Single Again...

So much to say... And yet I don't know know where to start...  I just spent a wonderful 11 months of my life with an amazing man and while it was looking like things might progress to an engagement, we determined now was not the time.  President Gordon B. Hinckley once said, "Marry the right person in the right place at the right time."  And I believe that is exactly right, all 3 things must be in place.  Without going into too much detail, it was basically decided that our priorities just don't align the way they ought to at this point in time, but who's to say that can't change?  It's been 4 months now and all I can say, really, is how grateful I am we are still good friends.  I'm not going to lie, it's been the hardest few months of my life and I miss him every day, but I will continue to be optimistic and have hope.  In the mean time, any advice for a broken heart (for either of us)?

Work Conferences

Back in September I had a couple of work conferences, one in San Diego with all of my colleagues and a few in Palm Springs, including one where I helped teach suturing to other PA's.  It feels great to actually be in the position to have something to bring to the table and teach others some of my skills. This fellowship has truly been remarkable in my learning curve.  Anyway, it was fun to be back in San Diego and I even got to catch up with my previous roommates!

So Long Thatcher...

The day has come.  My parents have sold my childhood home of 23 years and are upgrading to a bigger and better home in Utah.  I thought my last chance to go home was back in June, but fortunately I was blessed with a tender mercy and had 5 days in a row off from work-- that NEVER happens!  Aaaand, Stephen got to come with so I got to show him my roots.  I introduced him to the Diamondbacks, Thatcher High School, EAC, the Gila River, what cotton looks like, breadsticks at R&R Pizza, green chile meat & flour tortilla chips at Casa Manana, Red Knolls, Mt. Graham, my brother, a few of my high school friends, and PLENTY of ward people very excited to meet him.  Not to mention we helped my parents pack up the house and load the U-haul.  Try cramming that into 2 and 1/2 days!  I thought we did pretty good!  My parents left the very next day with a tightly packed U-Haul with a goodbye to our empty house.

I honestly don't know when I'll ever be back to Thatcher, but I am sure going to miss it!  It was a wonderful place to grow up and all of my experiences and interactions there shaped me into who I am today.  And for that I will forever be grateful.

And mostly importantly and despairingly, I made my last and final purchase of Mi Casa tortillas... my life will never be the same again.

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.