The Great State of Oklahoma State Fair

For the first time in awhile, Brian and I were both not on call this weekend. So, how did we spend our free time? Hitting up the famous Oklahoma State Fair or White Trash Bash. You can imagine the crowd I am sure. We tried the famous Indian taco and any other fried food sample we could get our hands on.
The fair was complete with nauseating rides, freak shows, animals galore, and any food you can think of fried on a stick.
The best part of the day was when Brian and I won a free 4 night cruise to the Bahamas! I never win anything. We filled out a raffle form to win a car or something like that and a guy helping with the booth said we were eligible to spin the wheel. The wheel had several trips to Vegas, Orlando, and Washington D.C., and a cruise on it. Lucky Brian landed it on the cruise. What is the catch thought? Apparently it is through a travel agency that advertises by sending people on trips, which is cheaper for them than TV commercials. Ok...so what do we have to do? All we do is go to a 60 minute talk about their travel agency. Sounds kinda like timeshare stuff. Good thing Brian is good at saying "NO". We could pick a cruise to Mexico or the Bahamas and they pay for the flight and the cruise. We only pay for the $100-200 worth of tax and port fees. So, we will see if there really is a catch, but it sounds pretty good.
After we were at the fair most of the day, we decided to head home before it started to storm. I was disappointed I didn't get my funnel cake and didn't pay a dollar to see the world's smallest women at 29 inches tall, but I will take a cruise in place of that. Til next year...Great State of Oklahoma Fair!

For some reason my pictures are showing up weird, but here are the captions:
1)Some of the animals we encountered. Texas Longhorn, Oklahoma Buffalo, and cows getting groomed and blow-dried for their show.
2)My love: The Funnel Cake
3)The Famous Oklahoma Indian Tacos aka gut bomb
4)Finishing off the taco with a jug of Root Beer

You Tube!

Two of my favorite videos I keep watching over and over again:
1) Stand By Me on Dancing with the Stars. I cry almost every time at the end and the dancing is amazing. I am determined to learn the dance.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0D8BuNagnWw

2) The Honey badger (narrated by Randall)- hilarious!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4r7wHMg5Yjg

Enjoy!

That's What "He" Said

So, I thought that I would take a stab at this whole "blogging" thing, just in case the Anesthesiology thing doesn't work out. I don't want to put all of my eggs in one basket.

As of Saturday, month one of 48 towards residency completion will be done, and the only thing that I've learned is I know absolutely nothing about medicine. Comforting? I've been spending my month...sort of...in the Emergency Department. Compared to Courtney's, my schedule has been a ridiculous joke. The first day I arrived, the E.R. doc working that day told me not to come at all, to basically stay away and study. So I did. (Un)fortunately, I got an email about a week later from the director of my rotation saying that I had to do ten day shifts and ten night shifts. After throwing together a makeshift schedule I had to start going and I learned why the attending that day told me not to come: I just get in the way. The E.R. is a well-oiled-machine. The nurses and doctors all have their own system and I just seemed to mess up their system. Rarely would I be asked to see a patient, and when I did, I didn't get much decision making autonomy. I spent most of my shifts reading and studying for my final boards to get my permanent medical license -- watch out! Fortunately, a few doc's had me go do lumbar punctures or put in central lines (giant IV's that go in the jugular vein). I'm like a little kid in a candy store when they ask me to stick people with needles! One of the biggest advantages of my program though is the 10 residents in my program are the only residents in our hospital. This means that when we are on call, we are in charge of all of the codes (heart attacks) and rapid responses--people about to have a heart attack, that we need to prevent. It was ridiculously scary, and still is a bit, but its an amazing learning experience. But don't worry, like Courtney did when I told her about this, the attending doctor is only a phone call away for advice and direction.

I just finished my last night shift this morning (11 p.m. to 7 a.m.) of a string of 5 nights. I can't sleep anymore and don't really know how to get back into a normal routine.

As Court has mentioned, she's been super busy (hence why I'm the blogger). Most of her days are 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., but more like 7 p.m. She's definitely been working her ass off, but has seen some cool stuff and has learned a lot! She starts Gynecology on Sunday, but has a week off and is heading to see twin-2 during the vacation, leaving me lonely at home in the 107 degree heat. As for me, I start Nephrology (Kidney) on Monday. I'll finally get to see patients and act like a doctor. I just wish I was able to do Anesthesiology stuff this year like I want, not all the random medicine stuff. Makes me jealous that Court gets to do what she want right from the start.

