Goodbye Tiffany

First my awesome roommate, Katie, moved out. Then my other awesome roommate, Tiffany, just moved out. Now there is no awesomeness left, except me of course. Ha, I kid. I truly miss them both. So much fun together and the best roommates. We had a goodbye dinner for Tiffany last Sunday. A few of us are pictured here. Then I realized I didn't even get a picture w/ Tiffany. Tiff, you must come back!

Kristina Anderson, PA-S, diagnoses and treats her first patients

......with help of course. Last night was my first night as a PA! I got to see my very own patients. IT WAS SO MUCH FUN! Once a semester we are required to work at the Essential Health Clinic, which is a clinic providing free care to those who would otherwise be unable to afford it. It was a really great experience and I wish I could go EVERY night. It's connecting the dots, you know, from what we learn in school. Actually seeing things first hand and doing allows you to REALLY learn. I saw 2 patients of my own and then was paired up with another student while she went and saw her 2 patients. Thus, I got to see 4 patients total. And bonus.....I got to use my Spanish! And I realized just how much work it really needs. Not speaking it for 6 months is a huge detriment and I regret not keeping up on it.

The cases I saw myself were pyelonephritis, which is a UTI that has moved up into the kidneys, and then otitis externa, an ear canal infection. The latter case was a Spanish speaker and they had translators available, but I was able to see the patient on my own. Booyah! I struggled with "cutip" and "puss," but was able to see and treat the patient adequately. He left w/ some ear drops and strict commands not to use cutips any more.

With the other patients I saw rosacea, tinea corporis, pitting edema, GERD, and neurofibromas. The pitting edema was insane! It can be a sign of many things from heart failure to lung problems. So this guy came in for a rash and then was like, "oh by the way, look at this. I push my skin in and it leaves a dent." He thought it was pretty cool, but that type of edema is not normal. We sent for some lab tests and will mostly likely refer him to primary care. Then the neurofibromas are what we call "zebras" - the very rare diseases that you are unlikely to see in your whole career. This guy had cyst all over his back. The problem is they compress nerves and he loses feeling (mostly to his legs), causing tingling and even shooting pain like being stabbed w/ pins & needles. You all know what it's like to have a foot wake up from "falling asleep" I imagine it feels like that, but much worse. Anyway, it's pretty crippling for him. He's had it since he was 5 yrs. old and has already had 15 of them removed. There's not really a cure either, just symptomatic treatment.

Anyway I saw some cool stuff. I was also put on the spot a lot, being asked questions like what do you think the diagnosis is and what do we do to treat it. Oh man, I struggled remembering things we've learned in class that long ago. But after seeing patients with these conditions, I will never forget it. That's what the whole clinical year is for, but when my preceptor starts "pimping" me as they call it (asking questions to test my knowledge), I might be stumbling as much as I was last night. It's all about the short term memory at this point. One class at a time.

Something's happening to me...... I said I NEVER wanted to work in primary care, EVER. But as I've been in school learning about SO many different cool things and really learned how important patient care is, I think that's what I might actually want to do. I mean, who doesn't want variety in their job? This is where the real challenge is. And I love a challenge! I'm thinking 3 days in primary care and 2 days in the ER. How exciting!

PA School Humor

Warning: this might not be funny to you....

So a couple friends and I were studying over some pad thai in a pho restaurant close to my school, vigorously preparing for one of the hardest tests ever....cardiology. We ended up drawing some pictures on our styrofoam to-go boxes to better help our discussions make sense. Well, my one friend started drawing a liver......after which she said something to the effect that she could not believe she just drew a round liver. The 3 of us just thought that was the funniest thing ever. Then my other friend stopped and said, "Wait a minute guys. Do you realize what just happened? Reality check. We just busted up at the fact that she drew a round liver." Yeah, life has definitely changed since starting school. Nerd alert!

