BeanTown

First off...Great month, great city, great company :) This was the first month that Linds and I have been together since the three weeks were together in May. So basically out of the last six months that is all I have seen her minus the iChat convos that we've had. I was spending my month at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical center and affiliate of Harvard and she is at Cambridge Health alliance for the month. Everything associated with this program is "an affiliate of Harvard," which is understandably so even though I didn't feel the program was very strong. Minus the program there was a lot of fun to be had outside of working.

The first weekend we were there we went to a Sox game at Fenway which was blast and gave me something to knock off my bucket list. Here are a couple of the pics i got at the game.

In addition to the ballgame we were able to tour the Sam Adams brewery. Let me tell you, this was a blast. We show up and they are sampling a couple new beers, so naturally we tried them both and cast our vote for our favorite. Then we went on our free tour of the brewery which commenced with a taste testing session and some free glasses to go with it. But Wait, if you go to the little restaurant down the street and order a Sam Adams you get a free scientifically configured glass. Let me tell you a little bit about the ingenuity of this glass.

     1- the shape, designed to perfectly fit in your hand with accommodative grooves for your lips

     2- the bottom half is 2x thicker than the top so your beer doesn't get warm

     3- There are laser microetchings in the bottom of the glass so there is always some carbonation and a little head to your beer.

hops

Thing of beauty

Lindsey received some sexy new shoes for out date. No date pics from me you have to check out her blog, i didnt have my camera.

The program I was visiting has a nice little perk that allows employees to go to any Red Sox game for 5$ but you have to wait 30 mins til after the first pitch has been thrown. Not a bad little deal since the seats we got were the first row behind the bullpen. We decided to go on a Tuesday night which turned out to be a great game with a bunch of homeruns and a Boston win. 

There weren't too many exciting cases for the month but one that was really fun was a little foreign body removal. 

nice little splinter 

3 cm

All in all, Lindsey and I had a special and unforgettable month, neither of us were very fond of the programs but we took away some memories and experiences we will always remember. 

Another month apart though as I will be in Pittsburgh and she is in the D. Time is moving quickly and we only have 2.5 months til interviews. We are both ready and excited to get through interviews as we are feeling burnt out at this time. 

Heres a little map of the places I've been, I would estimate that Ive driven about 9,000 miles since the beginning of June. 

Til next time 

Peace, 

J

When it rains....IT POURS!

So I have been here in Detroit for three weeks now and it has been going well. So far the program overall is good with the trauma you would expect in Detroit. As far as the city goes, there are definitely nicer places than others and one of the hospitals (Sinai Grace) is located in the ghetto as I have to drive past 8 mile everyday to get there lol. For everyone that doesn't know about 8 mile, its spotlight came about in the early 2000's with Eminem and all his rap songs. While I don't doubt that you should be extra aware of what is going on wherever you are here, 8 mile is actually just the mile marker where Detroit city starts.

Couple of interesting things to share with you during my first three weeks here:
1st- patients are going to do exactly the opposite of what you tell them to do. Obviously they know better than I do so why come to the doctor.
2nd- America's worst roads every, there will be large gaping holes in the street so be on the lookout if you wanna keep your bumper.

Here are a couple pics to let you know what I have been up to.

Watch out for the nerve

Triple Threat

One of the residents took me to slow's one day for dinner when we were on call together. If you don't know about Slows then you don't watch Man Vs Food. This is the actual sandwich that was on the show. Pulled Pork, slice of ham, and Bacon with two little pieces of bread and an assortment of bbq sauce to top it off. After eating this I decided that it was about as good a time as any to go for a run. 

The title of this post is when it rains...it pours. So far everyday goes about the same with the weather, you wake up and it is nice but then sometime throughout the day you will get a nice thunderstorm. I guess this is typical for the midwest. One night while on call, I stayed at the hospital in the call room and had to be at another hospital at 6 am the next morning. So i woke up as usual and was walking to my care when I saw how hard it was raining. I decided that I better get moving quick cuz i didn't know how the roads would be. I decided that I was going to make a run for it and was doing alright running to my car until I got to the parking lot and it was filled with water up to my ankles. I kept going and my the time I got to my care I was soaked from head to toe. After arriving to the next hospital I changed my scrubs and had an extra pair of socks but my shoes were still soaked from the run. After walking around for a bit with my wet socks I decided that I was going to take them off and I stuffed my shoes with paper towels that I would periodically change throughout the day. 

My socks for the day

Nasty blister after getting a pedicure...Still want a pedicure ladies?

Anyways a week and a half to go til I get to see Linds in Boston. Not to mention I got tickets to go to Fenway which is a dream of mine. 

I'll keep you updated

Peace,

J

Welcome to silicon valley....

