And so it begins...

First off, I have survived the epic snows of DC. No crashes, no roof cave-ins, all is well here. See pictures of my dogs and neighborhood here. Look under the Weather gallery, under Snowmageddon 2010. I haven't minded all the snow as much as some people (it kind of reminds me of high school in NEPA, when the snow actually stayed on the ground for more than 2 days), though it's been hell on my schedule. I had just started getting into the swing of classes again after winter break, and then we had a week off. Though I did get in some good hours at the fire house.

Secondly, perhaps in reaction to the large amounts of snow in my yard, I have started my seedlings for the spring. We are trying to have a modified veggie garden, in containers on the porch. We don't have very good soil, and we don't have the money to build raised beds. So, the herbs go in the bed by the house which is the oldest and therefore has the best soil, and the veggies will go in the containers, and we are co-opping with a friend for use of her porch as well.

Thirdly, we have started clinicals. I have to have 200 hours by the end of April, essentially. Thankfully, due to my schedule, I didn't have to make any hours up because of all the snow days we've had this week (haven't been to school since last Thursday).

The most interesting thing I've experienced at clinical so far is the lack of plowed roads in the county I was in on Friday. There were a lot of unplowed roads, and therefore a lot of patients that had to come out by Hum Vee. I've never had to do that before, and it was an experience. It also netted me my first ride in a Hum Vee (the story of that call will be told in a different post). The hospital clinicals have been cool, since I'm at Johns Hopkins. WOW!!! That's all I have to say about that. The doctors let me watch them do all kinds of stuff. The first time I was there I 'assisted' (as in, I helped the patient stay on their side, and handed the doc stuff) while the doctor drained an abscess on someone's side. This week I watched some surgeons drain some seroma from a patient's abdomen. Rather than send the patient upstairs, the surgeons come down to do the minor things. Very cool.

So far my schedule isn't too bad. I'm short one hospital clinical shift, and 4 medic unit shifts, but I do have a few open days I can use. And I can pull a hospital shift during the week (since I'm practically guaranteed to be able to leave on time. So I've got some time.

And now, to print out my clinical journals, and go to bed.