Making the most of the hours

It's been a while since my last post. Perhaps it gives you a glimpse into the kind of schedule I've been keeping since we got back from vacation as to why I haven't posted. It's not that I haven't had any time to recover from long work days, it's just that there aren't enough hours. Also, sometimes I don't get  days off of work, just a mere number of hours. And I am getting better about making time in the hours that I do have outside the hospital and really ENJOYING them. 

A prime example, our anniversary on 8/22 which happened to fall on a weekday. This meant my alarm was likely set for somewhere around 4:15-4:30 AM but instead of letting that stop me from enjoying a night out with my date, we had a lovely dinner on the Providence River at Cafe Nuovo

 Delicious halibut and seafood pasta hit the spot as we reminisced about all of the incredible anniversary dinners, vacations and time we have spent together. We are truly lucky!

 Some weekend days I only had to work from about 6 am to noon which allowed for us to get away to the beach. Like I said, I'm trying to enjoy more of the short hours that I have in between shifts. Sometimes that means I go for a walk with Tom...

 ...or join the rest of the intern class for some dinner....

 ...or travel up to Boston for dim sum in China town (something I've never done before!)...

 

...or watch the Olympics...

 ...or hang out at a (home made) pizza party....

 ... or enjoy cocktails on the rooftop bar before we traded from one rotation to another (I moved on from gynecology oncology to the medical ICU).

Fei and Julia, two of my co-interns enjoying sangria happy hours

Me and Chi-Fong soaking in the sun

 Since starting my medical ICU (MICU) rotation I walk through the tunnel from Women and Infant's hospital over to Rhode Island Hospital. The tunnel is surprisingly reminiscent of the basement of the UW medical center. So, despite walking by the creepy creaking pipes covered in rust and dust, I sort of feel like I'm at home....I guess it's weird to say that though.  Because really, this is obviously in need of some TLC!

 For the MICU I have an interesting schedule that goes in 12 day cycles. I work 6 day shifts in a row, followed by 3 night shifts in a row, followed by 3 days off, then the cycle repeats. I started my cycle on the night shifts. It's always been tough for me to do nights, but even harder to do it when you have less than 30 hours to switch your body clock over to a night shift mindset. And, in order to not waste the days off I have that follow the night shifts, I feel the need to only take a nap and get up and out of the house after the third night. The best way we could think of being thoroughly entertained (and therefore awake) was to go and see the bodies exhibit at the convention center.

 Anyone who knows me knows that I love human anatomy and the bodies exhibit is always such a cool way to see it all again in a creative way.

 Tom caught me in the act of reveling in and discovering some of the tiny exhibits.

I also got to check in on my own health by checking my blood pressure half way through the exhibit ;)

 To stay awake we wandered through downtown Providence, seeing all sorts of things that Tom had never seen before.

 In the background of this one is the building that is just around the corner from site of where Tom has a JOB INTERVIEW! on Tuesday. It's a small firm that will go unnamed for now, but let's just say I'm much more excited about it than this eye-squinting-style photo below suggests!

 Yesterday we decided to kick it old school with a picnic in the Lincoln woods state park. We dined on the sandy beach (but forgot to get a photo, so this one from the parking lot will have to do).

 And we also busted out the volleyball and basketball from the closet and put our park just down the street to good use :). It felt so great to get some reps in on the court and move around a bit while we played pepper in the grass. And, one other benefit of where we live is that not only do we have access to a park right down the road, but we are within walking distance of the grocery store too! Yes, we were THOSE people that walked around a grocery store lugging a volleyball and basketball and walked out lugging a few bags of groceries and a very large watermelon :)

 Last weekend I once again had to work--Saturday for a full 14 hour day, and Sunday just for 6  hours but I was in need of a break before I started the next full work week. It was gorgeous out and we didn't want to waste the sunshine. A quick text message to my residency program director later and we were off in the kayaks for another adventure. 

 This time we kayaked from his home towards downtown and ended up going under the bridge into where the providence river meets the Narragansett bay.

 We turned around just past the bridge after thinking long and hard about whether or not it would be appropriate to stop into the water front restaurants for a quick snack or beverage. The "Hot Club" in the background of this photo supposedly has incredible cocktails, but I figured something other than a bathing suit would be required to go in ---I thought about asking for a delivery to my kayak...but I didn't push it.

 Our trip back to the house was rough--the tide came in and the weather started to turn on us a bit with a head wind (and therefore some waves to battle). An hour and a half later we made it back--my lats and shoulders were burning and I slept well in preparation for the work week!

Oh--and one other thing that Tom and I got to go see in the past month on one of my half-days off is the Providence Zoo

 The bison reminded me of home (Montana home)

 How adorable is this porcupine?

 This little turtle was bordering on creepy for me. It had a snake like neck that was so bizarre

 We got a great view of this ant-eater as he snack out of a PVC pipe --I guess it's kind of cruel and unusual that he has to eat out of a pipe, but it's not feasible for the zoo to keep up with the number of ant piles he needs on a regular basis I guess :)

 After the zoo we got to meet up with Chi-Fong and Karen for some Italian on Atwells avenue (also known as Little Italy for Providence).

And earlier this month we explored a few of the ponds near North Providence. I wouldn't want to swim in any of them, but they are really pretty to look at!

 We saw a whole collection of geese at this one!

 Yesterday we celebrated Tom's birthday a bit early and picked him out a bicycle. He's been wanting one to be able to explore Providence and we finally pulled the trigger.

 A few seat adjustments later and a quick pump up of the tires he'll be off and riding his way through Rhode Island!

 

Somehow having 2+ days off in a row makes it even harder to go back to work tomorrow (or maybe it's because I know it's going to be a full 9 days in a row of work). But I'm learning a lot, and it's good to be a part of an ICU setting again where the patients are really in need. Just like that, I'm two solid months into residency and well on the way to the point where we start interviewing the next round of residents to come and join us next Fall! One hour at a time, with a strong focus on making each hour count!