Hope everyone is having a great summer. Sucks that we're adults now and have jobs and summer vacation is gone. I know most have been this way for a long time, but it's new to me! Court and I are hoping to renew our vows in Cancun next year...not really, but damn we miss that place!

Married life thus far has been good. We are so busy though, that it seems like we know absolutely NOTHING about OKC and haven't had a chance to explore and find all the cool hangouts and dives. I haven't even found good bike roads or running paths. Oh, and Court has been really cranky from lack of sleep--sorry babe, love ya!

--Brian

Trauma ICU

Ok I have only worked for 4 days straight and I already have a day off. But let me tell you...it is much needed already. I am working the the Trauma Intensive Care Unit this month. The first day was rough. I had 6 patients to see and write notes on and then present to our attendings (Docs in charge). I had know idea how to use the computer system, find the patient's history, or know where I was going for that matter. It was bad. To make matters worse, while I was presenting a patient, I got light headed, almost passed out, and had to sit down. I was so embarrassed.

Most days I feel pretty stupid. It has been since January since I really have done anything medical and had to really study. The learning curve is basically completely vertical. Yesterday I finally felt like I have more of a grasp on things. I could not do it without the awesome ICU nurses. They have saved my butt multiple times already. They know their stuff and basically suggest what orders I need to do for the patients. It is weird and scary actually being responsible. I can write orders now and my signature actually means something.

Side note: The Trauma ICU is completely full. There are lots of MVCs (motor vehicle collisions) and people who had dove into shallow pools. Most of the people have head or spinal injuries and are paralyzed. It is pretty sad that these people's lives are changed forever because of one decision, especially under the influence of alcohol. So be careful everyone!

Ooooklahoma!

Well, it is official. The Seacats are residents of Oklahoma. We have new drivers licenses and even OK car tags. The apartment is brand new and so far, we love it. Orientation starts Monday and we officially start work July 1st. Stay away from all teaching hospitals. Just saying.
This week we have pretty much laid out by the pools or gone out with our future colleagues for drinks or dinner. Everyone seems pretty cool. There are 6 residents (4 girls and 2 boys) in my program and 12 (11 boys and one girl) in Brian's program. Sunday I am going to our program director, Dr. Krouse's lake house for a day of drinking, skiing, and tubing. Should be fun. Hopefully I don't embarrass myself not being able to get up skiing or worse...a nip slip. Ha!

Here is our monster bed. We got a king, but with the high box springs and the really high furniture, it is the biggest bed I have ever seen and looks even bigger in the small room. I literally have to climb or hop up to get into bed. At least, when we get a dog one day, he or she can't get up onto the bed.

The "office" area

New kitchen with stainless steel appliances. Not too shabby

The living room. We have yet to buy a table and TV stand.

My Wedding

This is a hard post to do because there is so much to say. I think Ash (http://mylifeasash.blogspot.com/2011/05/everybody-wang-chung-tonight.html) , Vanessa (http://vanessaandchriscalcara.blogspot.com/2011/05/way-down-here.html), Brittany (http://justanotherdayinparadise1.blogspot.com/2011/05/have-another-beer-in-mexicothe-wedding.html), and Emily (http://theadamandemilyshow.blogspot.com/2011/05/ill-have-another-its-working.html) did a great job of summing up the trip.
Too much sun! Too much fun! and Too short! The week flew by and since being back, I have been pretty depressed and bored. I have no school or work and Brian is working all week helping teach Step 1 prep class to the 2nd year med students. As much as it was nice to have a few days to do nothing...now it is just frustrating. I am trying not to take it for granted because I will be working non-stop these next 4 years, but you can only watch so much Real Housewives over and over again.

Other good news: We found a brand new apartment to move into in Oklahoma. It is in Edmond, OK and about 15 minutes from the hospital. I will post pics and the official address once we get approved to rent the place.

Anyway, I got the professional pictures from the resort a couple days ago. We got some amazing pictures and I was so impressed. I was weary to begin with because the resort only allows you to use their photography. Their website was not very impressive and the pictures seemed too posed, but we could use our $1500 moon palace bucks toward it so we decided to just go for it. There are a lot of candids and she did such a great job. So, I can now post the all the pictures! So without further adieu...

Brian so excited

Sisters with Garret. Matt had some flight issues so was not supposed to get in until 3:30. Wedding was at 2pm.

My nieces the flower and program girls

Father Benito. Where do I begin? Interesting character. He showed up at 1:30pm thinking the wedding was at 1pm. Good thing he got confused or he may have missed the wedding.

