Another long day is over. We started off at the Arc d'Triomphe, which is so amazing up close, and we even got to walk up to the top. From there, we walked down the Champs-Elysses again for more shopping. Towards the end of the street, both sides were full of street vendors that were selling many cute things and delicious smelling foods. Eventually made our way to the metro and went to see the Patheon. Trying to find it, we of course got lost, but I guess that's the fun of traveling. The Pantheon itself is another beautiful place, and Voltaire and Rousseau are buried there. From here, we made our way up to see Notre-Dame. This church was so magnificent, with the gorgeous stained glass and beautiful ceilings/arches.
Finally made it back to the hotel, where I stopped and bought another pastry. France is doing it's part to support my insatiable sweet tooth. I don't think I've ever had so many pastries over the course of a few days.
Friday, November 25, 2011
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Paris: Part 1
Paris!! It's absolutely gorgeous, and the Champs-Elysses is amazing when it's all lit up at night! After that, we went to the Arc d'Triomphe, and it's so big! Absolutely lovely, and set in the middle of a roundabout. From there, we walked to the Eiffel Tower and were able to see it all lit up at night. It's one of the most beautiful things I have seen and it's so amazing up close. We finally made it back to the hotel, but stopped at the bakery for an eclair. The lady there told me that my French was very good! She thought we were from Spain! Ready for another lovely day tomorrow!
London Day 2!!
We finished up our time in London by heading out to the stadium where Chelsea FC plays. I was so excited since that's my favorite English soccer team. I got to see the stadium and we checked out the store where I found some really cool stuff! After that we headed up to the British Museum where we saw the most amazing things. We spent hours in this museum, and saw artifacts from so many cultures. The Egyptian, Assyrian and Greco-Artifacts were my favorites! They had the Rosetta Stone, winged lions from Assyria, and statues from Greece and Rome. Some of the things were from 2000BC! I also got to see mummies, and the Lindow Man, the mummified man from the peat bogs of England that I remember reading about when I was in 1st or 2nd grade. It was one of our favorite places in London! We went back to our hotel and I made sure to make a stop at M&S for some of their amazing shortbread, and then on to dinner at "our" restaurant down the street. We found out that one of our favorite waiters was from Latvia, and he made a sad face when he found out we were leaving the next day. I also said goodbye to my favorite Italian waiter, Modica (who, btw gave me his phone number), and we went home. We took the train to Paris this morning and just arrived. We're about to head out and see the city. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
London....
We arrived in London yesterday, excited and ready to go! Today after breakfast we took the underground and walked around Harrod's, which had some shoes that really tempted me.....love the styles here! We walked to Buckingham Palace and saw the guards out with the whole band getting ready because the President of Turkey was in town. The band was all decked out in their fancy uniforms and furry hats! Walked on to Trafalgar Square and I got a picture with my favorite lions that I saw last time! Was extremely happy about that, even though it took me 4 tries to climb up on its back since it was so tall! We went in to the National Gallery and saw quite a few paintings from Rembrandt, Renoir, Degas, Monet, Raphael, etc. it was so cool to see paintings that were hundreds of years old! Then we walked down to the Thames and crossed a huge bridge that gave us a great view of Westminster Bridge, Big Ben and houses of Parliament, the London Eye and the London Aquarium. After that we walked back up and across the Westminster Bridge to get a close up of Big Ben and Westminster Abbey. Lastly we went and saw the Tower of London and London Bridge. Such awesome pieces of history, and we learned that the Tower of London was first started around 1077! Finished up with dinner at a local restaurant, and got asked out by an Italian. Perfect ending! Tomorrow we hope to see the stadium where Chealsea FC plays (yay!), see St Paul's Cathedral (because I'm weird and that's where they fed the birds in Mary Poppins), and visit the British Museum! Gonns try and fit some shopping in too! :)
Saturday, December 25, 2010
Rotation 2: Family Med...and the End of the Year!!!
Family medicine is:
- Not something I ever want to work in
- Challenging due to the vast amount of knowledge you have to know
- Somewhat tiresome at times when people come in with "phantom" complaints
For my Family Medicine rotation, I spent 8 weeks at a clinic in Plano. I mainly saw patients who came in for complete physical exams and follow-ups to bloodwork. I was bored most of the time. Yet...I did realize something really important. Some of the patients that came in, really wanted to just be listened to. They just wanted someone to take the time and hear what they had to say. It might be about their job, or marriage, or even the stressful day they had. Patients will really open up if they feel that you really care and are willing to listen to them.
