Catching Up

It's been awhile since I wrote... honestly, I'm having trouble figuring out what to write here anymore. I work, I eat, I sleep, rinse, repeat... which doesn't lend itself too well to regular interesting blogs! BUT.... since it's been so long, I actually do have a few things to write about!

Work is going well. Most days are fun, even though since it's winter we are getting really busy. I knew I'd be seeing a lot of patients, but maaaan.. on a typical "busy" day (usually Mondays and Tuesdays), I see about 18-20 patients in the morning and then 22-25 in the afternoons. Some days I also work through lunch, but usually selfishly, cause if you work through lunch they buy and bring you food, but you have to wolf it down, sometimes sneaking a few bites in between patients. Those days aren't that fun. It's much better when you get to slow down and play and laugh with your patients... Here is one particularly funny encounter that I want to record here primarily so I won't forget it:

I walk into the exam room for a "two-fer" checkup, a 2 month old baby and his 18 month old brother. In the room are the 2 little ones, their mom, and their 5 and 7 year old brothers. Yes, this momma has her hands full! Anyway, I walk in and the hilarity ensued...

Me: Hey ya'll...I'm Dr. Williams. Nice to meet you!
Mom: But you're so young...how old are you?
Me (faking embarassement, cause I get this question so much that it can't truly embarrass me anymore...): Oh, thank you! I'm old enough, I assure you!
Mom: No really...how old are you?
Me: Well, I'm 29...
7yr old: She's older than Daddy!!!
(We all laugh...)

Part two of the funniness of this encounter... I squat down to get the baby out of his carseat. 5 year old brother crouches down with me, watching my every move like a hawk...
Me: Oh, look what big brown eyes he has!
5yr old: Yeah...he also got a big brown belly!
7yr old: He got that from Momma!!
(We all laugh, including the momma, and I try not to choke on the bite of lunch I had before walking in the room....)

That has been my funniest moment so far in the clinic. The next day I had another entertaining moment, also involving a several month old baby... he was all smiles at me, and cuter than cute! I walked my fingers up his pudgy little belly and chest and chin, and then pushed his little nose like a button, saying "boop!" Right at the "boop" moment though, that sweet little baby pooted, right on cue! Hysterical!

That's enough about work... other than that every day brings a new challenge and something new to learn. And I'm having fun! And you know what...I think I'm done writing for now. I've got more to say, but I'm tired! Hopefully, I'll get back to this sooner rather than later...

Life goes on...

Our profession is the only one which works unceasingly to annihilate itself. ~Martin H. Fischer

Well, my race is over, at least for a few months! I took my "American Board of Pediatrics Certifying Examination" yesterday in Atlanta, and it was absolutely miserable. I have studied for months, literally...more than I've ever studied for one test before, and still, it was tough. The test was about 350 questions, broken up into two 3.5 hour testing blocks, and completely overwhelming. The average pass rate for first-time test-takers is only about 75%, and I will just be praying for the next three months that I did enough to get in that top 75%!! I'm afraid it's gonna be close. It is true that all of us felt like a big failure afterwards, and that most of us will pass, but dang, some of us won't. Please God, let me have passed! Ok, enough!!! I'm gonna try very hard to not worry anymore about the outcome, and just enjoy life now!! I've been in study world (and work land) since we moved here, and I am more than looking forward to getting back to some regular fun activities!!

I am glad that I am off work today, cause I have a lot to do!! Here's a small sampling...
Laundry
Getting out cold weather clothes from the basement and somehow getting them into the little bitty closet...
Read a magazine
Blog (check!)
Pack away all board study materials
Unload dishwasher
Rescue the Christmas decorations from the POD (that yes, is still in the driveway!)
Go to Hobby Lobby and peruse the scrapbooking section
Buy a pumpkin and halloween candy (for Ron to hand out to the trick-or-treaters while I'm at work-sad!)
Go on a mini-reward shopping trip to Old Navy and Ann Taylor Loft
Go out to dinner (and have dessert!) with my sweet husband!

