ahhhh vacation

Oh my, can I tell you how decadent my life has been since 10:30 yesterday morning when my Infectious Disease exams left my hand?  I haven't studied a single stitch of medicine.  Not one stitch.  I had two glasses of wine in the middle of the day, I went on a leisurely non-guilty walk with Oliver, I played video games with my boyfriend and I slept in until 9! (well really only 8, but I stayed in bed with my eyes closed until 9 just because I could!) That's the latest I have slept in in as long as I can remember.  I am going to a massage at 12:30, lunch date with the sister afterwards and a dinner date with the boy, the brother AND the sister.  After that my parents fly in, followed the next day by my little brother and we shall celebrate the holidays at a cabin on a lake.  VACATION is glorious, just glorious. 

Here is our little Christmas tree that I made while trying not to over study for my renal exams. If you look closely you can see a totoro ornament JP made!

I passed all my classes with flying colors, even my terrible, scary, heart-palpitation-inducing OSCE!  I feel lighter than I have in a long, long while.  SO glad/proud/relieved to have another semester behind me, and I really feel like I have learned a lot.  Now the impossible thing to believe is that I start my clinicals in just five months.  Yikes, it's so exciting! But right now it's time to celebrate the vacation on hand!

breathe. and wash your hands.

I have this huge exam in 2 1/2 hours.  It's an OSCE (which stands for objective simulated clinical examination), and it is terrifying.  I have been practicing, I feel prepared and I know I will survive it, but I'M STILL TERRIFIED.  I've spent the morning studying renal pharmacology, or more accurately I have spent the morning trying to study renal pharmacology, but then I get all butterfly-y and anxious and have to calm myself back down and try to re-focus my brain to things like which drug I would use to reduce intracranial pressure and away from things like crying in front of my patient (and professors who are behind a two way mirror).  So, I am just going to quit hemming and hawing and go sit down and pet Oliver.  It's an automatic failure if you don't (breathe) wash your hands and introduce yourself, so if I remember who I am then I am already halfway there, right?!

happy birthday! you have giardia..

The Oboe is officially 2!  And officially has giardia. Wah wahhh.  Birthday presents include blood draws, probiotics, antibiotics and dewormer!  What a guy, what a guy.  But in all seriousness he is my favorite pup in the world.  He loves to love and even though he is mostly a scaredy cat, he is full of bravado in the face of danger (or squirrels).  He is a fierce cuddler, an avid licker and a complete ham.  We are basically ridiculous together, and I hope that never changes.  Happy Birthday sweet Oliver!

a belated thank you

Lately I have been trying really hard to squeeze everything in.  I get to school early every morning so I can study for a few hours before class to decrease the amount of time I have to spend studying in the evenings when JP is around, I've been trying to sneak in christmas shopping online during breaks, and late on sunday nights I've been making pumpkin muffins to scarf during the week.  Today is no exception, I had a presentation this morning on my patient and I finagled going first so I could leave early to take O to the vet.  It went faster than I expected and so I got to pop home and give JP a ride to work with a pit stop at our favorite breakfast sandwich place Ono's.  Mmmm.  Now I have a short amount of time until I have to walk up the hill to the vet and so I shall squeeze in some pictures from thanksgiving break!!

And you know what?  I am bummed that I was too busy to write a post of giving thanks, so I think I will shove it in here and hope that you aren't tired of hearing what people are thankful for!  First off, JP and I decided to head off to Montreal for thanksgiving.  Neither of us are huge into the holiday itself, and we really needed some time away from Portland and all that surrounds the day to day of work and school.  We went Wednesday to Saturday so that we could get back in time for my brother's concert.  It was such a great get away.  We mostly just filled our time with wandering around, drinking coffee, looking at architecture and exploring the neighborhoods.  

