Whirlwind Recap

Wowee...what a dense and wonderful rich few weeks.

With the transition to my Thanksgiving break and my flight back to the northwest, my focused shifted towards family time, cooking/baking, and catching up on sleep. I will provide a short recap of the highlights from the two weeks prior.

Sunday, November 13 - I spent the morning at Arbor Free Clinic again, this time in the regular clinic (rather than the Musculoskeletal or Women's Health specialty clinics). I only was able to see one patient due to the complex nature of the case (older Chinese woman with her daughter as an interpreter and a significant history of chest pain with other chronic conditions as well as a history of little medical care). The clinic was short staffed in terms of physicians that morning, so everything was backed up as all of the pre-clinical students 'lined up' to present their patients and proceed with the rest of the visit. I found my encounter/interview with the patient to be really wonderful and I feel like I am becoming more and more comfortable interviewing patients that cannot speak English. I am really grateful to be having some of these challenging patient scenarios very early in my medical education.

Alex returned from his trip to Oregon on Monday, the 14th, and then my week just sped up dramatically.

Tuesday, November 15th - I attended a Career Exploration Workshop led by the academic deans that gave us a glimpse into how people tend to find their niche in medicine and what considerations often play a part (and should) in deciding what specialty you want to go into. There was a focus on how much patient contact we want in our careers and how we want our specialty choice to support/nurture our other life goals. I found it to be a very useful session, although the prelude to residency applications and residency committee decisions seemed a little premature (although there were older students in attendance) and I found myself with a bit of the 'deer in the headlights' syndrome by the end of the evening.


Wednesday, November 16th - I had the usual pediatric rounds in the morning (wonderful as always), followed by a one-on-one meeting with my clinical advisor, then lunch with medical school admissions candidates. After that, I studied for a while, tutored, hung out with Alex at a local Peet's coffee, and then Alex treated me to a lovely early birthday dinner at a Mexican restaurant in Redwood City called Milagros. Yum!

Thursday, November 17th (my bday!) - Alex made me breakfast in bed, I attended a class, skipped a class to go for a walk around campus, had lunch (was surprised by a friend with a cupcake), attended anatomy lecture/lab (surprised by another friend with a balloon), studied for a bit, and then enjoyed an oh-so-lovely evening with my friends out in Palo Alto. Alex, Liana, Megan, Nicole, Lindsey, and I went to the Crepevine for dinner and I had a delicious greek-style salmon crepe. To follow that, we walked a few blocks over to this lovely wine bar called Vino Locale. It is located in an old house, just a half a block from the Apple Store and has a wonderful, relaxed feel to the place. The walls are covered with vibrant artwork by local artists and the staff are enthusiastic and very friendly. We had reserved the back patio, complete with heaters and blankets and decorated with Christmas lights. The tables set aside for us had candles on them and the owner came out to greet/welcome us. It was so cute. We had the whole patio to ourselves and took full advantage of it. We shared a few bottles of red wine, waited for Kelsey to arrive, and then they surprised me with a cake from a local bakery. (Alex also had a special slice of pumpkin cheesecake - my favorite - brought to me, with the candle lit, and everyone singing the first full rendition of the birthday song I had heard that day) The evening was really, really wonderful! It was nice to relax with my friends and enjoy a very different pace for once. All in all, an amazing bday!

Friday, November 18 - In the afternoon, I had another clinical skills session. This one focused on having conversations with patients about intimate partner violence. I think it was an extraordinarily meaningful session for all of us and I thought it actually went really well, although of course the content was complex and heavy.

Friday evening, Kelsey came over to our place for dinner (roasted zucchini, potatoes, cauliflower, and sauteed chicken). We then went back to Palo Alto to meet up with my classmate Rich (who shares my 11/17/86 birthday) at a bar called Nola's. My whole class was invited to help us celebrate and celebrate the beginning of break and tons of people showed up. I spent hours talking with people and drinking too much of some concoction Kelsey kept providing me with entitled a "Hurricane Bowl." Well Saturday morning, I certainly felt like I had been through a hurricane, so despite the fun festivities of the evening before, I spent all of Saturday leading up to my flight in bed. At about 3:30pm, Alex congratulated me for making it upstairs. Haha, oh the simple joys found in small accomplishments!

Saturday, November 19th - After finally rousing in the late afternoon and mustering the energy/equilibrium to pack, I made it to the airport and by 9:45 that evening I was in Seattle!

I spent the rest of that evening and the next morning reconnecting with my cousin Shannon. We were able to share some nice relaxing time, including a trip to Geraldine's Counter in Columbia City for Sunday brunch and a walk around Seward Park. The Puget Sound weather was beautiful when I arrived. I couldn't have ordered a better reintroduction to the area. A crisp, cool late fall morning, with trees still full of color and tons of snow on the mountains. Love it!

Shannon dropped me off at the ferry in the early afternoon and then I was able to spend the afternoon/evening with my family. I was very ready for the reunion! My mom made me cajun shrimp and grits as a belated birthday celebration and we (Danielle, Chris, Weston, my parents and I) enjoyed some scrumptious homemade pumpkin-marble cheesecake for dessert.

The rest of the week was filled with family time, some academic tasks, and preparations for Thanksgiving. (Monday evening I had another little reunion with my friend Laura - classmate from UPS and fellow rower - which was fantastic and long overdue).

Thanksgiving was incredible and my mom teamed well (as we usually do) to produce an amazing feast. We started on Wednesday - I baked two pies (pumpkin and pecan) and my mom started cranking out multiple batches of rolls (she ended up with 4 types - whole wheat and regular butter flake, sweet potato, and dill-oatmeal rolls). On Thursday, I was responsible for the turkey (orange and mustard basted). The rest of our menu included: roasted brussel sprouts, a roasted vegetable medley (yams, butternut squash, and beets), sausage and apple stuffing, green beans with sauteed mushrooms and slivered almonds, cranberry relish, cranberry sauce, onion-raisin port relish, Waldorf salad, mashed potatoes, and gravy (and probably other stuff I am not remembering). Everything was a hit and Chris ate about half of the pecan pie (this version had a high proportion of pecans and a bit of molasses for an added depth of flavor).

Yesterday, I made a chocolate ganache-sour cherry tart for an evening event with my aunts, uncles, parents, and a few of my cousins. The tart was a success and there were many jokes thrown around about how my family both loves me and my ganache. Fortunately, my identity and that of the ganache I make have not merged yet.

Now, I am preparing to head back to CA and looking back over the week, it has gone by way too fast!! I want to rewind a bit and savor the experiences and the opportunities with family before I am thrown back into a sea of schoolwork and preparations for finals. I have 6 finals ahead of me: one this coming week, one the week after, and then four, back to back, the last week before I am on vacation (for real this time). I can't wait to be free of academic obligation for a bit and not have to wonder how I should be spending my time, whether that means focusing on family or focusing on med school.

In closing, I would like to take a moment to express what I am grateful/thankful for, given the holiday that has just passed. I am thankful for the path that I am on, the institution I am fortunate enough to be a part of, and the phenomenal classmates that will share in the roller coaster-like ride of medical school. I am grateful for the continued support, encouragement, and love of my family and friends, for the inspiration I receive from those most dear to me, from the opportunities before me, and I am very very thankful to share the journey with my dear dear boyfriend Alex.

Let the holiday season begin!