random occurences

Wow, it's been awhile since I posted something here. I'm feeling compelled to put something up in spite of lacking any real earth-shattering occurences or epiphanies. So, what's happened in the last couple of months?

-I delivered about a dozen or so babies in May, and had a great time doing it. One was a patient I had followed throughout her entire pregnancy, which was especially neat. Makes me think I want to keep doing OB as part of my practice when I get out. Of course, if I'm on the mission field somewhere, there really is no option not to.

-I was on call a lot, making me think OB might not be all it's cracked up to be. (just kidding... sort of)

-Goldfish and I rocked out a month of in-patient medicine on "team B". Yes, there is another resident with the last name of Goldfish. This is especially comical when old demented ladies tell their kids/grandkids about their doctor. Fish (as we call him) called a family member about a patient one day. All I hear is "Yes, ma'am, my name really is Goldfish . . . Yep, I can understand why you wouldn't believe your demented mother . . . Yes, that really is funny, I agree." Followed by the look of "here we go again"

-There were several good stories about a particular patient who was temporarily a paranoid schizophrenic thanks to a good dose of methamphetamines. Unfortunately, none of them are family friendly. Just trust me. Don't do drugs.

-Somewhere along the line, there started the big to do about Obama's plans to reform healthcare. The general consensus at the hospital? Good luck. See, there's this problem that a lot of American's have: Stupid. You can't cure Stupid. Examples are both boundless and protected by HIPPA. I'm not really opposed to universal coverage, and I know the system right now is unsustainable. But... well, that's probably a good topic for another blog.

-I finished my intern year of residency. Woohoo! The workload gets quite a bit easier this year with less call and generally better hours. More time to blog? I guess we'll see. This year has really flown by, and just two more years to go.

-My Orthopedics rotation just got started. Looking forward to lots of joint injections, improving my knee/shoulder physical exam skills, and hopefully doing some casting.

-Been thinking a lot about Papua New Guinea. I can't believe I got to do all that I did last year! I will be much better prepared when I go back, and hopefully I'll be more useful. Only 10 months away!

-I spent the July 4th weekend with my entire family at the old Kumor farm. It was a great weekend. I got to see all my brothers and sisters, not to mention my nieces, nephews, and of course my grandma. She is such a funny lady, and so sharp! If I can be as independent and spunky as her when I'm 90, then sign me up. Anyway, we all got to do the usual fun Kumor things like shoot water balloons at each other, eat way more food than any human being needs, and shoot the breeze 'till all hours of the night. We also got to do less usual things (for me) like camping, swimming, and fishing. I especially enjoyed hanging out with my big brother Joe. He is a good guy and I look up to him in a lot of ways. Hopefully he'll be moving up to Nebraska before I finish residency and get shipped somewhere at the mercy of the Air Force.