Well its been a long time since my last post so let me catch you up on what has been going on lately. The month of July was spent at Kaiser Santa Clara in northern California. After my month in San Diego the caliber of program only had one way to go which was up. Prior to starting my month I decided to venture on down to Santa Cruz for the 4th and check it out, after all it was only a 30 mile drive so I figured I would be there in no time. After three hours of driving I finally made it and found a parking spot. In the future I would not recommend going to Santa Cruz on the fourth of July as everybody had the same idea. (side note: Happy Bday to my mom on this day) I did manage to check out the beach and the boardwalk amongst the abundance of people.

Beautiful drive to Santa Cruz

On my way to the Boardwalk

Little cove

Boardwalk

Beach

The Program is top notch as I didn't have a lot of cons about the program. The podiatry department is so well respected and integrated into the ortho department which is hard to find. The podiatry residents are the only surgical residents in the hospital so they are primary with ortho whenever they aren't in clinic. The attendings are all top notch people with great backgrounds and very easy to get along with. With that being said this program definitely ranks up there as a contender for me.



As a quick side story, on my way home one day I decided to stop at Wendys and get some chicken nuggets and a frosty. I saw this couple and couldn't help laugh when I saw them because this is a look into the future of Lindsey and I as Wendy's is the only fast food place she will go. Nice napkin Linds :)

After a great month I set out on a very long 2400 mile drive to Detroit Michigan for my next stop on my trek across America.

Somewhere in Nevada

Iowa City

Nebraska, maybe Indiana, I dont remember

Teach a man to fish....

So its been about two weeks since my last post and I've been pretty busy.
Working hard daily and trying to learn as much as possible. Im going to highlight a couple of events over the last two weeks.

Scrubbing in with chief of Orthopedics and getting some hands on experience. I had the opportunity to scrub in on a tibial plateau fracture of a 19 year old girl that was flown from her car window after wrecking while texting. So the lesson is that you always wear your seatbelt and shouldn't be texting while driving.
Here are a couple pics of the action.

Gotta pre-drill

Sinking in the screw

Taking a quick photo op.

Getting some real hands on experience was fun and it definitely beats the alternative of standing around or holding retractors. 

Another fun event of the past two weeks was going deep sea fishing yesterday with one of the residents and Dr. Lee who is the assistant director for the program.  I got the call on Friday night at 7pm that there was still room on the boat so that I could attend. So I arrived at the dock at 5AM and we jumped on the ship. While we were "driving" in the water to our Mexican waters destination, they had a jackpot buy in for 5$ for the person that caught the biggest fish of the day. I always like some competition so I threw five bucks into the pot. We finally got the mexican waters after two hours and threw our lines in the water. Ten minutes after throwing our lines in people on the boat started reeling fish in. I started getting excited at this point waiting for my first one of the day. Three hours roll by and I haven't caught jack squat. :( FINALLY i get a bite and I reel in my first fish of the day, a decent sized barracuda. After catching the first one of the day I was off and running. Fish after fish kept coming in and I was having a blast. My second fish of the day was a HUGE barracuda that fought me a lot and took me halfway around the boat fighting it to bring it in. I got it in and thought to myself that I might be in the running for biggest fish of the day. After the fishing day had commenced I had reeled in four barracuda, three sand bass, and one calico bass (only one of those caught on the boat for the day might I add). We were on our way back and the crew was busy filleting up our fish when they announce the biggest catch of the day. NUMBER 17, My number my friends. I went to the galley and collected my winnings of 90$ (it cost 75$ to fish for the day) and walked away a happy man.

5am our boat

Biggest fish of the DAY

Calico Bass

Tijuana, Mexico

Anyways it was a blast and deep sea fishing is a recommendation for anyone that would like to try it. The moral of the story is give a man a fish and he will eat for a day, teach a man to fish.......and he will win biggest fish of the day and pay for his fishing trip!

Til next time 

Peace, 

J

The Edge....

And I'm back!!!!
After a month layover I am going to start being more diligent in my blogging as there is a lot more "time" on your hands when you are in a city by yourself.

Month of May-Aside from proposing to the love of my life, not too interesting......
Just kidding, I know everyone would be pretty irritated with me if I didn't elaborate on the proposal. As you all know these kinds of decisions don't just happen overnight, well maybe for some people, but it was definitely well thought out. Beginning in April I have been working with my dear Texican friends ( the ican is for you Mike cuz youre a New Mexican, sorry buddy, and the Texan is A.N.D or Lyssers as I like to call her) on finding the perfect ring for of course the right price. Alyssa has a friend named Lil Lauren whose Dad is into the bling bling (diamond) business. After designing a ring on bluenile.com, they were all on the search for the perfect center piece and matching setting. Many phone calls and emails later, we had come to a decision on the perfect ring.

