TV Pet Peeves

I stole this idea from a Woozle Loving Friend. She had a pet peeve about last night's episode of Lost. I had mine, about last night's episode of Alias.

Last night on Alias, they had to send Marshall in to rescue Sydney who was buried alive (i'll get to that in a minute). To make a long story short [too late] marshall accidently kills the bad guy that they need to obtain a retinal scan to open some encrypted file. Now, my beef isn't with all the encryption mumbo-jumbo ... it comes when SpyDaddy instructs Marshall how to remove the man's eyes to get the retinal scan. While marshall is removing the first eye, with a letter opener, he screws up and says, "something happened, there's goo oozing out" or something to that affect. Then SpyDaddy says, " You must have PIERCED THE MACULA" !!!?????!!! WTF ??!!?

Okay, here's a brief ocular anatomy lesson for those of you who haven't just spent 90k on an optometric education. The macula is the area of the retina nasal to the optic nerve that gives you your 20/20 acuity. It's a pit of photoceptors that receives most of the info coming into the eye. Now, if you pierce the eye with a letter opener.. you pierce the OUTER coating of the eye, known as the sclera. (which is the white part of the eye you see in the front ) The sclera is made of a semi-flexible type of collagen. You CANNOT pierce the macula... you CAN pierce the GLOBE !!! Pierce the GLOBE , SpyDaddy !!! And, for the record, the "goo" oozing out is known as the vitreous. It's what keeps the eye round. Thus endith the lesson on ocular anatomy.

Geez.. you'd think they'd have scientific advisors on that show or something.

And, to get to the burying alive part.... all I have to say is.....
If Sydney had Sprint she'd be dead.

You know it's bad when

You know it's been a very long day when even your mom can tell. I got home after working 11 hours with only a 20 minute break.. and I'm exhausted. Mom even made me a margarita. She's so cool !! I think I'm going to have the second one now. she knew to make enough for me to have two. Sometimes living it at home really isn't so bad. :)

It's Official

I'm certified (or, certifiable as the case may be). Either way, yesterday I braved the cold weather to get in my last dive in Open Water Certification. When I woke up sunday it was hovering around 46 degrees. NOT my favorite way to start the morning (especially knowing I soon have to get into water). Coffee in hand I drive to Huntsville to again brave the Blue Lagoon. We were much quicker the second day donning our gear since we knew the locale. Although, we did have a minor set-back when our dive instructor realized he left his regulator on top of his lawn mower in the garage. DOH! So, thank goodness we had our divemaster there or I would not be a happy certified camper today.

On our last certification dive Ed took us down to the dive platform with the divemaster's gear. I flooded my mask in 60 degree water and all was right with the world. For the record, I REALLY hate flooding my mask. Mainly, because in order to do it, I have to close my eyes due to my contact lenses. So, it's dark, Im cold, I can't see, and my mask is full of water. yeah, not so fun. But, I can do it proficiently now. (and that's what really matters)

For our final dive of the day (mainly just to kill the rest of our air tanks) the divemaster (andy) took us out on a navigation dive. Fortuantely, for those who know my directional skills, I was not the one navigating. The divemaster took us around the lake to hit all the sunken boats and other platforms at the blue lagoon. so, after one dive I've seen the whole lake. Ohhhhhh. Don't get too excited, it's really not that big.

After a brief stint in the freezing weather to sign off on certification cards.... I said bye bye to my awesome instructor and headed back to my warm house. Once showered, I took a blissfully warm nap on my bed curled up with a nice warm doggie. I love my doggie.

I did actually manage to get some studying done for Part 3 yesterday. I was actually proud of myself. I need to crack down this week for sure. Boards are two weeks from today. Even though this is the board that like 96 percent of students pass... I still need to study. It's good practice for Florida Boards.

Today's patients went really well. Both of them were progress visits. One in peds and one in glaucoma. The other two patients decided not to grace me with their presence today. I think they forgot this was the first Monday after Easter when they scheduled their appointments. Oh well more relaxing time for me. My last patient today I shared with Amanda. He was the former clinic director for UHCO a REALLY nice guy.We had a really nice chat with him while we did his workup. It's hard asking this really prestigious former faculty member about his prostate treatment, but hey, that's part of my job, eh? Isn't it glamourous!? I really do love my job though.. I get to meet such interesting people every day.