On thanksgiving day we ate arepas from a place I found while researching.  Mmmm not necessarily traditional turkey day grub, but one of my favorite meals for sure.  The best part is that it is all gluten free so I didn't have to dig around in the rattling-ly empty part of my brain that used to hold all the french I painstakingly learned during high school and college.  Haha, not that I ever knew the french word for gluten, but still, ordering straight off the menu is a rarity for me!  We played pool that night at a weird little second floor bar overlooking a main street, and had a great time.

JP was psyched to go to his first Chinatown, which was two blocks from our hotel, and then was subsequently disappointed when it was so small. 

We went to the Cathedral de Notre Dame, and were so awed by the intricate and ornate architecture.  We just sat in the pew for a while and took it all in.  A beautiful place to reflect on how thankful we are for the people in our lives and the ability to take time away from our real lives and just explore a city.

We went to the science museum, which was unfortunately also being visited by what seemed like every school aged child in the vicinity.  It was a little chaotic at times, but still great fun! I learned how to tie a mean knot!

The drive home was beautiful, with occasional sightings of snowflakes. 

And what better way to toast the weekend than attending a concert hosted by my brother Joe.  It was called Joe Walsh and Friends, and it was unbelievable.  There was so much talent on stage, and such laughter and friendship between the musicians.  It was just a treat to see, my parents got to watch it in Minnesota on the internet with a live stream!  Joe often comments that he has never studied as hard as I do now, but watching him play it just made me think how we all dedicate ourselves to something wholeheartedly in different ways.   He may not "study" per se, but he works tirelessly to perfect his craft, he practices every day and really strives to be better and better, and it comes through in his beautiful music.  Such a gift to be able to support him and live just two blocks away!

In life right now I am so very thankful to be here in Maine studying medicine and really learning so many incredible things about the human body.  The more I learn, the more I appreciate the health of my loved ones.  There are so many things that can go wrong in a body, and I am grateful right now that there is so much health and vitality in many of the people I love.  I am especially thankful this year to have two ridiculously strong, loving, amazing parents who have both come out of their struggles with cancer as changed people, with so much wisdom, faith, and if you can believe it, even more love to share with the world.  I am thankful for the opportunity to live near two of my siblings, to be able to share these two years with them is such an unexpected opportunity for me, and I am so blessed by how welcome they have made me feel, and how continually supportive they have been, even when I miss phone calls and cancel dinner dates!  I am so blessed to have such amazing friends and family, who surprise me everyday with their talents and love.  And of course I would be remiss if I didn't give whole hearted thanks for my amazing partner JP who has really shone during this difficult year in his dedication, love, laughter and unending support.  I would be such a different person if not for those that surround me with their love.  So thank you for being in my life, I am truly grateful. 

cheating

oh my.  I wrote the previous post over a week ago and it sat open in my browser the entire time, just waiting for me to upload the photos...but I still thought I should get credit for attempting to blog, and so I back published the date.  Haha, something only I would think to notice.  That should give you an indication of just how swamped life has been over here.  I am so fried that I don't even think I have uttered a coherent sentence all day.  I have been burning at both ends studying cardiology, and it is finally time for a break.  Woot!  I am so excited!  We had three exams yesterday and our final class of today was a timed/graded SOAP note for a patient with a complicated history and multiple co morbidities including two different types of cancer.  It was a rough one but I finished with one minute to spare...and then I realized I had forgotten to sign it as soon as I pressed send... ugh.  Oh well, you can't win them all! JP and I are headed out of town tomorrow for an international adventure to our neighboring country of Canada.  We are spending three nights in Montreal, hoping to wander around, eat tasty food and decompress.  Ahh it's going to be great! 

girl's weekend!

I can't even remember how long ago our girl's weekend was!  It feels like a million years ago, but I think it was probably about three weeks?  In any case, it was such a nice time.  We stayed in a gorgeous house on a lake with lots of space to spread out.  We made an exception to the girl's only rule and Oliver tagged along, he kept us safe from any potential intruders or squirrels.  Earning his keep! We didn't have much time, but we tried to squeeze a lot in.  We got out for a beautiful hike, donning some bright orange for the first day of hunting season.  Oliver looks like a fox when he is just sitting on the sidewalk in the middle of a city, so dashing stealthily through the woods with no bandana seemed like a bad idea...

