The BEST birthday EVER!

WOW! To say that I had a great birthday would be a gi-normous understatement!!! Had an AWESOME day at work (performed my first procedure ALL ON MY OWN - ingrown toe nail removal! - You know you're a PA Student when THAT'S a birthday highlight...); followed by a kickbutt workout; followed by a post-workout meal of chocolatechip Balance Bar and individual sized Champagne, that Plunko got me (thanks, Plunko!) - see photo...

But truthfully, the BEST part of my birthday came from all of YOUUUUUUUUU and the TRULY heartfelt and moving messages, voicemails, emails and texts I received throughout the day. I don't use this word often or lightly... but I am SOOOOO truly BLESSED to have you in all in my life. I cannot imagine celebrating the highs, or making it through the LOWS without each and everyone of you and your critical role you play in my life. I love you all SOOOOOO much!!!!

Well, this is just a quick post before I go out and celebrate in downtown Anchorage for the first time! A bunch of Airmen that work with me are taking me out... if Liam's facebook photo albums are any indication, I should be afraid... VERY afraid :)

MUCH MUCHH MUCHHHH LOVEEEEE - Mego

Chinese Chicken Noodle Soup for the Soul...

Well, today has been ROUGH to say the least... but thanks to all of you, you took a hard day and made it better. I LOVEDDDD being able to chat with my Mumsey, Tait-a-ma-win, Aunt Maureen (HUGEEEE BIRTHDAY SHOUT OUT in order there as well!!!!) Lyssie and the Bears... I seriously, wouldn't be able to do this without all of you. Thank you for boistering me up, giving me strength and support - even from afar, I feel it in a BIG WAY!
Adding to the 'interesting' day I had, my immune system apparently thought I wasn't dealing with enough stuff, so it decided to shut down on me. Thank goodness it's a Sunday and I've been able to truly just SLEEEPPPP all day, but I've been fighting off this headache/cough/bodyache/chills/nausea thing since I woke up. Wow, a week into healthcare and I've already gotten sick from my patients :P
Well, thanks to the Bears (aka Blair and Justin - for those of you who haven't met them yet, you WILLLLL SOOOON) I had a knock on my door and two ginormous bowls of hot veggie, chicken noodle broth soup and two cans of ice cold 7-up... AMAZING! Those resourceful bears called from HUNDREDS of miles away to get sickypoo Mego dinner and fizzy pop delivered to her doorstep. I am soooo spoiled. Thank you Bears... I heart you, and ALL OF YOU, big time. xoxoxo

Things I have learned in Week 1...

So somehow, I went to sleep 4 times and woke up and it was Friday and my first week 'on the job' was over?!?!! What just happened?! I've seen and learned a LOT in 5 short days. I discovered I really do enjoy Family Practice. It's fun getting to be the gate-keeper of peoples' health and well-being. You may not to get to deal heavily with some super involved, complicated, rare disease... but you CAN be the first to CATCH it, and refer that person on. Not to mention that even those 'outlie-er' patients will always have minor health problems that they come to you for, and you have to take into consideration their other, more serious co-morditities. So you may not be treating that specific crazy disease entity but have to stay up on it and how it might affect the treatment of the more seeminly bengin problems nonetheless.
In this past week, I've also discovered how HORRIBLE I am at being empathetic for 'babies' and 'fakers'... and believe me, even as I type that I realize how absurd it sounds ;)... but for real... 19 year old in for a STUBBED TOE... dude... areyaKIDDin' me?! ME: "How would you rate your pain on a scale from 0-10..." DUDE: "3/10" ME: (pushing HARD over the joints of the big toe) "Does that hurt?" *no reaction* ME: Can you stand on your tip toes? *patient stands on toes* ME: "Did it bruise at all when you did it LAST WEEK?" DUDE: "Nope" ME: "Can you walk on it without pain?" DUDE: "Yeah..." Soooooo... WHADDYAWANTMETODOABOUTIT?!?! good LORD! why even come in!?! Here's your Rx for ADVIL now get the hellouttamyoffice! - of course, I didn't say those last 7 words but I SOOOO wanted to!
I've also discovered how SYMPATHETIC I am to the people I didn't think I would be! For all my distain of all our 'fluff' lectures on how to counsel patients, and ask about home, pyscho and social health... I find THAT's the suff I'm good at and willing to spend the extra time on (versus big-toe-itis guy)... One patient I had was in for a possible migraine diagnosis. The poor thing broke down in TEARS 60 seconds into my interview with her... fiancee was deployed til 2 months ago, his brother commited suicide WHILE he was abroad. Her wedding is 8 weeks away, she's frustrated at all the weight she's gained and the big life stressors she's got going on... I felt like saying "honey, you don't need imitrex, you need a HUG and more walks in the sunshine!" :( Super sad...
One thing I especially love about this rotation, is the great job that the military does at encouraging the TEACHING process for the next generation of practioners who are up and coming. They really are soooooo willing to help you learn, allow you to try stuff, see interesting procedures, and just get in there... you get the impression that they REALLY do want you to learn and better yourself through your time with them. I think in other private practices it'd be so easy to look at an intern as just someone to come in and take half your workload off your shoulders, but these guys have been great at allowing me to SLOW THEM down... allow me to see patients first without them (doubling their work hours in the process) just so I can see and practice things for myself. Amazing people for sure... One of the PA's today pulled me from my fifth case of Hypertentsion for the day because he wanted me to assist with a vasectomy. I'm not even his intern and he cared enought to come find me and the PA I was working with so 'the new kid' could see something out-of-the-oridinary for the day. So awesome! The teaching-the-next-wave-of-PA's is definitely something I feel strongly about doing myself some day - if I ever grow up :)
That's I gotz for nowz... sorry for another uneventful post. Hopefully I'll get into some fun or trouble - or both :) over the weekend. Stay tuned... miss and love you all! xoxo Mego

