Day 2 of Orientation

Today definitely had more substance. We received syllabi for Anatomy/Histology/Embryology and Biochemistry, our two major courses for the next two semesters. The warnings, congratulations and course overviews left me with two impressions:

1) This is going to be a lot of work, but I need to keep a positive attitude an not be dead set on a competitive specialty.

2) AZCOM is like a liberal arts college as a typical allopathic school is like a big state school. It reminded me of undergraduate education. I unfortunately chose UW over Whitman then, but made the better choice this time around.

Today also had more humor with Dean Cole and the Security representative winning the most laughs. Student Services got a little long-winded, especially since it was at the end of a long day and we were all hungry. I dashed to Challenge Charter, picked up the boys and we ate a quick dinner in the cafeteria before playing a game of pool.

One more day of logistics, paperwork and faculty introductions before the real fun begins.

Fist Day of Orientation

Kinda anti-climatic...

Met several fellow MSIs and learned all about the library (woohoo!) but most of the time seemed wasted on commercials for health insurance and diagnostic equipment. The former is provided (for me) through my wife's employer and latter I already purchased on Ebay from a UCSD student. At least I got to play with some of Welch Allyn's diagnostic stuff.

I left tired but excited to start my medical journey. I even spent some time researching more textbooks online, as if I don't have enough already. There's so much information to integrate if you really want to do well on the USMLE Step 1, which I'm going to have to in order to get into a competitive residency. Yeah, the stress and pressure has already begun sinking in.

Fun evening courtesy of SOMA

The Student Osteopathic Medical Association (SOMA) hosted a BBQ on campus last night. Even though Becky was tired after just getting back from her brother's surprise 40th B-day, she came with to meet some of my classmen and women.

It took a few minutes to loosen up and introduce ourselves, but it was pretty good. I sure felt old though. Lots of kids just out of undergrad. A few parents, but I suspect most of them didn't come since it started so late (7pm). We left just as things were starting to get real friendly to rescue my brother Dan from watching our boys.

Youth aside, there seeme to be some interesting stories in the mix about how and why people came to AZCOM. The upperclassmen seemed very willing to help us out which was really cool. Sarah was there and we chatted for awhile. I think she's much better at names than I am. I've already forgotten most of the names I was introduced to. Hopefully we'll have badges of some sort at orientation starting Wednesday (!).

It's Hot!

OK, for AZ it's not too bad; probably at 90 and it's midnight. However, without A/C in the house this whole day it feels like a furnace. A friend of or neighbors came over and said a motor is shot. If we're lucky, we might get out of this tomorrow for $250. Ugh!

On a more pleasant note, my brother, Dan arrived on Sunday and is getting settled in. The boys are loving it. Their school has started off well so far. No best friends yet, but they are social kids and starting to make friends. The academics seem good so far.

That's it for now.

Dinner with Big Sis

AZCOM generously provides each MSI with a Big Sis or Brother to answer questions and provide advice on how to prepare for the first year of medical school. Sarah and I have had many e-mails sent between, but last night was our first time meeting face-to-face. She came over for dinner with Becky, the boys and I. Unfortunately I burned the burgers because the grease residue at the bottom decided to light up, but otherwise dinner was pleasant.

After dinner, we talked for a couple hours boring Becky to tears with all the shop talk. One thing that sticks in my head is that Sarah praised my Blog effort saying that there is little time for reflection in medical school. This will help me remember the journey and my accomplishments along the way. It was a very nice evening and I hope we get to do it again.

Btw, I spent over an hour today doing an annual cleaning on the BBQ. It was gross, but long overdue. And the weather certainly cooperated; it was 85 and overcast. Tonight I BBQ'd ribs with Chef Matt's special sauce and it was yummy :-).

Vietnam

After seeing all the pictures I uploaded yesterday, I decided that some explanation is needed. I spent nine days in Vietnam in February of 2003. At that point I was pretty sure I wanted to become a physician having retaken two Cell Bio classes, being halfway through retaking the Organic Chem series and having some clinical volunteer time under my belt (Kaiser's ED and OHSU's Trauma/Neuro ICU). However, the Vietnam trip cemented my decision.