What a long tongue you have! The better to lick you with my dear...

 Mom and Em on the AT!

It was way more impressive in real life than in this photo, but that rock with the ladder was basically vertical and while we were contemplating how to get O up it he took a giant leap and mountain-goated it right on up.  HA it was hilarious!  Em had to catch his collar so he wouldn't keep leaping down and up!

All in all it was a glorious trip.  Such a great blessing to be able to spend time with these lovely ladies when we are all so busy these days. I know Emily is already plotting our next ladies trip and I am sure it will be just as much fun as this one was!

ohhh sandy

Basically nothing happened where we live except for some vicious winds and rain.  My school got a little jumpy and cancelled classes Monday afternoon and all of Tuesday.  Some one must have felt a little sheepish when the sun came out early Tuesday morning and there wasn't much in the way of hurricane-type destruction, but THIS someone gloriously didn't have to go to school (and instead spent from 9 to 5 studying dermatology...but that's beside the point, at least I could wear my PJ's!). 

We had a hurricane (cyclone) party last night amidst the roaring winds.  Pretty much the only place we would have ventured out to would have had to have been within a four black radius, and as luck would have it Joe was fixing up some oyster mushroom risotto!  We tromped up the hill with hot toddy makings and purple carrots for roasting.  It was a nice little shin dig, topped off with a gluten free sour cream apple pie my brother made from my grandmother's recipe...divine!  I should have snapped a picture but I was in too much of a food coma. 

I've got some pictures to share from our girl's weekend, but I've got to run right now so here is a teaser from our hike on the first day of hunting season:

And a bonus one of Oboe cause he's a cutie and I take way too many pictures of him...

leaf peeping

 

I almost forgot to appreciate that I am back in a state that has full popping fall colors all over the place!! Both years I was in Colorado I somehow got it in my head that going up to the mountains would reveal glorious fall foliage, and both times I was rewarded with only evergreen and aspen yellow.  Beautiful in their own right, but not enough to make me feel like in the midst of my favorite season.  I feel like i just lifted my head up from my desk yesterday and all of a sudden everything was red and orange and yellow.  That could have something to do with how gloomy the weather has been lately, but I have finally noticed my fall surroundings, and they are beautiful!  I've got three pulmonary exams tomorrow, supposedly one of the hardest modules this semester.  I have been studying for them for three weeks and I think I am ready.  I KNOW I am ready for a little break of sorts.  Our next module is derm, which is much shorter and much less complex, and during which I am promising myself that I won't overstudy like I always do, and I will make a conscious effort to take time off.  To ensure that I follow through with that, my mom and sister are coming out next weekend for a girl's get away! Ohh I am more than ready for cabin-on-a-lake time and curl-up-with-trashy-no-knowledge-containing-books time and a fireplace to sit cozily by.  AH I am so excited, it's going to be great!  But for now, it is finally sunny outside for the first time in weeks and JP and I are headed to the beach (in sweatshirts and scarves) to get some much needed vitamin D!  Now, I will leaf you with some pictures...haha see what I did there?

 

it's fall and I'm not falling

We have reached the point where it's dark when I wake up and the sun seems to drop out of the sky closer and closer to 6:00.  Yikes!  We are streaming towards winter, and days around here have been cloudy and rainy.  Makes for some great buckle-down-and-study weekends, but is less advantageous when it comes to free time.  I'm happy it hasn't yet turned to snow though like many of my old haunts! 

We have been keeping our heads down lately, school is all consuming and JP has had a large increase in his workload, which has been keeping him at the office late more often than not.  I think we are just kind of in a slump of sorts, trying to figure out a good balance with the changes.  We are both looking forward to a small break around thanksgiving, and are hoping to get out of town for a few days.

