One down

Can I just say I had a blast on my peds rotation. It was a lot of fun, way too short and now it's over. Internal Medicine is next - I have a 10 minute drive ahead of me and some pretty reasonable hours. This stuff is fun. If only I could remember all the stuff I learned last year. I am afraid that I have see something 3 times for it to stick. At least once I actually do something (hands on) I usually don't have a problem doing again. Usually. I have the weekend off for the most part and look forward to starting my next clinical on Monday.

I am tired

getting up at 5:30 and getting home at 6 with 2 hrs of driving is making me a tad bit tired. I am still having fun on my peds rotation. My docs tell me I am doing fine, especially for my first rotation. My diagnostic skills seem pretty good. I wish I knew more about drugs. I mean I feel like my pharm classes were very good but they covered the basic pharmacology of the various drug classes ad not all the specific brands and dosing considerations. All in time i am sure.

More on my first rotation

For my peds rotation I rotate through 3 different docs. It is good because I get to see different techniques and approaches and philosophies. So halfway through my third day the doc says "how about we start throwing in on cases/" to I say "sounds good." I saw a hand full that day and at the end of the day the doc was running late for a conference call with two patients left. He actually considered letting me handle them all on my own but thought better of it - as students we are not supposed to do the work of anyone or be used to extend productivity. I was flattered that thought enough of me to take that on but I know I don't know enough to do that just yet. Right now I commute one hour each way and wake up at 5:30 ang get home by 6:30 most days. Friday stunk because I got out at 4:30 and because of traffic didn't get home until two hours later. I have a free apartment provided to me which I may use once in a while. The wife is going out of town wednesday through friday so I will have get the boy to school extra early and pick him up extra late. The doc on Friday complemented me that I work really well with the kids and they respond well to me too. I thought that was cool. It seems that kids and dogs like me the most - perhaps they can tell just how much I have in common with them?

Pediatrics Rotation - my first rotation ever!

Today is the fourth day on my first rotation. I've been seeing patients by myself for the last two days. Naturally the docs will go in a follow-up after I give them my report. The place is really relaxed and collegial and they really want me to learn. Everyone is super nice and friendly - at least it seems that way to me. I am having fun seeing patients and learning the practical application of the past year of book knowledge. It is fun!

My back is slowly getting better an I am encouraged that stretching improves or alleviates my pain for a while. The more I stretch the better I feel, but I get tight very quickly. Many people have asked why I haven't gotten an MRI yet. My reasoning is as follows: The MRI will find something. That something may or may not be the cause of my pain. Other than PT, which I am doing on my own as much my schedule allows, I am not willing to consider any other treatment options (surgery) that might apply to the dubious finding on an MRI that is guaranteed to show something wrong with a 39 year old former football/hockey/martial arts participant who has had other minor infrequent back problems.

Back from vacation

We went up to the cabin my wife's grandmother has in MN. Right on a good size yet very quite lake. TV reception stinks and no cable worth a crap. It was really nice. My boy did some swimming in the lake and he drove the pontoon boat we rented for 2 days. I went fishing, played hell with my new rod, caught 2 tiny fish and gave 'em back. Ate at Zorbaz pizza the last night there. Slept with my boy on the air mattress - he peed the bed each night and took a bath in the lake each day.The drive was a real and literal pain in the ass. It sure didn't help my back much either. Mostly the pain is confined to my right ass and leg, consisting mostly of muscle spasms that clamp down on my sciatic nerve creating a searing pain that forces me to limp around like an old coger. It is getting better, at least that is what I am telling myself.

My first rotation starts the 31st. Ill be doing pediatrics in a town 60 miles away. The housing scheme is run by another school and they have not gotten back to me yet so it looks like I may be commuting each day for at least a while. My neighbor who is a nurse got me a women's helth rotation with an OB/GYN she works with so I hope that pans out. Otherwise I'll have to go to a much 'less desirable' city to do my WH rotation. White coat ceremony is tomorrow - gotta go iron my coat........

Year One is over!

Yesterday was our last final. It was tough just beacuse it tended to cover all things we didn't go over in class and we had a lot of interruptions by the instructor. That said I think I did well enough to keep my B in the class - had no way of getting an A however. In total this semester I got 4 A's and 4 B's. My goal this semester was to keep stress to minimum and to help make my wife happier when I could. This meant less studying. Overall I am satisfied with my performance.

I feel like I should be really excited and celebrating like crazy that this hellish year is over. Really I am just plain tired and my back is not helping anything right now. My PA wants me to get an MRI but I don't want to because I am not willing to do anything about what they might find (e.g. surgery) and I haven't had any time to go either. I have been stretching, one of my classmates gave me acupuncture treatment and another has been doing some deep tissue and muscle energy work on it. It really is nice to have classmates with such varied and valuable experience. I'll miss not hanging out with them, I really will.

Pediatrics is my first rotation and it starts 8/31. Peds was not one of our stronger classes so I have some level of anxiety about it. I like kids and they like me for some reason so I am just going to approach it all with that kind of attitude and work my butt off to learn as much as I can. We go up to the cabin tomorrow and I look forward to some peace and quite on the lake.

Thanks to all who left comments/questions. I appreciate the support a great deal.

My back is a pain in the ass and vice versa

So Thursday my back just went crazy on me for no good reason. I didn't play hockey (I am done for a while so I can heal). All I did was play ping-pong with a classmate on Wednesday. I missed class Thurs. and went to see my PA - she was really off her game by-the-way, and an MD who does acupuncture. I took 40-some needles, she did some cupping on my back that left pepperoni-like bruises and she also did moxabustion - burning some balled-up herb on my back. Went to massage today, but still walk with a limp. My ass has taken to a rivalry with my back to see who can cause me the most grief. 1g of naproxen, 3 flexaril and 100mg of tramadol per day and I still hurt. My PA wants an MRI but I am going to have to hold off until after finals and vacation to the cabin. The real pain is 6 cumulative finals in 4 days!