Far, Far Away (St. Louis, Missouri)

I've got a break from reading about nonsyndromic craniosynostosis, and thought I'd add a bit to our family's little blog. I've been in St. Louis for two full weeks now, doing a 4 week away rotation at Washington University School of Medicine's hospital, the widely renowned Barnes-Jewish Hospital (top 10 in the country, or so the many billboards say).

I

don't have official estimates, but it's about 3 times larger than Scott & White Hospital in Temple, and spans a much greater distance. It was intimidating just trying to get around the hospital at first, but at least they had signs up (much like an airport) telling how to get from one wing/campus to another. They have about 5 different operating rooms, too, which makes it even more challenging. After two weeks of that, I more or less know how to get around to where I need to be. Could you imagine if this were just a 2 week rotation?

I unwisely accepted the offer to stay with an LDS couple (MD/PhD student) for the 4 days before my sublet apartment opened up. Unwise in that I didn't ask where they lived in relation to the hospital and how they commuted. Turns out that since he's doing his PhD years (i.e. not strict hours), he takes the bus for 45 minutes each way to and from school. This is fine, except that to round at 5:30 in the morning, I had to be at the bus stop at 4:45 in the morning, and that meant waking up at 4:00AM. The couple was more than generous, but that time frame led to very inconvenient circumstances for both sides (can you imagine someone getting up at 4 in the morning in your house to get ready?). I'm very grateful they helped, but it was not the wisest decision. I'm now subletting from a 4th year student who is also doing an away rotation. Her 1 bedroom apartment is 15 minutes walking from the hospital, which is perfect. It was not cheap, but it's better than renting a car! I'm just glad that I'm so much closer.

Well, what's the experience been like so far? Aside from the heart break and the depression of being away from my awesome and loving and gorgeous wife (te amo bb) and also my rambunctious and super cute kids, it has been good overall. Phone calls home every night just don't cut it, do they? I had some bumps to get over at first, as the coordinators didn't get me a password for the electric patient medical records until about 5 days ago (after I went and raised heck). Another complication has been that Texas A&M's "wonderful" new email system for some unknown reason BLOCKS all Wash U's emails...can you imagine this?! I was getting updates and the such and had NO idea! That has been interesting, in a not so great way. Anyway, back to the rotation: there are some big-hitting names in the plastic surgery department here, and they do some incredible cases and procedures I had never before heard of (bridging intercostal-sural nerve grafts to restore function to the brachialis?). The head of their department is the biggest name in peripheral nerve repair in the country, and some of the other faculty are some important people as well. All the staff I've worked with so far have been surprisingly open and welcoming, except perhaps the residency program director who's a little more dry than I'd like. We'll see if I can win him over with these last few weeks. :) It's been hard to impress too much given I didn't have a password, and many times there is a fellow AND a resident in on a case, so I don't get as much "face time" as they say with the attending surgeon. I've done call twice: once was incredibly tough and 32 hours straight of work, and the second one was quite light (I'll do it twice more). Overall, though, the people are very helpful and cordial, and I'm hoping they're liking what they see in my effort, personality, abilities, and overall contribution. This is a program, I believe, that pushes people to excell and be their best, but does so in an appropriate fashion. They are family friendly, and the residents have shown me that they really support each other quite a lot, especially when tragedy occurs in the live's of their families. Most of the residents have warmed up to me, at least from what I can tell, though some are more lukewarm. I hope to win them over, but you can't please everybody all the time, right? I think I could be happy here in their training program. Too bad they're doing away with the 5 year plastics programs (all programs must be at least 6 years now).

I've also gotten to do some cutting, sewing, and casting that I didn't get to do before (and gotten some pretty good tips on how to best do it, which is great), and hope that I continue to improve so as to impress the remaining surgeons I haven't worked with yet and my other aways (and of course Scott & White). It's been a very intense learning experience, and I hope these last two weeks are positive and beneficial. I'm hoping to get a letter or two of recommendation, but we'll see how all that rolls out. :) One thing's for sure: I really, really, really wish that this didn't take the whole 4 weeks to come to fruition. Being so "far, far away" as Nicky told me on one phone call, has been very hard. I feel so bad that I can't be there for Claudia in her struggles with the kids and all that she does...it's truly been a sacrifice for her. I call them every night, but we can only talk for a few minutes. My heart goes out to them, and I can't wait to get back in 12.5 days. I love them so much, and can't wait to get back to Temple. I think I'll appreciate a medium sized hospital a LOT more now. Time to go, so much to read and study, so little time!

