I've always loathed Sundays...the last of two days sans work, always coupled with anxiety of the week to come and depression of the minutes left of free time. This Sunday I'm particularly sad... just had a wonderful weekend with my two lovely lady friends from Seattle, Lisa and Katie. The three of us met the summer of 2008 in the learning lab on the sixth floor of the T-wing of the Magnuson Health Science Center. Both were fellow cohorts of the last of the Women's Health Care Nurse Practitioner track at University of Washington. The three of us have been through a lot together... a wedding, grief of a lost parent, children starting and graduating from college, a parent with cancer, a heart break, etc... but now, we are all employed nurse practitioners who no longer have to take a 30 minute power nap in the library because of a pending 12 hour 7p-7a shift to work that night or splitting up some bullshit mock case about dysfunctional uterine bleeding for the two hours of torture by my nemesis...Dot (the director of the Women's Health program) during clinical seminar every week. I stupidly decided to take the Doctorate track, which kept me in hell a.k.a. grad school for one year past Katie and Lisa... which was horribly painful trying to finish without my two school besties. They are both seasoned NPs... Katie is working in an OB/GYN office and Lisa in a Reproductive Health office and it is so inspiring to see them both feeling more comfortable in their roles. And although many of our weekend conversations consisted of the appearance of an atrophic endometrial layer on ultrasound or the function of Estrogen during the menstrual cycle... we had a wonderful time. As a primary care provider I don't exercise my brain regarding the minutia of women's health as much as they do, so I found my memory being jogged on many accounts... but they don't envy my responsibility to manage Emphysema or Atrial Fibrillation. They have both been my biggest cheerleaders and it felt good to show them my office and talk about the struggles of being a new provider during the first year. They both agreed that things were going well for me in Portlandia... which was very reassuring. I've had my bumps in the road here in Portland and I have definitely unpacked the "I"m lonely and single and it makes me sad" box from the move... unfortunately I couldn't leave that one in Seattle or put it in storage for forever... but as we all agreed I am on the right track.
I picked them up from the train station Friday night and we headed out for a drink at my favorite bar Circa 33. Saturday morning we took Rupert for a walk to my office and then on to Mt. Tabor. We found a delicious Jewish Deli, Kenny and Zuke's (I enjoyed a bowl of Matzoh Ball soup) and of course we went shopping. These aunties bought Rupert a toy and portable water bowl at my favorite pet store Hip and Hound and spent close to an hour at Lucky Jeans with an over zealous saleslady. For dinner we dined at Nuestra Cucina...which had amazing food and even better margaritas. This morning we waited the token 65 minutes to enjoy the amazing goodness of brunch at the Screen Door... perused the shelves at Powell's, then treated ourselves to a pedicure before dropping them off at the train station. Sigh... now I'm back on my couch with my adorable puppy snoring next to me, wondering how the weekend went by so fast. This week will be filled with being on call, protesting Valentine's day and getting ready to officiate a wedding this weekend in Seattle. Yep... officiating... this will be wedding #5!
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Daniff = Great Dane + English Mastiff = Love
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Last Saturday I officially became the proud owner of a Daniff... a bit of an impulsive move, but I'm absolutely smitten with my 40lbs of 13 week ball of love... Rupert. I've been contemplating getting a dog for awhile. My lifestyle for the last 7 years has been noncondusive for dog-owning... thus why I've stuck to my two feline companions Auddy and Midge. Auddy is my red headed problem child who has probably met every neighbor in a two block radius and then there is Midge... my special needs child... seriously if cats could have trisomy 21... she has it. And now we have Rupert. My family has always had dogs... and cats... and horses... and goats... it feels great to have a dog of my own. He definitely is more of a companion than my girls... I am excited for the day we get the go ahead for the dog park... T-minus 3 weeks. Today he's only 40lbs... but he'll probably be upwards of 140lbs, I may have to get a different couch to accommodate both of us! Currently I am obsessed with his bowel habits... trying to house train and am consumed with his every move hoping to be that diligent dog owner... attempting to not be a total failure. Thankfully, I'm fortunate to have a great friend who comes every day at lunch to let 'ol Rupert out... they are officially BFFLs. And Rupert's BFFL has been extremely helpful with creating a routine and as a result... Rupert has been doing wonderfully. I'll keep you posted with his progress and growth... we are soon to start puppy classes.
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Happy New Year
Once again... I have found myself 3 weeks status post my last entry. Well, hello 2012. I am really hoping you are going to be better than your predecessor.
I've officially been a primary care provider for two entire months. I've been living in Portland for 86 days.
