My Cute Kitty

Walter is apparently confused about the purpose of his cat bed. He seems to only use it as a blanket lately. Half the time he thinks on top of ME is his bed... I am inclined to disagree!

Walter says, "IT'S COLD!!!" At least he's using actual blankets as a covering this time...

So People Do Still Read This!

So I was afraid that my long hiatus had killed my reader population, but apparently there are at least two of you who keep checking up on my ramblings. Things are going okay for me right now, I'd have to say. Rehab is not quite the "vacation rotation" I thought it would be, but it is still much more laid back than Medicine. I knew there would be heavy lifting and getting wet, but I didn't anticipate the frigid cold, night and weekend dog walking duties, and untimely owners for pick-ups and drop-offs. I could easily handle the rest if the weather were less arctic. There was a nature show on TV the other day about how global warming was messing with the polar bears, but I find it hard to believe that global warming exists when it's the most nasty cold winter I can remember since childhood in Rockford... Oh well.

So Ryan was here to visit this past weekend. We had lots to celebrate: his first real job as a math teacher at Mundelein High is going well, we reached our FIVE YEAR ANNIVERSARY on 1/25/08, I passed my NAVLE board exam, I got an A for Medicine II, and this Valentine's weekend marked our sixth annual Olive Garden evening together. Good times were had, and things seemed much more cozy for awhile. We did a lot of shopping, which included one somewhat surprising stop. You have to call me or comment if you want details on that. Ryan had to drive home on Monday (he got the holiday off, unlike me) in some horrible conditions, losing count of cars in the ditches along I-80 between DesMoines and Iowa City at over 200. Now it feels colder again...

I don't really have time to tell you about my neat patients from Medicine right now. The details are starting to get fuzzy already, so I may never write about it. Probably wouldn't be as interesting to most of you as it is to us vet types anyway. The rehab patients are not as interesting, although there certainly are a wide variety. Currently we have a range from a 2.5 pound rat terrier (I swear my rabbit would beat her up!!) to a 150 pound St. Bernard.

Here's hoping that the pick-up tonight for one of the rehab dogs happens conveniently around when I'd be here to walk the rest of the dogs. Otherwise, I'm going to be stuck here at school late again. (I had to wait for a drop-off yesterday night. Their 2-hr drive turned into a 7-hr drive with the horrible weather.) Much as I don't like folding laundry, I'd rather do that than sit around the school and wait.

End of Silence

So I'm sure you're all wondering what on earth has caused such a delay in blog updates. Believe me, I wish I could have had time to blog lately!! Here's the brief run-down of what has kept me otherwise occupied:
After finishing Radiology, I moved on to Anesthesia. We tended to have longer days in there, but not terrible. However, we worked on our protocols for the next day's cases in the evening. Plus, I took my Boards that first week. Nothing terribly exciting to report from that rotation other than that anesthetizing a rabbit for orthopedic surgery is a pretty different and interesting experience. The fun event at that time was Thanksgiving. I wasn't able to go home, but Ryan came to visit and we had a fun dinner with Chris and Tim. I cooked a duckling for the first time and it was great.
Next, I had a big block off for Christmas and New Year's. I spent a lot of time with Ryan and his family, as well as with my family (in what is known as "crappy slow internet territory"), and even some IV/UofI friends. That was good times. The only time I spent on the internet was focused on job searching. I sent out a ton of resumes!
Finally, I returned to Ames for the tumultuously short-staffed Medicine I&II rotations. Let's just say there's a reason that they usually have 4 students on each service... Two on each was just brutal!! At least for the second half of the month we had 3 on each and bad weather kept some appointments away. Somehow in there I managed to set up 4 different interviews for late March/early April. I'll give you more details on my interesting patients later.

Now I'm on rehab, which is much more laid back. I'll have time for a more complete update later, I think. Perhaps when I hear my boards results I'll be inspired to write a lot. (IL is slow... most other states have sent their results already!! Why didn't I just apply through IA??!) For now, it's back to work.