That should be enough fun for today anyway, and then tomorrow it's back to work. Speaking of work, I have really loved my job so far, and I am so glad about that! It's gotta even be more enjoyable now that I won't be studying through lunch and at any random free moment... I am building quite a little patient base, which is so great! I love when I get brand new nursery babies... all fresh and sweet and without illegible notes from anyone else in their chart to have to wade through! During residency, I think I only had two babies that I followed from the nursery and beyond, Kendall and Maddox, and it was an absolute joy seeing them over and over during those 2 1/2 years... and now I get to do that a lot! My first patient on my first day was sweet little Leighton, my friend Rebecca's baby... it was her two month check up (yes, she had to have her one month check up with one of my partners while waiting on me to start work- thanks Rebecca!!), and little Leighton was none too happy to see me! That cute little baby screamed the entire visit!! :) Rebecca came prepared with her camera, so we got a commemorative photo of the milestone in my career! Can't wait to frame this picture and hang it in my office (which is a story for another day maybe...).


Well, that's enough for now...I'm ready to go "squeeze some fun" out of the first day of the rest of my life!

The doctor of the future will give no medicine but will interest his patients in the care of the human frame, in diet and in the cause and prevention of disease. ~Thomas Edison

I'm alive...and working!

So just a quick update to let everyone know that I'm still around... work is busy, and fun! I like being a real doctor! It's neat to finally be able to say that I'm a pediatrician...

Yesterday when I was seeing my babies in the nursery, I went to examine the one (just one... a miracle!) that had been born on my call night. The babies have a little name tag on their bassinets, saying "I'm a girl/boy" and "Mother's doctor- (name)", and "My doctor- (name)"... well, this little baby's tag said: "My Doctor- Williams"!!! That's me! Williams.... that's me!! Cool!

Anyway, I've been seeing about 24 or 25 patients a day in clinic. That's a far cry from the 4 that would KILL you in Primary Care Clinic!! I've even had a couple I've seen more than once already, and that's really fun... eventually I'll know most of them I guess.

I'll post more later...for now work is all I've been up to.

We're "home"!

Mom and I made it safely back to Birmingham late last night.... it had been a loooong day in the airports of the world, but all went relatively smoothly.

As for our final day in Beijing, we spent it shopping! Of course! We picked up a few last minute souvenirs, and helped Oz and Matt (Ron's teammates) get good deals at the Silk Market for their friends and families. It's really fun haggling with other people's money! :)

That night, we attended the Closing Ceremonies. Show started at 8PM, so we left in "plenty of time" at 5:30. We had the bright idea to go by subway, knowing that we'd have to go that way on the way home since taxis would likely be scarce with 90,000 people pouring out of the Birds' Nest! That idea was a good one logistically, but a nightmare in reality...there were SO MANY PEOPLE trying to get to the stadium that way (at least 85 of the 90K!) and so many security checks (and therefore long lines and x-ray machines and bag-opening and body-wanding) that it took us two hours to get to the stadium. Then we had to climb Mount Everest to find our seats way up in the 3rd tier. By the time we got up there, it was about 7:30 or 7:45, and we had missed the athletes marching in! The whole ceremony was kinda "ehh" to me... the scale was much smaller than the regular Olympics. The 3rd tier thing was disappointing too...it seemed to hold more people than the 1st and 2nd tiers, but we were all under an awning and couldn't see the fireworks or even the flame!! True, we could appreciate the formations of the dancers and stuff way down below, but the precision definitely was not that of the Olympics Ceremonies. It was great to get into the Birds' Nest though... that is one amazing stadium, and you can't get near it without a ticket! The subway trip home was much less hectic than the way there, I guess because there were no security checks to get through...and we didn't have to buy a return ticket, not that they're expensive! The gates were just open for the throngs of people going through!

