perfect delivery? really?

Brooklyn, Bronx, Queens and Staten, from the Battery to the top of Manhattan. Black. White. New York. We make it happen!

-Beastie Boys, To the 5 Bouroughs

I made it back to Vancouver fine on my bike. 13 hour trip from Fraser Lake to Burnaby with relatively few breaks considering you have to fuel up every 180km. Managed to arrive in time for my GI system to erupt with some sort of viral discontent, no doubt acquired from one of my preceptors children, mostly likely during one of our frequent 3 one 1 wrestling matches. It was thankfully shortlived and, with lots of help from Courtney, I managed to get my stuff and get organized to fly to New York, New York.

Courtney and I are flying seperately because I was sort of a last minute addition to the trip. She left 5 hours ahead of me on an Air Canada flight and arrived 5 minutes after me, without our luggage (she was carrying both of ours). I'm not sure exactly why, but they filled the plane with too much fuel, so they had to take everyone's luggage off in Calgary to compensate for the added weight. Anyhow, it's been pretty hot and sticky in new york and that was 48 hrs ago and we just got it. Needless to say we (and the people who have to hang out with us) were happy to finally hear from the delivery man.

So far our trip has been really awesome. We are here visiting Courtney's mom and little sister Alex, who just graduated from highschool and is in New York working as a model. They are renting a little apartment in Chelsea which they have been so gracious to share with us.

I'm a fan of point form:

Day 1

Central park stroll (it's massive-apparently the real estate is worth 529 billion)
Museum of Natural History (cool dinos)
Times Square at night (apparently it's the law that they have to have lights on the outside of the buildings)
Transformers (the movie- surprisingly funny in parts)

Day 2

Metropolitan Museum of Art (Weapons and armor by far the coolest part)
City boat cruise (Statue of liberty, etc- refillable fountain pop for only $6)
RENT! (the musical. i haven't seen many shows before but i really loved it. lots of fun.)

We bought a book that has tickets to lots of attractions which has made things more affordable for us...assuming of course we would have done all these things in the first place. At any rate, it's been busy and a bit unhygenic thus far, but an awesome trip. One more day here and then up to Boston for the weekend to visit one of Courtney's good friend's from SFU and one of my good friends from Australia (who happened to marry a girl from Boston).

Hope that wasn't too many details for all y'all. I didn't bring my camera cord, so photos will be up when I get back to home sweet smelling home (the scent of new york is some combination of mold, sweat and garbage).

you and your elastic bandage

The most sacred thing I do is care... Today I am in charge of picking a great new healthcare plan. Right? That's what this is all about. Does that make me their doctor? Um, yes. Like a specialist.

-Michael Scott, The Office

I am heading into the last week of my rural practice placement now. For better or worse, I feel like the socialization process has increased in proportion to the amount of time I've been spending seeing patients. I find I am speaking to friends the same way I speak to patients and writing emails like notes in a chart. Yuk. This process is a hard one to wrestle with. As a student, I am constantly trying to figure out how to interact best with patients and get the most med cred possible, all the while, trying to prevent myself from becoming totally boring, or totally idiosyncratic. Difficult.

It's back to Vanderhoof (the geographical centre of BC) tomorrow for a day in the OR/ER and then I will most likely spend the remainder of the week in the clinic here in Fraser Lake. I'm actually leaving on friday morning in order to make it back to Vancouver in enough time to catch a flight to New York on sunday afternoon so I only 4 days of work left. Courtney's mom has graciously offered to use some flight points to fly me out there, so I'm off to the big apple for a week. We will spend most of our time in NYC but will also travel down to Boston to visit a friend of Courtney's. We are planning on doing some typical sight seeing adventures, but if you have any good suggestions on what to do, please don't hesitate to leave a comment.