I've been embracing fall in some respects though!  I baked some super delicious pumpkin muffins from a recipe I got online and modified.  I brought them to JP's work and even those gluten eating folks liked them!!  Last night we closed the weekend by making salmon and potatoes at Joe's house while our laundry was in the dryer.  How nice to live two blocks away from my brother! It was our first whack at salmon and it turned out great!  JP researched around and whipped up a maple tamari garlic marinade that was just splendid.

 
I've been doing well in all my classes, though they sure do keep me busy.  I'm keeping my motivation on track by volunteering to be in a panel for the pre-interview meet and greet that prospective students are coming to in a few weeks.  Can you believe it is already time to interview the class that will follow mine?!  It still feels so recent and sharp in my memory when I received my own interview invitation, and when I almost excitement-cried myself into an asthma attack when I was actually accepted!  The night before my interview JP and I went to the mixer and it played a huge role in affirming for both of us that we would be happy at UNE, and it certainly helped to calm my nerves before the big day.  I am super excited to hopefully help other students gain their confidence and help them understand what PA school is all about!

my first patient

Yesterday I met my first patient.  She was kind of the best first patient I could have ever asked for.  She lives in an independent living facility, is 96 years old and still sews.  In fact, she had sewn the very slacks she was wearing during our visit!  She warmed my heart, and overwhelmingly reminded me of my grandma.  Mostly she said she couldn't really complain too much (despite multiple medical problems that might hold a lot of people back), thought that people should really use their common sense more often, and said she must not have done too much that morning (aside from getting dressed, showered, ready for an appointment, making and eating breakfast, taking her meds, dusting her living room and raising the hem on her daughters skirt), because she hadn't even made her bed yet.  I told her I hadn't made mine yet either and she got a good kick out of that!

So you know what?  I think I can handle this whole patient thing.  I know I made some mistakes, and there were some questions we didn't get to or that I forgot to ask, but overall it went pretty well and really felt great!

She told my advisor that I was such a nice little girl and that I was doing a great job, but to be fair, to a 96 year old I probably still am a little girl.

white coats

We are knee deep in this semester by now, maybe even waist deep at this point with six exams behind us, and things are starting to heat up!  Just in school though, in life it is actually starting to cool down a lot and fall is in the air!! In any case, my attention span for things outside of school has gotten pretty short lately so I wanted to post some picture from my white coat ceremony before I forgot forever! 

My pops came into town for a long weekend at the beginning of September for a number of reasons, but come Monday afternoon chief among them was my white coat ceremony!  My school did an odd job of helping recognize us for our accomplishments, which was frustrating, and a lot of my classmates didn't have family come because the ceremony was at 4:30 on a Monday, so the presence of my own family meant that much more to me.  Emily came up from Vermont, Joe rushed back in to town from a gig, and JP even took the day off from work!  It was such a great feeling to have some of the people I love the most in the audience supporting me.  JP always tells me that I don't give myself enough credit for the things I have accomplished, so I really tried to take that evening as a time to recognize for myself all that I had done.  It was a long and extremely hard struggle to get to that point, and even though I know I am not even close to being done, putting on my white coat was such an honor and really helped to remind me what I am doing this for, and why I am right here in Portland right now.  I am just so grateful for all the support I have gotten from so many people in so many different ways! 

My dad brought his first white coat from Wake Forest as a surprise, and we proudly wore them to dinner together!  Having my dad at the ceremony was such an incredibly special gift for me.  It's hard to put into eloquent words how his fight with cancer has touched me, but to be able to share such a special moment with him, a moment that he shared with us when we were younger and he was in school, was just so moving for me.  My struggles and triumphs with PA school have brought our relationship to a different level somehow, and I am so grateful to have this time to experience this part of my life with him.  I am so, so fortunate.  If only my mom and Micah could have made it, the night would have been complete!  Although... since the ceremony was completely solemn and formal until they called my name to cross the stage and a small crowd loudly called out BOOOOOP! (in the Walsh/Buboltz tradition of embarrassing the graduate) I'm not sure adding two more voices would have helped the situation!