Other than that, not much else happened. Today is Christmas, December 25th. There are exactly 351 days to graduation, and I realize more and more everyday, exactly how much I still don't know. The end of rotation tests are difficult as well, but thank goodness there are only 6 left! Coming up on the schedule: Infectious disease, surgery, psych, ob/gyn, peds and ER. After that come my chosen electives, licensing paperwork, studying for the licensing exam, etc.
And yet...in the midst of all this rushing around, I still can't forget Mr X. He was one of my first patients when I got on Parkland wards, and he was also the first one of mine who died. I will never forget him. Over the 6 days he was on our team, I got to know him really well, and we talked about random things. We discharged him when he was stable, but a few weeks later, I learned that he had been re-admitted and died a few days after. His family didn't have him for Christmas this year....they won't have him ever again on this Earth. I'll always be glad that I chose to work in medicine, but it's always disappointing when you lose someone.
Moving on....2011 is almost here. So many things will be happening this year: my parent's 30th anniversary, my graduation, the youngest child's high school graduation, Andrew coming home from deployment...and hopefully I can run away to Europe for a little bit. :)
More to come.....
- Not something I ever want to work in
- Challenging due to the vast amount of knowledge you have to know
- Somewhat tiresome at times when people come in with "phantom" complaints
For my Family Medicine rotation, I spent 8 weeks at a clinic in Plano. I mainly saw patients who came in for complete physical exams and follow-ups to bloodwork. I was bored most of the time. Yet...I did realize something really important. Some of the patients that came in, really wanted to just be listened to. They just wanted someone to take the time and hear what they had to say. It might be about their job, or marriage, or even the stressful day they had. Patients will really open up if they feel that you really care and are willing to listen to them.
Other than that, not much else happened. Today is Christmas, December 25th. There are exactly 351 days to graduation, and I realize more and more everyday, exactly how much I still don't know. The end of rotation tests are difficult as well, but thank goodness there are only 6 left! Coming up on the schedule: Infectious disease, surgery, psych, ob/gyn, peds and ER. After that come my chosen electives, licensing paperwork, studying for the licensing exam, etc.
And yet...in the midst of all this rushing around, I still can't forget Mr X. He was one of my first patients when I got on Parkland wards, and he was also the first one of mine who died. I will never forget him. Over the 6 days he was on our team, I got to know him really well, and we talked about random things. We discharged him when he was stable, but a few weeks later, I learned that he had been re-admitted and died a few days after. His family didn't have him for Christmas this year....they won't have him ever again on this Earth. I'll always be glad that I chose to work in medicine, but it's always disappointing when you lose someone.
Moving on....2011 is almost here. So many things will be happening this year: my parent's 30th anniversary, my graduation, the youngest child's high school graduation, Andrew coming home from deployment...and hopefully I can run away to Europe for a little bit. :)
More to come.....
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Rotations....finally
Rotation 1: Internal Medicine at Parkland.
So here I am. Over a year into PA school and finally rotations started. It's been scary and awesome all at the same time. All of a sudden I lost the safety of the classroom and was pushed right out into Parkland Wards. We went from having every weekend off, and Friday afternoons, to working q5 call shifts. The first overnight call was awesome. Down in the ER at 3am is cool the first time around. But by the time your second call comes around, and you're still sleep deprived, the coolness wears off quickly. But still, there's te amazing feeling of knowing that you're helping people. They come in to the ER in the worst possible conditions, and they leave in a better state. Then of course, there's the sad stories. Of the person who comes in thinking they have pneumonia, and it turns out they have cancer with mets throughout their body. Of the other one who complains of trouble swallowing, and we find out they have esophageal cancer that has already gone to their ribs. It's the patients like this that make me feel so helpless at time. You wonder what you can say to them to make it better, but there is nothing to say. You can only give them the news, and then pray. And you wonder, why is life so unfair? Why did the woman with 3 small kids have to die of breast cancer, when the crabby old woman is doing so great? I would never wish death on anyone, but why does it hit the young one who had so much left to live for? Everyday I had to walk past her husband, and the look on his face said so much more than he would ever be able to say to me with words. It's the looks on their face when you tell them that they have cancer. Those looks will stay with me for as long as I live. I'll never forget them. But that's tempered by the other stories. Of the one patient whose face lights up everytime you walk in the room. The ones who are so happy to see you. It's been a long 6 weeks, and I still have 1.5 more to go, but I have learned and seen so much while being on the wards. Although Internal Medicine is definitely not what I want to work in when I graduate, I will always be glad that I did this rotation. Not only did I learn a lot about patients and disease processes, but I learned about myself. What I'm capable of even when extremely sleep deprived. When you think you can't go anymore, you really can. When it's 7am, you've been at work for 24 hours, had 15 mins to lay your head down and just can't stay awake anymore....you somehow can. Because, after all, the patients depend on you.....
