never ending.

today may never end. but if it ever does, there are only 10 working days between me and a medical degree. and that is weird.

the end draws nigh.

i finish up with the kidney doctor tomorrow. he is very nice to work with. mostly because i don't really do any work. almost none at all. he does give me some reading assignments that we then discuss. but other than that. nothing. like today. we saw two patients in the hospital. neither of them terribly exciting. then we talked about aminoglycoside nephrotoxicities (you don't care, i promise). and then i'm done. i've been done since 9:45. a whole day of work in an hour and a half. so what am i to do with the rest of my day... i'll do my best to find something. i'm supposed to read about henoch-schonlein purpura, minimal change disease and post-streptococcal glomerulonephritis (again, i promise you don't care). at least he does a good job of making me read things that are related to pediatrics. so i partially care. because at this point (you know, two months before graduation)... the motivation to read something that you are even deeply interested in runs very, very low.

******

i've otherwise been spending my time browsing through apartments near my hospital... trying to pick colors for the scrubs that the hospital is buying for me... attempting to plan the events of graduation week... etc etc etc. i'm getting pretty excited about the time i have between the end of rotations (april 13th) and the beginning of residency orientation (june 18th)... i'll do some subbing so i can afford to buy fun things for my new apartment (which i think i will be sharing with angie, who is my pastor's sister... and very fun)... i had to get rid of a bunch of my stuff when i moved out of my apartment in des moines - i had no way to transport it all and nowhere to store it, so i ended up giving a lot of it to the salvation army. kinda sad, but most of it was pretty junky anyway. not that i'm going to be replacing it with fancy-ness. but whatever. i was looking online at ikea.com and nebraska furniture mart last night at furnishings, etc. fun fun.

******

and just because even a boring update is more fun with a picture or two... i'll give you these. i don't think i've posted them before. and if i have, well... they're cute. and you'll get over it. :-)

jen and i, making st. patrick's day an official tradition... 2007 above, 2006 below... if it's even possible, i think we're even cuter now than we were then... ;-)


this photos was taken on our way to aunt ruthie's for a pampered chef party, stopped at sonic, if i remember correctly.

and a fun photo of my friend dawn (aka darrin) and i when she came to visit me here in kirksville. this is at thousand hills state park, just north of town. it was pretty.

bananas.

yesterday, i bought a banana at the coffee shop that i've been hanging out in. you know what they charged me?!? $1.10. for a BANANA! so today, before i came here to the coffee shop, i had to run by walmart to pick up some necessities... and i'm on my way to the checkout and i'm hungry and mad that i was going to go to the coffee shop and spend way too much for a single piece of fruit, when i see it... a whole RACK OF BANANAS... for FIFTY CENTS a POUND!! today my banana cost $0.20. somehow, it tasted better.

matched!

everyone already knows that i matched at my top spot and that i'm so extremely excited about it that i could burst. some other things that are pretty exciting about it are that a couple of people that i know are in my class...

one girl from my class that i like pretty well.

one guy that i met on the interview trail... ;-)

and one guy that i worked with for a few days with dr. mcdreamy... this guy started his rotation in the picu during my last few days there. dr. mcdreamy asked him a question that he was unable to answer, at which point he looks to me and says "tell him what it is..." so as i start to answer, mcdreamy interrupts me and looks at the guy and says "keep in mind, she was stupid when she got here too. we taught her this." to which i feign extreme offense and tell him he's hurt my feelings. he replies (with a wink, i might add... *melt*), "i used to think you were fragile. now i know better."

speaking of dr. mcdreamy. i emailed him to express my gratitude for the part he played in getting me into the program. he emailed me back. from MOROCCO! he described his fantastic adventures and then says "thanks for adding the icing"... he called me THE ICING! can you think of any sweeter way to say "i love you"??? i thought not.

hot tamale.

