Ghost Towns

A few Sundays ago, my friend, Craig, and I drove south about an hour to explore some old ghost and mining towns-- Eureka and Etleta.  Kind of reminded me of Morenci for those of you from the AZ.  It was a perfect Sunday activity and there were tons of fabulous photo opportunities.  I was also pleasantly surprised... we got to see much more than I had anticipated.  Good thing we wandered behind the Tintic Mining Museum or we wouldn't have seen half of this stuff, like the old jail and Porter Rockwell's cabin.  And... I borrowed my sister's fancy camera so this was my first experiment with a real camera.  Not too bad, right?

Utah State Fair

Oh by the way... I moved to Utah after graduating.  I love Portland, but just wanted to be closer to family, friends, and the great outdoors while I studied for my Boards (which I PASSED!!!).  But I'll get to all the fun I've been having in Utah later... I know, I know, sorry to keep you on the edge of your seat, cause I know you're literally about to fall off with excitement to hear all about it...

On the dawning of a bright beautiful blue day back in September sometime, my sister and her family and I all went to the Utah State Fair together.  I've always wanted to go and hadn't yet had the privilege so we made it happen.  I was impressed with how clean the fair park was, MUCH more so than the Arizona State Fair or various county fairs I've been to.  We spent the morning wandering through the exhibits and contemplating why someone would spend so much time on a hobby-- a giant butter sculpture for example.  Impressive, but how much did they win at the fair??  50 bucks.  Tops.  The butter alone cost triple that, not to mention the hours of time and AC bill to keep it from melting.  Thank goodness for hobbies, though, or we'd probably go crazy.

After watching some barrel racing (perfect! cause I missed going to a rodeo this year), we wandered over to the livestock and saw various types of cows, sheep, goats, rabbits, and birds.  And probably stepped in that many types of animal poo too.  Except my niece.  She had the good fortune of being wheeled everywhere.  Do they make adult strollers for the non-handicapped?  I should look into that, especially for fair exhibits.

FINALLY.  At the end of our delightful fair wanderings we each ate our deep fried delicious corn dog with cotton candy for dessert.  Almost gave in to some kettle corn too.  And how did I get away with not even riding one ride?  Oh yeah, they look sketch.

Denver

Wow, where did September go??  I have some catching up to do!  For Labor Day weekend, the WHOLE family got together for the baby blessing of the newest little Anderson boy.  And what a cutie he is!  Where did all that hair come from??  So far all the Anderson babies have been born with a bushy head, hopefully my own will someday live up to that.  Why, you ask?  Because bald babies look like aliens.  Ok, so maybe that's a little harsh, but you know it's true.

We had a grand few days there lounging about, sharing memories, making new memories, and of course eating.  Everything revolves around food in our family.  Take for instance my list of places to eat this week before leaving Utah: J'Dawgs, Cubbys, Slab Pizza, Guru's, Cafe Rio, and The Happy Sumo.  There's not even enough days left in the week to make that happen, but I'm sure gonna try!  Just try and stop me.

I really like Denver and love its concrete skyline.  One day I aspire to live in a downtown somewhere-- you're close to all the action and the good food of course (see, what did I tell you??).  Plus, more people tend to be out and about downtown and I like that.  I like being outside.  Which is also why I like baseball so much.  I convinced my parents and brother to go the Rockies vs. Dodgers game and oh, what a game!!  There was hit after hit, such a high scoring game.  I couldn't be happier for my first MLB game of the season.  The seeds, peanuts, and 7th inning stretch sealed the deal.

Can't wait to see this little dude again!!

Graduation Week

CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?!  I'm actually DONE with PA school.  Where did the time go??  I feel like I just started.  I am also extremely glad to be done.  Yes, even though I have kicked it in San Diego, Honduras, and Hawaii for rotations, the last two years have been intense and exhausting.  I somehow passed all of my final comprehensive exams and never again have to introduce myself as a PA student.  How thrilling!  But man, what an exhausting graduation week.  I had written final exams on the Friday before graduation week, then practical final exams on Monday.  Tuesday and Wednesday were lecture days for Board prep.  On Thursday my sister and parents got into town just in time for my graduation party.  Booyah.