Only 15 more days in clinic !!!!

Three dives today

So, today I got in three dives at the Blue Lagoon in Huntsville. It was DAMN COLD !! The water was 63 degrees. We had to wear 6mm wet suits. Once the wet suit was wet, it really wasn't all that bad. (only when I had to flood my mask and all the cold water hit my face) Yuck !

I'll update more later. I'm off to celebrate my friend Theresa's birthday at Buca di Beppo.

Keeping things Positive

As I was leaving vision rehab today I stopped by our school's optical shop to get G's old glasses made into sunglasses. (he had lasik and no longer needs prescription glasses). While there, I ran into a girl in our fourth year class who had taken a medical leave.

Now, anyone in our school who reads this will know who I'm referring to, but I'm not going to publically mention her name. Shortly after having a very difficult pregnancy, this girl left our class on medical leave. I came to find out later, she was diagnosed with pulmonary hypertension. PH is EXTREMEMLY rare occuring in about 2 out of every million people. It's more common as a secondary disorder (meaning it was caused by something else like lupus or systemic medications). She had none of that. She has the very rare primary kind.

She attempted to come back to school this semester to finish out her clincial rotations. She has already fallen too far behind to graduate with our class, which really saddens me. She was in my clinic group for family practice on Thursday and I'd see her bravely trotting down the hall after her patients with her IV pump attached to her hip and over her shoulder. She has to be the bravest person I know. After four or so weeks in clinic she disappeared. The attending didn't know where she went, and I was almost scared to ask. My inquiries did turn up that she wasn't hospitalized (thank goodness). The next week, she was no longer on our schedule in family practice. Shit.

Seeing her today (five or so weeks later) she's lost a LOT of weight (and this was a girl who was only slightly fleshy). She's VERY thin and gaunt looking, but still had her trademark smile. I still got a huge hug (despite of her chest inserted IV line) and a "great to see you!". We caught up, I asked about her baby, and how she was doing/feeling. i almost hated to ask, but I had to know.

She's on the transplant list. Now, i've never known anyone on the transplant list. It's a new thing for me. Not being in a hospital setting this isn't something I routinely come across with patients. I didn't even know how to react when she told me. I told her she's in my thoughts and prayers (like all people say when confronted with that scenario), but what does that really mean ? She is.. I'll pray for her to match every day. But saying it just sounds so routine and cheesy.Almost like it's what expected and not what I really mean. When I asked her what it means to be on the list ... she smiled and said "it means I get to live".

I. can't .even .fathom.

I wish I were half that brave. I hope to God she gets off the list soon. I also hope I can keep in touch with her after graduation. I want to be there when she walks the stage as a doctor. You're in my heart, girl.

Blowing Bubbles

This blog is probably going to end up being a long add for your local scuba diving program. But, hey, I'm trying something new and I'm loving it so I might as well promote my new , if not fairly pricey, hobby. The nice thing about scuba though is that once you invest in the gear, it's really not that pricey.

But, I digress....

Scuba lessons were a present from my parents for Christmas. It was something I have always wanted to do but have never had the money for. G has been certified for a VERY long time and is a level higher than me in certification (he got the advanced open water cert). I thought it would be great fun as something we can do together on vacations.

After finding the local dive shop and signing up I waited until March to take the class since it would be much warmer water than it would be in January. (when I signed up)

So, Friday night rolls around and I'm in dive class. My instructor's name is Eddie and he works for IBM. The nicest part , is that there are only two other people in my class. Eddie explains that this is one of the nicest advantages to class in the Spring ... no one's thinking about summer vacations yet and is therefore not taking lessons. Friday night we spend about three and a half hours reviewing the textbook , which we were all required to read before we got to class. I spent one rainy spring break day going over my DVD and textbook (which I'm sure you'll remember if you're a faithful blog reader) We busted out the first three chapters the first night.