I had supported NW Medical Teams in the past and decided to give them a call to see if a non-trained civilian could participate in a mission. The Director said they don't normally utilize personnel without medical training, but a small team run by a plastic surgeon was returning to Vietnam. I got in touch with Dr. Dickason and he fortunately had a spot for me. After much planning and paying my way there, I managed to get 5 days in a Nha Trang OR where we performed on 3 cleft palates, 12 burns and a pair of webbed hands. It was amazing!

Suddenly high tech seemed so worthless. Here was something I do with my hands to drammatically and immediately improve people's lives. Being treated like royalty and living like a king due to the cost-of-living didn't hurt either. But even more important than the fresh lobster-sized prawns for pennies (Yummy!) was the people. They were incredible. I was impressed by the physicians, nurses and people I met in the street. I have over 250 photos so I'll try to post more in the future. In the meantime, I'll just say that I fell in love with the country and the people. They were friendly, courteous and happy in both Saigon where we flew into and Nha Trang, the resort town we operated in.

After seeing the Vietnam War museum and the pictures of Napalm kids and Agent Orange devastation, I thought Americans would be despised. Quite the opposite actually. The southern part of the country is embracing capitalism and the people generally love Americans. I never encountered any negative attitude or even jealousy. I can't wait to return, with my family next time.

Doctors make about $60/month in Vietnam, so to get by they work out of private offices on the street at lunch and after hours. Capitalism is strong in southern Vietnam at least.

The nursing staff was outstanding. With no English translators the majority of the time, they somehow managed to provide for our medical and dietary needs.

Spartan operating environment was a big improvement over the old hospital they had just moved from - A/C! The Belgian government helped fund construction so it is no surprise that most equipment was Belgian :-).

Our team performed a total 16 surgeries, including 3 cleft palates on young patients, over a week in Nha Trang, Vietnam.

This women had a several disfiguring scars on her nostrils that Dr. Dickason corrected.

Dr. Dickason is placing a piece of cartilage from the patient's ear under the skin where his nose was before a scooter accident. The patient gained a nose and improved breathing from the operation.

Our operating team with a young patient and a couple Vietnamese physicians. The women was an awesome anesthesiologist. Superstar that she is, she intubated every patient, even children, on the first try!

One of many hand surgeries that required a Z-plasti for the thumb and skin graft on the palm to re-gain flexibility in the hand.

Scooter's scar taken care of with a nifty Z-plasti. The patient will have to flex those toes now to get full mobility back.

Scooter's muffler scar resulted in this boy not being able wear shoes any longer.

Our luxurious operating theatre looked more like a jail cell. My OR cohort (pictured here) and I tried to keep our 6 military duffel bags worth of supplies organized for Dr. Dickason. It was all his surgical equipment and supplies he donated like antibiotics.

New technology sometimes requires instructions :-).

Scarring on the back of this person's hand required a skin graft and re-attaching a tendon for the thumb.

Boy's burned finger needed a skin graft in order to straighten out.

Scarred women could hardly move her head.

Scarred woman received a full thickness skin graft across her neck to improve her mobility and comfort.

Looking over Dr. Dickason's shoulder as he tries to converse across the language barrier

Freeing up a scarred foot with a partial thickness skin graft

Seperating a boy's web fingers

End of summer

We met the kids teacher's last night and the boys are getting excited to meet new friends. Uniforms are going to be a change, but the teacher's are happy and excited and the school looks great.

I need to finish up painting the inside of the house this weekend if possible. There's so many tasks to get done before I start medical school. Little stuff like license plates, sprinkler repairs, PC repairs, window tinting, etc., etc. At least I have a few days that they will be in school so I can focus on getting them done.

Last Sunday I drove back to Dan's mansion in Palm Springs for a tour on Monday of the Eisenhower Center. It was very impressive. I had a sobering conversation with a plastic surgeon about the profession and he gave me a DO to call in Ohio. I hope that pans out. We also saw some operations (I saw a knee replacement and hernia repair) and got the benefactor tour of the whole Center.

Also last weekend, I went to a B-day party for one of my friends from AZCOM. It was fun for the kids and Becky and I. It was interesting to get perspective from four MSII's and a few upperclassmen. Finally I met one of my classmates. The whole weekend gave me a lot of incentive to start calling DOs for preceptorships and electives for next summer. I still think AZCOM is going to be great, but I need to have some strategy going into MSIII or I'm going to have trouble in the residency match.

