Back to the Grind

I got back from Iowa late last night and had a really great time with my family the last 3 days. I flew in early Thursday morning and drove up with dad and Maria to my aunt and uncles remarriage ceremony....to each other. It was a sweet ceremony and then we all gathered to eat and socialize! I love being able to sit around and talk to my cousins and aunts and uncles that I don't get to see very often. I got to play with all the new babies and my cousin Janae announced that she and her husband are expecting their second little one in June! Congratulations!!!

Friday Dad and I drove back up north and visited with my grandma some more. The lady amazes me more and more everytime I spend time with her. She has been through so much in her life and she is the strongest woman I know! It is joy to talk with her and she is cognitively aware and still very astute. She still watches the same gameshows and television "stories" that she watched 20 years ago when she baby-sat me....it's nice to know that some things never change. She truely is remarkable and I love to spend time with her. Then we drove down to the meteropolis of Bellevue and spent some time with my aunt Sharon and uncle Paul. As always, we had great conversation and even got to talk to my cousin and his wife on the webcam!

Now it's back to Psych tomorrow :( Only 3 weeks left of that nonsense and an added bonus is that Zach comes home this week!!

Giving thanks (a little early)

I have much to be thankful for in my life. I have an amazing family, a fantastic boyfriend and am following a career path that I love (well except for the Psych part right now). I am lucky enough to have Thursday and Friday off this week and for the first time in 2 years will have a "real" American Thanksgiving again since I was on the island the last couple of years. It will also be my first Thanksgiving back in Iowa since we moved 12 YEARS AGO! That to me is craziness! I am very much looking forward to going back and seeing everyone and to celebrate a wonderful day with my aunt and uncle.

Going back to Iowa is always special. There is very large part of me that still considers it "home." It is where I grew up, where my family still lives, and where most of my values and morals were established. Right in the middle of the Heartland. I have moved around and traveled a good bit the last few years and I wouldn't trade any of that, but sometimes it's nice to go back to the small town pace of LaMotte Iowa and reconnecting with my family.

The support of my family is tremendous and there is no way that I would be where I am today if it wasn't for them. I have been allowed to grow and learn and discover on my own, and it has been wonderful and fulfilling and the greatest part is that it isn't over yet! My future is bright and I am incredibly blessed with an amazing man by my side and a career that I love already!

So this Thanksgiving I give thanks for my past, my present and my future. And thank everyone along the way who have held my hand, lifted me up and given me support!

I love ya'll!

Psychiatric Evaluation

Talk about a difficult thing to do...interview a crazy person! It's definitely not like walking into the ER and interviewing someone with abdominal pain. The conversation goes more like this:

Doctor: "So you say that your stomach is upset?"

Patient: "Yes my stomach is very mad at me because God is putting poison in my milk. I like to drink milk but only when I know it comes from cows in Wisconsin. Do you like Wisconsin. I used to live in Germany and the Russians put spy ware into the fillings of my teeth. See....here is where I pulled out 3 teeth that the Russians were using to spy on me with."

Doctor: "So you're stomach doesn't hurt?"

Now that I've started my second week of Psych I have started to have some conversations with the patients on my unit....let's just say they are VERY interesting! This morning I had a man tell me he was Hippocrates.....uh...sure...ok....

I am working at Spring Grove hospital and it is the second oldest hospital in the US. I think it goes back to the 1700's. It is a sprawling 200 acres campus that is a true throwback to the old Psych hospitals. Lobotomy's were performed there and apparently some of the buildings are haunted. Fantastic. Like the alive crazies aren't enough...now I have to worry about dead ones?!
It is a pretty campus though and honestly a pretty good experience. But I still won't be searching out residencies in Psych....

Out of Words

I haven't really had too much to say lately because I am stuck in Psychiatry hell. I really hate it! I won't go into details but I have definitely learned in 3 short days that it is not for me!

Other than that I come home and night and study either Medicine or Psych becuase I have my shelf exams in December. This weekend will consist of more studying and waiting for my loan check to go through so I actually have money in my account!!!

I'm also counting down the days for Zach to come back to Baltimore. The distance thing really gets old after awhile :( He'll be here December 2nd after he stops in Missouri for an interview.

For those of you wondering about Kendra...she is still doing well in Australia. She has found a job in a PR firm that is a volunteer position right now with room to move up into a paid position once they see how she does. She says that she likes it alot and who knows when we'll see her back in the US?

Ugh Psych :(

Zach's parents house

The apple orchard lined driveway...this was last Xmas that is why there is so much snow

Started my Psychiatry rotation today....it's definitely not my favorite so far! Unfortunately I'm in the long term ward meaning the patients I will be seeing have been there for a long time with not much of a chance of leaving.....i.e. pretty hopeless! This is the part I hate about Psych....you're not really helping these patients, you're just adjusting their meds to make them "less crazy." I'll try to be open minded and reevaluate in 6 weeks....

I spent last week in Utah and it was beautiful and wonderful like always! I really love it out there and it gives the south a run for it's money when it comes to settling down one day. Zach's parents live on this 10 acre apple orchard and it's so much fun to be outside! We spent most of Saturday morning driving the John Deere bulldozer around taking out dead apple tree stumps! So fun :) I flew back to Baltimore late Sunday night and started Psych today, and since I work at a state Psych hospital and tomorrow is Veterans Day....I have the day off!!

I also bought a ticket today to go to Iowa for Thanksgiving. Since I'm not going for Christmas this year and I have Thursday and Friday off for Thanksgiving I thought I would use the opportunity to go see my family.

Zach also got a couple more interviews last week...yay!! One at George Washington in DC and the other at LSU. I'm so proud of him!!!

Birthdays, Bad football and Great Music

All I can say is that the Georgia football game was....AWFUL. Period.

On to more fun things! I want to wish my dad a happy belated birthday. It was yesterday and since I didn't post I saved the wishes for today. Thanks for everything over the years Dad, all your love and support mean so much! Happy Birthday, I love you!

Other than the football game it has been a really great weekend. I flew to Cleveland on Friday night and Zach was waiting at the airport. We are pretty used to this distance thing by now but it was REALLY great to see him!! We began our trek to Philly and got about 3 hours of driving in before we both got pretty sleepy. Zach had been on call Thursday night so he only got about 5 hours of sleep during the day Friday. After about 7 hours of a not so great hotel bed, we got up, found a diner for breakfast and started our journey again. We made it to Philly around 2 Saturday afternoon and found sports bar to watch the UGA game. When the score finally was 42-3 we decided we would have more fun sitting in our seats at the Wachovia Center waiting for Coldplay.

The concert was AMAZING!!!! The energy from the band and the lighting effects were so incredible. We had a really great time and I can honestly say they are one band that I could be a "groupie" for! I missed having you there though Kenna :( Baker was fun but it wasn't the same!

After getting back to Baltimore late last night we slept in this morning and have spent today doing laundry and repacking Zach so he can leave tomorrow for his interview in Louisville and then he is on to Utah for a month.