The proposal date was scheduled for May 14 as Lindsey's dad was coming into town the weekend before which gave me the opportunity to talk the future father-in-law into letting me marry his daughter. Not that it was a hard sell, who wouldn't want to marry this mug? JJK. He was very excited for us and gave us his support without any hesitation. So the plan was to go for a hike with the dogs at thunderbird park which was not an unusual thing for the two of us and Lily would have the ring tied to her harness and when we got to the top,  I could pop the question. In the meantime I also had my buddy Keith Aceron (KAP Keith Aceron Photography) hike up to the top of hill so that he could document the entire thing with his made photography skills.

Well as everyone knows she said "yes" with a tear in her eyes and the tentative date for marriage is May 12 2012 on the beaches of Ochos Rios, Jamaica.

The proposal

The kiss

The Kids

Lily so excited she can't even stand

The Fam

The Ring

After enjoying a couple weeks together as an engaged couple, Linds and I had to pack up the apartment and store everything so that we could begin our fourth year of school and externships. The dogs are staying in Las Vegas under the care of my family and hanging out with their buddies Shogun and Bella.

I am currently externing at a program in the beautiful San Diego, California and Lindsey is in Portland, Oregon. 

After one week of being here at the program I am working hard and trying to be a sponge and absorb all the knowledge that I can. I am staying with some cousins for the month who have been more great hosts as they have opened up their home and made sure that I was taken care of. The Morgans consist of Steve, Christy, Randi (19) and Kelli (17) plus whichever friend is over at the time. The reason for the title "the edge" this time is that I was talking to Randi and he mention how weird it is when he goes to the beach and is in the water how he is at the "edge." There is nothing left after the beach for thousands of miles when you look at a map. As I have thought about this it has made me realize that right now is the time in my education to push it to the edge so that I have no regrets and can better prepare myself for the future of residency and getting into the program that I want to. As excited as I am for the future and everything is happening so fast, I am going to enjoy everything along the way. 

La Jolla

Until next time 

Peace, 

J

Follow the yellow brick road...

The title for this week is all about staying on track and persevering through the tough stuff. You've got to enjoy the bumps on the way otherwise you don't learn from them and all they become are bumps.

running through the park

river along the park

The week started out beautiful with the temps in the upper 80's and for all of you out west with the humidity it was almost too much. After a pretty light day in the OR I decided that I was going to enjoy the outdoors and go for a run. Not being able to run as much as I would like to I figure 2-3 miles would be enough. I found a park close to where I am staying and just followed the path not knowing where I was going. About 2.5 miles in I decided that it wasn't worth it to turn around so I just kept going, it turned out to be a good run and what started out as a 2-3 mile run ended up being closer to 5 miles total.

Ex-fix- charcot reconstruction

same

Patients having a good time

The week was filled with many complex cases which get me excited. I always try to scrub in with Dr. Derner because he brings in all the big cases for the residents. The other students find him intimidating and don't like scrubbing in with him which is fine with me because I seem to learn something every time I'm with him. Dr. Derner being known for his dirty humor, I actually snuck in a "thats what she said" this week without any repercussions.

Not many funny stories this week, this big lesson here is that you have to keep going. It's only the end of the second week and I've been working hard. This is definitely a good surgical program and all the residents know their stuff. Gonna be back in the lazy AZ next week which I am definitely looking forward to with all this weather that I have been experiencing. Anyways til next week, keep working hard.

Peace,
J

Where the wilds things are....

Do you remember that book about the kid who goes to sleep and has all those crazy monsters in his dream? That along with an incident this week gave me the idea for the topic of my blog this week.

The week started off very early on Monday morning and since I wasn't used to the time difference it was like waking up in the middle of the night for me. I guess this is what it will be like during first year of residency on some of the rotations. I made it to the hospital on time and found where we were suppose to meet in the morning. This is a very unique program in that all of the residents are very autonomous in their work and they don't have someone looking over their shoulder which is very nice. All the guys were cool and are all willing to teach and answer any question that you might have. There are two other students with me this month, one from Chicago and one from Ohio, pretty cool dudes. This is a very heavy surgical program and the residents work with over 60 attendings in the area that bring in cases every week that the residents are suppose to help with. This approach as an extern gives us the opportunity to scrub in and assist on a lot of different cases for the week. This is nice as a student cuz the days go by quickly when you are in surgery all day. After this week I probably scrubbed in on a dozen or so cases and will continue to do that for the rest of the month. 

Now that I have given a background of what I am doing with my weeks here in VA, you are probably wondering how my story ties into my theme for the week. On friday I was told to go to a surgery center across the street from the hospital and that it would be quicker to walk there as oppose to getting my car. As I am walking there, you have to walk through the woods so you don't have to walk all the way around, a deer jumps out from behind a tree and is only 5 feet from me and staring me straight in the eye. Not expecting this, it startled me and I just stared right back. It eventually ran off and I made it to the surgery center where the attending allowed me to do a hammertoe procedure.

can u see the deer?

The moral to the story is that you can't be caught off guard and things happen when you least expect it.

I learned this a few times in the OR this week that you have to be prepared to handle things when you aren't expecting them to happen.

Peace,

J