In the last few months I have dwelled on the fact that I do not have a man that loves me. It is nice to feel wanted sometimes. More recently I have been spending nights out with the new friends Ive made here in RI. I have stuffed my face with Indian food and drank one too many margaritas. Ive been having a lot of fun. I didnt even mention before, that night out with friends got me maybe a lil too close to a former student/ much younger gentleman. But thats what life is for, right? Having a bit of fun?
Ive been piecing together the little things. Got the apartment, furnished it... bought a bike... got my drivers license changed over. For the last three months Ive been watching TV on a 19 incher that I borrow from my sister. Its been ok. However, as an optometrist with an already high prescription. So, Ive been trying to get away with wearing old specs and not being refracted (Im a great doc!) I was really having trouble reading the guide... so instead of getting new specs, I bought a TV!
I spent a lot of time researching and found the TV I wanted and one I could afford. When I was home for the weekend I was able to go shopping and finally picked it up. I spent a few hours in traffic but sang most of the way back home. Most of this time I kept thinking, how am I going to get this TV in my house. Forty inches is considerably bigger than my 19". Not only did I think it would be difficult to bring the TV from my car to my apartment, but electronics in general scare me!
Anyways, I pulled up... ran inside to pee (of course) and then attempted to unload. Flat screens arent that heavy, so moving it was just awkward. A neighbor came out to offer assistence. He wasnt particularly good looking, so I passed... I dragged it in and went to work. Only about 20 minutes later it was put together, on my table... I connected it to both digital cable and dvd player and both worked! I was ecstatic!
I clearly think having a guy would be nice. My TV and my cactus arent good for hugs... but those who know me, know my view on hugs... Anyways, pretty stoked Im cable of doing things on my own. Score one for the single girl
Monday, October 11, 2010
Monday, October 4, 2010
Bottoms Up!
In the fourth year of school we move around the country learning from different types of practices and different doctors. I loved my rotations in Newport and that’s partially why I ended up moving back. My rotation in Boston was great and although I didn’t see much clinically, my Spanish improved and I had the best roommate ever. Despite living in squalor for 3 months, there was lots of beer and football. By far and away the rotation I had in Portland, OR was my hardest, but I learned the most. I worked my hiney off for 3 months- 12 hours a day without lunch. I saw so much disease and had some of the craziest patients (most of my stories are from those three months!) My hardest and smartest preceptors were there too. I spent most of the time in fear and hoping to impress them. That was actually my second rotation and by the end, I knew I would make it in this crazy eyeball world. Why? I could give the lecture…
Erectile Dysfunction is a real disease. I feel bad for those who have it. Although, Viagra is not the solution. One of the only laws of physics that anyone can remember is – what goes up must come down… well when blood goes down and not up in the first place there is a problem. When the eye isn’t fed nutrients and oxygen, it dies. Viagra is known to cause color vision changes. Ok no big deal. But what happens on a rare occasion is that half the retina goes bye bye and you get an altitudinal defect. Meaning one eye cant see anything from midline down. Fingers crossed that doesn’t mean the macula your central fine detail/color vision. Anyways, this doesn’t happen to everyone. But men with a ‘disc at risk’ ( an optic nerve that’s crowded around its blood vessels) are highly susceptible. Anyways, its not exactly the easiest thing to ask or bring up. Especially when you are a young girl at a veterans hospital. It took me a long time and most of the time I would check out with a doc and quickly at the end of my briefing the disc at risk and Viagra med list… Dr C would give the lecture and I would stand quietly in the corner. Then, one day, I did it on my own. I took a deep breath and explained the risks of that drug and recommended the patient discontinue use. I made it!
In life there are awkward lectures/encounters too. After a few drinks already in my system, I bar crawl to one of my fav local places. I had already run into the ex’s roommate and all was fine. I was with friends from school and walk in, take out my ID and who is the bouncer? A fling from my first rotation in Newport. It wasn’t anything serious, but was certainly a lot of fun. However, I believe we had different opinions on the outcome of the 3 months I was spending there. It didn’t end well and I was completely caught off guard seeing him again. I gave him a hug and chatted a bit and headed straight to the bar for a tequila shot. Im a good problem solver.