Vows

Matt, the youngest Seacat brother, ran across the resort in his tennis shoes then changds into his dress shoes as he walked into the chapel! He made it just in time. It was like from a movie.

We did it!

Group pic!

Required beach jump shot

I had to put up this awkward photo that the photographer made us do. It is for pictures of the garter, which I did not have. So uncomfortable.

All the family members that have passed were there with us

Loves our "S" cupcakes

Cake did not taste too good though

Speech time

Poor Matt had one too many. "There he is..." He did great though.

Ash fought off the nieces to catch the bouquet

Med school group

Looking at these pics helps me relieve everything all over again. It was perfect and better than I could have imagined. Let's go back!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter everyone!
It was a good morning except for annoying people at church. Brian and I haven't been the best Catholics...it has been awhile since we went to Church, so we really felt like we needed to go today for Easter, and so did the rest of Kansas City. The church, like most holidays, was packed so we got there 30 minutes early. Apparently not early enough. There were tons of whole pew rows available but every row was being "saved". I get if you are saving a seat for 1 or 2 people while they go park or something, but seriously people. One guy said he was saving room for 11 people! Really dude? We got her 30 minutes early...where the heck are they? One group didn't show up until mass had already started, while other people who got there with plenty of time before mass were stuck standing.
I think it was probably bad that during the whole mass I was thinking how annoying those people are and how pissed off it made me. I guess I really missed the Easter message this year. Jesus, you sure you really want all these people with you in Heaven? Just kidding.

Hope you all have a fabulous Easter and enjoy being with your families!

Creepy!

Weirdest thing happened last night! I am still at the Seacat in Dodge City and I turn off the light and crawl into bed. Just then I year a man's voice whisper, "Goodnight." It was clear and distict, so I lift up my head, thinking it was Brian poking his head in my room and say, "huh?"

No answer. No one was there. Brian's brother Garret was in town, so I asked him this morning if he had gone and said goodnight to his mom or the dogs (their parent's room is right next to mine). Nope. What the heck?

Believe it or not though, I wasn't scared. I mean it could have been Hap. If it was a ghost, I don't think a mean spirit would say, "Goodnight". They would probably whisper my name creepily or say something evil. I don't know.

I had two creepy dreams last night too. In one, I was doing a c-section and delivered a baby that looked like a monkey. In the other I basically peed out my uterus and ovaries. I think I need a break from this Ob/Gyn stuff. Ha!

I am also starting to have nightmares about the wedding. I am sure that is normal, but I think it is my subconscious nerves about everything going well, especially since we haven't heard from out wedding coordinator in over 2.5 weeks and just found out she is no longer working at the resort. Great! Still trying to communicate with the resort about what is next. So far...zero communication with them except through our wonderful travel agent Jackie. She is raising hell to make sure they get a hold of us these 2 weeks before our wedding and help us finish the planning. Deep breath!

It's a Girl!

It has been some time since I have blogged. I have been hanging out at Brian's parent's in Dodge City, Kansas doing my rural rotation. It is supposed to be a primary care rotation but Brian finagled (I am proud of that word choice thank you) his way to get me set up with an OB/GYN doc here. At first, I didn't want to do OB because I thought I would be working non-stop and I wanted an easy last rotation of med school, but it has been a great experience and preview of what it would be like to work in private practice as an Ob/Gyn...not to shabby.
Dr. Shaath is the main Ob doc here, besides some of the family practice docs that deliver babies. So he is pretty busy. He has let me do a lot and do most of the deliveries and first assist on the c-sections. Yesterday, I went to the Women's Center pretty much all day to deliver 3 of his patients (1 c-section, 2 vaginal deliveries). I didn't have to be there, but I wanted to because I have gotten to know these patients over the month. Makes me realize how much I love this specialty. We will see how long that lasts next year at Oklahoma. Ha!
Another weird thing...this month has been pretty much 90% baby girls. The Women's Center says they have not had a baby boy there in 2 weeks. The majority of the sonograms I watch are determined girls too (except for one couple that thought it was a girl at 20 weeks and then at 30 weeks, Dr. Shaath told them it was a boy now...they have a lot of pink stuff to return I guess). Girls seem to be taking over slowly, but surely.
Speaking of, Chris and Melinda (my brother and sister-in-law) are having a girl! Her name is going to be Hadley Jean Kelly (initials HJK, just like Hap's). Can't wait to meet her!

I will return to KC next Thursday, then it is last minute wedding stuff until MEXICO! Then, wedding, graduation, and moving to Oklahoma City. A lot of stuff crammed into a month.

South Africa Recap with Pictures

A collection of pics of my recent month long travel to South Africa to study medicine as well as have a lot of fun.