Speaking of money, visiting China was definitely not bad on the wallet! One dollar is worth 6.8 yuan (or RMB), and things just don't cost that much. For example, in Italy, a can of diet coke would cost us 4 euros (almost $8 I think)... in China, a 20 oz bottle of diet coke cost 3 or 4 yuan (less than 75 cents)! A taxi ride to the airport (about a 45 min. ride from our hotel) cost about 80 yuan, so less than $10. A one way ticket on the subway only cost 2 yuan, so for both of us to get to the stadium and back that night it was like 50 cents total! Oh, I forgot to mention that for lunch while shopping with Ron, Oz, and Matt, we ducked into a little dumpling and noodle restaurant.... this one was seriously local... no English, spoken or written, and no pictures of the food, but Matt had been there the day before and knew what to get. The dumplings were so good... had some filled with vegetables and some with meat (I don't even want to know!), and we ate a lot of them! It was three big hungry athletes plus mom and me...we ate steam-basket after steam-basket of dumplings until we were almost sick, had 4 big bottles of local beer, and a few bottled waters, all for the grand total of 38 yuan. Yes, $8.50! It was amazing!!

Anyway, that was about it for our trip. Travel day yesterday was just that...it took us all morning to stuff all of our stuff into our suitcases! We did A LOT of shopping! I know my bag weighed over 50lbs (it was pushing 40 when we left home!), but they didn't charge me extra... Yay!

Today I'm just in the zone trying to get ready to get down to Auburn...tomorrow! I have done 4 loads of laundry, packed up a bunch of paintings and mirrors and stuff, assembled and packed 2 more wardrobe boxes, and now need to unload my vanity drawers and pack up some of our nicer breakables, and pack Ron some clean clothes for the weekend.... good thing I'm a list maker, and that the movers are gonna pack all the rest of our stuff themselves next week. I'm exhausted...just in time to start my job on Monday! Great.

(Disclaimer.... I am really excited about starting my job! I've worked all my life I guess for this career, and I think/hope I found the perfect job for me! I hate that we're having to move and that we're so rushed and everything, but oh well... we'll get through it somehow... cause we always do. I am a little nervous though! What if I forgot everything I knew over the last 11 days of traveling??)

Low-Key Tuesday

Today was a "rest day" for us.... Mom and I slept in and then headed out to the Hou Hai lake region to meet up with Ron and the group from the Hartford! They were kind enough to have invited us to tag along on their planned day of rickshaw touring and lunch...we had a blast!

Ron and I haggling for a shirt on Opium Street

The outing began as a bit of shopping on Opium Street (and no, no opium was ingested/inhaled/purchased... the street is named after the activities that happened there long long ago!), followed by a fantastic lunch at "No Name Restaurant." There was so much food!!!!! We ate and ate and ate...

After lunch, we all loaded onto rickshaws and took a tour of the hutong in the area. On this tour, we stopped in one of the poorer homes and were served tea by the nice lady who lived there... then for comparison, we stopped in one of the richer homes and were given a tour. It was neat to be able to see the inside of these places... they were both nicer than I expected from the way they look on the outside. Even the poorer home had a big TV!! The richer home had a flatscreen!

On our rickshaw

In the alleys between the poorer hutong homes

The Hartford folks and their IPC contact were able to score us some tickets to watch the bronze medal wheelchair basketball game between the USA and Great Britain. Great Britain won (boo!), but we had a good time watching and cheering for our boys!

Wheelchair Basketball

That was about it for the day... we were too stuffed to have a real dinner, and it was raining and chilly anyway, so Ron went back to the Village and mom and I headed back to the hotel and ordered room service noodles! :) For a rest day, we still managed to wear ourselves out!

Oh, and of course I didn't forget...the cute kids of the day! The little girl in the red was a little diva and was a ham until the camera came out, then she wanted to run away! Her little friend was sweet though and wanted to pose for the pictures!

Another busy day!

I think we have seen just about all there is to see here in Beijing! That's not true I'm sure, but we sure have seen all the major stuff! We're about ready to come home.