Saturday morning we did more textbook work , but then headed to the pool. Here's where things get interesting. It took us a good hour to unload our gear and learn how to put everything together. Once assembled, Eddie informs us that now that we know how to do it we have to go take everything apart and do it again.... and then again. By the end of the weekend we have assembled and re-assembled our gear five times. This way, when we get on a dive boat, even though we're novice divers we won't look lost and a "little slow" at putting together our dive gear.

After learning what all my gauges were and where they lived on my BCD (my nifty inflato-vest that lets me hover underwater) we were ready to go under. There's really no good way to describe what it's like to breathe underwater for the first time. I was fairly nervous, but once I was under I really didn't think about it. The air hisses in.. and you blow lots of fun bubbles when you breath out. It's all controlled by your regulator and you really don't even have to think about it. So, I got the breathing underwater part down.

Then, come the skills :
learning to breathe off your "buddy's" regulator. -- You always dive with a friend and they always carry extra air (or an extra regulator) for you to breath off their tank if you run low, or out. So, we had to simulate being out of air and getting in position to breath off their air. Really not as traumatic as it sounds. Fairly easy actually
neutral boyancy --- leaning to "float" without touching the bottom of the pool , the sides, or surfacing. This is done so you don't drag along and destroy the natural habitat underwater while diving. Especially at coral reefs and wreck dives.
Assent and Dessent --- the steps to sinking and surfacing to and from the bottom of your dive site
Proper weighting --- so you don't just sink like a rock, like I was doing the first day (WAY too much weight on my weight belt)
Putting on and taking off your gear in water too deep to stand (at the surface)
Putting on and taking off your gear at depth (at the bottom of 15 feet of water)


There are many other skills, but I just don't feel like typing them all, honestly. Everything was MUCH easier the second day and I was really starting to enjoy myself. There's something very zen about the whole scuba experience. No one's talking to you, there are no phones, there's no traffic, it's very peaceful, it's just you and the bubbles. (and your buddy of course) I really think I'm going to enjoy this. It was a great way for me to zone out on the weekend and not worry about everything else going on in my life.

Next weekend I head out to open water. I'm diving an old rock quarry north of Huntsville. I know , it's not very sexy. But, here in Texas, other than Lake Travis we're hurting for dive sites. This is all prep for Florida and my new life there.

How I Spent my Weekend 

T-minus 5 weeks

I have five weeks left in clinic. The end of my day today meant another week of work come and gone.

Not really the highlight of my week, but I got my bank check for the Florida board exam. A HUGE check for 1,980 dollars. It really freaked me out to see it in print. It's all real. I'm really done with school, really agreeing to take this massive exam, really sending out graduation annoucements and figuring out where I want my graduation dinner. I mail off my board application tomorrow. Then, the ball starts rolling.

I had a really relaxed week .... not very many patients, not too hectic, not much outside of school work to do.

This could be my dad's last week of work ever. It's the last week of his contract on the Dell job. My mother is in Austin right now helping him move out of his temporary apartment. they'll come back tomorrow. I'm kind of enjoying having the house to myself tonight, though. All the leads my dad has had on other jobs have fallen through. They all tell him he's "overqualified", which is usually a nice way of saying too old. So he might be done working now which would be really weird. I'm sure he'd have lots of fun "helping" my mother around the house. the first three weeks he's home my mother will think it's great having him around all the time... soon after.. it'll quickly lose it's luster. there's only so much togetherness anyone can tolerate.

well, i guess i should go do something productive now. Scuba class starts tomorrow so I'll be busy all weekend.
And, congrats to mike on matching at Children's Hospital - Norfolk !! SO proud of you !

Al-Ke-Hol test

I'm on a test kick lately....

Bacardi 151 Congratulations! You're 144 proof, with specific scores in beer (100) , wine (150), and liquor (69).

All right. No more messing around. Your knowledge of alcohol is so high that you have drinking and getting plastered down to a science. Sure, you could get wasted drinking beer, but who needs all those trips to the bathroom? You head straight for the bar and pick up that which is most efficient.