So, Cailtin demanded pics of the ADORABLE 3 month old twins of the couple I'm renting from... so here you all go. Their names are Saphira and Shawn. Shawns the one being good in the photo and Saphira is fussin' but still uber cute :) Off to work... more stories to come after today, I'm sure! xo

The First Day...

Well, my life as a Clinician started today... and I LOVEEEED it! The Family Medicine clinic is located in the hospital on base. And the facility is really nice. The people who staff it are even NICER! The Air Force doesn't mess around with let-you-get-comfortable-and-set-up... nope. Just go in there and get'em! ... and I LOVED it!

My preceptor is GREAT! He asks me questions all the time - not to pimp and intimidate me but to make sure I know and learn. I was SOOOOO glad that I got his first two quesitons right on my very first patient that I saw with him! I also named a drug out the BLUE (pharmacology is NOT my strong suit... since my hollistic suck-it-up-if-want-to-go-to-gymnastics-practice Mother never really took us in for anything... arfarf LOVE YOU MUMSEY!) I usually struggle with drug names even for the super common stuff but I some how pulled Ketoconazole out of the blue as the drug of choice for the ring worm patient I saw :)

My preceptor is on the go ALLLLLL THE TIME... I think I saw 11 patients with him and that was only for 3 hours worth! He normally sees DOUBLE that when I'm not following him around like a puppy dog, slowing him down. I did get to see one patient completely on my own today- but tomorrow I should be almost exclusively by myself. More exciting/ scary stuff to come... and I say, BRING IT! Sorry this post was so uneventful... hopefuly some more engaging stories tomororw :) Stay tuned for the next installment. Love you all! xoxo

Oh, and the photo of the day, is my official Military Badge! First of many I hope :) WHOOP WHOOP!

A room with a view...

I'm living with an active duty Airman up here near the base I'll be working at. His girlfriend lives here too and they have 3 month old TWINS! SOOOOOO cute... I'm definitely getting plenty of adorable baby time in.

Also, whats not to love about a view like THISSSSSS from your bedroom window?!

Cha-ching!

Everythinggggggg's more expensive in Alaska! Ramos and I went to Subway for lunch today, and the infamous "$5 Footlongs" were in fact, SIX dollars... (photo documention at right). I haven't watched any broadcast TV up here yet, but I'm wondering if the jingle will get stuck in my head now as "6... 6 dollar... 6-dollar footlooooooonggs"...

Also, evidence that everythings more expensive up here... at Target ( my FAVORITEEEE store as you all know), had my favorite Champion Sport Bras - which I actually needed to buy but DIDN'T - because they were $20.97!!!! And back home they were just in the Target Ad for $13!!!! What gives?! I've been numb to the economic crisis thus far, but when my sports-bra market barometer goes up - I pay attention! Guess I'll have to wait to stock up til next time I'm home.

And so it begins...

Hi everyone! I hope you've had a relaxing weekend! I threw out a teaser to some of you that I would be starting my blog to document my travels, trials, triumphs and tribulations of the Clinical year... well here we go! I hope you enjoy reading my posts; even if the only purpose it serves is killing downtime at work ;) I hope I made the page look legit enough that if you boss or some nosey co-worker pops in your cube unexpectedly, you can pass it off as 'market research' or something.
I will also take this chance to make a few disclaimers... first and foremost, I make no apologies for my reputation of HORRIFIC phonetic spelling. You just have to accept the fact that each paragraph will be littered with my Mego spin on how Webster should REALLY spell things. I have all these big words... and small... difficult words... in my head and I like to say them, it's just when I put them on paper I don't know how to SPELL them... so sorry, Mea Culpa... but I'm still not going to run spell check...
Secondly, names will always be changed to protect the innocent- and the not so innocent - in the event of stories from my Clinical practice. I will also camaflouge random details of stories or locations at times to keep myself in good standing with HIPPA.
Thirdly, and most importantly, feel free to leave your mark on my page with comments or questions for me along the way. I LOVE hearing from you, as much as I hope you love reading this from me. Hope to see you all at some point in these next 14 months on the road... carry on... carry strong... Love, Mego