Blessings

Okay; so not only am I (solidarity, Lesley) near or at the bottom of Wendi's blogroll, but, yesterday, I also had the mother of a very important groom call me out on the infrequency of my blog updates. I guess it's due time for some May updates.

It's actually been a pretty great month! Some things I am certainly thankful for:

Smooth sailing at the VA
Despite having a rough 7 weeks on OB and still claiming I'd rather go through that again than go to Mather Veterans' Hospital, I actually had a pretty sweet month on Medicine at the VA. I started out with 2 weeks of being the ward "senior," an interesting role in that I was technically supervising interns and responsible for a whole service! I have done that on OB, but somehow, medicine seems different. I have to say that I was very blessed with Mike and Annamaria, who really didn't require much supervision (I caught them in May of intern year!) and with whom I really enjoyed working-- we had some fun times!!

After the weeks of wards, I went to dayfloat which, I have to say, was my least favorite week and one which I think most people dread. You are basically the screening hospitalist and take calls from outside facilities and/or VA hospitals wanting to transfer patients for whatever reason, as well as accepting all the admissions from the Urgicenter (ED) downstairs, which certainly tends to overadmit. You do all the admissions-- medicine, CCU (cardiology) and ICU admissions which come before noon (while the teams are still rounding) and then, in addition, fill in as ward "senior" for the various teams as needed when they have clinic, days off, etc. It is a tricky role because everyone always seems mad at you for making more work...

I ended (last week) with a week of night float, where you do some more admissions here and there and cover the CCU/ICU services. I was quite nervous that "stuff" would always go down in the middle night, but with the exception of one night, it was pretty benign. Some ICU players acted up from time to time, but no one crashed or coded (phew). I even got to sleep some, which always, for some reason, makes me feel incredibly guilty!

The best part of night float was that I had the weekend off to go to Ajit and Jeny's wedding in NY!!!

Wedding bliss
There was a lot of travel time involved, including leaving post-call on Friday morning to ride the bus to the airport, 2 flights (I realize now that CA is quite far from NY!!!!) with a looooong layover (+ weather delay due to the east coast) in Denver, a 3- hour time change, and an airport shuttle from Laguardia to Long Island, but I made it to the hotel by midnight to stay with Dave and Lesley.

Ajit and Jeny's ceremony was beautiful-- a church service part in English and part in Malayalam, followed by a fantastic reception at a country club. It was also so awesome to meet up with old Mayo buds, including the Kits, Joneses, and Antonio/Latova! Unfortunately, I will have to wait to steal pictures from the others, as I, totally preoccupied with the growing Kit munchkins Isaac and Elijah (champion spitter-upper), neglected to really take out my camera.

The literally 2 shots I took all weekend:

JB and Isaac at the lunch/dinner table


Hanging out in the hotel room... we wanted to see what little Elijah would do when placed on sleeping Dave's chest...


Unfortunately, I had to leave pre-dawn this morning to catch the shuttle back to the airport to get back to Sac, but all the travel went smoothly and I was back here around 1 p.m. with plenty of time to enjoy the rest of the beautiful Sunday!!

I am so blessed to have been able to go to the ceremony!! Please see Wendi's blog later for pics :)

Super Sac-town weather
I must say that although it's a downer to leave wonderful friends to head back to "real life" and work (MRSA- filled ER awaits me tomorrow at 7 a.m.), it is lovely to come back to Sacramento in the summertime. While we had some 100-degree days last week (I even adore the 100-degree days because it means I don't have to bring a fleece w/ me everywhere), today was 85 and characteristic of the cloudless months of summer that await me!! I went for a long run on the American River Parkway enjoying the outdoors (much more possible since I discovered Zyrtec, which is far superior to Claritin in my opinion) and wondering why no one was using their backyard pools. Two thumbs up for California weather.

More old friends
Adeel, one of the residents in our program here last year but who transferred to NY, was in town a few weeks ago to visit. Here are some random shots after hanging out at Chipotle...

Brenden, Jeremy, me, and Adeel


The boys (love Brenden's pink bag): Brenden, Phi, Jeremy, Adeel

Good reads

I've been fortunate lately to have some free time for reading! I just finished Michelle Richmond's "The Year of Fog," (about the search for a missing little girl) and Thrity Umrigar's The Space Between Us, about the saga between two Indian families of different class in Bombay.