great diamond island

Midway through my second week and already I am dreaming of christmas vacation...  I suppose reliving last weekend will just have to suffice for now though.  Emily and I were lucky enough to stay at a beautiful house on Great Diamond Island on Saturday and Sunday.  Just a twenty min ferry ride away from Portland, we packed up yummy ingredients for a variety of meals, our swim suits and hats, books (both study variety and fun variety), art materials and the Oliver and had a little sister adventure.  My classmate's family owns the house and it just so happened that it was unoccupied, so we occupied it!  It was so nice to get away, and even though their house is right on the ocean with a perfect view of Portland, it felt like a different planet!  I was a terrible student, and we lounged around doing whatever we pleased.  This included swimming, swinging, ice cream eating, puppy playing, hot cocoa drinking, kayaking, mussling, nature viewing, and oh so much relaxation.  I both wish I could go there every weekend, and am glad that I can't because I would be so unproductive forever!  Luckily I didn't have too much to catch up on when I got back on Sunday night, and so I didn't feel too guilty for the break!  

 

Looking like professional ferry riders... no big deal

 

  

 

 O just likes to know what's going on...and then gets in the middle of it and licks it..

coming to a close

My, the past ten days have just flown on by.  It's hard to believe that I am starting my second semester of PA school in just a few short hours.  (and yes, if you are looking at the time, my first day starts at 1:00 and is a measly 2 hour orientation lecture)  Gotta ease into the routine slowly I think!  I think I might be apprehensive about starting again, just because of how different my two worlds of school vs vacation have been.  The truth is, I'm not the best at vacationing.  HAHA.  It's sad, but so true.  I get too angst-y and micro-manage-y, which is ridiculous in many ways, but ten days was a good amount of time for me and my sanity I think.  It certainly helped that the weather was mostly gorgeous, that my family was in town, and that I finally got out on a ferry ride to a near by island.  Joy!  Apprehension notwithstanding, I am excited about school too!  The nerd in me prevails, and first days are always kind of fun with new binders ready, pens and pencils gathered.  Although, I didn't really have to gather anything, I filed away my notes from last semester in my filing cabinet on my second day of break, and my fully prepared backpack has been hanging in the office ready in case I needed to learn anything at a moments notice..

Pictures from the sibling visit were kind of sparse on my end, but here are a few we managed to capture:

 Micah found a skate park super close to my house, so we checked it out.

Emily's car died on the way to Portland, so Micah and I went to rescue her... then the rescue car died as well.  We made the most of the situation and sat in the trunk of the car waiting for the okay to get back on the road.

Cooking at Joe's house...for some reason this is the only picture I have of the four of us.

I guess technically, that statement isn't true.  To the right of me, waaaay back on the stage is Joe playing at the Saddleback Bluegrass Festival.

1/6th of a PA!

Well folks, I did it.  The hellish last push that was finals weeks took a lot out of me but it's over now!!  Yesterday I slept until 8:40!!  It was like Christmas.  Felt amazing.  I happily spent the whole day cleaning and doing domestic things.  JP has been absolutely wonderful at keeping the house up, getting clothes cleaned and making sure I eat, but the last two weeks he was working crazy hours (like 3am-1:00pm for a website launch) and everything turned into a tornado disaster zone that our eyes just glazed over in order to ignore...  BUT yesterday I turned up some music and washed dishes and counters and did three loads of laundry..and that was also like christmas.  There is nothing like the lift of pressure that I now feel.  It sounds pretty silly, but whenever I was trying to wash dishes or do anything helpful towards our household during the semester, I was so stressed out about losing studying time, that I would rush through it and resent everything about it.  I know JP is super glad to have a partner back again, even if it's only for 10 days!

The grocery situation was getting dire...you can only eat so much hummus and probiotics..

In any case, it feels absolutely amazing to have my first semester of school behind me.  People from the program have said that the summer semester is like PA boot camp, and I am glad to be done with it.  I am actually super excited for the next semester!  I have learned SO MUCH, not the least of which includes learning that I can actually do this and succeed.  We are moving on to modules instead of a mis-match of classes that don't really relate to each other much.  By modules I mean when we do pulmonary, we learn everything pulmonary.  Pathology, drugs, presentation...etc.  All our classes focus on one thing, which will be a complete change of tune from summer, and I think works better with how I learn.  Plus I never have to step foot in a cadaver lab again, so that alone is worth it!