So here I am. Over a year into PA school and finally rotations started. It's been scary and awesome all at the same time. All of a sudden I lost the safety of the classroom and was pushed right out into Parkland Wards. We went from having every weekend off, and Friday afternoons, to working q5 call shifts. The first overnight call was awesome. Down in the ER at 3am is cool the first time around. But by the time your second call comes around, and you're still sleep deprived, the coolness wears off quickly. But still, there's te amazing feeling of knowing that you're helping people. They come in to the ER in the worst possible conditions, and they leave in a better state. Then of course, there's the sad stories. Of the person who comes in thinking they have pneumonia, and it turns out they have cancer with mets throughout their body. Of the other one who complains of trouble swallowing, and we find out they have esophageal cancer that has already gone to their ribs. It's the patients like this that make me feel so helpless at time. You wonder what you can say to them to make it better, but there is nothing to say. You can only give them the news, and then pray. And you wonder, why is life so unfair? Why did the woman with 3 small kids have to die of breast cancer, when the crabby old woman is doing so great? I would never wish death on anyone, but why does it hit the young one who had so much left to live for? Everyday I had to walk past her husband, and the look on his face said so much more than he would ever be able to say to me with words. It's the looks on their face when you tell them that they have cancer. Those looks will stay with me for as long as I live. I'll never forget them. But that's tempered by the other stories. Of the one patient whose face lights up everytime you walk in the room. The ones who are so happy to see you. It's been a long 6 weeks, and I still have 1.5 more to go, but I have learned and seen so much while being on the wards. Although Internal Medicine is definitely not what I want to work in when I graduate, I will always be glad that I did this rotation. Not only did I learn a lot about patients and disease processes, but I learned about myself. What I'm capable of even when extremely sleep deprived. When you think you can't go anymore, you really can. When it's 7am, you've been at work for 24 hours, had 15 mins to lay your head down and just can't stay awake anymore....you somehow can. Because, after all, the patients depend on you.....
Saturday, September 5, 2009
PA Craziness.....
Yes. I've started my second semester of PA school, and was reminded by a friend that I have only posted 3 times. The lack of posts these last few months was due to the fact that I was extremely and incredibly overwhelmed by school. Going back to school 4 years after undergrad has been quite an experience. The summer was hard for me. I spent my time either studying or sitting in class. Occasionally sleeping. It got to be that if there was a choice between sleep and fixing my hair/putting on makeup, I inevitably chose sleep. I would wake up in the morning, throw on some scrubs, spend 2 seconds putting on a little eyeliner and walk out the door. I'm not even sure why I spent time on the eyeliner since it was gone after a few hours. Perhaps it made me feel as if I hadn't totally thrown all my "caring about myself" out the window. My mom had a nice shoulder that I would fall asleep on during church. Sleep was precious.
The times we had last summer were crazy. Anatomy lab with cadaver dissection was by far an experience that few have the opportunity to go through. At the beginning of the summer, everyone changed in the bathroom. A few weeks later, and no one even bothered anymore. It was locker room changing, but without the locker room. Oh how much I've seen! One of the Anatomy professors (who shall remain nameless) provided endless entertainment and amusement for us all. I will never forget what we did in that lab. I never thought I would actually saw open another human. Or dig poo out of their butt. Or hold their heart and lungs in my own hands. It was on one hand, an incredible time where I learned so much, and at the same time, so morbid...you begin to forget that you are actually cutting another human being, and you just do your job for the day. Oh my...the experiences of the summer. Phlebotomy was another interesting time. For a whole week, I was up at 4am, to be at the hospital by 5am. We went to various wards, so that I could practice my blood drawing technique. Which is, I suppose, not too bad, except for the fact that I am an incurable night owl, and cannot sleep before midnight. Needless to say, that week was not good for me. 4 hours or less of sleep a night, and I do not function well. At least I'm not a grumpy tired...I'm more of a "complacent" tired. My roomie put up with a lot from me. Her boyfriend did too. Thanks to both of them for not thinking I was losing my mind, and letting me have my "mini-out bursts". But the first semester of PA school is over and we have started our second!!