Send additional book recs my way!!

Fall travel

I am looking forward to October, when I head to Peru to join one of my former professors and some Richmond sophomore students helping conduct dental, public health/hygiene, nutrition, and primary care clinics in a rural Andean village!! I have 2 weeks of vacation that follow, and I just found out that my college roomie Mindy will be free to travel around with me in South America!!! I have to start planning and get the tickets. Soooo excited.

Jail near halfway over!!
It is very hard to believe, but I just have one month left (grr... ER) before 2nd year of residency is over and I will be halfway done! Despite long hours, the stress, and sometimes being less than thrilled to have chosen the field of medicine, it really has gone by quickly. I can't believe that the 3rd years are graduating in a few short weeks-- will definitely miss them. Seems I should maybe start thinking about where I will be headed after I am through...

Okay, I think that was enough updating for a while and should hold me over until... maybe... July? :)

Mommy time!!!

It is so exciting to me that many of my friends are now newly-becoming, or soon-to- be becoming mothers!!! It is with great joy that I learned that today at 2:16 am, just in time for Mother's day, my dear friends Laura and Tony welcomed their little Abigail Christine (stolen pictures above) into the world. After 14+ weeks of torturous bedrest (now around 35w2d if my OB wheel works right [Laura, you knew I'd bust it out and you know I want details!]), and a quick 3-hour labor, they are equally (well, perhaps a bit more, although that would be difficult!) as excited. SO HAPPY for you guys!!!! I can't wait to meet Abbie!

Happy Mother's Day to all you Moms out there, as well as to my wonderful Mom (pictured below in Giverny during my parents' recent trip to France), Godmother, and Grandma (only one of whom will probably read this blog ;))!!!



Love!!!
t (a free babysitter and/or family doc anytime!!)

P.S. Vanessa-- does this post satisfy your blog-reading requirement?! :)

Where I am and where I am not

Some recent emails I have received:

1. From the 'rents:

"Hi T,
We're half way through our trip. After a day in Nice and a week on our cruise of the Rhone River, we arrived in Paris today after a bus ride through Burgundy. Tonight we took the evening cruise on the Seine River. Tomorrow is the standard city bus tour, followed by a half day at the Musee d'Orsay. The day after that we plan to take the train to Giverny. The weather has been good, except for one day of pouring rain at Avignon. We're not spending a lot on wine. We're just sticking to the house wines, which are adequate. The cruise food was great, but now we're on our own for the next week. The French surely know how to enjoy life. [I'll say!! And so do my parents!!]. Love,Dad"

From the sis:

"Vienna continues to be great! ... We did a lot of sightseeing [Italian bf was in town] - went to a Hapsburg Palace, the zoo, some art museums, and even to Bratislava, Slovakia! And the weather was sublime (sunny, in the 70s, with all the flowers blooming) for his entire visit - so I think he has this impression that Vienna is perfect. And I'd have to agree--it is pretty fabulous. ... some of the other young people working for the various country delegations are also a lot of fun. Last week I met up for drinks with two Norwegians and a Swede, and we talked for half an hour about why IKEA is amazing... May's gonna be a busy month. I'll be in London next weekend (there are awesome airfares--I must have done something right in a former life for this good karma!) And in May, I'll be in Rome! A good friend of mine from high school is going to be in Italy with her family, so we planned to meet up in Rome for the weekend.... I can't wait to see all the Roman ruins and to eat obscene amounts of pizza, pasta, and gelato. Please keep in touch...and think about visiting [believe me, I would if I could get out of jail!!]! I will show you all the nice areas... Socialism and sunshine, V."

Boo. I feel so trapped. I think the cramp on travel is just about the worst things about residency (or "Jail," as Kyla calls it). I am trying my hardest to be able to go to Peru for a week in the fall with a college "global health" group and luckily have some elective time to work with next spring, but, recently, all I've been doing is being a slave to the ER gyn pager (I just finished my last week [seventh in a row] of OB for the year... until about September, and I spent about 5 consecutive hourse of last night's shift in the stinky ER doing onc admissions and consults!!). I do have Ajit's wedding in NY at the end of this month to look forward to (a nice trip following my next month which starts Monday at the dreaded VA hospital), but I just am feeling sooo restless and want to bust out of here and go travel for a long time!!!!

In other, more uplifting news (but some more of where I am currently "not" and nowhere near), CONGRATS to two sets of friends who became parents in the last couple of weeks!! Natasha and Nikola welcomed Cristiano, 7lbs11oz, 50 cm and the "tallest kid in the nursery" and then, on Wednesday, Jeremy and Noelle had baby Kacey at our very own UCD L and D. Next up: Betza/Tom and Laura/Tony (34 weeks, who I have a suspicion may even go to term despite being on bedrest since 20 weeks-- sorry, babe!). Can't wait for these littles ones' arrivals!!

Showers/Sunshine

Oof. So now I'm at the bottom of Wendi's blogroll. Time to post. It's been a very very hectic last month on L and D. I've had some rough nights, some rough calls, some rough antepartum, and near next to zero days off. I finally had a (this) weekend off, and although I had a continuity patient go into labor Saturday morning at 2 a.m., (after I stripped her membranes in clinic Friday afternoon, she volunteered "the last time the Dr. did that, I delivered the next day!" Hmm... having my only golden weekend ahead of me, I wish I'd known that before I did it :)), the delivery went very smoothly and I was back in bed recuperating by about 7 a.m.

Some highlights of the past several weeks:

• Kings' game with Phi, Anika, and Scott (sorry, no pics). Scott, our community service coordinator, announces home games and got us all VIP passes! Although the team got crushed, it was fun to go to a pro basketball game (for free!)
• Pupusa night at Kyla's house. It was a rare occasion for all of us FP/OBs to hang out together! Aline brought the ingredients, and we rolled and fried away...

Kyla

Aline

Sarah with Aline's daugther, Kenia

Today was a very fun Easter party/triple baby shower we held for Noelle, Betza, and Anika (who are due May 2, around May 30th, and end of Sept., respectively). The weather was gorgeous and it was wonderful to see everyone (I always feel a bit isolated with all the hours on L and D)!

We had the party at Phi's house, where we could enjoy some time outside barbequeing in the sunshine (and playing some volleyball).

From left to right: Phuc, Anika, Tom, Noelle, Betza, Sonia, and Amy.


The guests of honor: Noelle (37 weeks), Betza (34 weeks), and Anika (16 weeks) -- aren't they gorgeous??

Thanks, Wendi, for the idea of diaper cakes.... it was my first time at it, but I think they turned out quite well...

The pink one is for Noelle/Jeremy's baby girl, the gender-neutral yellow/green one for Anika and Oliver's baby (gender-determining ultrasound coming up soon), and the blue one for Betza and Tom's baby boy.

(As I've mentioned before, cake-baking is not one of my strengths, but there's a little edible cake in the middle there. I need some serious help from Kristen!)

Opening gifts...

Anika is glowing!!

Cutting baby cake... (isn't this reminiscent of a wedding?)

Phi, pointing at Noelle's umbilicus...

Michelle, playing a little Rockband...


Jeremy/Noelle, awaiting the arrival of Kacey Elise!


Betza and Tom with some goodies for baby Rafael.

These girls are awesome! And so will be their kids!!

So after a lovely Easter weekend, it's back to the grind tomorrow.

Just a warning that you may not hear from me in a long while... 3 more weeks on L and D and then to the dreaded VA for Medicine...

Thank goodness for...

• Daylight savings time and springtime in Sacramento.... despite always going to work in the dark, I have a chance to bike home in the daylight and without the winter plague of rain all the time!
• Support hose. I do NOT know how I survived last year without wearing them on L and D. They are a miracle for tired, aching legs.
• Days off. This is the first time I remember on an OB rotation where I do not have to be on the first Saturday call, which basically puts you in sleep debt from the get-go. I have a 24 hour shift tomorrow into nights, but we'll deal with that when it comes...
• Frequent Flyer miles! I am excited to have gotten a free ride to Ajit's wedding in NY in May!
• Cough drops. I'm wondering whether running that 1/2 was such a good idea... Chrissie and I both got sick the next day!

Roomie reunion

My college roomie, Cathleen, flew into Sacramento from Colorado this weekend just for a visit. How nice is that??? No track meets or anything, just a "weekend vacation" for her. It was a fabulous time. Cathleen is the easiest visitor ever! She brings her own oatmeal, loves going on errands, spontaneously organizes others' stuff (we got my whole file cabinet and closet done-- a task which would have taken me months to aspire to do!), and is militant about getting 8 hours of sleep per night (a great influence). She, also quite quirky, doesn't seem to be fazed my by neuroticisms.


