Halloween

We won both of our Ultimate games tonight. Awesome. It is nice to watch and participate in a well played game. The best part...Everyone in costume! Although the word went out to everyone, our team was the only one that fully participated in the costume festivities. Nothing can be more devastating than being beaten by a gigantic inflatable exotic dancer and a "Lacrosse" Dresser.

Anywho, studying is going. Boards are on the 10th, so if I lapse in writing here I apologize. Jana is doing well, still a bit nauseated but no vomitous. She seems to be feeling bad about the prospect of gaining weight, but what a great time to embrace it. Not many opportunities like that.

Finally...Obligatory political message...We as a nation are not better off now than we were four years ago. 9/11, I know, but GW had the post catastrophe benefit of a nation coming together, swelling with pride and cooperation, and the support of the international community, and he pissed (pardon my French) it all away. Please vote your conscience on Tuesday, not your wallet.

Pregnant!?!?!?!? Whaaaaa????

So. Yes. It looks as if Jana is actually pregnant by my doing. I'd have to say one of the best comments we received was from Jana's mother: "Aren't you supposed to be studying?"

Needless to say, we are extremely excited. We have this thing planned down to a science. I graduate May 14 (mark you calendars and stay out of the hospital) followed by packing nine years of living in Tucson and moving to where ever I match (Pacific NW, Alaska, who knows?) followed by orientation the last week or so of June, followed by Internship starting July One (again, please stay out of the hospital, for the love of God, please stay out of the hospital). Crazy times. Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention that the baby is due right in the middle of this whole mess, allegedly around June 20. Good times, good times.

So, I tried to get Jana to start her own pregnancy blog and she feigned illness and walked away. Thus far she is actually doing reasonably well, as I yet have to see any vomitous. She has been feeling quite nauseous, unfortunately, and has begun to develop some taste bud changes (ie, the ten pounds of fresh broccoli we harvested ourselves now tastes like mold. Bummer.) I'll keep you posted on the weird pregnancy stuff.

On the interview front, I now have interviews actually scheduled in Boise, Pocatello, Billings, Klamath Falls, and Portland. I am working on the most complicated flight schedule of all time. It is pretty exciting.

I hope everyone saw the lunar eclipse tonight. The end is near.

News, News, News

Big week around here...

Most of it studying for boards, but the interviews have started to roll in. I have received offers from Portland, Pocatello, and Klamath (Southern Oregon) and expect a few more in the next week or so. I'll be scheduling those and posting my dates as soon as possible.

I watched Naked Lunch this week, and I can think of at least two things wrong with this movie. Can't quite recommend it, but for some reason Lent owns it and it may be worth borrowing. Mean Girls, which we watched last night, was much more entertaining.

Climbed Picacho Peak yesterday. Always an awesome climb, raising you up from the desert floor in such a short (yet steep) manner. The cables on the back side are always an adventure.

Oh, yeah, last but certainly not least...it seems that I knocked up Jana. It's good to be fertile.

Quick update

Applications are sent, and within hours of pushing the button (everything is electronic these days) I received an email from the Alaska Residency program to which I applied letting me know that they received it and my application is already under review. Cool. Now I just sit and study for Boards and wait.

FYI: If you are in or around any of these areas...Portland,OR / Klamath, OR / Vancouver, WA / Boise, ID / Pocatello, ID / Billings, MT... I may be coming your way very soon.

Great comeback Sox.

This is about as political as I get

"Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the president or any other public official, save exactly to the degree in which he himself stands by the country. It is patriotic to support him insofar as he efficiently serves the country. It is unpatriotic not to oppose him to the exact extent that by inefficiency or otherwise he fails in his duty to stand by the country. In either event, it is unpatriotic not to tell the truth, whether about the president or anyone else".
Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President of the United States

I finally watched Farenheit 9/11 last night. Very informative, not terribly profound, and certainly biased, but I reccomend that everyone see it, despite you political background, or dislike for Michael Moore. This quote was note in the movie, but it certainly applies. Please, everyone, think long and hard before you casts your votes in November.

Done with neurology, studying for Step 2 of the boards. Life is much better.

I am embarrassed

People keep coming, and I entertain you with nothing. Nothing, I say, and you'll like it. So I finished my Neurology rotation today. Big exam. Lots of questions about eyes and hands. Didn't study eyes and hands. Crap.

Anyway, it is over, and I am on a 6 week "break." I suppose break isn't exactly the right word since I have to study for and take my board exam, as well as hopefully squeeze in a couple of residency interviews. This new found freedom should give me the impetous to write more, at least more frequently than once a week.

