So, it is now June 19... the summer has been passing quickly, and I know that before we all know it, it'll be back to school and back to stressing about those exams and TOSCE's! And I'm working full-time plus my RA job and my summer HUB exec office hours, so it's no wonder I am not noticing those beautiful summer days passing by. But I'm now at work, my supervisor left and will be back at 1pm, and she gave me something to do, but it took me all of 15 minutes, so I guess I have 2 hours to blog and re-read Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix before the movie comes out!!
So, what am I up to? I think you all know what jobs I'm doing. I was moved to College Plaza to work for the Dept. of Family Medicine (from the Royal Alex) under Dr. Denise Armstrong, the Quality Assurance Manager. I never knew what that meant until I started, and even now I'm a bit confused with some of the things I'm doing. I am definitely getting the hang of it, though... I've revised 4 surveys that we will distribute to the family clinics that are under the Dept., and I've looked at data sources that we can use to measure improvement and the direction of the Department. It is quite interesting, actually, since it's all new to me, and I have input of my own, being a medical student here.
My HUB exec office hours, which I have tonight after this job, are quite lax... I basically sit in the office in the unknown HCA and wait for people who want to rent movies or vacuums and the like. The thing is... hardly anybody ever shows up. So I will watch 1 movie each shift, and by the summer's end I shall be more knowledgeable in the area of pop culture concerning movies... a connoisseur, maybe? haha... probably not... but hey, I can catch up for all those movies I missed when I was younger and living out in the boonies.
I also am working in College Plaza on the 18th floor (vs. 2nd floor for Family Med) for Dr. Mereu in her ACCORD research project. Last week the nurse showed me how to do an EKG, which is pretty easy considering we've learned quite a bit in Cardio except for actually doing an EKG... hopefully I will be certified to do them on my own sometime over the summer. And now that I'm working in College Plaza all day rather than having to commute to the Royal Alex, I work 5 hours with Dr. Mereu, twice a week, so I get much more done (it's actually amazing how much more I get done with 2 more hours a week!), and so I'm less rushed and get to do a greater variety of small jobs there. I don't get bored easily, but data entry for a whole shift ain't exactly exciting stuff. I like to get that done with so that I can do other things, even shadow the docs, which of course is the best part of working there! Dr. Mereu was also extremely generous (again, as everybody in med knows about her support groups... which I'm in... and the reason I have this job in the first place) and invited the people who work on her project and I, and she even invited Chris! to "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" at the Mayfield Dinner Theater!! It was great, by the way, and the food was great too, of course... And Chris and I, together with his roommate and girlfriend/classmate of ours, have a gift certificate to the Theatre since we missed the play for Valentine's Day due to Chris' surgery in February.
Hmmm... what else is up? Oh yeah, the convocation breakfast for the medical class of 2007 where I had to give out 3 awards. Well, it was at the Beverly Hills Ballroom in the Fantasyland Hotel at West Edmonton Mall. I wasn't on the guest list, so they put me on the very front and center table with the guests of honor, the Elliotts. So I got to eat first, w00t, but boy was I nervous, even though I only had 3 awards to hand out. It went well, though, even though I know I sounded very nervous for the first award. Everybody said I sounded great and didn't seem nervous, but I think they were just being nice. The Elliotts are very nice, and the memorial award they handed out was for clinical acumen, academic standing and on demonstration of devotion to patient care, to colleagues, and to learning, which Dr. Elliott's grand-daughter gave out. One graduate was a super genius... she got a gold medal (not the gold medal for the top mark in medicine.. that was handed to her on Friday at the graduation ceremony where everybody became a Doctor!) and many other awards, and I was told that she had PERFECT marks in her clinical years (unheard of, really), and the highest mark in medicine in Canada! She also received a humanitarianism award. Wow. I wish I could be like her... but I'm just an average med student  =( Oh, well... it's still weird to think I'm even IN medicine. I seriously think it was my interview... my application seems petty compared to ALL the amazing med students in my class.
I also like to meet up with my fellow med classmates to play frisbee or BBQ some burgers or just generally hang out and have fun. I love my class so much, everybody is so amazing and outgoing and friendly. It's a good thing some are still here over the summer so we can hang out. We were at Joe's house last Friday and for the first time ever I got to play on the Wii... we all did! It was sooo much fun, we stayed til 1am (and he lives in Sherwood Park... so I got home late). We were throwing a football around that night, too, and a stray throw made me kick out my right leg (yes, that's the bad one) to try stop the football... OWW. Yeah, so couldn't play frisbee that night and instead stood around and got eaten alive by mosquitos. It's a wonder I am not the first case of West Nile yet, either... I seriously am bitten all over.
So, 3 months after surgery I get to start the jogging/slow running THANK GOODNESS, cuz I've gained a few pounds recently, and I will now watch what and when I eat, and I can't wait to start running again, because I miss those 7km round trip jogs to the lake at home that I did last summer. And I signed up for intramural beach volleyball (I miss campus rec so much.. a whole year with only waterpolo? that sucked!), and hopefully slo-pitch is a go if we get enough players.
Well, that's it... oh, I'm finally getting my car fixed (tie rod cracked, muffler is disconnected so I give a nice roar when I drive haha, and maybe some new rear tires and gear box if it's cheap enough).
That's it!! A cute pic to make you smile below =)