i designed this t-shirt today as a little gag gift. (it was $10 with free shipping... and i just got an email saying that it's already being sent... and there's a money back gaurantee if i'm not satisfied... and the website is SO cool and you can go there and make your own cool stuff!! and if you do, be sure to put in the promo code "MADMARCH2007" to get the free shipping!)
see, a couple of weeks ago, two of the little 3rd grade girls from my church were overheard talking... their conversation went something like this:

"sara, who do you think is the cutest boy?"

to which cute little tom-boy sarah, with her freckled face and bobbed hair, replies, "cody! he's a hot tamale!!"

and so coined the term "hot tamale" to be used in reference of all of the male gender who are above average in look. dr mcdreamy, while a hot tamale in his own right, will continue to be referred to as dr mcdreamy. otherwise, all future crushes will be dubbed "hot tamale."

dry heaving.

i just got an email from the central residency application website detailing the events of "the scramble." *excuse me while i try not to throw up.* the email begins with a blanket "calm down" message about how this email is sent to everyone who uses this application website and is in no way indicative of your match status. yeah, because that helps.

the scramble is the dreaded beast that occurs between monday of match week and thursday - match day... so monday (as in 5 days from now... ) we find out whether or not we match. *vomitting a little in my mouth.* and then starting tuesday at noon, if you did not match, you are allowed to access a list of programs that have vacant spots and you contact one another and say something like "sorry i didn't think you were good enough for me before. i'm willing to reconsider." *wretch.* this goes on until thursday at noon when those fortunate enough to have matched are given access to their match information.

i'm going to excuse myself now... i don't feel so good.

coffee shop.

i love coffee shops. i love the smell and the atmosphere. i love that the art that hangs on the walls. it inspires me to want cool artwork for my upcoming home. (i don't think art would look cool in my current home - the ford focus, i'm just saying...). part of me thinks i should start looking for cool art now. but maybe i should wait. whatever...

the other thing i love about this particular coffee shop is that they serve their coffee in coffee mugs. that's my favorite... the one i got today has rocking horses on it. but my favorite favorite was at one of our favorite coffee shops in des moines where i always got this mug...you think it's funny i have a picture of that? me too.

and i especially love when the coffee shop has free wireless internet. except that i came here today to study. and i've not read a single word of medicine. i'm so over this school business.

the beginning of the end.

ah, this day i thought would never come. i've moved to the last hospital for my last 6 weeks of rotations. i *technically* have two rotations left... but they are both here and the last one is only 2 weeks instead of four, so let's just go with the end is nigh.

i'm in kirksville - i've been here about 24 hours. i've been to two lectures and seen two patients. the nephrologist (kidney doctor) that i'm working with is going to a satellite clinic tomorrow and "it won't hurt his feelings if i don't come"... so i'm not coming. he's also going to be gone next thursday (MATCH DAY!! EEEEK EEK EEEEEEK! ps, dawn, match day is the magical day when i find out where i'll do my residency...) and friday, so that's nice. i wouldn't be able to work on match day anyway. i'll be busy puking.

here are my thoughts about kirksville so far...

1. eeeek - i have to stay in the hospital??
2. oh, it's not so bad... it's kind of like a dorm room, basically.
3. ugh. my blinds don't close all the way and i get a little creeped out by that.
4. "you may want to shower in the lounge as the water there is warmer."
5. EEEEEEK! water is NOT warmer in the lounge!
6. what, you can't fix the no hot water without turning off water to all the patients and you refuse to do that??
7. oooh, free soda and snacks in the lounge down the hall??
8. well, if i can't have hot water, i'm having LOTS of these free snacks!!
9. this doctor is nice.
10. i feel stupid when i don't know the answers to his questions.
11. hey, my friend tara is here! (ps... tara is a girl from HLG that also went to DMU and she is an intern here this year)
12. oh, tara your puppy is SO cute!
13. and hyper.
14. i have nothing to do tomorrow.
15. oh yeah, by "nothing," i mean "read about acute renal failure."