Hilton Head Island

Hello from Hilton Head. This week has been great, very relaxing. I and 4 other friends from residency drove down here and are staying in a condo. We've been splitting our days between the pool at the condo and the beach two blocks away. We've also done a little shopping and seeing the area. It's a very nice, laid back area. It's full of tourists but that doesn't bother me. I had wanted to post a picture with this but it wasn't uploading for some reason so you'll just have to wait for those. We'll drive a 12 hour trip back tomorrow but fortunately its through some beautiful areas in the country in North Carolina and Tennessee. On Sunday I'll start my second year of residency but now in a "supervisory" role. It's a little scary with having more clinical responsibility but nice because not nearly as much paper or "scut" work as we call it. I'll let you know how it goes!

Luke and Amanda's Wedding

Finally, getting a chance to post some more! I've been winding down my last month as an intern (my last call was last night!) and am getting ready to go on a fun vacation to Hilton Head South Carolina. Anyways, at the end of May, I went to my friends, Luke and Amanda's wedding in Rolling Meadows, Illinois (suburb of chicago). I know the two of them from medical school was really excited to see them as well as some of my friends from around the country. I hadn't seen Becky (on the right) since we both left Iowa City a year ago! She moved to Maine. The wedding was beautiful, the reception was a blast but probably the best thing for the wedding couple itself had been the events of the weeks before. They unfortunately did not end up getting residency positions in the same part of the country so were facing three years of long distance marriage which I can't even comprehend! But, due to some very lucky events, they found out just days before the wedding that they would actually be doing residency in the same town. They were ecstatic and I was ecstatic for them. You could tell they were both glowing on the day of the wedding.
The next day I was also able to spontaneously get together with one of my roommates from college, Beth Szafranski! It worked out perfectly because I was able to go out to lunch with her and her fiance Chris. It's so funny, I hadn't seen her in over a year, but as always, whenever we get together it's just like we see each other everyday. All in all, a great weekend. Stay tuned for more, soon!

Working

Well, I'm back on a ward month and switched some calls around so I feel like i've hardly been home or had time to sit in front of a computer! Whew, it's exhausting at times. I still havn't uploaded any of my recent pictures but will hopefully get to it soon. I'm thinking this coming weekend since I actually have it off.

On to other stuff ... this will probably make sense to my more medical friends but I'm on a month right now where we take care of developmentally disabled kids. Many of you know my interest in Genetics and Genetic syndromes, so you can imagine how crazy it was when earlier this week, I actually was taking care of (all in one day, no less) patients with Cri du Chat, Prader-Willi and Lesch-Nyhan!! For my non medical readers, these are all rarer syndromes that you merely read about in med school and I saw them all in one day! I thought that was pretty cool. Yes, I'm a dork.

For those who don't know, Lesch-Nyhan disease is a really fascinating disorder where there is a build up of a certain chemical (uric acid) because your the body lacks the enzyme to prevent it's precursers. What's so fascinating about it is that children with this disease exhibit self-mutilating behaviors where they bite off their lips and fingers so much so that they often have to be restrained or have their teeth removed. It's horrifying but at the same time fascinating because it is this direct interface between a chemical imbalance and a behavior unlike almost any other disease. I'm glad I've had the experience to take care of a patient with it because it's something I know I'll never forget.