On Friday morning we presented our poster, representing our clinical project-- READ IT HERE, because you know you want to :)  That afternoon was the PA certificate ceremony.  Then some of my Mom's friends threw me a graduation BBQ/party for the whole family.

Then Saturday was the actual graduation!  It was combined with a few of the other programs like psychology and dental hygiene so was a little long, but so glad to celebrate with my classmates!  A degree well earned!

I was sure glad to be done with all the festivities and spend the next few days with my family showing them around Portland and then spending a few relaxing days in a beach house on the coast.  SO MUCH FUN!  We had a great time!  Love my family!  We missed you Ryan & Maranda!!

Indulging at the famous downtown food carts-- why did my favorite one have to be closed?!

Waterfront at the Portland Saturday Market

The delicious Voodoo Doughnuts!!  The line was forever long so we opted for the East side one.

On the Burnside Bridge

Typical-- what else can I say??

Multnomah Falls-- well worth the short hike to the top

Haystack Rock

Acting like "goonies" at Cannon Beach (movie reference anyone?)

The famous Tillamook Cheese Facotry-- squeaky cheese & ice cream!

Shopping and touring Depoe Bay

Fish & chips for lunch!!

Gleneden Beach-- sand volleyball without a net??

Roasting hot dogs and smores on the beach

Yaquina Lighthouse

I JUST LOVE THIS

SO WHAT'S NEXT??
I moved to Provo to be closer to family, friends and the outdoors while I study for my Boards, which I take in September.  Then I have all of October to play, mountain bike, hike, read books I want to read (!!), and travel.  Then I start a 14 month emergency medicine fellowship in Southern CA on November 1st.  Looking forward to it!

Rotation #10 Portland, Oregon

For my last and final rotation I worked on the trauma unit for inpatient medicine at Legacy Emanuel Medical Center, a level one trauma center (the most critical).  I was glad to be back in Portland since I'd been gone for a WHOLE YEAR.  Except, let's be honest, it didn't matter one bit because I had ZERO free time.  For the 6 week rotation, I worked six 12 hour shifts which ended up being about 80 hours per week since my shift would typically run over each day.

The first 3 weeks I worked the night shift, 6 pm - 6 am.  I thought it would be super rough, but I got adjusted pretty well to the schedule pretty quick.  My sole responsibility was responding to incoming traumas.  I was assigned to the foot of the bed.  Responsibilities: cut off clothes, check pelvic stability, all lower extremity pulses, musculoskeletal function, and assess for any cuts, bruises, injuries, etc.  It's amazing how quickly the trauma team works and how fast we get the patient to the CT scanner.  I also was in charge of obtaining the past medical history and writing up the chart note.  I didn't have too many opportunities for procedures since there were also medical residents, but I got to suture lacerations quite a bit and I even got to put in a chest tube.  That was a good day.  It was amazing just how many of the traumas involved alcohol, or some illegal substance.  At least half, I would venture to say.  Man, I'll tell you what, I saw some CRAZY stuff.  The majority of patients were motor vehicle collisions, motorcycle collisions, or bicycle collisions.  But there were also gunshot wounds, stabbings, and even suicide attempts.  Then the random things like kitesurfing accidents, jumping over a freeway interchanges, jumping into shallow bodies of water, getting too close to fireworks, etc.  I worked the night of the 4th of July and saw a few preventable incidents - a hand mutilated beyond recognition and inner thighs burned down the bone.  Fireworks are bad news people!  IF you get too close... Working the night shift, I also had the opportunity to assist on quite a few emergency surgeries.  If you got a message on your pager saying "Direct to OR," it was serious business.  What a fascinating experience -- emergently opening someone's chest wall to repair a hole in someone's atria due to a stabbing, seeing the heart beat so discordantly and then again rhythmically after medication administration.