Being a primary care provider has been an interesting ride thus far. I am thankful on a daily basis that I have put in my time as an ER nurse. In the emergency department, you quickly learn the tools of deciphering if someone was FOS and drug seeking. I could smell a drug seeker from a mile away... but at the end of the day, it wasn't ever my decision to order a narcotic... my job was to get it out of a pixis station where I had to count how many pills or vials were in the drawer and then waste with another RN the portion that was ungiven to the patient. Now, I hold the cards. I decide whether or not to prescribe pain medication, how much, length of time and if the patient returns to my exam room... whether or not I'll authorize more refills. With this power comes a great deal of misery. I have already had one irate patient call the office repeatedly, yell and hang up on the front desk staff, angry that I refuse to refill his vicodin... last week I was seeing a gentleman as an ER follow up only to find he wanted refills on Percocet and Methadone... I told him I wouldn't charge him for the visit but I could not help him... this of course was followed by a long diatrabe of: how could I just let him suffer like this? and oddly enough, he was moving in a few weeks and why couldn't I just help him out this one time? He was going to go into withdrawl... wasn't I concerned? No sir, I am not concerned... now this is the shit they don't teach you in school.
Portland continues to be a place I enjoy... but it still hasn't totally sunk in that I live here. The other night my friends Amiee and Matt and I had an inkling for something sweet... Amiee and I went out to a neighborhood coffee shop/dessert cafe called Palio Dessert and Expresso House. Normally, I try to steer clear from sugar (key word being 'try') but I was overcome by their blackberry cobbler. Amiee tried the vegan oat cake and Matt the German Chocolate cake... but the best part of this entire experience was observing a fellow patron of this said dessert spot. A man in his late 30s, heavy set, bearded (but that goes without saying in Portland... everyone has a beard here, even the women), was sitting at a table blowing bubbles. Honest to God bubbles. Nothing ceases to amaze me in this town.
My dear friend Felice and I started a tradition of focusing on one word for the new year in place of making a list of resolutions. This year I've decided that my word is: "proactive". The impetus for this word is that I have realized I need to really embrace this transition to a new city and attempt to form a community and to start actually living IN Portland. In light of this proactivity, I have decided to join two meet up groups: a running/beer drinking group and a cycling group. Mind you... this isn't my first rodeo with meet up groups... I joined like six of them in Seattle but I have yet to actually show up to one event. So tomorrow, January 4 2012... I am going to join the NoPo Run Club for a 5k and beers.
I've officially been a primary care provider for two entire months. I've been living in Portland for 86 days.
Being a primary care provider has been an interesting ride thus far. I am thankful on a daily basis that I have put in my time as an ER nurse. In the emergency department, you quickly learn the tools of deciphering if someone was FOS and drug seeking. I could smell a drug seeker from a mile away... but at the end of the day, it wasn't ever my decision to order a narcotic... my job was to get it out of a pixis station where I had to count how many pills or vials were in the drawer and then waste with another RN the portion that was ungiven to the patient. Now, I hold the cards. I decide whether or not to prescribe pain medication, how much, length of time and if the patient returns to my exam room... whether or not I'll authorize more refills. With this power comes a great deal of misery. I have already had one irate patient call the office repeatedly, yell and hang up on the front desk staff, angry that I refuse to refill his vicodin... last week I was seeing a gentleman as an ER follow up only to find he wanted refills on Percocet and Methadone... I told him I wouldn't charge him for the visit but I could not help him... this of course was followed by a long diatrabe of: how could I just let him suffer like this? and oddly enough, he was moving in a few weeks and why couldn't I just help him out this one time? He was going to go into withdrawl... wasn't I concerned? No sir, I am not concerned... now this is the shit they don't teach you in school.
Portland continues to be a place I enjoy... but it still hasn't totally sunk in that I live here. The other night my friends Amiee and Matt and I had an inkling for something sweet... Amiee and I went out to a neighborhood coffee shop/dessert cafe called Palio Dessert and Expresso House. Normally, I try to steer clear from sugar (key word being 'try') but I was overcome by their blackberry cobbler. Amiee tried the vegan oat cake and Matt the German Chocolate cake... but the best part of this entire experience was observing a fellow patron of this said dessert spot. A man in his late 30s, heavy set, bearded (but that goes without saying in Portland... everyone has a beard here, even the women), was sitting at a table blowing bubbles. Honest to God bubbles. Nothing ceases to amaze me in this town.
My dear friend Felice and I started a tradition of focusing on one word for the new year in place of making a list of resolutions. This year I've decided that my word is: "proactive". The impetus for this word is that I have realized I need to really embrace this transition to a new city and attempt to form a community and to start actually living IN Portland. In light of this proactivity, I have decided to join two meet up groups: a running/beer drinking group and a cycling group. Mind you... this isn't my first rodeo with meet up groups... I joined like six of them in Seattle but I have yet to actually show up to one event. So tomorrow, January 4 2012... I am going to join the NoPo Run Club for a 5k and beers.
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