I also pushed the button on my residency applications today. Very scary. I know there shouldn't be that much pressure, but there are a lot of rules, and at the ripe old age of 32, there are a lot of things I had to put to paper. I hope someone likes me.

Finally...If I started a blog where a story line was started, and people could log on and continue the story (much like the "round robin" story writing of 7th grade) would anyone play along? I think it would be fun. Let me know.

Peace out. Miller time.

One shining moment

Before I head off to this week's games, I have to mention (at Taryn's prompting) that I had my first sports related "Moment of Glory." Now, I have played organized sports all of my life from tennis and soccer to downhill and cross country skiing, to an ill fated attempt at pole vaulting my senior year in high school. I have always been able to hold my own, but rarely did I ever get the glory that pro sports have lead me to believe is the only reason for the game.

As most of you know, Ultimate (frisbee) is about the only game I play these days, aside from a little running and swimming. I am okay at this game, and have a couple of skills (well, maybe just one) that are better than the average bear. In last week's game, we were playing a worthy adversary and played point for point most of the game. I was being covered reasonably well by a young man with very large hair as I picked up the disc. I looked left, right, and as I saw my team mate cross the field behind my defender, I launched the disc between his legs, over the head of an oppoonent in the end zone, and into the waiting arms of my team mate for the point.

Beautiful. Absolutely beautiful, if I do say myself. I finally felt that exhillaration that goes with the "glory play" and loved every second of it. Will I get to use this again? Doubtful, but it was worth every penny to see the confused look the faces of both the opposing team as well as my team.

In the immortal words of George Peppard, "I love it when a plan comes together."

Update: We won both of our games tonight. This first against the #1 team in league (previously undefeated)following a 7-2 lead (final score 9-8) and the second against the #9 team. All in all some awesome playing by our team.

If you could choose...

I saw Sally Struthers on TV tonight. No starving Ethernopians, no Bunkers, she was on the Gilmore Girls as a random townsperson voicing her opinion. Big as a house.

Sorry, that was rude. Funny perhaps, but rude none-the-less. The greater question might be: Rob, what are you doing on Tuesday night watching The Gilmore Girls? The easiest answer is that Jana was watching it and I just happened to be passing through the room between doing something medical and doing something profound (such as writing this blog). The true answer is that this show has some of the most entertaining dialog on TV today. I can't quite put it up there with Arrested Development, primarily due to subject matter, but it has much of the same type of fast paced, rhythmic, clever, and entertaining dialog. 'Nuff said, watch The Gilmore Girls.

Now for something completely different...We had a lecture on Aphasias today. An aphasia is (per Taber's Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary): Absence or impairment o the ability to communicate through speech, writing, or signs because of brain dysfunction. There are approximately-at-least eight different types, which I won't expound on at this time. The two I am concerned with are Broca's and Wernicke's Aphasias. They are much more complex than this, but if you boil them down, Broca's involves "broken" or the nonfluent speech (average words per sentence one), and Wernicke's involves a fluent, almost non stop, jibberish-type speech(average words per sentence seven). These come from strokes in specific parts of the brain. If I have time, I will try to provide a link showing examples of the two (or maybe someone with more free time could provide some links in the comments sections).

So my question is: If you had to choose one or the other (in pure form), which would you choose?

I'll go first. I think I would choose Broca's, and consequently a life almost devoid of the sounds coming out of my mouth. I am certain this will be a surprise to many of you who know my propensity for yammering on. I think a life of dignified silence would be more comfortable to me than a more verbose, but no greater content form of communication.

To speak without content or to not speak at all. Now you...

Mr. Clean

I did it. Tired of fighting a losing battle, I succummed and shaved my head today. Yes, burn the image of the last time you saw me into your memory. It will be the last with hair. On the positive side, however, I am so aerodynamic right now.

So, I have a patient with optic neuritis. He fits the patterns for multiple sclerosis. A crappy disorder to get when you are only 39. We have been working him up with lab tests and imaging studies, and despite all of our doom and gloom prophesies, it looks like he might not have MS afterall. The final MRI we were waiting for shows no evidence of "flare" (not the TGIFridays variety) which is fairly stereotypical in MS patients when other neurological problems show up. Anyway, we are still waiting for some lab tests (obtained via the spinal tap I performed yesterday) but it looks like better-than-anticipated news (temporary loss of eye sight hardly to qualify as "good news" even if it is not MS). Medicine is cool.