I had a very short, 13 day break between Summer and Fall semesters. Went by so fast. I spent most of my waking hours in the OR. I am happiest when I am there. I think it is because people come in with a medical problem, and they can leave improved. A woman can come in with cancer in her breast, and 15 hours later, it's gone, and she has a new breast as well. Children with their face eaten off by a pet dog, can have it reconstructed. The ugly hole left on a face after Melanoma has been removed can be hidden. This is what makes me happiest. To know that I have done something useful or made someone else happy or improved a life somehow. I leave the hospital, after spending 10 hours there, my feet and back aching, but I am satisfied. If I could spend the rest of my life doing this, I would be the happiest woman alive. Truly.
With the start of the second semester, I am trying to be less stressed. Still taking a lot of hours (17), but I feel as if I have more time. I am running again, and training for the White Rock Half Marathon on December. Several of my classmates are doing it as well, so it will be a grand time. The classes are more clinically based now, which is more exciting. Our first block is Dermatology. Having worked in Plastic Surgery for 3 years, I am not happy about studying Derm. But oh well. I shall learn it if I have to. A pimple is a pimple is a pimple. I know that's not entirely true, but it is in my mind.
It's hard to believe that in 11.5 months, I will be starting my hospital rotations. I feel as if I could never learn enough to be able to confidently do what I will need to be doing. But it will come in time I suppose.
I am now getting decent sleep, but the semester has only started. Who knows what is to come? At least I don't fall asleep in church anymore, and have time to pick out decent clothes and put on a bit of makeup. But the fact of the matter is this: I survived! I'm excited to see what will happen this semester, as we start with our first pseudo-patients this Thursday. There are many tests and papers looming, but it will all work out. God always sustains me!
The times we had last summer were crazy. Anatomy lab with cadaver dissection was by far an experience that few have the opportunity to go through. At the beginning of the summer, everyone changed in the bathroom. A few weeks later, and no one even bothered anymore. It was locker room changing, but without the locker room. Oh how much I've seen! One of the Anatomy professors (who shall remain nameless) provided endless entertainment and amusement for us all. I will never forget what we did in that lab. I never thought I would actually saw open another human. Or dig poo out of their butt. Or hold their heart and lungs in my own hands. It was on one hand, an incredible time where I learned so much, and at the same time, so morbid...you begin to forget that you are actually cutting another human being, and you just do your job for the day. Oh my...the experiences of the summer. Phlebotomy was another interesting time. For a whole week, I was up at 4am, to be at the hospital by 5am. We went to various wards, so that I could practice my blood drawing technique. Which is, I suppose, not too bad, except for the fact that I am an incurable night owl, and cannot sleep before midnight. Needless to say, that week was not good for me. 4 hours or less of sleep a night, and I do not function well. At least I'm not a grumpy tired...I'm more of a "complacent" tired. My roomie put up with a lot from me. Her boyfriend did too. Thanks to both of them for not thinking I was losing my mind, and letting me have my "mini-out bursts". But the first semester of PA school is over and we have started our second!!
I had a very short, 13 day break between Summer and Fall semesters. Went by so fast. I spent most of my waking hours in the OR. I am happiest when I am there. I think it is because people come in with a medical problem, and they can leave improved. A woman can come in with cancer in her breast, and 15 hours later, it's gone, and she has a new breast as well. Children with their face eaten off by a pet dog, can have it reconstructed. The ugly hole left on a face after Melanoma has been removed can be hidden. This is what makes me happiest. To know that I have done something useful or made someone else happy or improved a life somehow. I leave the hospital, after spending 10 hours there, my feet and back aching, but I am satisfied. If I could spend the rest of my life doing this, I would be the happiest woman alive. Truly.
With the start of the second semester, I am trying to be less stressed. Still taking a lot of hours (17), but I feel as if I have more time. I am running again, and training for the White Rock Half Marathon on December. Several of my classmates are doing it as well, so it will be a grand time. The classes are more clinically based now, which is more exciting. Our first block is Dermatology. Having worked in Plastic Surgery for 3 years, I am not happy about studying Derm. But oh well. I shall learn it if I have to. A pimple is a pimple is a pimple. I know that's not entirely true, but it is in my mind.
It's hard to believe that in 11.5 months, I will be starting my hospital rotations. I feel as if I could never learn enough to be able to confidently do what I will need to be doing. But it will come in time I suppose.
I am now getting decent sleep, but the semester has only started. Who knows what is to come? At least I don't fall asleep in church anymore, and have time to pick out decent clothes and put on a bit of makeup. But the fact of the matter is this: I survived! I'm excited to see what will happen this semester, as we start with our first pseudo-patients this Thursday. There are many tests and papers looming, but it will all work out. God always sustains me!
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