Today was much better. I felt really homesick for Shawn today, but I was able to call and at least leave a brief message, sigh, at least I know other options too.
Busy day today -
city tour of Guayaquil: Las penas (can't do spanish characters), which is an artsy center with 440 steps to the top - we just walked the first 120 or so. It's by some museums as well. Very neat area. You can see al the rebuilding they are doing to make the city nicer -within the last 5 years or so, each building has a picture of what it use to look like. The two river s converge to make the guayas river
Also went to the city center, saw the "governor's house" and city hall, which is modeled after the Galeria in Italy. Went to the largest Church in the city and across the street from this is the iguana park. (don't look up with an open mouth) Apparently for some it was mating season.
Then drove thru the malecon 2000 and saw the black markets which only means bartering and no tax.
I'm able to communicate with my host family a little better, although I think my mom was offended I wasn't hungry this morning for hot milk and corn flakes, maybe tomorrow.
I love the different juices here - all made fresh daily at home. Today we had watermelon, yesterday was mango. Yummm
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Monday, June 29, 2009
Ecuador Arrival and orientation
Not what I expected, but then again what did I expect. A strange mix of urbanized developed and modern neighborhood without modern conveniences like hot water (but do have internet) mixed with stucco, iron and tin roofs in the adjacent city. Arrived late to Guayaquil, made it to bed at about 1am to be up early for orientation. Had to dawn surgical masks to enter the country... and had a thermal picture taken (incase I was hiding that H1N1 flu in my pocket)
Going to be a long 6 wks with lots of PANCE studying. Can't contact the US as of right now by phone - not gonna lie this is the worst part - ever.
Start clinic on Wed. woot? Nervous about this.
Orientation: bus trip (with AC that was colder than my car at home) to Valdivia, a beach city. Stayed at an Eco lodge (not to be confused with Econo lodge as I misread the orientation email.)Saw some whales in the ocean, after a 2hr sea-sickening boat ride. Saw the beginnings of how they make panama hats - paya toquilla which means straw. (hats aren't actually made in panama) The workers make only a about a dollar a day despite a full days work from 4:30am until whenever they finish in the late late afternoon. Stayed in a cabana on a cliff above the beach... where Nancy experienced smoking and sparks from the small water heater above the shower - she gave us play by play, it was pretty funny actually. Consequently I did not have a hot or warm shower the next day. Also experienced mosquito netting and sleeping on a bamboo bed (there was a small matress but couldn't tell). Good taste of costal food - not a fan of cerviches, good to know. No sunset due to clouds, but a quick walk on the beach, with a scary hike up and down a cliff with makeshift stairs and railing, was nice. Found some great shells. Apparently Ecuador is the main exporter (or the exporter) of banans since they banned unions... I think I have heard other countries being the largest banana exporter too. hmmm
Going to be a long 6 wks with lots of PANCE studying. Can't contact the US as of right now by phone - not gonna lie this is the worst part - ever.
Start clinic on Wed. woot? Nervous about this.
Orientation: bus trip (with AC that was colder than my car at home) to Valdivia, a beach city. Stayed at an Eco lodge (not to be confused with Econo lodge as I misread the orientation email.)Saw some whales in the ocean, after a 2hr sea-sickening boat ride. Saw the beginnings of how they make panama hats - paya toquilla which means straw. (hats aren't actually made in panama) The workers make only a about a dollar a day despite a full days work from 4:30am until whenever they finish in the late late afternoon. Stayed in a cabana on a cliff above the beach... where Nancy experienced smoking and sparks from the small water heater above the shower - she gave us play by play, it was pretty funny actually. Consequently I did not have a hot or warm shower the next day. Also experienced mosquito netting and sleeping on a bamboo bed (there was a small matress but couldn't tell). Good taste of costal food - not a fan of cerviches, good to know. No sunset due to clouds, but a quick walk on the beach, with a scary hike up and down a cliff with makeshift stairs and railing, was nice. Found some great shells. Apparently Ecuador is the main exporter (or the exporter) of banans since they banned unions... I think I have heard other countries being the largest banana exporter too. hmmm
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Chocolate does NOT make it better
Here's two corn-made clear plastic cups 3/4 full of white milky liquid, drink within a half hour. Sounds simple enough. Two gowns, one that opens to the front and the other that opens to the back and a warm blanket - ok. I cry thinking about what they are really asking me to do. Guzzle down these two glasses of fluoroscopic contrast which by the way "doesn't taste too bad, but it is a little think" the rad tech tells me. As I sit there in my two-gown motif, wrapped in a warm blanket and my purple zip-hoodie and lovely tan no slip socks, I cautiously put the glass to my nose, I wish I could describe the smell - nothing putrid, but medicinal maybe even a hint of Elmer's glue. The consistency is that of school glue or an uber thick milkshake. I'm still crying but Shawn's there cheering me on.
I take the first sip - a very small sip. Ok, very thick - and for someone who is NOT a texture kind of person, almost sickening thick.
"Shawn, it's like glue, I don't think I can do this."
