Home

I made it through another first day this year. I am still processing the end of geriatrics, my move from Seattle to San Francisco, and the transition to living in a large city (more to come on these).  My preceptor seems like an interesting fella, he is the chief of cardiology at the hospital I am working at and has an interesting way to approach patients and physical exam but I do think I will learn a lot from him. Most of the time I will be working with the fellows who work on his service. Today I met the fellow I will be working with until the end of June. She was patient with me and in many ways still a nervous student herself, but with much more training. Many of the questions I was going to ask about showing up tomorrow morning she simply answered for me. Today I saw mostly patients who had been admitted to the hospital, we had one ER visit and then one office visit. Tomorrow I will start my day off at 7:30 in the catheterization laboratory (cath lab for short), for three diagnostic procedures to determine where blockages exist in these patients cardiac blood vessels. I am grateful I had geriatrics prior to this because I was exposed to many cardio drugs and although my patients were not as acute I feel comfortable with a lot of "cardio speak."

Leaving Seattle was by far the most difficult transition I have made since starting rotations. I thoroughly enjoyed my rotation, my preceptor, my patients and Seattle. But while there I also found myself a member of a family. My hosts, Simon and Kim were and are amazing. I enjoyed so much about living with them. Cooking together, doing yoga, playing rummikub over meals, talking about life, processing life transitions together and much much more. I find myself longing for chamomile tea, and mine doesn't quite fulfill me... Simon and Kimmy have become "my people," and in many ways I am grieving our separation.

I am also so excited to be near two of my closest friends who live in San Francisco. Geoff and Kat have been two of my sources of strength throughout this program and I have been longing for their closeness since I have been gone for three months.

"Where we love is home- home that our feet may leave, but not our hearts."
   - Oliver Wendell Holmes

I have been blessed with the gift of many homes in my life, simply because I have a lot of love for many who are spread across this country. Thanks to Simon and Kim for making Seattle home for me!

Becoming a practitioner

Dr. Addison is rarely on time, when he is all of his staff is surprised. This is quite opposite of how I like to function. With my work/school life I am very organized and scheduled. I hate being late. As a student I am basically at the mercy of my preceptors, they say "jump," I say "how high," and do it. Obviously this has its limits but for the most part holds true. Dr. Addison's staff and I have joked that he is teaching me how to be a true practitioner because when I am at work with him I completely lose track of time. I will go hours with out eating or using the restroom, and for those that know me well know this is a quite a feat. Besides teaching me a lot about medicine, Dr. Addison has contributed to my journey to becoming a practitioner by creating an environment that I get lost in (in a great way).

As a medical assistant, prior to starting school, one aspect of my job was to keep the physician I was working for as close to on time as possible. This was often quite a challenge because he got lost in his work, and when he was lost, my gentle time reminders went in one ear and right out the other. I now understand how this is possible. And it is something I love about my current rotation, I love getting so caught up in my work that I have no idea that I've missed lunch, that I haven't urinated in five or more hours and that I want to keep going!