Out and about in Jo'Burg:

The hat party. Out at the bar, Gin, during out last week. To the right is Fuji, a 4th year med student from USD in California. In the middle is Greg, a 1st year med student from Mayo.

Tessa, one of the lovely medical student I worked with
Alicia with Shannon and Nick, other Wits medical students.
The California boys brought over Absinthe...never a good idea.
Family dinner with the California boys.
Having a Braai, or BBQ around a fire.
World of Beer Tour in Johannesburg- sampling the different kinds of barley.
After the tour...2 pints
The famous Apartheid museum.

We did a bike tour of Soweto, a shanty town where many famous South Africans live or have lived including Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu. Lots of history around.
A friendly bird
In a shebeen (unlicensed "bar") trying the local brew. It tasted like a thick, warm malt. Pretty nasty stuff.


The Hospitals:

Yes, we actually worked a little.
Johannesburg General Hospital or Charlotte Maxeke Hospital.
Entrance

Me with Sister (Nurse) Lorraine
Getting ready for another Caesar (c-section) with the Registrar or resident. Notice the long plastic aprons. They were this under their gown in the OR, which I found out the hard way why. They use sterile clothes to drape their patients and the sterile filed instead of paper, like in the States. Blood soaks through clothe some much easier and your scrubs would be drenched if it were not for the plastic aprons.
Triage or Admissions
Wits Medical School Entrance
The next images we found in a room of old ob/gyn instruments and basically fetal anomalies and other odd findings in jars. Skip fast, if that kind of stuff is disturbing.

The amazing growth and stages of a fetus.

Ouch!
One of three walls filled with "funny" looking babies, or babies with rare genetic problems and anomalies.
Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital:

The hospital used to be army barracks so all the wards are connects through paths outside. It was an odd site to see patients wheeled around outside. Also the beds were more like tables, as you can see this poor patient being transported outside.

HIV was rampant. I had one day where every patient was positive that I took care of. It is so sad to see these young women in their early 20s with HIV and no education about it.
OR or Theater
One of the Triage beds
This is the c-section I did. We had to use forceps to get the baby out. You can see the head just popping out.
Admissions or triage area. Women just sit on that bench for hours waiting to be reassessed in their gowns. Not much privacy at all.
And Bono showed up! U2 had played a concert in Jo'burg the night before and he came to visit Bara to support his campaign against HIV/AIDS. Maternity Ward Entrance

Cape Town:

At Camps Bay beach after a hike up on Table Mountain

View of Cape Town from the top of Table Mountain
At the Waterfront for lunch- lots of fresh seafood
Quaint streets of Cape Town
At Dina's friends house for dinnerWine Tours


I am just soo happy here drinking wine. Ha!



Dina and Alex petting the Cheetah at the Cheetah rehab area outside one of the wineries.
At Clifton Beach
Long night=rough morning waiting for breakfast.




Safari!
I have hundreds of pictures of the weekend at Kruger National Park. We were there for 3 whole days, which made for a lot of pictures. I picked some of my favorite and at least one of every animal here. I will probably put the rest of Facebook eventually.

Rhino family


During out Sunset safari we spotted about 5-6 cheetahs feeding. Apparently it is a rare site at the park because there are only about 300 of them.

Hippo out of the water. The most dangerous animal in the park.
Dina and I after our morning walk safari. Our cool vehicle.
We actually got out of the jeep and spent about 2 hours walking around the grasses. A little scary, but out guides had rifles, so that helped.
Rhino before it started to charge at us. We ran behind a giant log and it started running the other way, thank God!
Elephant a little too close for comfort.

Like I said, big rifles.
We left for the walk around 4:30 so we got to see some nocturnal animals.

Pumba!
Crocodile
More Warthogs
The first group of elephants we came upon

and then we drove up to this cool site on the rode in front of us.
Baboons climbing on our roof.
They were all over the place
Two baby lions. The only lions I saw up close in Kruger. Pr etty amazing still.
More Baboons
Hyena
Alex and I happy to be starting the Safari
Our big as van we rented for the month.
The nice huts we stayed at on the campgrounds

The Lion Park: a small reserve in Jo'burg we went to the first weekend.

Such creepy creatures

Timons watching the hawks above
We had the chance to hang out and play with lion cubs



We rolled up out windows within seconds of this lion approaching our car. Mild panic, but we got the up just in time.



All in all...words cannot describe this incredible experience. I suggest everyone visits South Africa sometime in their life. It is a very Americanized third would country with so much to see and do.