"Sure you can, just drink it down fast"
Apprehensive, I try, I don't get more than two guzzles and my gag reflex kicks in. With a quick wretch and gag I make a lunge for the trash can. Sobbing begins again.
"Don't think about throwing it up, just drink it down and be done with it, you can do it. Think it would hurt me to have a sip" I pass him the cup, he takes a small sip. "Yeah that's pretty thick."
I'm still thinking how impossible this task seems, it's not just the texture that clings to every surface in my mouth, and drips off my uvula into the back of my throat, it's the subtle hint of this indescribable taste that lingers like smoke in the back of my throat. The rad tech checks on me
"How's it going" she asks in her chipper bounce.
"Not so good, I'm urping it when when I drink it"
She tries to comfort me by telling me it's a female in her 20's thing and how old people and young ones can manage it, but there's something about being in my twenties and a female that make me have an aversion - but she can try the child prep with me - which is simply adding chocolate syrup and a straw.
My mother raised me to think that chocolate fixes EVERYTHING. Good test score (but not 100% for us overachievers) have a box of chocolate, smacked really hard on the dive at practice that you hate, here's some chocolate to motivate you to try it again, broken heart - here's two boxes, broken arm - eat some chocolate while the doc is pulling the pins out with a pair of pliers. As I get older I realize that chocolate doesn't exactly fix everything - but it does make things better, tolerable until you yourself are ready to move on. So when the rad tech mentioned chocolate syrup I thought ok I can do this. I really can. The first sips through the straw were even better. I didn't feel like my mouth was being plastered white as if I had been dunked in a barrel of water and asked to eat a box of powdered donuts - with no hands. And I tasted more chocolate than the glue. I sipped and sipped, and gagged and gagged some more. And if you haven't figured it out, I cried. How embarrassing to be sitting in a hallway, doing something lots of other people have done before and failing - loud enough for everyone to hear. I kept trying with Shawn rooting me on, thank goodness he's not a sympathetic puker - it would have been disastrous.
I finished about 2/3 of the first cup and couldn't stomach it any more and I saw a moat of chocolate floating at the bottom of the second, untouched cup and thought I would give it a go. It was more chocolately and I got a second wind - I can do this I thought, Shawn flipping thru a magazine (back to front like I read them) trying to distract me. Every sip was causing retching and gagging. But I was so determined to finish at least one - only to finish the other one, and if it took me too long a third so there would be no gaps in the imaging. I think that's what broke my spirit - knowing if I did finish my first two, there would most likely be more to come. The rad techs tried to give me motivation but also said, if you can't do it, we won't make you, you're in charge. But I was so determined to prove them, Shawn and myself wrong.
I stared at my 2/3 and 1/2 empty cups.
"Just chug it down honey, real quick"
I tried, again without the straw, only to feel my sides pucker and started to retch uncontrollably, but not enough to actually produce anything but a wicked amount of white saliva since my stomach had been properly emptied per the 2nd bowel prep in 5 days.
"Ok that's it, you're done" Shawn said.
It was such a relief and yet I felt like such a failure. Seriously, how hard is it to drink down two, presumably 8-12oz of thick fluid in 30minutes? But I know I tried, the hardest I possibly could, but no amount of try could get the glue down. So entrails partially coated, nauseated and defeated we left.
Moral of the story - chocolate does not fix everything and I cannot drink fluoroscopy contrast.
I take the first sip - a very small sip. Ok, very thick - and for someone who is NOT a texture kind of person, almost sickening thick.
"Shawn, it's like glue, I don't think I can do this."
"Sure you can, just drink it down fast"
Apprehensive, I try, I don't get more than two guzzles and my gag reflex kicks in. With a quick wretch and gag I make a lunge for the trash can. Sobbing begins again.
"Don't think about throwing it up, just drink it down and be done with it, you can do it. Think it would hurt me to have a sip" I pass him the cup, he takes a small sip. "Yeah that's pretty thick."
I'm still thinking how impossible this task seems, it's not just the texture that clings to every surface in my mouth, and drips off my uvula into the back of my throat, it's the subtle hint of this indescribable taste that lingers like smoke in the back of my throat. The rad tech checks on me
"How's it going" she asks in her chipper bounce.
"Not so good, I'm urping it when when I drink it"
She tries to comfort me by telling me it's a female in her 20's thing and how old people and young ones can manage it, but there's something about being in my twenties and a female that make me have an aversion - but she can try the child prep with me - which is simply adding chocolate syrup and a straw.
My mother raised me to think that chocolate fixes EVERYTHING. Good test score (but not 100% for us overachievers) have a box of chocolate, smacked really hard on the dive at practice that you hate, here's some chocolate to motivate you to try it again, broken heart - here's two boxes, broken arm - eat some chocolate while the doc is pulling the pins out with a pair of pliers. As I get older I realize that chocolate doesn't exactly fix everything - but it does make things better, tolerable until you yourself are ready to move on. So when the rad tech mentioned chocolate syrup I thought ok I can do this. I really can. The first sips through the straw were even better. I didn't feel like my mouth was being plastered white as if I had been dunked in a barrel of water and asked to eat a box of powdered donuts - with no hands. And I tasted more chocolate than the glue. I sipped and sipped, and gagged and gagged some more. And if you haven't figured it out, I cried. How embarrassing to be sitting in a hallway, doing something lots of other people have done before and failing - loud enough for everyone to hear. I kept trying with Shawn rooting me on, thank goodness he's not a sympathetic puker - it would have been disastrous.
