Oh, and I forgot to say in my last post, Ben also got stung 20 times by wasps on the weekend. I got to be nurse K and smear a paste of meat tenderizer all over him. It actually does work - apparently it breaks down the constituants of the venom. I have also heard that toothpaste, vinegar, and baking soda are recommended. Hopefully he'll not try to cut down a tree by squatting in a wasp nest again and we won't have to use any of these other handy remedies!
I have been popping every stomach acid reducing medication I can think of. My chest is on fire. I was suspicious this morning that my bra was too tight but that was not the case. I have a history of awful stomach upset - the majority of it comes out of the blue and I'm not sure what I've done to offend my sensitive organ. I keep tums in business. Today I'm trying rolaids soft chews and 75mg of ranitidine. So far, no success. I also somehow managed to miss a very important meeting of the family medicine working group this morning. I'm SO dumb. Perhaps this is adding to my pain, who knows. I need a remedy for being an idiot.
in other news, I went mountain biking with Ben in Haliburton Forest this weekend. It was lots of fun. I finally stopped being stupid and only fell once. I'm starting to finally get used to clipless on the mountain bike. I have done some damage to my right ankle though with all those clipped crashes. The course was muddy and it was mostly deciduous forests. Ben prefers pine so he wasn't that happy. I'm encouraging him to join a mountain biking club up at a course he really liked, that way he won't be frustrated with me being slow when we go together and he won't be tempted to never go with me again. He also wants me to buy a new bike. He wants me to buy the Specialized womens FSR XC - which i can't afford. The problem with my bike is that my fork is too stiff and has no damping. I only use about 38.1 of its 85 mm of travel. And if I put a less stiff spring into it it's just going to make it oscillate and be crappy. When I have a spare 1099 american dollars around I probably will buy an FSR XC. Unless I can find one used.
I just fell asleep at my desk and drooled on my own leg. A new low has been reached folks!
In sad news, Mr. Colson of the Toronto Cricket, Curling and Skating club has died. He coached there all though my childhood and when I skated as a teenager. He was 90 y/o and died of heart failure. He was a great man and will surely be missed. Here he is in one of his hat and turtle neck outfits he always wore. He's sitting with his latest protege, Patrick Chan, at Canadians.
The skating community will miss him dearly.
I am so angry at the big institution that I work for. They have screwed up my pay 2 months in a row and I'm not going to be paid until the 28th of this month (I started working the 28th of May). And, eventhough I've worked 2/3 of my term they're paying me 1/2 of my total pay. This means that I am SO broke it's ridiculous. I have almost maxxed out my credit card and have no money to buy gas to get to the cottage this weekend. Furthermore, the fact that I backed into someone's car this weekend and need to have my tail light fixed is going to strain my budget even more. I was stupid and didn't think I damaged the person's car so I drove away and when I noticed i'd actually broken a tail light I went back but they were gone. I really hope I didn't damage their car. Even worse, my grandmother was in the car at the time. She was pretty understanding but if the person comes knocking on her door (it was opposite her house) she'll tell them that I did it and it's going to cost me huge to fix it if I scratched their car. I feel incredibly guilty.
I do not, however, feel guilty about taking the day off work yesterday since i'm not actually being paid! I guess not being paid is my karma coming back to haunt me for hitting that car. Dammit. Damn karma.
So,
Every year that I've had a research job it has come to the end of the summer and I've told myself that I'll never do research again. Then, over the course of the school year, I seem to forget all of the things I hate about research and just remember the sweet hours, the lack of supervision and the glory (ok, maybe not the glory) and possibility of publishing papers (which I always seem to never get around to writing). So I'm writing this post so that next year when I think it's a good idea to go look for a research job, I remember, I HATE RESEARCH. There, I said it. This is when the god of residency programs sends a lightening bolt from hell (because that's where he/she/it lives) to strike me down. I might as well sign up for family medicine right now :)
In good news, Ben comes today! Which means a weekend of fun and mountain biking and swimming and enjoying re-introducing ourselves to each other (and no, that wasn't supposed to sound dirty!). I'm going to take Monday off to be with him and I'm trying not to feel guilty about it.
Oh, and he graduated the other day. Congratulations Ben!
So,
I finished my once over of the eye. Then I went to a meeting in which the big boss man told me it was pointless that I'd segmented the entire optic nerve and that the resolution isn't high enough so I should remove it (waaaaaaaaahhhh all my hard work) and focus on the sclera. So, that's what I'm doing. I'm currently working on smoothing my sclera model so I can make volumes out of the surface meshes (enginerd speak for... uh... something nerdy) to construct my final model that I can apply the boundary conditions and material properties to. Here is my smooooth model so far:
And here is the part that is not smoothed.... :
I can see the difference... can you see the difference??
The biggest problem that I have is that I have to write an abstract by 10 days from now about my project and make a poster by august 10th. I have no data! hahahahahahahah. my job sux.
Well,
I got my grades for second semester today. Glad to report that I got honors for both the academic stuff and clinical skills. Looks like the twizzler-eating/studying marathon paid off. Woohoo. I'm 1/4 doctor! 'Aint that a scary thought.
I got back from Vancouver and the ob/gyn national meeting last Tuesday (time really does fly... it feels like yesterday). It was AWSOME. I got really interested in the surgical aspect of the specialty. I went to a talk on pediatric gynecology by Sari Kives of Sick Kids and it was absolutely great. Lots of discussion of congenital abnormalities of the mullarian system and which corrective surgeries/medical procedures work best and how to recognize the signs/symptoms in an ER situation. I also went to a talk on obstetrical emergencies in which there was a really interesting discussion on shoulder dystocia. They talked about all of the manouvers to deal with it and try to get through a successful delivery without any axillary nerve complications. They also talked about PPH and complications. There was also this AMAZING session on women's sexual desire and its association with biological factors. Rosemary Basson, the woman who taught it, is apparently a leader in the field of sexual desire and "desire disorders" which in her opinion aren't really disorders at all. She was SO captivating and imspiring. She opened up a can of whoop ass on the DSMIV definition of sexual desire/intimacy disorders. It was SO interesting. I hope we get to study her work later on when we do repro/gyne/uro stuff.
And other than that, hung out around Vancouver. Ate TONS of sushi and sashimi. Loved every minute of it. Saw my friend Amy from undergrad who I haven't seen in FOREVER and met her boyfriend Brian who is really nice. I lost 5 pounds which I promptly gained back when I got home. I think I'm going to have to go on an all sashimi diet again! (although in Ontario that would be quite a lot more expensive than in Vancouver).
Oh, and I got my first free dinner/night out from a drug company. I'm being wooed by evil big pharma already! All in the name of pregnancy vitamins and birth control.
Unfortunately, I forgot my camera so I have no pictures to show, but I'm sure I'll be back there sometime soon. Ben has got to see Vancouver! It's wonderful!
