A Home Away from Home
Trip Start
Sep 09, 2010
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2
Trip End
Feb 13, 2011
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
Thursday, November 11, 2010
This is the first blog in a long time so I'll talk about this trip and quickly catch up on the last months.
So the trip there was brutal. I got home from work around 5, rushed to shower and get head back out (I had been on call the night before and was disgusting). I managed to catch the bus I wanted, problem was that the traffic was ridiculous and the bus was then running 20 min late. I spent 1.5 hrs on this bus, standing with my pack that is about the same size as me pulling me down with every jerk. Surprisingly didn't crush anyone on the bus. So I missed the transfer to the bus that takes you to the Ferry and thus the Ferry itself. THEN there wasn't another for 1.5 hrs. Wonderful. Thanks God for audiobooks and mild Vancouver weather.
I finally got on the Ferry and napped most of the way. The call the night before had been uber light, but I was still post call and had worked all day then been stuck up in transport for eons. The nap was pretty descent save for the fact I had this intractable chill the entire time, no matter how many layers I piled on.
Now when I arrived at on Vancouver Island my "dad" and "mum" had ordered a taxi for me. It wasn't there. In the end, because Bluebird taxi in Victoria is incompetent I waited another hour just to start the trip out to their place. I had left my place in Van and arrived at my destination after 7hours. Lovely indeed.
It was worth it though. I got to see my second "family". These are people with whom I grew up as kids, so much that I call them sister and brother, and mum and dad. The first night my sister and I talked for 3 hours and I was in bed at 3:30(after being up since 5 am post-call..haha, but it was worth it). We had years to catch up on. Although we talked on the phone and had updates that way, it just isn't the same to see the expression on her face and the really meaning of each intonation. It was like being a girl again.
The next four days involved doing as little as possible and having as much fun as possible. We went for sushi as a family. We went shopping and bought bar clothes! I haven't done that, maybe officially ever. I got the skankiest dress ever - hey it was $20 and packed up small. LOL. We went clubbing in said clothes and dances for hours and hours. I haven't danced at a club with that much freedom in years. Let's be honest, dancing at block parties just isn't chill like it should be. I met my sis's friends were are all incredibly nice and good hearted. And hilarious. We sat and watched Freaks and Geaks for hours, we watched movies, we went to the movie theatre (Due Date is worth it). All around, I felt all the shackles of school, work, CaRMs fall away for just a bit. Oh and we ate Bubba food (aka delicious Iranian dishes my "dad" makes). Best.
So in short, it is rough to even think of heading back to Van, but I must. I'm there doing Peds Ortho. I have to admit I still really like that lots. My preceptor is cool and the residents on service are really open, which is crucial. It is making for a good two weeks.
Before this I was in Calgary for two weeks. Those two weeks were a disaster. I was doine core ortho with two staff. The one wasn't there the second week since she was off on a course to learn how to teach (she was cool, but clearly had steps to make to be a seasoned teacher). The other staff was chill, but we just didn't connect. I also got sick which was not too awesome and made the long days rough. Oh and I failed to get the pager back in time (I was at the Rocky and the pager needed to get back to the Foothills which is a 20min drive) - I was there at 3:35 and everyone was gone. I had been told "people like to leave early cuz its Friday". No one told me just how early and I though 3:30/4. Turns out WAY early than that. Then I got chewed out even though I expressed posted it to get there as soon as possible.
Only great part about Calgary was heading up Lady MacDonald Mountain with Adrian who happened to be around. We killed that Lady...ok I almost made it to the top, but the too much snow and the steep slope made me a bit nervous. Oh, and then I had an asthma attack? Haha. I'm still coughing Adrian - but at least now I have a sore throat too so I might just actually have been getting sick very slowly. Plus we saw a few concerts while we were there. Those little outings were my saving grace.
Before that I was in Kelowna. There I fell in love with interventional radiology.
So last message was from Saskatoon. Well right after that was my other ridiculous unfortunate adventure. I cycled while in Saskatoon and was cycling back after work on my the Monday of my last week and a car came so close that I had two choices - get hit my moving car or I swerve and hit parked car. I picked the latter. Then I didn't break for unknown reasons. I was also going downhill and had been going a pretty impressive klick. So I hit the car head first then flipped over my bike. It all ended with me sliding off the back of the car and crumpling to the ground, shoulder first. Didn't break anything. Didn't even sprain anything. I just strained every single muslce in my body- I was using 1g Tylenol alternating with 600mg ibuprofen q2h for two days and was still in excruciating pain. Best part - car obviously didn't stop.
Overall, electives have had some great moments but they aren't as awesome as I imagined they would be. I'm actually probably performing cores to these. We'll see how the next few go and thank God for this trip to the island to regroup.
Hope you kids are all well and staying out of trouble.
Jaz