Saturday, we took a trip to the Jelly Belly Factory in Fairfield (about 45 minutes away), which I've been wanting to visit since I moved here, but which I haven't gotten anyone else to agree to visit with me. She, a great lover of Jelly Bellys, was all game!

Big Jelly Belly Man

Spirited vehicles


Rolling the Jelly Belly wheel of fortune...







I got one of the "Bean-Boozled" flavors (like Harry Potter Magic Beans, these are nasty-tasting ones like vomit, moldy cheese, skunk essence, etc... ).Eww!





The (free) sample bar was awesome--- I never knew there were so many awesome flavors, like mango, margarita, jalapeno, Dr. pepper, and more...!

On the free factory tour...

My favorite jackass pretending to "lick" the wall painting

On Saturday evening, we watched some Scrubs (while shredding impt documents of mine) and then hung out with some friends at Crepeville to celebrate Darina's being in town.

SUN:

Only Cathleen (a college high jumper/heptathlete) would have gladly and excitedly gotten up at 6 a.m. (on a vacation weekend) to accompany me to a track event.

Sunday was the Shamrock 1/2 marathon in West Sac. While my time (2:05) was identical to that of my first half, the Cowtown my first fall out here, it felt (despite, again, suboptimal training) so much better! I ran the first 10 miles with a friend from L and D, Chrissie and her friend Melissa (who did AWESOME their first race of that length!), but I took off a bit at the end and pushed my self. It was really encouraging to see so many people out there and with all their spirited attire (St. Patty's day socks, tights, antennae [no joke], and whatnot)-- much more fun than running in the dark alone. Maybe I could do a full marathon someday... (NOT!!)

Raley field finish line

Goofy pic

Most of these pics are, as you can see, taken from my messy (pre-Cathleen-cleaned apt).



Sunday afternoon, we had yummy Pluto's salads at the mall and then saw a movie (He's just not that into you) that, again, few other people would probably see with me. While no Slumdog, it was certainly a lighthearted and entertaining chick flick which had us both giggling. Good ol' girl times! Ah, how I miss college sometimes.

Mall parking lot

CC, organizing my closet (with glee! Let me remind you-- I did in NO WAY force her to do this!)



Ah, I will miss Cathleen (and not just because she organizes stuff for me! :). I dropped her off at the airport this a.m. and now have a rather grueling end-of-2nd year to look fwd to (7 weeks of OB, then 4 weeks of VA medicine, then ED). Wish she could stay full time and be my life organizer.

Oh, and P.S., my phone is dead (water damage??), so please email me your phone # if you would like to keep in touch!

Fun in the sun! (Vacation recap)

Phew!!! This has been one of the most enjoyable vacations ever, in part because it has been so loooooooong (I've had the flanking weekends on my 2 weeks), but also because of the variety of activities, amount of good ol' relaxation, and the opportunity to catch up with old friends.

Trip #1: Salt Lake City

The Friday that vacation started, I headed to SLC to visit with Molly and do some skiing. It was a wonderful time. Although there were about 17 people (as well as her two dogs) staying at her 2 bedroom house due to the highly sought-after location (we call it "Chalet Gross"!), we had a fun (+cozy) time together, skiing and eating. While I still count myself a mediocre intermediate skiier (I still vow that "I will never go on a black diamond!"), I was able to kind of keep my own on the blues at the two ski resorts we visited, Alta (per Shomir, some of the best skiing in the world!), and Brighton. My goal is still, always, to just not fall, but I do think I'm getting a bit better. The snow, and the weather, were wonderful. Salt Lake City, which I visited with my Dad en route to CA the summer before last, is also beautiful in the wintertime, reinforcing that I must settle down near mountains!

Mountains I saw as I drove into SLC around sunrise

Alta Ski Resort

Parking lot shot w/ Lisa

Annabelle, Christina, Molly, and Lisa

Lisa, who kept me company on the greens and blues while Molly, Jason, and Co. did crazy back-country stuff and blacks....