Oh, I've also conversed with many other AZCOM med students via SDN. It will be good to put faces with these names soon. My AZCOM Big Sis (15 years my junior :-) is coming over tomorrow for dinner with us. It will be nice to meet her face-to-face for the first time.

Well, time to get painting... I'll leave with a couple PG-13 photos from my NW Medical Teams mission to Vietnam in February of 2003.

Warming up to our house

We ended up spending two stressful nights in our house on the floor. ABF was late delivering our container, the A/C was only working intermittently, our new home warranty was paid for by the title company and we had a lot more damage to our stuff than I anticipated. Wood furniture was almost lit on fire by the friction in the container. Sure I had followed my own intuition and used shrink-wrap instead of following the "expert's" advice. Our TV now has a nice big viewing port on top, but it works ok.

Anyway, we eventually got things under control in the 110 degree weather. We even managed to paint the living and dining rooms. The neighbors were awesome and helping in tons of ways including entertaining our kids. Their kids and our became fast friends.

The best part however is that Becky got the job. She's now the Director of Finance and Technology for St. Mary's food bank, the largest non-profit in AZ. It ended up being a much better opportunity that she hoped for. The next few months will be crazy: Becky's new job; Becky's JD finals and Bar exam; and my starting medical school.

Saving grace is the pool. The kids and dog use it every day. Cedar has become a true water dog. And no bad sun burns!

Long road to Phoenix

Well it's been a few weeks and a lot has transpired since my last post. Let's start with the adventurous trek from Beaverton, OR to Glendale, AZ with wife, two kids, dog and 2nd car in tow.

I can't start without pointing out some of the interesting epiphanies that I realized while onroute.

1) Rest stop work in reverse with children. Kids are more energized and uncontrollable as you leave than when you enter, meaning as parents you're more stressed out!

2) Mini-DVD players are the greatest travel invention since air conditioning. There's no better way to occupy kids attention on long drives than movies and video games.

3) Currency for kids today (at least elementary aged boys) is in Yu-gi-oh cards. Those have real value. Money is infinite and has no trade value.

Ok, so I was packing our ABF container 4 weeks ago today. With some help I thought we were ready to head out early Friday the 16th of July. However, I could hardly sleep after seeing how pitiful a packing job was done by the kids we hired to help. While I had been side-tracked disconnecting the refrigerator and packing loose ends, the two teenagers made a disaster of the last half of the container. I spent the first half of the next day, the 16th, unpacking that half and repacking as best I could: hard sweaty work. After having spent most of the previous two weeks removing dry rot under our house, I was tired of Portland and ready to leave.

Cleaning the house so it was ready to show to prospective buyers took the rest of the day. We didn't head out until about 8pm and so only made it to Salem. After running into a bizarre Indian hotel manager we found a place we could hide the dog in. Towing an Accord behind a Mazda MPV isn't fun to begin with, but when parking nazis force you to do gymnastics that threaten your vehicles and your sanity (kids were asleep) it's time to move. The funny part was the place we ended up was a dive. We got a room with 3 beds, but the conversations in the parking lot weren't for children. Let's just say we could have rented the place by the hour if we chose.

The next day, Saturday the 17th, was spent testing the MPV's V6 up the Siskou and Grapevine mountains with the heavy Accord in tow. It did great even though it was very hot. I'm very impressed with this vehicle so far. We made it to our hotel in Salem Saturday night without incident. Sunday was more of the same and the boys did pretty well. We made it to Grand Dad's in San Diego late Sunday evening.

Monday the 19th we relaxed and spent time with the cousins. Becky had a final interview in Phoenix Wednesday morning so we left San Diego Tuesday afternoon for the drive to our hotel in Phoenix, with one stop. Riverside is a mess. Yuck. We made it to my brother's temporary residence in Palm Springs for dinner and a swim after a hot day.

The mansion Dan is staying in for his intership is pretty impressive. It's about 5,000 sf and on a golf course. We enjoyed the cool swim and Dan's hospitality. I promised to visit him and the Annenberg Foundation he's working at and he agreed to move into our guest room in Glendale for at least the first few weeks of last year at ASU (MBA/MHA). Tuesday concluded with the boring 4 hour stretch of Hwy 10 from Palm Springs to Phoenix. Thank goodness for caffeine and the Flying J truck stop.