Can you imagine...
...undergoing a craniotomy because your angry son threw an iron table at your head?
...becoming a paraplegic after diving into water that was too shallow?
...miraculously surviving a bullet that went right between your spinal cord and aorta?
...not being able to speak or minimally move 4 MONTHS after hitting a dog on your motorcycle (unhelmeted)?
...losing your right arm from a car accident because it was hanging out the window?
...not being able to work for months due to shattering both heel bones after falling off your roof?
...riding your motorcycle one minute and waking up alive and well in the hospital the next, having no clue what happened?
...getting the crap beat out of you by some thugs on the street after they yelled at you and you yelled back, and living to tell it?
...surviving stabbings to the abdomen after a man at a bar tried to make the moves on your girl?
...retaining hand function after fireworks blew it apart?
...falling off your toilet (yep, it happened) and then incidentally finding a giant aortic aneurysm that needs urgent repair?
Yep, this was definitely the trauma unit -- the good AND the bad.

I witnessed 3 people die before my very eyes.  The skilled trauma team and trauma surgeons save many lives, but there are those that also cannot be saved, even after everything they can do.  One patient had shot himself through the head and was unable to be revived with 40+ minutes of CPR.  Another had been stabbed in the heart and we couldn't keep up with his blood loss.  And the last and most significant to me since I was so involved in the care, was someone who had been involved in a motor vehicle collision -- had a substantial brain injury and cardiac tamponade.  For the first time ever, I was able to assist with chest compressions on the patient.  I was also second assist during surgery, but after multiple and various attempts we could not get the heart to beat on its own.  I have never had anyone die before me and it was quite the experience, as you can imagine.  So many feelings and emotions coursed through me, of which I still cannot even put into words exactly.  How could the surgeon just stop trying and end it (even though he did ALL he could do)?  Why could we not save the patient?  It was too late... they were basically already gone when they presented to our hospital.  Fortunately, I have knowledge of the plan of salvation and that this is not the end.  Their families will see them again someday.  Sorry for the heaviness of the last paragraph, but I wanted to share some of my experiences.

The last 3 weeks I worked the day shift, 6 am - 6 pm.  The day shift was completely different than nights as I mostly did inpatient medicine with trauma patients who had been admitted previously.  I only responded to new incoming traumas every now and then.  I had anywhere from 2-5 patients each morning that I would go see myself, review labs and imaging that had been done in the last 24 hours and develop a plan for their care in the next 24 hours.  I would then present this information to the attending surgeon on rounds and we visited each patient on the floor.  That took most of the morning.  Then in the afternoons, we went to trauma clinic where we visited with each patient that had been admitted on the TRACU (trauma recovery acute care unit) as follow-up and to assess how they were doing.  Clinic was usually pretty hectic as they scheduled 3-4 patients at the same time and there usually weren't enough trauma PA's to go around.  It was stressful for me as a student, because I was trying to go as fast as I could but also be thorough in my patient assessments.  I decided I do not like scheduled patient visits -- another plus for emergency medicine.

Obviously, working in trauma is a step up from the emergency department, but it only confirmed the fact that I DO want to do emergency medicine.  I want to be the go-to person to ultimately save a person's life.  Although trauma may be a bit much to handle emotionally long term, I really enjoyed my 6 week rotation.

I had the good fortune of living on the east side of Portland (across the river), which is considered more "hippie" (not hip).  But there are some delicious places to eat over there.  My mouth is watering already just thinking about it!  You have to go to Portland for the food!  Honestly, who cares about anything else.  I lived in a quaint little house with another PA and nursing student.  On Saturday, my one day off, wasn't much of a day off as I'd be catching up on what I couldn't do during the week -- exercise, grocery shop, clean, study, pay the bills, etc.  I was actually pretty sad to leave the east side.  Glad I got the opportunity!  I also had more opportunity to explore downtown Portland and spend more time exploring.  It's a beautiful city and I know I am going to miss it!