I have no problem giving the lecture now. Its not easy, its embarrassing, but in the end you are helping a patient. You are preventing vision loss and frankly that is basically my job description. Unfortunately, this is not the only hard thing to ask patients. Today I had two patients with conjunctivitis. You all know this as ‘pink eye’. Some eyes are pink, some red… some watery, some sticky. The Conj is almost always viral and like the common cold not curable with antibiotics. Most docs use prophylactic antibiotics and that’s why we have resistence to them now. The Conj can be allergic and in the spring I am dolling out zaditor, alaway, and patanol left and right. However, sometimes it is actually bacterial. These eyes today were both gross. Eyelid swollen shut, gooey yellow discharge on the lashes and a palpabal preauricular node. They were so gross I had to question. Have you been sexually active lately? Oh yes, you can get STDs in the eye. Most commonly is herpes but we will save that for another day. Today I was questioning Chlamydia and Gonnorhea. Imagine how one can get an STD in the eye. Yup. Most people are quite offended by this question. At the VA at least the old men seemed super proud to be on Viagra. Well, neither of my patients said yes, but Im bringing them back in a day to make sure the antibiotics are working. Worse comes to worse its nothing an oral Ab can’t cure – thank goodness for penicillin and azithromycin!
So, can I give the lecture – aka have ‘the talk’ in real life? Im not sure... I really like that bar and trivia night on Tuesday is something I don’t really want to have to miss. I am going to work on it. Might ask a bit of help from a friend, Jose Cuervo… I’ll keep you posted…
Erectile Dysfunction is a real disease. I feel bad for those who have it. Although, Viagra is not the solution. One of the only laws of physics that anyone can remember is – what goes up must come down… well when blood goes down and not up in the first place there is a problem. When the eye isn’t fed nutrients and oxygen, it dies. Viagra is known to cause color vision changes. Ok no big deal. But what happens on a rare occasion is that half the retina goes bye bye and you get an altitudinal defect. Meaning one eye cant see anything from midline down. Fingers crossed that doesn’t mean the macula your central fine detail/color vision. Anyways, this doesn’t happen to everyone. But men with a ‘disc at risk’ ( an optic nerve that’s crowded around its blood vessels) are highly susceptible. Anyways, its not exactly the easiest thing to ask or bring up. Especially when you are a young girl at a veterans hospital. It took me a long time and most of the time I would check out with a doc and quickly at the end of my briefing the disc at risk and Viagra med list… Dr C would give the lecture and I would stand quietly in the corner. Then, one day, I did it on my own. I took a deep breath and explained the risks of that drug and recommended the patient discontinue use. I made it!
In life there are awkward lectures/encounters too. After a few drinks already in my system, I bar crawl to one of my fav local places. I had already run into the ex’s roommate and all was fine. I was with friends from school and walk in, take out my ID and who is the bouncer? A fling from my first rotation in Newport. It wasn’t anything serious, but was certainly a lot of fun. However, I believe we had different opinions on the outcome of the 3 months I was spending there. It didn’t end well and I was completely caught off guard seeing him again. I gave him a hug and chatted a bit and headed straight to the bar for a tequila shot. Im a good problem solver.
I have no problem giving the lecture now. Its not easy, its embarrassing, but in the end you are helping a patient. You are preventing vision loss and frankly that is basically my job description. Unfortunately, this is not the only hard thing to ask patients. Today I had two patients with conjunctivitis. You all know this as ‘pink eye’. Some eyes are pink, some red… some watery, some sticky. The Conj is almost always viral and like the common cold not curable with antibiotics. Most docs use prophylactic antibiotics and that’s why we have resistence to them now. The Conj can be allergic and in the spring I am dolling out zaditor, alaway, and patanol left and right. However, sometimes it is actually bacterial. These eyes today were both gross. Eyelid swollen shut, gooey yellow discharge on the lashes and a palpabal preauricular node. They were so gross I had to question. Have you been sexually active lately? Oh yes, you can get STDs in the eye. Most commonly is herpes but we will save that for another day. Today I was questioning Chlamydia and Gonnorhea. Imagine how one can get an STD in the eye. Yup. Most people are quite offended by this question. At the VA at least the old men seemed super proud to be on Viagra. Well, neither of my patients said yes, but Im bringing them back in a day to make sure the antibiotics are working. Worse comes to worse its nothing an oral Ab can’t cure – thank goodness for penicillin and azithromycin!
So, can I give the lecture – aka have ‘the talk’ in real life? Im not sure... I really like that bar and trivia night on Tuesday is something I don’t really want to have to miss. I am going to work on it. Might ask a bit of help from a friend, Jose Cuervo… I’ll keep you posted…
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