San Gorgonio Memorial Hospital

Wow, I've been SUPER behind on my blog posts.  Here's my attempt at catch up...

I just finished my second 4 week rotation at another community ER, San Gorgonio.  Again, I LOVED it.  This ER was even much smaller than Pomona and only 1 year old.  It was even better since it was just me and one doctor on shift at one time and I got to work in the back seeing higher acuity patients.  The schedule was a little insane-- 6 pm to 4 am, five days a week.  But it actually wasn't too bad since I'd sleep in till noon and still have plenty of time to go to the gym, cook dinner, or get other things done.  I definitely prefer the 10 hour shifts.  Plus, the house supervisor would bring us soup every night at midnight AND every Saturday night one of the nurses would go get us In-N-Out.  The nurses were super great as well.  It was a much more chill place to work.

GOAL: GET A JOB HERE ASAP!!

Diabetic Camp

We got home from Havasupai on a Saturday and then on Monday I left to work as medical staff at a diabetic camp in the San Bernardino Mountains, about an hour drive from my house.  It was a full SEVEN days and it wouldn't have been so bad, had I just not spent 4 days hiking and camping at Havasupai.  I think I was a little camped out.  Fortunately we got to stay in cabins and 2 of my other classmates from fellowship were also there.

As medical staff, we were each assigned a cabin of 13-17 year olds to monitor blood sugars and dose insulin 6 times a day-- before breakfast, before lunch, before dinner, at bedtime, midnight and 3 am.  The rest of the time was free time to spend sleeping, doing activities with your cabin, etc.  It was a fun week, but also exhausting.  We each had to spend one night in the infirmary (our version of the ER) to take care of kids coming in in the middle of the night.  

Normal blood sugar is 70 - 100.  Most of the kids had insulin pumps, which I had zero experience with so I definitely learned a lot that week.  We had to make sugar the kids' blood sugars didn't get so low they had a seizure or went into a coma OR so high they went into a coma.  It can go either way.  My one success of the week was on the last day when a girl in the cafeteria was feeling "low."  Turns out her sugars were in the 30's so I gave her a shot of glucagon, glucose tabs, and juice.  She could have easily had a seizure.  There were a few problems with kids getting dosed insulin and then not getting their food on time due to the long food line.  So I always stood in line with my girls and dosed them just before they got their food.  More work for me, but safer for them.

We also got to do some fun things, like a few hikes, campfires, an overnight campout in the open, and I even got to go canoeing with my cabin.  

BUT... I was super excited to be back in my own bed at the end of the week with a hot shower.

Havasupai

This place is INCREDIBLE.  I've been wanting to go here for YEARS and we finally made it happen!  A group of 20 of us all went together for 3 days, mixed between Utah and California peeps.  If you don't know much about Havasapai, it's an area on an Indian reservation at the bottom of the Grand Canyon with incredibly clear water and lots of waterfalls, gorgeous to say the least.

We started our hike down Wednesday night around 3 am and made it in record time.  We had to wait at the village for at least an hour for the rest of our gang to come straggling in.  Then we hiked another mile or so to the campsite, set up camp, then spent the rest of the day at and around Lil Navajo Falls.

That night Stephen and I BOTH got stung by baby scorpions.  That was first time in ALL of my time growing up in Arizona actually seeing a scorpion, let alone getting stung by one.  I felt something sting me, Stephen thought I was imagining things then a few minutes later found the little guy in my sleeping bag!  Then 15 minutes later same thing happened to Stephen.  The next night a giant tarantula almost got us!

Day 2 was spent at Havasu Falls and exploring some old quartz mine caves.  We almost had a casualty with one of the guys almost having a giant beam fall on his head and a near attack of a swarm of Africanized bees after throwing rocks at their beehive.  Boys will be boys-- no excuse!

The last day, we hiked down the treacherous rock face to Mooney Falls and hiked about a mile downstream in the water jumping off little waterfalls and throwing mud at each other.  That evening we pack up and hiked out (some other wimps took the helicopter out) and made it back just before sunset, again in record time!

Utah

The beginning of July, Stephen and I drove up to Utah for a few short days to see my family.  My parents had just come back from Germany and driven across the country from Maryland.  So we had a few family BBQ's, ate at our favorite restaurants, had a picnic up the canyon and played some croquet.  And... I FINALLY got to climb Suicide Rock, a giant painted rock at the mouth of Parley's Canyon that I've driven by loads of times.

Not to mention I got to see this cute girl!  I love being an aunt :)

California Adventures

Random adventures of the last couple of months...

I helped to plan and organize a park cleanup/planting for Mormon Helping Hands.

Hike to Aztec Falls with some cliff jumping.

Exploring Lake Arrowhead.

Walking around Balboa Island-- have to have a frozen banana from the banana stand!, and drive down the Pacific Coast Highway to Laguna Beach.

Day at Knott's Berry Farm with Stephen's family, my first time!

Day in LA-- Griffith Observatory and hike in Runyon Canyon Park.

Fourth of July boating and picnicking with friends at Big Bear Lake.

Day at the Orange County Fair.

Beach day at Santa Monica with Sariah.

Thatcher

The beginning of June, I drove home to Arizona for a few days since Sonya and Tyler were going to be there for a week and my parents are moving so it was my last chance to go home, ever...

On the way, I stopped at Goldfield Ghost Town, just 10-15 minutes off the freeway in Phoenix.  I can't believe we had never been there before as a family on MANY of our day trips to Phoenix.  It was a cute little tourist attraction with restaurants, shops, and mine tours.

The next couple days in Thatcher were spent eating at our favorite restaurants-- R&R Pizza and Casa Manana, as well as going to Frye Mesa-- man made lake at the base of Mt. Graham and on the top of a giant mesa.  We spent the afternoon swimming and jumping off the wall of the dam.

And PLENTY of time was spent sorting through junk, getting rid of stuff, and packing up the memorable items.  Goodbye Thatcher...

Pomona Valley Hospital

Beginning in May, I did a 4 week rotation through the ER at Pomona Valley Hospital, a small community hospital.  WOW!  It's nice to know not all ER's are as crazy as Arrowhead's, where I'm doing my residency.  People actually have insurance and a primary doctor to follow up with.  And the nurses set up all the materials you need to do suturing and other procedures.  It was an eye opener and I LOVED it.  Not to mention there are no medical residents so you don't have to fight for procedures.  All the doctors, PA's, and nurses were so nice.  Can I go back please??  On my last day the lead PA told me they would definitely like to have me work there (lots of positive feedback from the other staff for me), AS LONG AS there is an opening.  I definitely want to work at a community ER that's for sure.  County hospitals are just a bit too crazy for me...

Oklahoma City

My sister's husband, Tyler, graduated from dental school back in May and I was lucky enough to get 3 days off to fly out for the weekend.  I was lucky enough to be with my whole family too!  It was one of those rare times when all 6 of us can get together, which doesn't happen very often.  Sonya and Tyler have been in Oklahoma for FOUR years and it was my FIRST time there visiting.  Gulp, I feel bad I hadn't been before so it was fun to finally see where they are living.  And what can I say but, I really like Oklahoma!  It's a slower pace of life, green, wide open, and good BBQ!  Sonya was THE best host and party planner around!

Like I said, I wasn't there very long but still managed to see the Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial.

Mom was also lucky enough to have all of her kids present for Mother's Day that Sunday.  And.... even luckier that I was on her flight back to Phoenix (on my way back to California).