Christmas Party #2

On Tuesday, we attended a Christmas party for our small group at Alyssa and Rob's place.  Most of these pictures are stolen, again, from Alyssa.

our gracious hosts

 

They did a fantastic job of decorating! I am so in awe of people with real eyes for artistic decoration!

 

 

We ate yummy goodies.

 

 

 

We enjoyed the company.

(Josh and Kelvin)

 

Pep was allowed to come, too!

Autumn, Heather, Irene

Led by Autumn, we played some Christmas games (i.e. name as many Christmas songs with [name your word here] in the lyrics, and Christmas trivia [my It's a Wonderful Life obsession came in handy with that one!]).

 

Heather, "thumbs up!"

 

....thinking hard

 

We then opened gifts, white elephant (and stealing) style.  Here's Alyssa.

Heather, "out of the loop"

 

Kristen with toe socks and an angel (which I ended up getting!)

The boys, with their prizes (Drew, Rob, K/P, Josh)

The girls

Pep was tuckered after gnawing on her rawhide.

It was, to all, a good night!

Go, Family Med

I recently read and if you haven't yet, you should also read this article by Carolyn McClanahan about supporting the field of family medicine. 

I love the following passage: "Although we are all special, most of our health problems are mundane and do not require specialty care. For those who aren’t so ill, isn’t it great you can ask your family doctor about the wart on your finger while you are seeing her for your ankle sprain? The orthopedist would send you to the dermatologist for that one."

 

While the field of family medicine is incredibly draining at times, it is also incredibly rewarding. Today, I got to deliver a baby of a family in which I see all the members (mom, dad, daughter). I did contraception counseling, started anxiety medications, did a circumcision, and saw a couple of my favorite 80+ year old patients. Last week, I did my first (unassisted) vasectomy.  I really like being part of serving patients in a "medical home."  Will you support our field, too?

 

12/12/12

... the last sequential day we will see in our lifetimes.

Did you do anything momentous today?

I did not really.
To summarize, I...
... worked a full day (half at family med, half at prenatal clinic)
... coughed an awful lot (I was told I need to get me some 'Humboldt Hackaway')
... signed a lot of paperwork with the easy date 12/12/12
... walked my doggie during a lovely, sunny lunch break
... donated some books to the library
... received some packages we ordered for gifts from Amazon
... made Sloppy Joes for dinner
... watched the recorded Voice results show with K
... gave Pepper a haircut
... exercised on the elliptical
... opened some cute Christmas letters
... started reading Elin Hilderbrand's Summerland... (good so far!)
... showered
... am about to take some cough syrup and go to bed.

Happy 12/12/12!
 

Pre-Christmas Prairie Creek Hike

 

On Saturday, we took advantage of a day off (and SUNNY weather!) to go hiking.  We headed north to Prairie Creek Redwoods SP,  home of Fern Canyon, wild elk, and tons of other great redwoods hiking.

We chose the Hope Creek/Ten Taypo loop, a moderate 3.5-mile hike.

Pep enjoyed the hike, too (although we couldn't get her to look at the camera).

wild mushrooms

It's amazing that it is two weeks before Christmas and we can do this-- hike in December. I really love California.

Ornament Exchange

Alyssa invited a few of us to an "Ornament Exchange" party on Friday night, hosted by a member of our church. Although I was on call, I was so glad I went (and I didn't get interrupted!). Although I didn't know many of the *older* ladies there, I really enjoyed the few hours spent enjoying delicious food, fellowship, and the game of ornament-opening (and stealing).

Heather and me (check our our super-cool nametags!)

There were about 37 women there. Everyone brought a wrapped ornament to the party. We drew numbers from a hat and, based on our number, we opened ornaments from the "pile."

 

You could either "steal" an ornament from someone who'd opened one before you, or choose a new, packaged one from the center. There were some really cute ornaments-- pink pigs, sparkly reindeer, decorative frogs, angels, glowing snowmen (and more), and there were certainly some which were in very high demand (stolen the max # times of three, before they were then deemed "frozen."). The strategizing and stealing was quite amusing! I actually came away with a very cute silver reindeer which is now on our tree. 

Although I am bummed I don't have a picture here of Alyssa (who gets credit for all of these photos, by the way!), I'm so glad she suggested we go to this very fun party. I will definitely try to make it next year, too!

photo of the week

When the sun came out briefly (albeit I'm still in rain boots and trying to keep Pep from getting muddy on the short walk to the car), we took this iPhone photo. Ready to go shopping?

so you had a bad day

I think it can safely be said that all of us have bad days from time to time. Maybe you have something going on in your personal life, or maybe work is getting you down. I have been struggling with a bit with the second part, with what seems to be a string (month?) of hard days, including juggling the stressors of constant patient demands, patient encounters and charting, cumbersome paperwork, a never-ending results inbox, some all-nighters, unsatisfying deliveries, and an erratic schedule. I don't think the constant rain for the past week has helped, nor has a new cough/URI on top of it all.

I definitely have felt the hallmark signs of burnout, quoted by this NYT article, to include "emotional exhaustion, detachment and a low sense of accomplishment." I have been struggling with whether or how to "get a better attitude" versus working on changing my current situation(s)/schedule; I was reminded of a post I wrote a few years ago, Proactivity vs. Serenity, where I discuss this ongoing internal battle of mine. In residency, it seemed expected to be burned out from time to time, and we had others around us to lean on who were going through the same thing. As a practicing doc, I thought things would get a whole lot easier. They have been, at times. But, at others, they are certainly not.

In any case, I hope this current "downer" spell is not indefinite. If you need a pick-me-up, as I have, you have to check out this link (with lots of hilarious videos) entitled, "19 People Who Are Having A Way Worse Day Than You." I guarantee that you will be rolling with laughter. And your day will be immediately better. Enjoy.