Here is one of the houses affected by the extensive flooding in this region. One of docs in Vaderhoof took me on a river jet boat cruise up the Nechako.

lord of the flies

Probably the earliest flyswatters were nothing more than some sort of striking surface attached to the end of a long stick.
-Jack Handy

Before I arrived in Fraser Lake I really didn't know what a black fly was. In retrospect, there was the occasional black fly on the bowron lakes that drank my blood last year, but at the time I didn't know what they were called. People warned me how bad the bugs are up north and really, they aren't that bad most of the time, but at certain times of the day, they can be a bit overwhelming. Also, due to the flooding up here, this season is especially bad, so I've been pretty liberal with DEET as of late.

Anyhow, whatever, there are bugs here. I thought you should know.

One of the doctors is away so I'm staying in town for a bit on my own. The insects are fewer and I'm enjoying being on my own for a bit, but there is no internet or television in the house, so it does get a bit quiet. I've been out running and biking around Fraser Lake the last two nights but I'm pretty sure there isn't too much left to explore of the actual town, so tonight I"m going to mow the lawn.

This weekend I will visit a few classmates that are placed in Smithers and Hazelton. Everyone here has been pretty over the top in taking care of me, but I'm looking forward to seeing some people my own age and talking about things other than medicine and where I'm from maybe?).

I've continued to do many new things since I've been here. I pretty much do stitches every day and have had a chance to draw blood, read X-rays, see deliveries, do Paps and DRE's. Today I was in the OR and the anethetist let me start two IV's- one on each of his hands. Needless to say there are some great teachers here and they are willing to make sacrifices to help me learn. Outside of work I've been horseback riding and 4-wheeling a couple times and see bears, deer and eagles every day.

yes, my ears hang low. yes, they wobble to and fro.

I don't care, if forever never comes

Cause I'm holding out for that teenage feeling

-Neko Case, That Teenage Feeling

It's Saturday, and I'm in at the clinic in Fraser Lake to get my internet fix. I'm staying at my preceptor's house, which has dial-up, but it's not working currently, so here I am.

My trip up here was fun, but not necessarily what you would call smooth.

Highlights

1. Visiting the McDougalls in Vernon and my housemates in Vancouver.
2. Seeing Courtney in Port Mcneill and attending the pig roast.
3. The ferry ride from Port Hardy to Prince Rupert (of course).

Lowlights

1. Dad getting a flat tire in Lillooet and subsequent repair jobs.
2. Getting caught in the rain in totally inadequate rainpants on my way to Port Mcneill. Never been so cold in my life.
3. Showing up at the ferry to Prince Rupert and being told I did not have a license plate and could therefore not board the ferry (we sorted it out).

Anyways, we made it here safe and sound and I went into work the next morning. I'm working in a great facility that combines and ER, medical clinic and ambulance station. There are 4 doctors working here and they are all young and enthusiastic. They also all have kids, and horses and at least a couple large dogs. Takes a bit of getting used to, but I'm slowly getting into the rhythm of life here and really enjoying it. My preceptor is very relaxed. She pretty much works full-time, has 4 young children, rides horses pretty much every day and never really seems to get stressed. I'll let you know when I discover the magic that keeps her going.

I've only spent 4 days at work but I've already done quite a bit. Everyone is happy to spend time teaching and I am doing many things for the 1st time. It's rare to just get someone in for a prescription refill or paperwork and the patient population is quite varied. Getting alot of practice doing various procedures and have already seen one delivery and spent a day in the OR. Hopefully I can keep this going and I will be able to just go ahead and skip 3rd year.

There is alot of duality in doing a placement like this. One one hand, I am starting to do more things on my own and have to exude a certain amount of maturity and confidence in order to help the patients get over my baby face. When not at work, however, I'm pretty much back in highschool - staying at someone's house, constantly being driven places, and fed meals for free.

I'll let you know if I end up older or not at the end of it.

I actually can't remember the name of this lake. It's on the road from Cache Creek to Lillooet I think. That's my Dad.

Courtney on the beach. Port Mcneill. It didn't show up well, but there is a rainbow.