sundown san diego

sandy seaweed and utter joy

Now starting for the San Francisco Giants.....

The Return of Nurse Lindsay

Three weeks before Seth's due date, I worked a very busy shift in the operating room with back-to-back robotic surgeries. In my hurried state, I didn't think twice about the slight cramping feeling in my belly that afternoon. A couple hours after I got home, I realized they were happening in 5 minute increments. I was in disbelief that this was really labor even when my OB told me to get to the hospital that night. Little Seth showed up at 9:40 the next morning. I felt kind of funny calling into work that morning to say "Sorry, I won't be coming in. I'm laying a baby." Maybe I didn't use those exact words. Anyway, I haven't been back to work since, but here I come. Aaron's out of school for the summer and I just got a job at Scripps Green Hospital in La Jolla. I'm really excited to return to the OR. It'll be a little different from my job in Oakland in that this hospital is right off the Torrey Pines Golf Course (the site of last week's US Open), has a view of the ocean, and I won't be in danger of getting car-jacked outside the hospital. My friend Lisa used to work at Scripps Green and said something along the lines of this to me: "Lindsay, you won't believe it. It's like doing surgery in heaven." While I hope people don't need their insides rearranged in heaven, if they do, I'd love to help out. For now, I look forward to my new job where I can catch an ocean breeze on my lunch break, or see the golf course out the window as I look up from my nurses' notes and say to myself, "great backspin on that pitch, Tiger." Too bad the OR doesn't actually have windows.

Giants 8, Tigers 6

I'm used to going to anywhere from 10-15 professional baseball games a year. If it were my choice, I'd be going everyday. It just never gets old to me. For the last few years 10-15 has sufficed. Having been to only a single game this year, I just had to catch a game while we were up in the bay area. We went with our good friends Nate and Jane (and little Anna) who were our next-door neighbors in La Jolla, but are now living in Menlo Park. My favorite pitcher to watch, Tim Lincecum, started for the Giants, and the Tigers had their best pitcher, Justin Verlander--so we were pretty lucky. The game was pretty exciting with come-from-behind home runs and some dramatic 9th inning tension. Best of all, the Giants won.

My father-in-law lent me his 80-400mm Nikon lens for the game. It's on my own wishlist, but I doubt I'll be adding one to my own camera bag until I'm raking in some dough of my own. Anyway, even though we were sitting in the upper deck, I got some pretty good shots. If we had good seats, I probably could have got some tight shots of the action with facial expressions and the like.



update: is this pic any better jane? you're stylistically blurred....

Farm Boy

Aaron's brother Jared has a bunch of farm animals and Seth had the time of his life getting to know them. He'd get handfuls of feed and throw it on the chickens and then squeal and laugh.

He knows the ASL sign for "bird" and kept asking for those chickens several times a day after he met them. His aunt Vania offered to let him take home one the the little chicks. As much as I love the thought of Seth and I walking a chicken on a leash in La Jolla, I don't think our student housing complex is open to the idea. Jared's goat, Hank, (pictured above) has some handicaps and has to have his leg wrapped for stability. Seth thought that red cast was a bat and kept trying to grab it to play a round of baseball, but found it too difficult to swing a bat that had a goat attached to it.
**Update: That little goat passed away Wednesday morning. It came as a shock to the family. Our condolences to Jared, the sweetest Dad a goat could hope for. We're so sorry you lost your pal-- the cuddliest lap goat ever.

Graduation

With class finished for the summer, we drove up to Gilroy for my youngest brother Jared's high school graduation. Despite the painful experience that is any high school graduation ceremony, it was cool to see my baby brother finish high school. I can't believe he's really an adult--seems like just yesterday I was helping change his diapers and stuff. Anyway, we had lots of family in town for the celebration, so we got to show off Seth a bit.
There was a massive fire in the adjacent Santa Cruz mountains that made the whole experience a bit eerie (an omen of the doomed future of the graduates?). The sky was filled with smoke and the lighting was a bit strange.

Seth giving Uncle Dave a free dental exam:


Grandpa Rutman and Seth listening to the ipod instead of paying attention to the ceremony:


With the graduate:

Summertime

M.D.^1/4

So I finished my first year of medical school. I guess that makes me 1/4th of a doctor. It's pretty crazy to think how much I learned this year. That being said, I think I'm qualified for nothing more than a recommendation of popping a couple Tylenol when you have a fever. Oh, and if it's a virus, there's nothing more you can do, just wait it out and check back with me in a week. I also learned how to use my stethoscope, which is cool, because nothing makes you feel more like a doctor than a stethoscope. For some reason it seems to command respect. I've noticed around the hospital that there's a couple different style choices when it comes to porting around a stethoscope. Some wear it in the white coat pocket, others around their neck. I've not yet reached the confidence level required to wear it around the neck, and I think it would be a bit pretentious of me to do so, despite the convenience and ease of access. I prefer to keep it in my coat pocket when I'm seeing patients with the residents and attendings, just so people don't get the wrong idea, you know, like I really know what I'm doing. I think it's pretty clear to patients as I fumble around, the stethoscope getting stuck as I'm trying to get it out of my pocket, that I'm a rookie, and anything I say or do should be regarded with patience, and maybe a bit of pity. Perhaps by third year I'll be able to wear it around my neck without feeling like it's play-doctor time.

See? Don't they look pretentious?

Reflection

Getting Bigger

It seems like Seth is getting bigger every day. I suppose that technically, he is. When I started school last fall, he was just 5 months old; he couldn't walk, talk, crawl, or do much of anything but jump in his bouncer, laugh, drool, smile, and poop (sometimes in his bouncer). He wasn't any good at doing much of anything by himself. It seems that every day he's picking up something new. At this rate, he'll be smarter than me before he's 3, which is going to be tough on my inflated ego. He says a bunch of words now, he can walk, run, climb, make jokes, use sign language, play catch, and do simple algebra problems. We're working on teaching him the 12 cranial nerves. Ok, maybe not yet, but it does seem that he's learning at light speed. I'm sure all parents get this impression when they watch their kid develop, but I'm just fascinated by it; I can just imagine his little axons myelinating and his dendrites strengthening their synapses as he makes more and more connections between himself and his environment.
I'm finishing my first year of medical school this week. I'm hating life right now, as I have four finals between now and Friday. Hence, my procrastination (writing a blog post when I should be studying). It's weird to think that when I'm finished with medschool, Seth will be 4. It seems like he'll always be just a little guy, but I guess he's gonna keep getting bigger. And maybe by the time he's 4, he can help me with some of the finer points of endocrinology, neurology, and pharmacology.