Crew

Wednesday's big event: biking to crew practice in the early morning hours to watch Eli row! Rowing is quite the sport around here - each of the individual colleges has a team; so it's like intramural basketball or something at home, at least in that it's much more widely available and more participated in - maybe a bit more committment required since it involves a lot more practice and early mornings (cold, dark, bad weather) and much harder work - but can you imagine intramural rowing? Yikes. So the Cam is quite narrow through most of the course - in some stretches not even wide enough to turn the boat! - which makes for chaos at times when somebody stops, or wants to pass, or catches a crab mid-stream. (Rowers, picture the chaos at the start or the docks of the Head of the Charles - that's daily life around here.) And the coaches ride bikes up & down the path beside the river (some with bullhorns, some just yell).

It was so dark and cloudy that I didn't get many good pictures, but I did have a funny exchange with Eli's coach - after several times of me stopping my bike to take pictures of Eli's boat, he called out to the guys as they went past "Row pretty for the lady! Must be for a magazine or something!" - and when I laughed and told him I was Eli's sister, he turned back to the boat and said "Oh! Eli, row pretty for your sister!" Eli was thoroughly embarrassed I'm sure!

Rowers - this is to give you an idea of the narrowness of the river - and the crowd - and the coaches biking up & down the path on the bank!

Cambridge

After spending most of the day yesterday resting and recovering both from travelling and the past two weeks of work (I slept in, read my book, napped, etc....), today was the day to get out and see Cambridge! (Eli was busy with classes, etc., and unfortunately couldn't join me.) I was so thankful to see the sun shining when I woke up - apparently most of the English winter is cold and cloudy/rainy, and sunshine is a rare treat. It didn't last all day but at least it didn't rain! (And while cloudy weather limits what one can do with lighting for photographic purposes, I had a few shots that turned out alright....)

I spent the morning wandering through some of the "colleges" at Cambridge and enjoying the beautiful green lawns and old architecture. (Cambridge is organized into residential "colleges" - King's College, St. John's college, etc. - Churchill College in Eli's case - that are separate from the academic departments.) I was pretty sure I was an uninvited guest in some cases, as the colleges are closed to visitors (or even charge admission!) for some parts of the day, but I decided that as long as I acted like I knew where I was going, and didn't dilly-dally taking too many pictures, everyone would just think I was a student!

Trinity College Bridge over the Cam:


Then I headed to the Cambridge Botanical Gardens. I knew there wouldn't be much blooming in the middle of winter, but it was still a nice walk.

Snowdrops:


in the Winter Garden:


Orchids in the "hothouse:"


I also stopped by the local art museum, and then headed for a bookstore/cafe for afternoon tea and a croissant, and relaxed with a copy of Jane Eyre (feeling very British by this time!). Altogether a very pleasant day which I may repeat parts of (especially the afternoon tea part!) tomorrow!

In England!

Surprise! I'm currently in Cambridge, England, visiting my brother Eli, who is here studying for a master's degree this year..... As of this time last week I though I was spending my vacation at home working on re-organizing and painting our study, but Matt found a great deal on a plane ticket, so on Tuesday we decided I would leave for England on Saturday, and here I am!

I arrived in Cambridge at about 9:30 yesterday (Sunday) morning, and after making the 30 minute walk from the bus stop to Eli's flat, we headed to 11:30 church. Eli goes to a great Church of England church (reformed, great preaching) in a beautiful old building with stained glass windows and wood pews..... and a modern praise band with piano, drums, guitar, 2 electric guitars, a flute, and an old overhead projector for the words!

I crashed pretty hard after church though and slept through both lunch and Sunday evening service, but woke up for dinner and the NFL football party. Eli had organized a group to get together and watch the games (at 8pm/11:30pm local time), and brought real American snacks (real Lays, Oreos, Planters peanuts, etc).... a huge hit! (Apparently the British version of potato chips aren't quite the same.) We enjoyed watching the game (I think most of the guys watched both games, though I headed back to bed after the Patriots won) and explaining some of the finer points of American football to the Brits.... like the blitz with an extra pass rusher (to which one of the Brits asked, "and where does the extra chap come from?"). It was great.