Just as dorky as ever...here I am practicing for my last final exam (a full physical on a "patient" classmate), playing the part of patient...with a stethoscope.

So, what am I going to do to fill all this beautiful free time?  My little brother flew in from Minneapolis last night!! True to form, we picked him up and went straight to a comedy club that had open mic last night.  It was a pretty ridiculous place, but Micah got up on stage and did great!  He works really hard on his stage presence and his jokes and timing, it's been so fun to witness his evolution from the first couple of times he went up to now.  Awwww.  In any case, the great sibling hang of 2012 is commencing in just a few short hours!!  Emily is arriving in Portland in time for lunch (even though she is in the midst of her own crazy grad school semester...no rest for the Walshes), and Joe is getting back in town later tonight.  We are going to a bluegrass festival for the weekend that Joe is playing in.  I found a great place for the pups to stay, and I'm super psyched for a little vacation!  Since I have to pack all of summer into these next few days, an outdoor festival seems like the perfect way to start!

it's time for finals

All I do is what I always do all the time now, and that is study.  I will return to real life on Wednesday at 4:00 for TEN WHOLE DAYS of freedom.  For now I leave you with the fact that I passed Neuro and Anatomy, a fact that I don't think my body has quite absorbed yet, and am so close to the end of semester one.  White coat here I come. 

a weekend off

So much has happened lately!!  First, can you believe tomorrow is the start of my eighth week?  Summer is flying on by, three weeks of classes to go and then finals and theeeeennn ten days of freedom!  The past three weeks were kind of the most insane it's ever been.  We had really huge exams, each requiring an obscene amount of preparation, and sacrificing of sleep both at the beginning of the day and at the end of the day.  It was a huge push to get through, and in the middle of it all my parents and sister came for a visit!!  In my head it sort of didn't register that they were in the same state as me until I finished my immunology exam that Thursday.  We had a super tasty meal out to celebrate, and for the weekend they rented a cabin on a lake about 45 min from Portland. It was so great to see them and hang out all together (minus Micah) for the first time since our move!  Unfortunately I spent all day Saturday studying and then all day Sunday in the cadaver lab, but I hear that they had fun swimming and kayaking around!  JP and I made it up for one night, and it was beautiful even if it was short-lived on our end!

Reading comic books in the morning while I studied...

We finished our third neuro/anatomy/practical exam this past Thursday (one more and done!), and I think they were the hardest exams I have ever studied for in such a short time.  It was one of those times that I could literally have flipped my notes open to any page, pointed to a topic, and focused a day's worth of energy on just that small detail.  For this exam we covered the brain, the skull, cranial nerves, muscles and vasculature of the neck, the eye, the ear and all that those subjects entail in both identification and function.  Sometimes I am in awe that my brain can retain so much, and pull things seemingly out of the blue that I didn't even think I would remember.  Every exam I think that there is no possible way I can keep all of that information straight, I have to call on so many new strategies but so far it's working alright!  I will be so happy to get to the fall semester, into more organized chaos than the crazy way things are in the summer!

In any case, after that gigantic push, I think most of my classmates, myself included, took this weekend off.  This is the first weekend that I barely did anything productive.  JP and I decided to go camping Saturday night, and I didn't even bring a lick of study materials with me.  I might have felt a little panicked Sunday morning thinking about how unproductive I was, but I squelched those feelings and let myself enjoy being outside with my boy and my pups, free of responsibilities.  It was so incredibly lovely.  We made a big fire, took the pups down to play in the water, and grilled meat and drank wine.  Lovely indeed, and just what we needed to gear up for these next few weeks.  

We wore out the pups with all the excitement.  You know it was a good weekend when it ends in pure exhilarated exhaustion like this: