moving on...

the move's been made, the transition roughly complete. things once again worked out in the 11th hour, and although it's not exactly what we had in mind, it'll work. and we're too tired to think up an alternative at this point.

the drive back from san diego (although i like chip's version better- sandy eggo) was looong. and hot. the central valley is really such drain, a total life suck on so many levels. it was 107 degrees. every last thing was brown. we spent 2 hours in LA traffic before heading into the void, punctuated by a near miss 10 car pileup that was super scary, but probably provided enough adrenaline to keep us awake for the next 8 hours sans caffeine. stopped in marin to visit with friends who provided the boys with plenty of opportunity to play with their numerous dolls and dollhouses (which they were totally into) and we all geeked out on pizza, prosecco, and episodes of the muppet show. it was great. we woke up to views of mt. tam and pancakes, and were on our way again, to a more scenic drive.

which provided plenty of opportunities to reflect on 3 quintessential road trip ponderings really worth answering.

1. how DO you explain to your 4 and 2 year old that you have 8 more hours worth of driving? (and then a fun game is to take bets on how many more times you'll have to explain it before the day is through. it would also make a fun drinking game except for the pit stop ratio would then increase to the point where you'd be adding hours on to your trip.)

2. an obligatory esoteric question like: given a cow's propensity towards um, stupidity, do you think they are susceptible to lonlieness? and if so, then how can CA cows truly be happy? and if they're not happy, then what are they putting in the cheese there to make it taste so good?

3. (my favorite musing thus far) who comes up with the names for RV's?? it's like the testosterone soaked equivalent of the marketing geniouses who are responsible for naming nail polish colors. seriously... a sampling i saw included "hitchiker", "dutch star", "alpine coach", "mountaineer", "windsport"....although my favorites included "patriot warrior", "kountry storm", and "leprechaun". no lie. come on kids, let's hop in the leprechaun and head out for the weekend! honey, it's time to change the oil in the patrior warrior! and do people that own these things call them by those names? i'll bet there are secret clubs.

hours of entertainment right there.

anyways
back in hillsburrito for now. took over the parker family's apartment for the next 6 weeks which will be fine. lots of peeps in the hood this rotation to catch up with. looking forward to it. and looking forward to the next rotation in the ER. day one was today. 2 thumbs way up. i think i might just love it, although i was feeling that it was borderline a little cliche to have classic textbook presentations of the following patients on day one:
1. fractured hip in an elderly woman s/p fall
2. STDs
3. peritonsillar abscess
4. migraine
5. surprise! pregnancy abd pain
6. pneumonia
7. appendicitis

minus chest pain and a good laceration or some sort of trauma, it was nearly EXACTLY what i thought it would be. so i will hope that things will continue on in this manner. cause i actually knew what i was doing and it was FUN.

which is good, cause otherwise this week has been horribly terrible. but i'm thinking that there is a light that is shining a little brighter at the end of the tunnel now. and for the next 6 weeks things will be really great. and then i will deal with another round of chaos and depression and frustration and travel to the middle of nowhere....but i suppose i'll just focus on the good for now.

the grand finale

as far as grand finales go, it was a bit odd and unexpected, but honestly, probably the highlight of my clinical experience this go around...

final eval from preceptor: "Ms. McLeod has the finest pap skills I've seen of any student in the past 3 years."

oh. um....thanks. now there's a feather for my cap. i'll be sure to take that to the bargaining table wherever i go from here.

but i only worked half day today, so as it turns out i will have time to go to the beach one more time before packing up, enjoying one final dinner with friends, and then getting up at the crack of dawn tomorrow to drive to san francisco. with an almost 5 year old who will whine the whole time. and an almost 3 year old who has just finally come around to potty training. this week. both of them now with solid, boogery colds. awesome.

otherwise, the highlight of my week was working with a number of patients that needed translators. one of whom was deaf. which brought on a story from a co-worker that evoked the best laugh i've had on this rotation...

her friend works at a high school just for hearing impaired kids. she was tutoring a girl after school one day and the girl ripped a huge fart, but went along studying without even a blink. the teacher couldn't help but laugh, and the girl looked up and asked why her teacher was laughing. so the teacher told her (all in sign language, of course) that farting is funny sometimes. the girl seemed puzzled.
she asked her teacher, "but you're sitting across the table from me, how did you know i farted?"
the teacher answered "because it made a really funny sound."
the girl was mortified. "wait a minute, you can HEAR them?"