Monterrey, Mexico!

We just got back from a whirlwind 5 day trip to Monterrey, Mexico. We decided to go since I'll be leaving for Missouri soon and we wanted to spend some fun time together as a family...oh, and Claudia was wanting some authentic Mexican food. :) We drove down on Saturday, made good time, and we just skipped over the border (though we did get stopped twice they took one look in the van and let us go; I guess kids watching DVDs isn't very suspicious, is it?). If you haven't driven across before, you won't appreciate this, but border Mexican towns are intimidating and don't look very nice, i.e. they're "ghetto." We had been telling Nicky about our trip to Mexico for a few days, and as we crossed through Nuevo Laredo (border town), Nicky asked us, with a quivering voice, "I-i-is th-th-this Me-me-xico?" We told her it was the border, but to not be afraid or think that this was like the rest of Mexico (which it's not). Claudia promptly took over the driving duties from the border on, and did great manuevering around traffic in the city. We were a bit tired when we arrived, but were able to visit some with family and a few of Claudia's friends. Of course, we had to eat some delicious food, and got some tacos from our favorite taco restaurant in Monterrey, "El Rey del Taco" (the king of taco). They tasted great, but Claudia was disappointed in the spiciness of the salsa. Oh, well, we can't have everything.
On Sunday we met up with our old friend Tono, and later that night got to meet his fiance, Graciela. They are a cute couple, but Tono got a little too lovey-dovey a few times...reminded me of us when we were engaged...of course, we weren't 30. :) We're happy they've found each other and know they'll be happy together. We also got to visit some with our good friends Fernando and Gloria, who have a little 2 year old boy, Fernandito, with another one on the way.
On Monday, Claudia ran some errands with her mom to help her uncle with some purchases. Claudia took advantage of the time out to stock up on some of her favorite mexican candies. At night, we had a great get together with all of Claudia's friends from law school and their spouses. We introduced and played Clue for a few rounds, which they hadn't played before. It was a hit, but by the time it was midnight, everybody was a bit tired to keep thinking. Claudia and the two Glorias brought some yummy hamburgers and tacos, and a few gringas (which is the name for a taco with carne asada and pork al pastor, two different meats, with oaxaca cheese...mmmm). We had a blast visiting everyone: Milton & Gloria, Yovana & Yeraldo, and Fernando and Gloria.
On Tuesday, we ran a few more errands, and visited Claudia's Aunt Gloria (who helped out so much during Claudia's pregnancy with Ian) and Claudia's brother Dan. The kids loved Dan's place, as he has 3 kids and lots of toys at their house. The most popular thing was Dan's eldest son's electrical car, which Nicky kept driving around their front patio (not very well, but she had a great time until we told her it was time to go). Ian was a surprisingly calm passenger. We were running all over the place on Tuesday, because we wanted to be packed and ready to go by Wednesday morning. We did get one last night in of visiting with Claudia's law friends, as we all ate at "El Torito," a fancy Mexican restaurant in Monterrey. The food was great, we ordered a parrillada for 3, and Claudia ordered an appetizer of Mojella, which is something I tried but left to Claudia to enjoy (something from chicken, but Claudia doesn't want to know what it is because she likes the taste and doesn't want to be grossed out). We were sad to say our goodbyes because everyone is so busy with work and kids or pregnancies. We sure hope they come and visit sometime this year while we're still close. We spent the night at Aunt Gloria's house, and left the next morning. Aunt Gloria and my mother-in-law were nice enough to take care of the kids once we put them to sleep. We made the trip in good time, and dropped off my mother-in-law at Claudia's sister's house, as she's 40 weeks pregnant and set to deliver any day now. Aunt Gloria came with us back to Temple. We had a great time, and though Claudia brought a lot of great food, we still miss our friends and the fun times (and great food, again!). We're glad that we got to spend some time there and that everything went smoothly. Viva Mexico!