Life Update, I'm Going Home!!!!!

I work with great people, I live with fun girls, and I am living in a nice city but... I miss my husband and my dog and my friends, and my school, and..l anyway you get the picture.

Last week in finally got in touch with someone in the Medicine department here and discussed with them whether or not to complete the Medicine SubI i am scheduled for next month now that I am doing surgery. Together we decided that it would not benefit either of us and they kindly allowed me to drop the rotation.

Then i was stuck. Do i do another surgery rotation here and really convince them i would be the best resident ever, or do i go home? Well, after talking with multiple people in the program, i decided to go home. I think that i have done a good job here and two months might be overkill and did i mention that i miss my husband, dog, friends...

Anyway, I will be driving back to Tucson this weekend. My only problem is that I set up to rent my room for two months and now I am leaving. My roommate has already posted my room on craigslist but as far as i know there have not been any takers yet. I would like to ask everyone who reads this blog to pray to whoever it is that you pray to that someone will rent my room because while i did not sign a lease i am too nice of a person to leave my roomie broke like that and I really don't want to pay rent for a room i won't be using. Thanks for your positive thoughts.

oh, and Chris started his new job at Wells Fargo today, yea for no more living on commission!!

Lessons Learned

In the last couple of weeks i have learned many little lessons of patience and choices. While I really like Utah, there are a few things that drive me nutty. First, the stoplights. Every morning (well almost) I sit at at least 5-6 red lights in a row. i stop, go 10 feet, stop again, wait, go 10 feet, stop again, etc. One morning i got so frustrated (remember i go to work at 3:30am so i am the only car on the road) so i decided to take a different route. Bad choice, i ended up running into construction, going in a big circle and ending up pretty much where i started 15 minutes later. Patience learned? yes. later in the week i was cleaning my house (as i often do b/c i am a clean freak and i live with two other girls) and i went to take out the trash. When I went to go back inside the door was locked! Little did i know that if the lock is a certain direction it automatically locks itself! of course my phone was inside, my whole life was inside and i was stuck outside. So i did the only thing i knew to do, I ran to stay warm and thankfully one of my roommates came home 45 minutes later. The last of my tales this week is probably my personal saddest. I made the poor decision to let a boy(who looked 16) in a salon on the corner wax my eyebrows. Again, bad choice, i now have two short, thin lines of hair above my eyes that used to be my eyebrows.

Despite all of these unfortunate occurrences, I had a pretty good week. I worked on the general surgery service, I shopped at a great outdoor mall and found a very nice suit for interviews. I discovered Cold Stone flavored jelly bellys, I have learned to love my long walks to and from work, and I even had time to catch a movie.

P.S. I must apologize for all of the whining that occurred last week. Apparently I experienced an unusual short-lived cold-front that by Tuesday had passed. I am now living in what many of you told me I should be enjoying, the Fall. The leaves have suddenly changed to beautiful yellow, oranges, reds, and browns and are fluttering in the breeze outside. The early morning and late evenings are chilly but during the day it is all sunshine. It is really quite pleasant.

It's Colder!!!

Ok, i know i am still whinning but now it is snowing i am so not ready. I keep telling myself that it is beautiful and and I should enjoy it but really i am just cold. It is not just cold rain or sleet snow either. It is big fluffy pieces of snow, snowing. Again pretty, but such a hassle. And for all my resisting yesterday, i went back to the store today and bought a heated mattress pad because i froze all night last night (ps air-mattresses are NOT warm). After the store i headed over to my new coffee shop spot and hauled all my books, bags, and computer of the car and through the snow only to find that it was closed! so sad. So then i started driving to a different coffee shop and the snow kept getting thicker and thicker and i began thinking, "should i just go home? are the roads going to get bad? should i give up? if i do is that being scared and weak or would it be smart? is God trying to tell me i should not be out today?" All this is running through my head as i keep turning toward the coffee shop then back toward home alternatly. I ended up going back to my house and i am still not sure if that was a smart choice or an intimidated by the weather choice but either way i am alive (but still cold...)

It's Cold

The sky is gray, it is cold, really cold, and every morning i have to walk what seems like miles from my parking spot to the hospital. Yesterday i was sure that i would freeze to death before i reached the building, that i would never be able to suture because i would never feel my fingers again, and that while everyone tells me it is fall i think utah skipped fall and this is winter. I do love it here but my fear of sliding down an icy hill on my way to work overwhelms me. I know, i am a big ninny, but i am an arizonan!!! Even worse is the fact that the furnace in my home is broken and even when i go inside i am still freezing :( Thankfully it is soon to be fixed.

On the happy side, I ventured outside my little downtown area and drove to Union Fork to visit the super target (very cool) and buy some warm jersey sheets(I fought the urge to buy every blanket i saw). I have an excellent reason to drink more coffee and hot chocolate and was able to easily resist the ice cream aisle.

Otherwise nothing big happened to me this week. I did go out with my roomies last night for the first time and must say the boys here need some help on their girl skills (not that i am responsive anyway but come on..) One told me i was pretty EVEN THOUGH i wear glasses and another asked how i can be a surgeon if i am left handed. Both received my best dirty looks. Stay tuned for more Utah maddness...

Breast Cancer

Many of you know that i am doing a surgical rotation in breast disease this month. In the last four days i have seen more breast cancer then i ever before and i feel compelled to write about it. Breast cancer is a terrible, tragic, life changing disease and this week i have learned that it truly can happen to anyone. Of the patients i saw this week, three were in their twenties, all were otherwise perfectly healthy women, and few actually have a family history of breast cancer (or any cancer). Many had been diagnosed based on their yearly mammogram, not from symptoms or feeling a lump. Yesterday i had a patient who felt a lump in her breast over a year ago. She bought herbal medicine online and never sought medical treatment. She now has a VERY large tumor that has eaten away her breast and metastasized to her liver. I have also seen patients who felt a lump but waited to go the doctor thinking that it was probably nothing. I am writing about all of this because i cannot let this happen to my friends and/or family. There is no certain type of woman that gets breast cancer, anyone can get breast cancer. So tonight i am using my blog for my current soapbox. No matter how old/young you are, if you feel or see something in your breast, get it checked out, soon. If you are over 50, get your yearly mammogram, it could save your life. I am not just saying this because i am in medical school. I am saying this because i have had the crap scared out of me and every preconceived notion stripped from me this week.
Don't let your busy life, aversion to medicine, or fear of results keep you from seeing a doctor or getting a mammogram. As terrible as it is, breast cancer can happen to you.
PS as bad as it sounds, i am loving working with these amazing women who are fighting their disease