Pink Eye, How I Hate Thee

Ah yes. After working a month in the Peds ER, I have contracted that oh-so-frightening infection known as pink eye. (Technically, viral follicular conjunctivitis - but pink eye covers it pretty well.) Bright red eye, itching, burning, tearing, swollen eyelid, eye crusted shut when I wake up in the morning, sore throat from all that drainage running down my throat, the works. And it's apparently highly contagious, which is why I haven't been allowed to work...

For the record, I have NOT wanted to be stuck at home with this infection - I have tried to work but continue to be told not to be around patients, other residents, etc., by DOCTORS... I was sent home from my ER shift on Wednesday morning with my bright red draining eye, then went Thursday evening for my overnight ER shift and was sent straight to the Eye Foundation Hospital's ER for an evaluation. That doc grounded me from work until it got better or until seeing my opthalmologist. No improvement over the weekend so I saw my doc today, who says come back Wednesday and no work before then! So I can't be back at work until Thursday at the earliest. SO frustrating. I will have missed 7 days of work just because of an eye virus! :(

Christmas Lights? It's November 10!

While driving home from dinner last night, Matt and I passed a house in our neighborhood with Christmas lights up, and lighted reindeer with Santa's sleigh in the front yard. Now, really, people... don't make me go into my rant about starting the Christmas season before Thanksgiving...

Early Mornings

3:30am, and I'm wide awake! (Trust me, this NEVER happens... I'm such a sleeper!) My sleeping schedule has been a bit messed up after switching off of the night shift - yesterday I woke up at 5am, also wide awake. I didn't go to bed until 11pm, though, so you'd think I'd be tired....

Anyway. My usual routine is that I am a very sound sleeper and have a hard time waking up to any kind of alarm (unless I'm on call at the hospital, when any little thing wakes me up), and usually am very groggy for awhile - at least until I get a shower - before being anywhere near glad that I'm awake. (I don't think I'm a mean or grouchy person in the mornings, though Matt might say otherwise, having a more honest perspective on the situation - I'm just quiet and don't like to be bothered, and am easily bothered first thing in the morning!) So my early morning awakenings recently have been quite a change. It's been nice, actually - I like having time in the mornings to relax, drink a cup of coffee (or hot chocolate in tonight's case), have my quiet time, get some things done around the house, and not be rushed to get out the door. That's my dream of the kind of person I would like to be - it's just not who I usually am right now - so, while strange, I'm actually enjoying this off-schedule-ness!

Good Morning from the ER

1:12 AM. Just over halfway through my ER shift tonight! I'm working a series of 7pm-7am shifts (fondly called "overnights"), beginning last night and going through Monday night. Certainly not my favorite thing I've done in residency so far, but at least I'm 1.5 shifts down, 4.5 shifts to go....

The Children's Hospital ER is an interesting place, to say the least. We have such a range of patients who come in - for example: between last night and tonight, I have:

• sewn up 2 facial cuts (one hit chin on bathtub; one hit forehead on coffee table)
• seen a few patients with wheezing (they all went home)
• admitted a 6 year old girl to the psychiatry ward (she was threatening to kill her mother and sister, bad situation)
• admitted an 18month old who swallowed a coin and is going to the OR tomorrow morning to have it removed
• seen a few patients with colds (seriously.... there are WAY too many people who come to the ER with snotty noses and cough...)
• seen a few patients with abdominal pain, diarrhea, etc.
• seen a 7 week old with a VP shunt (a tube placed in the brain by a neurosurgeon to drain excess cerebrospinal fluid)

Trying to think... not much else that's been exciting.... Right now I'm just killing time until the next patient comes in, who knows what that will be.... or when, for that matter!