it would be pretty hysterical to find out in high school that sort of privvied information in high school, no?

and now, off to the beach for the last time in what will probably be a loooong time. sigh. summer will officially be over as soon as we get back to portland. pics from last weekends adventures attached....surfing was a blast and pizza port in solano beach is hands down best pizza and beer in southern california. put it on your list if you're headed this way. kudos to keri and paul AGAIN for showing us such a great time. LEGOLAND was a ginormously huge hit, just as we'd hoped it would be, a superb theme park for kids of all ages. liam and camper had the time of their lives. best. birthday. present. EVER.

arrgghh

it's international talk like a pirate day, which personally i think jumped the shark a while ago but since we're in a seaside-like setting here in san diego, it's sort of hard to resist. plus, with that one sentiment (arrrrggggh) i can totally sum up my experience here.

one the bright side, i have my boys back, and all is well. we've been doing all sorts of fun exploring at the beach, at balboa park, at the maritime museum, at coronado island, visiting some friends out and about, etc. that part has been pretty fantastic. just trying to enjoy the last week here before heading back into the great unknown at this point.

and when i say unknown, i mean it. we're back to pdx but at this moment, still homeless, and then it appears we'll be shuffled off again to somewhere on the canadian border...which continues to be a twist in the plot that i can't seem to come to terms with but at some point here will have to get over. in the meantime it's keeping me up at nite and remains a total energy suck.

i've had some good patients this week, my favorite was a bush pilot from alaska who happened to be in town for a family reunion and thought to get her annual checkup. last annual checkup was 10 years ago. cause that's how they do it in AK, time and health are just sort of these vague backdrops to reality. plus, i got the feeling she really wouldn't want to know if there was anything wrong with her, cause then she'd have to go find someone to take her out back with a shotgun, cause she would rather that than have to go to a hospital for any sort of care. what a character.

everyone else i have seen confirms my suspicion that a little xanax in the water supply here would go a long way. perhaps it's the disaster this of economic times we live in, or the mad pressure to become a VIP...(as witnessed in a woman who came in who gave me- though i declined to ask- the laundry list of her very famous clients that i didn't even know, reasoning that i had to make her "better" so she could go back to work because these people NEEDED her and she would be nothing without THEM....), or have unfounded swine flu fears and are demanding tamiflu left and right...

but really, people here in general seem to be worked up about things that are mostly ridiculous. and i can understand how that can be exhausting. but silly. i long for people with real problems and who can rationalize the bigger picture. and for people who understand the value of comfortable footwear. and i'm not talking about rhinestone covered crocs, although i really REALLY wish i had had my camera for those. maybe i'm misunderstanding their smaller issue for underlying bigger ones, but still....all i am hearing is that these people are too stressed out to go to the spa 3 times a week like they usually do, now they're only going twice a week. i'm not cut out for people with "special" needs like this.

in other big news on the homefront, camper is nearly potty trained, and liam got his first set of stitches this week. smashed his forehead into some steps as he was climbing up mt. soledad. 3 stitches and a bunch of steri strips later, he was happy as a clam...until i have to take them out. then it will be WWIII. scripps memorial hospital ED was great, we were in and out in a hour. our doc was a spitting image of the sarcastic head honcho on scrubs- i don't watch it enough to know who that is, but it was a pretty amusing comparison.

beyond that, we've been highly entertained by our neighbors nightly arguments and boisterous making-of-the-looove episodes afterwards. it's better than TV. conveniently in the middle of the nite. but, at least they're not our roomates....so we can openly laugh AT them without worrying they might see it. for the most part, our condo complex is pretty quiet and serene...with the exception of, of course, the people that live RIGHT next to us. so when camper throws a tantrum, we put him on our bed and let him shake the headboard, scream loudly and work it out. for as long as it takes.

someday we'll get it right. in the meantime, it's more rolling of the housing dice, another spin of the moving roulette wheel. T-minus one week until we get to play again! whoohoo!

surf's up...and we're headed out to the beach at del mar to jump on some surfboards with paul and kerri this afternoon, who really have saved the day in terms of us getting to know san diego in a much better way than we would have ever found on our own- followed by LEGOLAND tomorrow. we haven't told the kids. i think we'll just get in the car and pretend to get lost and just show up in the parking lot there and let them figure it out. hoping for a huge kodak moment.