Christmas/New Year

Hello everyone/anyone that reads this blog. Christmas and New Year's Eve are at their ends. I finished Cardio Thoracic Surgery this week and start the surgical intensive care unit rotation Monday. I hear it is a good learning month. Only bad thing is I have to wear a dreaded tie the entire month.

Christmas was good. I was on call Christmas Eve but got a few hours of sleep, enough to get me through the day without being tired. Val's sister, Faye, was in town from Minneapolis. It was nice seeing her again. They attempted/accomplished watching all of the Harry Potter movies. I did not take part in the marathon. I spent Christmas Day at Val's parents' house in St. Pete just outside of Tampa. As far as gifts, I got a Blue-Ray player, some wine and beer glasses, pajamas, a jacket, and some other small things. The Blue-Ray player is pretty nice because it connects to the internet and I can play "Watch It Now" videos that are a part of my Netflix plan. Before, we would have to watch them on my computer. There are quite a few movies on the watch it now so that is a definite plus. Val got an iPhone so she is excited and plays with it all day long. All-in-all, it was a good relaxing day.

Then I worked a few days between the holidays but fortunately have had off the New Year block. It has been nice sleeping in over the past two days. Tomorrow I am going to go down south a bit and visit my friends Mike and Angie because they just had a baby boy, Cameron.

Other than that, just living it one day at a time down here. I am getting excited about spring fishing that is coming up in a couple of months. I got a new reel (so now I have to get a new rod to go with it, of course) at Cabela's when I was in St. Louis. So, if anyone ever wants to visit I have a spare rig ready to go.

Well, I am off to eat some homemade pizza and read a little bit. Take care everyone and Happy 2010.

Back From Vacation

So, I just got back from vacation this week and started my next rotation, Cardiothoracic Surgery. Vacation was nice but just oh so short. I drove home because I wanted to get some hunting in. Above is a couple of pictures of our cabin. The top one is of the wood burning stove and the bottom one is when we laid the stone foundation around the bottom. Well, to get to the story about hunting and the reason there are no pictures of a deer, is that I suck at hunting and missed the deer I shot at. End of story.

It was nice seeing all of my friends and family. I stayed with my parents the whole time and we all had dinner at my grandparents for "Thanksgiving." I wish I had time to hang out with everyone longer.

Well, needless to say, it had to come to an end and I had to drive home. On the drive to and from St. Louis, I read a couple of "Books on Tape."

1. Common Sense - Glenn Beck

-This was a great book. It was short and to the point. It did not speak about how bad democrats are, or how bad republicans are. It basically spoke about the lack of common sense that goes into many of the decision that are made, both in and out of politics. It is a book inspired by the Thomas Payne book. I have yet to read that one but hope to someday.

2. Christmas Sweater - Glenn Beck

-This is a book written based around a true story/true events in Glenn Beck's life. The moral of the story is that we are the only person who can decide if we are happy or not. Not our past, present or future events, but our attitudes. It basically states that everyone has terrible things happen to them at some point in their lives, but only we can make the decision to wake up happy.

3. The Shack - William P. Young

-Awesome book. A Christian book. I don't want to give details because it is worth

reading and I hope you do. It really makes you think.

Anyway, I have to go read. I haven't had time this week but have a couple of hours tonight.

Happy Holidays

First Visitors

Well,

I had a weekend off and my cousin, Kristin, and Yosh came in to town to run a half-marathon. I was going to run this, but I started out too quick and got shin splints. For some reason I tried running six miles my second week. I accomplished the six miles, but thereafter I could not even run 1/2 mile due to pain. They still ran the half. Unfortunately, it was a short weekend and we didn't get to do too much, but it was nice having visitors. Here is some pictures of us in Hyde Park by the Christmas tree.

Trauma

So, I am 3/4 finished with my trauma rotation. It is an interesting experience to say the least. Most of what we do is deal with social work issues because almost everyone who comes into the trauma bay is either homeless, drunk, or both. I have learned that the fastest way to get into an accident is to be intoxicated. Whether you are riding a bike, riding a motorcycle, driving a car, or just crossing a major highway on foot, being intoxicated seems to be the common denominator.

But, this has truly been an eye-opening experience. If you have a weak stomach, I suggest skipping this paragraph. People come in shot and we have to put tubes in their lungs while they are awake. These tubes are about the diameter of a nickel. Other people come in brain dead from an accident and have their brain hanging out of their skull. But, since it is a teaching hospital, we treat the patient as if they were going to make it. Just because they are brain dead, does not mean their heart isn't working and they aren't breathing on their own. So if they are, we go through the motions of trying to save their life to learn. So, one night, I was doing chest compressions on a patient as their brain was coming out of their nose. I almost vomited. I know this is a necessary part of a general surgeon's training. I am just glad it's not part of mine.

Unfortunately, being the bottom guy on the totem pole I do not get to do much of the cool stuff. I get to drain abscesses, admit patients and discharge patients. I wish I got more experience running traumas and learning about head and neck trauma but I try to just learn this on my own. Oh well.

I am just getting a little frustrated being a non-general surgery resident on general surgery rotations. We don't get treating differently, so I am not complaining about that. I am frustrated that I am learning about things that have nothing to do with Head and Neck Surgery. But, like I said, I try to read a bit every day or so to get ahead.

Otherwise things are going well. I got to go to the operating room and do 3 surgeries last Friday. 1. Lipoma resection: this is a benign lesion that was on someone's neck and I got to do the removal of it. 2. Benign tumor resection: this was on someone's chest and I got to help remove this. 3. Umbilical hernia repair: I didn't get to do much of the actual repair, but I got to open the skin with the scalpel and close the wound after it was fixed. None of these three cases have anything to do with my specialty, but at least I got some experience with the knife and suturing. The attending was very good about letting me do the operations and teaching me how to use the instruments.

All in all, this is an okay rotation that I wish I had more duties but am still trying to make the most of it.

Skyway Pier Fishing

Went fishing last week. We went off Rattlesnake Key off the South Skyway Pier. We couldn't decide if we wanted to take the Hobie Mirage Outback Kayak out to the Skyway and fish for some Spanish Mackerel or hit the flats and try the Trout. I got out there a bit before Mike so I decided to catch some bait. I was having no luck until about 30 minutes before he got there. I first tried using a Cast Net. Needless to say, this is not the best thing to do from a kayak. I fell in. Luckily I decided to take my phone and put it in the dry box just prior. So, all is safe and I climbed back in. At this point, bait was coming into the grass flats as the tide came in. So, I started using my Tsunami Fluorocarbon Sabiki Rig. This was slower, yet safer from a kayak. I caught a decent amount of bait, including greenbacks and lady fish. At that point, Mike finally showed up. It was about an hour before dark and we started catching some fish. We mainly used MirrOLure. We also used some of the bait I had caught. We did well and caught over 5 trout each. Unfortunately only a few were keepers. Those few tasted good.

Disregarded Common Sense

Vacation

Yes, I actually get 2 whole weeks of vacation this year. They are as follows:

1. 11/30/09-12/6/09

2. 3/22/10-3/27/10 (I have to be back by Saturday night because I am on call Sunday)