My test tracked 4 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 84% on proof You scored higher than 97% on beer index You scored higher than 99% on wine index You scored higher than 87% on liquor index

Link: The Alcohol Knowledge Test written by hoppersplit on Ok Cupid

The end of LDR

And now, I'm stuck back in Houston...... for six more weeks of clinic. There are other things I'd much rather be doing (like back in Tampa with G), but I know I'm only away from him now for another eight weeks. And, it's the last eight weeks we ever have to spend apart, AGAIN!!! Whoo hoo !!!

I'm SO excited to finally be nearing the end of my long distance relationship. We've been together almost seven years, four of which have been apart. There were times I and a VERY select few friends ( like um.. two of them) were the only ones who thought we could make it four whole years apart. There were definite ups and downs, there were disagreements (we don't usually delve into fighting), there was loneliness on both parts, there was reunion, there was vacation, and there were the few quiet moments we got to spend alone. I remember one stretch we had to go seven months without seeing each other (he was stationed on a project in Calgary). It was wretched. At times I think even my own mother didn't think we'd make it based on some of the comments she made along the way. But, she's finally seen how committed we are to each other and to making "us" work. And, we did it. Four years later, we'll be back together in eight short weeks. We're taking two blissful weeks to tour Paris and Rome ... together.

After that, good luck getting us apart again......

The Commonly Confused Words Test

Stolen from Suzy's blog.... :)

English Genius You scored 100% Beginner, 100% Intermediate, 100% Advanced, and 88% Expert!

You did so extremely well, even I can't find a word to describe your excellence! You have the uncommon intelligence necessary to understand things that most people don't. You have an extensive vocabulary, and you're not afraid to use it properly! Way to go! Thank you so much for taking my test. I hope you enjoyed it!

Complex Math

Well, after four chapters of my scuba DVD I can think about doing a lot of stuff and calculate my dive tables for upcoming dives. (whoo!) It's not hard in the least. So glad I took differential equations in college, it comes in SO handy (snark)

I just got back from the gym they have here at my condo complex. It's so nice !! They have three treadmills, two elipticals, two recumbant bikes, weight machines, free weights, an exercise ball, and mats. I was in heaven. (cuz it's FREE!) Well, Im sure Im paying for it with my condo association fees, but still. So, I did 30 minutes on the treadmill while watching CNN (which was embedded in my treadmill screen which is also very badass), 100 ab crunches, and did free weights on my arms. I'm sore already, but it's a good sore.

I have lunch with the recruiter for my job interview at 2pm. We're going to 42nd Street bistro which I can walk to from my condo. Ive heard it's good, but have never eaten there. (since I've been here all of six days) I'll keep y'all posted on how it goes.

And now, off to get clean

Rainy days

Yesterday I had a really nice lunch with Dr J. I drove out to St Pete to see his office. It's HUGE !! There were at least 12 front end office staff, a massive dispensary, three exam lanes, and large pre-lim area. We had a very large lunch at a really BAD chinese restaurant that I will not be going to again. But it was great to get tips on working in the Bay Area. He gave me pointers for my interview and hints on what to take and not take. He told me the area daily rate and what my options were for the area. Apparently, they have a REALLY hard time getting relief staff and I should have no problem finding a position. He recommended that his office is a place to start out, not a long term place. (at least from what he could tell of me) I was really thankful he took the time to talk to me... he didn't have to since he's not the one interviewing me and by the time I move here he won't even be working for them anymore. He's moving back to the East Coast of Florida. I guess we'll just have to wait and see how my formal interview goes tomorrow. Wish me luck !!

Today it rains.. and I really want to go run, but it's way too cold. I'm also not sure how to get to the gym here. I have a pass key, but am unsure of where I have to go to use it. I think I have to go through the leasing office, which is very strange. If I get desperate enough and it doesn't stop raining.. I just might have to.

I can't get over how quiet this condo is. I do hear road noise, but that's about it. On a quiet, rainy day like this it just makes me want to go back to sleep.

Postponed

Well, the only thing I had to do today got postponed til Thursday. Apparently, the recruiter for the Tampa Bay Optometric Group had to go to Naples. So, I now have no interview until Thursday.