I finished about 2/3 of the first cup and couldn't stomach it any more and I saw a moat of chocolate floating at the bottom of the second, untouched cup and thought I would give it a go. It was more chocolately and I got a second wind - I can do this I thought, Shawn flipping thru a magazine (back to front like I read them) trying to distract me. Every sip was causing retching and gagging. But I was so determined to finish at least one - only to finish the other one, and if it took me too long a third so there would be no gaps in the imaging. I think that's what broke my spirit - knowing if I did finish my first two, there would most likely be more to come. The rad techs tried to give me motivation but also said, if you can't do it, we won't make you, you're in charge. But I was so determined to prove them, Shawn and myself wrong.
I stared at my 2/3 and 1/2 empty cups.
"Just chug it down honey, real quick"
I tried, again without the straw, only to feel my sides pucker and started to retch uncontrollably, but not enough to actually produce anything but a wicked amount of white saliva since my stomach had been properly emptied per the 2nd bowel prep in 5 days.
"Ok that's it, you're done" Shawn said.
It was such a relief and yet I felt like such a failure. Seriously, how hard is it to drink down two, presumably 8-12oz of thick fluid in 30minutes? But I know I tried, the hardest I possibly could, but no amount of try could get the glue down. So entrails partially coated, nauseated and defeated we left.
Moral of the story - chocolate does not fix everything and I cannot drink fluoroscopy contrast.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Record time
record time for a job rejection = 2hrs.... wow. didn't know they could have that kind of turn around.
128 oz of fluid and then some
Colonoscopies aren't as bad as all the hype - it's the damn prep with a marathon of liquids - including the 2hr period to drink 64oz, 8 oz every 15min (after already consuming 64oz+oz.) Doesn't seem so bad on paper - but by bottle 3 of the 2 hr marathon I was feeling like I could float - without my arm floaties. Hopefully the upper GI series is cake next week too - a sweet barium cake.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
But I bought fancy paper!
I applied to a few jobs today - all of which were online (some applications longer than others and I didn't really qualify for any of the jobs but hey it's the effort right?) I am slightly disappointed that I have not had the opportunity to use my stark white, water marked, 24 (or 28) pound, 100% cotton paper and matching 9X12 envelopes. Then again I'm not disappointed that I didn't have to buy stamps.
Now on to the rest of the list which include 3 clinics - none of which are actually hiring.
Side note - who new paper came in so many styles and weights: 24 or 28 pound, granite, flecked, post-consumer recycled resume paper with proceeds going to some environmental fund, rose, quartz, grey, ocean, ivory and baby canary.
Now on to the rest of the list which include 3 clinics - none of which are actually hiring.
Side note - who new paper came in so many styles and weights: 24 or 28 pound, granite, flecked, post-consumer recycled resume paper with proceeds going to some environmental fund, rose, quartz, grey, ocean, ivory and baby canary.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
job search musings
I am so anxious to work as a PA but uh... not loving the recession and the job opportunities in SW Washington and PDX. here are a few of my interesting findings and my commentary.
"looking for an ADULT physician assistant for primary care"... as opposed to a child? (PS - I am totally having de ja vu right now)
"need reliable, mature PA willing to fulfill designated duties and hours" (so are these attributes that I need on my resume?)
"3-4 yrs preference growing ortho group" (I think there are some words missing here, or I have no idead how to grow an ortho group - do you get those seeds at the store? Hey who said you needed EnGLiSh to go into Ortho?)
"responsible in surgery assist, clinic, rounds" (please insert "for" instead of "in", OR responsibilities include, just a guess)
" needed: Physician's assistant. Able to keep flow of patients, perform vitals, basic wound care assess and take direction from physician, NP or PA." (Now I know -as does the company- they are looking for a physician's MEDICAL assistant - oh the difference one word makes)
and the search continues...
"looking for an ADULT physician assistant for primary care"... as opposed to a child? (PS - I am totally having de ja vu right now)
"need reliable, mature PA willing to fulfill designated duties and hours" (so are these attributes that I need on my resume?)
"3-4 yrs preference growing ortho group" (I think there are some words missing here, or I have no idead how to grow an ortho group - do you get those seeds at the store? Hey who said you needed EnGLiSh to go into Ortho?)
"responsible in surgery assist, clinic, rounds" (please insert "for" instead of "in", OR responsibilities include, just a guess)
" needed: Physician's assistant. Able to keep flow of patients, perform vitals, basic wound care assess and take direction from physician, NP or PA." (Now I know -as does the company- they are looking for a physician's MEDICAL assistant - oh the difference one word makes)
and the search continues...
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