. When you get used to holding an instrument in a certain way it's really hard to switch your technique. But, I'm lucky to have J, Mugs, and the big guy to practice on. I'm confident that by the time my neuro block rolls around in June I'll be much better at it.

After my NeuroDoc appointment, I had to get the registration renewed on my car. And by had to, I mean that I was on the last day of my grace period and really had no choice. Being the last day of the month it was incredibly busy. I waited in line, pretty happily since it was a nice day, and a Friday to boot, and everyone else seemed pretty cheery. But the very second I got to the head of the line, was called over, and sat in the chair, the computer system went down and no one was going anywhere until it came back up. I have to say I was impressed with the patience of these people. At first, there were of course those jerks who walked out and slammed the door. The woman I was sitting across from was dismayed about that, as anyone who is in the door by closing time is going to be helped, regardless of how many hours of overtime they had to put in. But then, everyone got really happy. Everyone knew they had to be there, and the employees had to be there, and that everyone was doing the best they could. The security guards came by with little lollipops for the kiddies in line, and everyone was just pretty collegial about the whole ordeal. And the computers stayed down for 45 minutes. It gave me back a little of the faith in humanity that shopping at Walmart on a Sunday often takes away. Overall, I left there pretty happy, amazing for a trip to motor vehicle hell.

The weekend thus far has not been productive. I studied a bit this morning, but then gave up when the dogs would not stop playing around and making a TON of noise. So I went to the gym for an hour and then got the grocery shopping done. By the time that I was home, J was almost home (work on a Saturday, yuk, it's like looking into my future). Did I get lots done since he was home to watch the dogs? Nope, did all the ironing. Eh. I figure, it's probably my last weekend to get to all the stuff that really needs to get done around the house, to plan for VACATION (!) and for my MOM and SISTER'S TRIP! After this weekend, not much other than boards is going to occupy my time. Yes, I feel that I can get a decent score if I took it right now, but there's nothing wrong with working a little harder. After all, on Friday I found out that the average board score of the interviewed applicant for an anesthesia position in residency (not from CO), is 255. That's 35 points over the national average, and hence 35 points over my practice score. I'm not saying it's completely impossible. But damn near. Good thing I'm expanding my career differential to include ob.

Overall, though, things are good in LG land. School as I know it is over in 2, count'em 2 weeks, and I'm so ready to keep moving forward!

Also, I made the coolest find for our San Francisco trip! Pretty much the first thing I want to do when we get to the city is drop our bags off at the hotel and go to the Ferry Building to the Farmer's Market. It is a year round farmer's market that is just awesome. Well, it's always been awesome for me. Last time we went J picked up EHEC O157:H7, a form of E. coli that causes really bad enterocolitis. He was lucky in that he didn't have any kidney issues with it, but he was so miserable. So, I figure - number 1, I'm really lucky because more often than not my overactive immune system is an annoyance to me, but it might protect me from all these crazy pathoogens, and number 2, maybe J developed some immunity from the toxins that make this E. coli strain so dangerous. In any case, we will be sure to make a trip into the actual Ferry Building for - wait for it - Salumi Cones! Oh. My. God. It's like a Sno-cone full of my favorite salami goodness!



I am so excited I can hardly stand it sometimes. Wow I love that city!