Wednesday, November 9, 2016

Back to Medicine

Today I started another 4 week block of medicine, but this time at the VA. I hear this is a much less crazy rotation as compared to the ward rotations at the university hospital. I hope that is true because I don't think I could take coming off my favorite rotation of the year thus far to one of the hardest months I have had on an emotional and life-balance level. Today was good so far, and I had some time to get to know the service a bit and do my work slowly, which was nice. I like my team so far, however they all switch over the next three days, so we will see how everything goes with the new team. I'm just hoping for a smooth four weeks with my sanity intact at the end. Also hoping the ED decides to give me my December schedule soon cause I'm getting super anxious to know it!

Sunday, November 6, 2016

Weekend in Seattle

This weekend I drove up to Seattle to explore. I had a rough Friday night in the unit, so I wasn't able to drive up until Saturday morning, but I still had a nice time for the most part. Saturday was a little rougher than Sunday, and you will see why.

Saturday started with a roughly 3 hour drive from my house to the Westin in downtown Seattle. I checked in and got my room, which was lovely, and then set out the the Pikes Place Market. The market was not what I expected, but was still interesting to explore. I couldn't find much in the way of food like I was expecting (I thought there was going to be MUCH more), but I got a char siu bun and then attempted to get a BBQ brisket slider. Prior to my first bite of the slider I dropped the whole thing on the ground via my jeans. Keep in mind these are the only pants I brought with me and they were now covered in BBQ sauce. I went to buy another slider because I still wanted to try it, and the guy gave me two, which was nice. I didn't actually need to eat two, so I gave the second to a homeless man on the street to eat. After the market I rested for a bit and then took public transit down to the flying trapeze rig in the SoDo neighborhood. I was horrible at trapeze after so much time off, but still had a good time. Only issue was I slammed my toe on the trapeze bar and may have broken my pinky toe. Will never know cause there was no way I was paying for an X-ray since there would be nothing to do about it, but it was very bruised and hurt a lot and thats all it took. On the way home I stopped in Nordstrom and got a new phone case which I really like (Kate Spade and sparkly with roses on it). I then ordered room service for way too much money since it was painful to walk too much and went to sleep with my foot propped nice and high.

On Sunday morning I met two friends from med school for breakfast, which was really nice. I then went with one of them the the Chihuly Gardens and Glass museum, which was actually super awesome. The glass sculptures are amazing and it was one of the coolest exhibits I have ever seen I think. After that we walked around a bit and saw the Ghery designed EDM museum. I then said goodbye and went up to the top of the Space Needle, which was AWESOME. The views were spectacular and the weather was really nice. I could see Mount Rainier, which was great as I have grown to love the views of the solitary mountains. After the Space Needle I walked back to my hotel to grab a shirt I needed to return that I had bought in Portland in the wrong size, and then walked to Banana Republic to exchange said shirt for the correct size. I also managed to come out with a pair of work pants at the same time. I then checked out and started the drive home, but with a planned stop in Olympia to have dinner with Greg and Sue, which was so nice. Dinner was great, and it is always nice to connect with family I don't see nearly often enough. I then drove the rest of the way home, mostly in the pouring rain, and my two day weekend (scary that that is now a rare and exciting thing in my life) was officially complete.