Trauma...

When last we met, I had had the car all smashed up, been to the dentist, was probably very tired, and not really enjoying the way things were going. Well, I am happy to say that things are a lot better today. I found out that the insurance company is going to pay to have the damage to the car repaired (there isn't even a deductible to pay!), and they gave me a rental car to drive while the car is in the shop. Now I just have to wait until someone from the insurance company comes and does an estimate on how much it will cost. So, things are looking good as far as the car situation goes.

In other news, I have finished my 4 days with the cardiologist. It was a pretty intense 4 days, but I did enjoy it. I got to see quite a bit of what they do, especially catheterizations and stent placement and things like that, so I feel like I have a way better idea of what it means to be a cardiologist now. I even got to scrub in and do a couple things in one of the cases in the cath lab. Anyway, I can't say that I definitely want to be a cardiologist when I grow up, but I'm definitely open to it.

Next week, they have me with an orthopedic surgeon all week. I looked up his bio on the hospital website, and it says of there that he specializes in trauma surgery (the hospital is a Level 2 Trauma Center). That means that they are always prepared to deal with, especially to take someone into surgery for trauma--the trauma specialist that came to the medical school said that one of the main things is that they always have an operating room prepped for it, and they always have a specially trained trauma surgeon on call. I guess the only difference between them and Level 1 Trauma Center (the highest) is that a Level 1 has to publish a certain number of research articles every year, and they just don't feel the need to do that many. So its a pretty good place to go if you get in a bad car accident or something.

Anyway, that about sums it up. I am looking forward to another exciting weekend (with no studying!!!), and also to next week.

A really fun day...

I spent most of the day today with a cardiologist. I spent the morning in his office seeing patients with him. It was pretty interesting, I liked it way more than I liked interventional radiology yesterday, because there was way more interaction with people. At noon, I went to the family practice residency's noon conference where I heard about pulmonology, but more importantly, I got free lunch out of the deal...
After that, I went on rounds with my "pseudo-attending" cardiologist, and saw some patients in the hospital. Then we went and looked at some angiograms, echocardiographs, and then I called it a day, and walked home.
I got home, went inside (never looking at my car) sat down, started getting ready for my dentist's appointment (fun fun!), talked on the phone for a little bit, checked the webmail, changed clothes, etc. After I was all ready, I walked outside to get in the car, got in, and realized that there was glass all over the passenger's seat next to me. Then I looked at the windshield and realized that it was shattered. Needless to say, I was not happy about this discovery. So I got out of the car and surveyed the damage. There was also a big dent in the roof.

Well, to make a long story short, I took a bunch of pictures of the damage, went to the dentist's (I was a little late but they got me in), called the insurance office to report my claim (don't let me down State farm... by the way, why IS it called State Farm? Weren't there "state farms" in communist Russia?), and now I am in the process of getting the car fixed.
So, all in all, this has been a "wonderful" day. I did have a pretty enjoyable day in the hospital, and I think I learned quite a bit. However, a big branch also fell on my car, and I did have to go to the dentist for a filling. Jealous?

What a weekend!

This weekend, my brother Brad got married. For anyone reading this who wasn't there, it was at the lake right in front of the beach.. It was a great day for it, sunny, warm, not a drop of rain, just a little bit of wind. I was the best man, and in case anyone missed it in my little "toast", I couldn't be happier for them!
I got back to "the Bend" at about midnight last night after a very productive evening of fishing, and after a short night, I went over to the hospital at 8am this morning for a day in the Interventional Radiology department. I have to be honest, it was very interesting for about the first 30 minutes, and then after that, it got really boring. Part of that may have had something to do with being tired, but also, there wasn't a whole lot to see except them running wires and tubes up peoples' arteries and veins. But at least now I know a little bit about what they do in IR.
Tomorrow, and for the next three days, I'm supposed to be with a cardiologist, which I hope will be a lot more interesting, and I'm hoping that I'll be able to use my stethoscope!!!

Back to it...

Today was the first clinical day of the program that I'm doing this summer. Yesterday we had an orientation for a few hours, and then today (and for the rest of the week) they had me with a urologist basically just watching what he does. It was definitely a different experience to be in the hospital versus just sitting at a desk reading.
To begin with, I had to actually go somewhere (the hospital). Also, I had to look professional, which includes shirt, tie and white coat (what more could you really ask for). In addition, I was actually seeing patients, instead of just reading about the Krebs cycle or something else equally as esoteric (although we did discuss the Krebs cycle this morning...).
Now, I don't know that I will end up being a urologist, but from the one day that I've seen of it, it doesn't seem too bad. We will see how things go...one day isn't very long. But I have to go, because tomorrow I'm getting up bright and early, and I get to sit in on a surgery with the da Vinci machine (it's a robot!!!).

Enjoying the Summer

There isn't too much to say about what's going on... I'm still waiting to start my HME program (on Tuesday). The explanation for these pictures is that I went back into Merry Lea this afternoon and did a little bit of photography. I'm also trying a new way of showing pictures, so hopefully it works for everybody.



That's all for now. Good news, tomorrow is Friday!

The Update

Admittedly, it has been quite a while since my last post. I wholeheartedly apologize for that. Now, down to business… What has Matt been doing for the past few weeks? Well, I finished my trip to the east coast with a visit to Washington D.C., the first time I'd been there. Nothing like all those monuments to remind you that you're an American… After that, I spent a few days in South Bend, and then I came down to the lake and hung out. Then I went down to Indianapolis and hung out for a night. Then I came back to the lake, where I've been since Saturday. Yes, it's true; I haven't worked or done much of anything productive for awhile. However, I am okay with that. It does, however, get a little bit boring, which is why I will be VERY ready to start my summer HME program (like an internship…I wrote about it before) in 2 weeks and 1 day.

In closing, I will say that I am enjoying this summer WAY more than I enjoyed any summer before it. Whether that is because it's my last summer vacation ever or because of something else, I can't say, but I'm liking it.

New York City

Well, as I write this, I am on a little island just east of Manhattan called Roosevelt Island. We spent all day walking around the city, seeing the sights and bsically just trying to have a good time. We went to the Metropolitan Musuem of Art, walked around Central Park, went to see the Statue of Liberty, the World Trade Center site, and experienced public transportation.

Anyway, we're going out to dinner somewhere in about an hour, and after that our friend who we're staying with here has some friends that are having a birthday party, so we're going to go to that tonight. All in all, quite the day so far. I've never been to New York before, so its been quite the experience to see all kinds of things that I've only seen on TV on in the movies. For example, the tram that takes you from Roosevelt Island (where we're staying) to Manhattan is the same tram that was in the movie Spiderman (remember the scene where the school-children were stuck on a cable car?--that's it!).

I will cut this short. But just so you all know, so far, the trip has been fun.