Mols and myself, waiting for a table at the Porcupine pub

Trip #2: South Florida

Shomir and I flew into Ft. Lauderdale before our cruise and were able to stay with Wendi's parents at their home in Coconut Creek (thank you, Mr. and Mrs. H!!!). Our main adventure there included going out on a fishing boat off Pompano Beach, which included some violent vomiting on both of our parts (his expected, mine not so much so), but also several catches. Mine was only noted when we were instructed to "reel in" our lines to change locations, as I noticed that I had a bit more resistance than usual.... duh. There was a fish on the line. Don't ask me what kind of fish these were, but we took some home to cook for dinner! Nevertheless, I think that was both my first and last time on a fishing boat...

Pelicans waiting for the opportunity to grab some fish

Our catches: Yellowfin? Trigger fish?

We also took a trip to Tampa to see Gabe and Emily, some of Shomir's friends from medical school, and, on the way, swung by an Everglades Park where we got to take an Airboat Ride (very South Florida, per Wendi) and see some critters.

Yes! Sunshine!!! (Sac-town has been very rainy for the past 3 months!)

Shomir matches the gator skin

Gator in the water

Gator wrestling man

Trip #3: THE CRUISE!!
We left from Miami for a 5 night (4 day) Caribbean Cruise on the Celebrity Century. This was WONDERFUL. Not only did I get to read like all day long, but we definitely caught up on much-needed sleep (the boat rocking really is soothing), ate like kings, and enjoyed the beautiful sunshine and weather. Shomir and I have both cruised, although he not in many years, and I only with my family on smaller boats with more of a sightseeing- and less of a cruising- focus (does that make sense??). Although it was a bit of a struggle for me as, unlike Shomir, I am not a late-night person, we did make it to a few of the evening shows, which featured singers/dancers and an amazing juggler, Charles Peachock. We also checked out the casino but didn't win anything.

Our ship

Our photo taken in our mirror as we prepared for the lifeboat drill

Aaaaaah

Our formal night

We always took advantage of the sit-down dinner and got to meet some nice people!

Towel creation from our room-attendant, Tony (using my sunglasses I had left lying around!!)

Playing the penny slots

Our fabulous waiter, Tammy, with the Baked Alaska

Didn't want to neglect these desserts, either (I think I had 2 servings of ice cream w/ every meal!)

Our ports of call were to include Ocho Rios, Jamaica, and Georgetown, Grand Cayman (new countries!!). Unfortunately, high winds/inclement weather prevented us from visiting the Grand Cayman ( :(), but we did stop at Key West instead.

Ocho Rios, Jamaica (the Caribbean water is gorgeous!)

I felt a bit hustled in Jamaica (i.e. people trying to swindle us with transportation deals), but we did get to ride some zip lines over a canopy and also enjoy the famous Dunn River Falls.

The lift to get to the zip platforms (reminiscent of my skiing part of the vacation!)

View of the harbor from the lift

Info on Jamaican bobsledders and other athletes...

Ziplining

(Shomir) hiking up the Dunn River Falls

I hiked alongside the falls, but didn't want to get my shoes waterlogged for the brief walk. Fine, call me lame. I am pretty sure I could have done it w/o problem.

Key West (my first time)

Start of coastal Hwy 1



Interesting sculpture

Parasailing! (1st time for both Shom and me - a ton of fun!)
Up...

...up....



...and away!!!

Also in Key West, we visited Hemingway's house and tried not to get smothered with the cats wandering the grounds...

We finished our cruise yesterday morning and drove the 10 or so hours up to northern Fla. to visit with John, Wendi, Isaac (10 mo) and their newest addition, Elijah (5 weeks). It's been great so far, just catching up and relaxing!

Today, I went for a run around base and then we had lunch at a nice restaurant, Bud and Alley's, in the town of Seaside. Unfortunately, I haven't taken the best array of photos, but here are some of JB, Wen, and Isaac (Elijah was tucked in his carseat carrier most of the time) enjoying the sunshine...

Cutie

Isaac likes to eat his stroller, among other things

Busy crawler checking out the grass...

Wen and Isaac

John, coaxing a few steps. We think Isaac will be walking soon!

This evening, Shomir went to Pensacola, about an hour away, to visit his friend Charlie but should return tomorrow. Tomorrow, I think we'll hang out a bit at the dog park with Jodi, and probably enjoy some more of JB's wonderful cooking (which is possibly better even than the cruise food, although that was excellent, too! :)). We head back to CA Sunday and start work again (ugh) on Monday. Oh, how I wish vacation could be permanent...