Oh February... I know most of us (not all of us, THANKFULLY) have, in some form or an other, had crappy things happen on February.
I write this post from a pretty sad place, personally. I am currently in the Dominican Republic doing an internal medicine rotation for med school. So far, I have learned a lot about diseases that I would never see in the States, but that's not what's most striking. Here, hospital medicine is practiced in a crammed room with patients lined up in hospital beds right next to each other. The bed next to a patient may have tuberculosis, and everyone in the room is breathing their air. It's been a sobering experience to see how lucky I am to have the privilege to practice medicine the way it's taught in the text books, with the correct medication and proper equipment, instead of through guess work with whatever means possible, as it is here. It's inspiring to see the Dominican doctors who serve the poor in a frustratingly scarce environment when they could instead practice in a nice private hospital with all the first world commodities (like X-Rays.)
I've been debating if I should write on this blog about such a somewhat sad, yet inspiring experience. We are SO lucky.
Yet... What is it with February?! I've so far had such a weird/crazy/scary/sad February - and I thought those kinds Februaries were over!
Today I went SCUBA Diving. I used alternate air for the first time because my dive master's equipment malfunctioned, and he needed my air. That was the first time on any SCUBA trip he's taken that he used alternate air. The trip, needless to say, got cut short. On our second dive, our boat broke down and we got stranded for about a half an hour. We didn't do the dive. To compensate, I showered and decided to go out on a nice dinner with my friend. The owners of the restaurant were Italian, and I got to practice my Italian. The food was great and we were off to a good start to the night. Just when I was relaxing, I got a phone call from Barrett, my fiance. Our dog was taking agonal breaths. He was dying. All I could hear was Barrett being upset. I decided to call someone to be with him. I learned his mom was in Florida and his best friend was in San Diego... both pretty far from Providence. Our dog, Charlie, died today, and Barrett had to witness that without me, on his own, with all his support system plane rides away. To top it off, it's now raining cats and dogs.
Speaking of dogs.
I love Charlie. I love him so much, and I'm going to miss him so much. To honor our loyal, kind, loving, gentle dog, I will shower you with cute photos that remind me of the good times I had with Charlie and how lucky I am to have had him in my life.
I write this post from a pretty sad place, personally. I am currently in the Dominican Republic doing an internal medicine rotation for med school. So far, I have learned a lot about diseases that I would never see in the States, but that's not what's most striking. Here, hospital medicine is practiced in a crammed room with patients lined up in hospital beds right next to each other. The bed next to a patient may have tuberculosis, and everyone in the room is breathing their air. It's been a sobering experience to see how lucky I am to have the privilege to practice medicine the way it's taught in the text books, with the correct medication and proper equipment, instead of through guess work with whatever means possible, as it is here. It's inspiring to see the Dominican doctors who serve the poor in a frustratingly scarce environment when they could instead practice in a nice private hospital with all the first world commodities (like X-Rays.)
I've been debating if I should write on this blog about such a somewhat sad, yet inspiring experience. We are SO lucky.
Yet... What is it with February?! I've so far had such a weird/crazy/scary/sad February - and I thought those kinds Februaries were over!
Today I went SCUBA Diving. I used alternate air for the first time because my dive master's equipment malfunctioned, and he needed my air. That was the first time on any SCUBA trip he's taken that he used alternate air. The trip, needless to say, got cut short. On our second dive, our boat broke down and we got stranded for about a half an hour. We didn't do the dive. To compensate, I showered and decided to go out on a nice dinner with my friend. The owners of the restaurant were Italian, and I got to practice my Italian. The food was great and we were off to a good start to the night. Just when I was relaxing, I got a phone call from Barrett, my fiance. Our dog was taking agonal breaths. He was dying. All I could hear was Barrett being upset. I decided to call someone to be with him. I learned his mom was in Florida and his best friend was in San Diego... both pretty far from Providence. Our dog, Charlie, died today, and Barrett had to witness that without me, on his own, with all his support system plane rides away. To top it off, it's now raining cats and dogs.
Speaking of dogs.
I love Charlie. I love him so much, and I'm going to miss him so much. To honor our loyal, kind, loving, gentle dog, I will shower you with cute photos that remind me of the good times I had with Charlie and how lucky I am to have had him in my life.
Charlie, after his bath and playing with the towel monster:
In anticipation for a lobster dinner (lobster is blurred on the top right corner):
Chilling:
Cone of shame, because even good doggies get shamed:
Charlie Selfie!!! He was a lucky puppy:
I'm really sorry if I bummed anyone out with my post. It seemed fake and against everything this post is supposed to be about to pretend everything is okay. Everything is not okay, but here I am, and here we are, supporting each other and spreading the love. One February at a time.
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