So, I called Dr J to see what he was up to (since he was the one organizing all of this). And now I'm going out to lunch with him. I guess we'll see how that goes. he also let me know that he's leaving the group to move back East the end of May. Now the group has TWO openings, not just one.

It's supposed to rain the next two days or so. This will give me plenty of time to work on my scuba DVD before my class starts next week.

I'm not used to the quiet of the new condo yet. Not many people have moved in, and the ones who have are working. G is also in Baltimore til thursday night so it's even quieter in my own place. I like the time away from home, but I do wish he were around to spend time with. I miss him already. It's weird for me to think that after this, the next time I'm going to see him will be graduation !!

Decisions Decisions

It's hard when you biggest decision of the day, after a long afternoon by the pool is: Should I watch my scuba DVD or browse through my travel guides on Paris and Rome? I love Spring Break.

Paint Swatches

There are paint swatches up on my wall now on a gorgeous Tampa afternoon. It's 75, sunny, and I'm staring at three different shades of paint on my living room walls. One blue/gray, one green/gray and one just well, green. Right now, I'm leaning towards the green/gray. I wish I had my camera I'd take pictures for y'all and let you help me decide.

And now to hang by the pool and figure out how I'm going to come up with the $1980 the Florida Board exam is going to cost me. (oh lord)

Night All

Rounds start at 7am tomorrow morning. So, I'm heading to bed. I feel like a loser going to be at 10pm, but oh well. I have to be awake if I'm going to spend the next 9 days with G.

I get to spend the next nine days with G !!! WHOO HOO !! He seemed much happier today on the phone. He must have had a better day. (which makes me happy too)

Almost Break

Well, here it is almost Spring Break. I really can't believe I'm more than half way to graduation. I ordered my cap and gown today , or rather, I put in my order to "rent" my cap and gown. All 70 dollars of it. Oh lord. All that to wear it for 4 hours. Oh well.. I've already spent 90k on my education what's another 70 bucks.

I've spent the last week being really busy. I've worked the contact lens study at school. That pays for half my cap and gown.. whoo hoo !! I spent all last weekend at TOA sitting through CE, I'll get to that in a minute.

At TOA, I sat through twelve hours of CE. Actually, it wasn't nearly as bad as it sounds. The first hour however, was atrocious. SO BORING and nothing but a repeat of everything I learning about ocular allergy in pharm. Ugh. The second lecture was about ocular surgery (well, surgical coding) for minor surgical procedures. Very interesting and the lecturers were VERY entertaining. The prof in charge of my CE elective was actually one of the lecturers. The final hour on Friday was for a new AOA program called InfantSEE. They're trying to recruit ODs to see infants under 12 months for free to reduce ambylopia in the US. If I'd had a license, I would have signed up. otherwise I just sat through two hours of CE for two hours of CE.

Saturday was great, until I spiked a fever. About an hour into our banquet I started to feel really awful. I left as soon as the dinner was over and went to bed. It was one of those nights where you have six blankets on the bed and are STILL cold. I took some tylenol and woke up at 4am when my fever broke. That part's always the grossest.. you're sick, you're sweaty, and I'm sure I looked oh so attractive. The weirdest thing was I woke up Saturday morning feeling alright. Not great, but okay.

Sunday was four hours of Grand Rounds style CE which was actually the best CE I went to. Very interesting. I enjoyed it a lot. I just didn't like being up at 630 the morning after running a high fever. I'm very curious to find out how high my fever was. So, instead of staying for the chili lunch on Sunday I headed back to Houston to rest. The last thing I felt like eating Sunday afternoon was chili.

The one couple we all wanted to see at TOA was there in full force. They were very blatant about their relationship. It was very weird. I had no idea what to say to this girl. She came up and hugged me like we were long lost best friends... and then I had no idea what to say to her. what do you say to a girl who's gotten divorced and broken up someone else's marriage all in eight months? You chat about superficial stuff, which is just what we did. Nothing more, nothing less.

Now, I just wait til Friday to pack up and head to Tampa for a week in the sun with Greg. We have painting the condo on the agenda, or at least picking out the paint we want to use.