Yesterday, we said bye to Butch as he headed back home, and mom and I went out to the Summer Palace. It was beautiful, as all the green spaces seem to be in China! It was hot though (a good excuse to have another one of those delicious peach and honey popsicles!)...and it was a lot of walking. We walked and walked, and then rode a boat from one end to the other before leaving.

We met up with Ron and (coach) Jim and a few others, who had borrowed little touring bikes from the Village and rode them all the way into town! That is a LONG ride on little city streets! I was a bundle of nerves while they made their way into town, cause we have witnessed the craziness that is Beijing traffic, but they somehow made it, and even toured the Forbidden City when they arrived. Ron had brought a little flatbed bike....so that we could hop in the back and tour around. With much hesitation, we went, and it was fun!! They rode us through a hutong, then the boys left and Ron sent his big bike with them (they put a little one in the back). We walked Ron down to the Hou Hai lakes area, where we sat on a rooftop restaurant and had some refreshments! Dinner followed at what must have been the most popular restaurant in the area....it was crowded and good! We had their specialty...mutton stir fried with spring onions, and cashew chicken. Yum!! We were wiped out after dinner, so went our separate ways in taxis. It was another fun night!

Cute kid of the day picture:

The Great Wall Adventure!

We have been going, going, going here in Beijing! It's hard to find the time to blog, so this will be quick...

Yesterday, we went to the Great Wall! There are different sections close to Beijing, and we chose the Mutianyu section... it's just 15 minutes further out than the overcrowded Badaling section. We had hired the same driver we had the day before...he picked us up at the hotel, drove us out to the Paralympic Village to pick up Ron, and then out of town to the wall. It was amazing!! At the base of the mountain, there are stalls of souvenir and fruit vendors, where they sell "I Climbed the Great Wall" T-shirts for $1 (or less!)... it's crazy and crowded down there, but when you get up to the wall itself (by hike, chairlift, or cable car, the route we took!) it is nearly deserted! Well, not really, but far less crowded than I thought it would be. Anyway, we hiked left, we hiked right, and took lots of pictures!!

The views were breathtaking, even though the day was a bit overcast and smoggy. It was no walk in the park either... you are either going down steps or up them....everything seems very steep. It just blows my mind how they built the wall in the first place!! Butch descended the wall via the cable car, but Ron, mom, and I wanted to go down faster...on the toboggan slide!! We had to hike about an hour (up and down, up and down, very very sweaty by the end!), but we finally got there, and it was totally worth it to slide down the side of the mountain! Ron took a little video of it...check out his site to see.
We had some tourist stops on the way to and back from the Wall, but they were fun and we didn't mind. First was the Cloisionne factory where the artisans make their beautiful pieces by hand (we bought a dragon and phoenix vase!), and then was a tea shop, where we were taken through a tea ceremony. Fun!

When we finally made it back from the wall, it was time for dinner. Did I mention that the Chinese eat really early?? In Italy, we were used to eating dinner no earlier than 9:00 PM, but in China, they eat at about 6:00. A few nights, we ate at 7:30, and we close it down! Anyway, last night we had Peking duck again to let Ron experience it...he loved it of course!

After dinner, it was a mad rush (via subway) to the theater to see the Chinese acrobat show! Mom and I had secured 13 tickets for us, Ron, and his teammates/coaches/staff to get out and see the show...they all met us there. The show was great, and everyone had fun! It wasn't really tumbling like I had envisioned, but more like contortionists, girls doing balancing stuff, jugglers, and stuff like that. The grand finale was a troupe of young ladies doing tricks on bicycles.... doing handstands on moving bicycles, riding backwards and upside down, and a whole bunch of other fun stuff, including having 13 girls on one bike! I told the guys and girls I had arranged it just for them!

After the show, we all took the subways home to crash... it was an exciting and tiring day! That's enough for now... I'll do today's update in the morning.... promise!