Then, the other day I ended up leaving school the same time as one of my professors. So we had a nice chat out to our cars, in the course of which we discovered we took the same back country farm road to get to school everyday. Now, you have to understand this guy is a character. He's Canadian, always has something funny to say, and is well loved by the class (reminds me a lot of my Uncle David). So he said, "Great! Now I can flip you the bird!" I could not stop laughing. That road gets frustrating as people drive pretty slow OR take it fast around some pretty sharp corners. Apparently he had seen a car flip a 360 just that morning on one of the curves. He told me he'd keep his eye out for me :)

So the next morning, I was one of the last ones to walk into class and this professor was standing in the front of the room and in front of everyone said, "I didn't see you this morning! I couldn't flip you the bird!" Then explained the whole thing to the class about being a crazy Canadian driving down the road. Everyone got a pretty good laugh out of it, followed by "Poor Kristina." I love that guy - hilarious!

Halloween 2011

I knew long beforehand what I was going to be this Halloween. And to a lot of you, it won't surprise you..... I have never dressed up as 80s, so I figured it was time. The three of us dressed up as 80s rockstars. It was so much fun!

Halloween regional dance.....went and danced the night away!

Then at school I dressed up 80s again, but a little different outfit this time. We had a Halloween party for lunch......who says you're too old for that??

Then our beloved professors played some tunes for us. It was rockin'!!

October Has Been a Good Month.....

October 1 - Mtn. biking w/ a classmate at Powell Butte nature park in NE Portland. It was absolutely gorgeous & a pretty good ride too.

October 3 - I was introduced to the caramel apple spice at Starbucks. Delicious. I may just need another 1 or 2 in the next few weeks.

October 8 - Went through a corn maze at Sauvie Island's pumpkin patch. It was a tricky one. This maze had sports trivia questions along the way to direct you in the right direction. Good thing I had a sports wiz with me. Too bad we couldn't have seen the layout beforehand. Might have avoided our utter confusion in the first half. MJ's "Beat It" blaring through the corn stalks inspired us to move on & conquer.

October 12 - So I bought a bag of candy corn to keep me studying for my test that week and I made a huge discovery....... Candy corn really is NOT that good. Definitely not worth the calories and sugar. Man, what is happening?? I used to love that stuff. Remember this post?

October 15 - Mtn. biking with a couple of friends from the ward at Brown's Camp, about an hour drive towards the coast. 3 and 1/2 hrs. of biking. Booyah! The trail was absolutely GORGEOUS, not to mention a FABULOUS ride. Some good climbs, tricky technical sections, and amazing downhill. It's definitely my new favorite (yes, even more than Lambert Park in UT). These pictures don't do it justice, but it's just SO green here. Towering trees, ferns, lush vegetation, moss, etc. Oh man, it never ceases to take my breath away.

October 21 - Mtn. biking w/ a classmate at Cooper Mountain Nature Park. It was a LAMO trail compared to the previous one. It's like otter pops to Magnum bars. No comparison really. Well, come to find out bikes are NOT allowed on the trail (what can I say? I'm a rebel). No wonder the trail wasn't that great. Full of gravel and extremely short. Never climbed such a monstrous hill in my life though. It's 5 min. from my house so it was worth checking out. Too bad it wasn't a better trail. All the good ones are so far away.....

Later that night I went out with my classmates to Typhoon (delicious Thai food) to celebrate a birthday. I was entertained by some new dudes I met along with red wine glasses falling & spilling on people :) Not mine of course, but there's never a dull moment with my classmates! I love them!

October 27 - Introduced a friend to Portland for the first time. It was an adventure in downtown. Started out by eating some delicious authentic tacos (carnitas & carne asada) from the world famous food carts while longboarding across the Hawthorne Bridge. We caught a spectacular view of downtown Portland (one of my favorite skylines) from the other side and then boarded back over the Burnside Bridge. I had no idea the Portland Oregon sign was just on the other side. Some homeless lady complimented our longboards. Who knew there could be so many friendly bums in Portland? It's the place to be. We picked up some tasty donuts from the famous Voodoo Donuts and enjoyed them in this cute little alley w/ lights while listening to one of the many street musicians trying to make their way. She was actually pretty good - a jazzy beautiful voice like Adele on the ukulele. Perfect. To finish it off we wandered through the many, many aisles of Powell's Books. I could spend hours in there.....one whole city block w/ multiple levels of great reads. We happened upon this one for example. "Stuff White People Like." Hilarious! You have to read the link. I love it. Once again.....I love Portland. I might be here to stay.....

(I one day aspire to taking pictures such as these.)