First- as those of you who know my love of Halloween could already expect, I've started decorating already (it started in September actually). I actually scared the poo out of myself yesterday- I was cleaning and closed the closet forcefully (unintentionally) and it set off my motion-sensitive ghost which makes creepy ghost noises and shakes his arms. I have him hanging above eye level off one of my AC vents and out of sight/out of mind- basically, I scared myself good! I consider this mandatory prep work for my Chicago trip to see Lizzy! I'm quite excited as up North people apparently are far more interested in Halloween than the majority of the South. I always feel like I'm crazy when I tell people here that I think cemeteries are pretty or that Halloween is my favorite- they just stare at me like I said I eat brussel sprouts every day- the phrase "Really??" in their eyes. But I think I'll fit in just fine with all the crazy Halloween lovers up north! Yay! Excited and pictures to come.
I've kept myself quite busy- like that's a surprise to anyone. First- school. We're in Neuro right now- which definitely is my area so thankfully I'm not as stressed out as most everyone else (but that's also the norm I feel like...). I'm loving Neuro but I dont think I'm interested in specializing in it. Honestly, it's one of the medical jobs where your patients just don't get that much better - ever. You work with traumatic brain injury patients, or patients with Alzheimers/dementia- patient's whose disorders are progressive or relatively permanent. I am thankful there are other doctors/student-doctors for whom that area is there passion... I just dont think that's me. In all honestly, I'm still leaning towards emergency medicine. In fact, I'm leaning more and more towards Family Medicine in a small town with ER work moonlighting (met a few docs here in Lubbock that do this). But- I've got time to decide. And the best thing about medicine is that if I'm willing/able to take a pay cut, I can go back to a different residency and go into something else later in life if I burn out. I think I made a post about this before- but moving to Lubbock taught me a big lesson in life, which is that I can make huge changes to my life (like uprooting after three years, leave my friends and family, start something completely new) and still be myself, still be happy, and still feel stable. I had a much more romantic explanation for it before- so maybe read that post instead- but basically, I want to keep in mind that I'm never cornered in life- I'm never stuck. If something is wrong, I can change it.
Next!
Went to Dallas recently and got to see some friends... I think it's crazy how good kids are at computers... they can outperform me on my phone, use a computer by age 2, and still have social skills :) love it
I'm also now on this committee to keep the Lubbock Public Health Dept's immunization, STD testing and treatment, and surveillance services in one location - the city, in an attempt to save money, is fracturing the public health department. they've moved a bunch of services to buildings all over town- which for the most part may not hinder anything. The problem is the actual clinic services. They're trying to sub-contract state grants out to local organizations to take over these services- but there are just so many problems with that. In the end, a big group of doctors is fighting against this because we fear that the change will lead to decreased accessibility, increased cost, increased wait time, and in the end- decreased population health and increased infectious disease in the area. We have a bunch of data to support it (for example, in NYC, they found that even a 5$ increase in the price of vaccinations led to a 57% decreases in services rendered. the organizations applying for the grants have already told us they'll be raising prices more than that). Anyways- it's been really interesting- very grassroots organization. I've met the entire Lubbock City Council, met multiple high level docs in the area, the entire Lubbock Board of Health- it's really been eye-opening. Politics, city functioning, the effects of public health scares (in the midst of all of this- we had a Hepatitis A outbreak at Cheddars Restaurant- 7700 people exposed- that had to be handled by the practically dismantled Public Health Dept). I'll let you know how it turns out.
Another cool thing- as most of you know, I'm very interested in Global Health. After coming back from Nicaragua, the person who runs our Office of International Affairs put on a photo exhibit called Beyond Borders, Beyond Measure- to show off the photos taken by Health Science Center students who went overseas... and to sell them in order to raise money for a scholarship they give out for student wanting to go on international mission trips. I had two photos in the exhibit and both sold very quickly! I even had people give me their cards so they could see a few of my other photos to buy... really, it was so exciting. I love art and for other people to love my art also, makes me very happy!
Another thing I get to look forward too- I'm going to the American Medical Association meeting in November... and it's in New Orleans! My flight is totally free and I'm super excited! We're staying a few extra days and plan on doing a series of fun things- and it's right before my birthday!! So happy birthday to me :) To go back to being weird- I'm making the group do a cemetery tour in a city that has some of the most beautiful cemeteries in the nation- I'm super excited!
I also got to go see La Boheme for the first time at the Amarillo opera center- the Globe News Center- it was beautiful!
one more thing- ATTENTION FAMILY MEMBERS!!!- I've been trying to collect stories from my family- to get to know my dad better, to keep fun stories from the family (5 kids!?!?! there have to be good stories there...) alive and circulating through the family- and just to hear how my family's lives were in various times during history. So far, only Kay has sent me anything but- it's been absolutely fascinating to me. Stories about my dad as a kid, about the grandparents I never really knew, about businesses I didnt know we had started, and about childhood injuries :) It's really just been wonderful to read- so please please please- if you read this far, please send me stories. If you can date them in any way, I'll try and put them in order and send them to everyone. Tell me about people's personalities, the funniest/saddest/scariest/most interesting/most stand-out memories that you have. That's another life story that I learned the hard way- you always want to know more about the people you love/that raised you/etc- and you only think of the really interesting questions later- sometimes too late. So- tell me about you, the personalities of my great grandparents, fun stories, I just dont even care- just write something down and send it to me! I love reading it.
Ok- love everybody....
