full time doctor

Hello all!!

It's been a crazy couple of months for me...I finished my very last final EVER a little over two weeks ago- no more classes, midterms, or finals week! I'm so happy to be done with classes- since I've been in school for soooo long.

So I finished classes and then three days later I started full time in the clinic. What a change to move from a few hours a week of seeing patients to being there every day all day long. Right now the fourth years (ME!!!) are in clinic extra days because the third years get a two week break. Next week they'll cut our schedule back a little bit since the third years will begin working too. It seems like just yesterday when I was seeing my first patient:)

The first week in clinic was absolutely crazy...it was really hard to adjust to being in clinic full time. We have five different depts in clinic and we have two four hour shifts everyday- so we get shuffled between the different depts and different staff doctors. That has been a little tricky to adjust to as well as each staff doctor and department is particular about the way things are done- so that made me crazy the first week...but now I think I'm finally adjusting:)

Other than that life is pretty normal...I finally don't have to worry about studying anymore when I come home in the evening, I can just sit back and relax and enjoy my evening. Which is good because the next morning always comes so quickly!!

In mid august I will be packing up my car and moving to Tacoma WA, where I will be doing my next rotation. It will be at Madigan Army base there. I'm really excited about this rotation. I'll be close to Seattle and to home and I will have the weekends off so I can finally visit!

The only bad part about going on rotations is that the whole class splits up and goes different directions:( It's hard to get used to not seeing the same 98 people everyday after 3 years!

Here's a pic of us after our last final a few weeks ago...we had a party on the roof of our parking garage- it was pretty sweet...

And here's some pics from our last banquet as a class- it was at the Reef restaurant down by the beach.

Return!!!

Hi everyone...bet you all have been wondering where I disappeared to:) Well, I got eaten up by optometry school! But i've managed to work my way out of that insidious cave- well mostly anyways.

So I've managed to finish my year of hell in optometry school. There were several days, weeks when I thought about starting a career at Burger King instead. They work us pretty hard during the middle of school- it's probably some weeding out sort of thing, who knows why they do it. But anyway, I've passed, and that's definitely reason for celebration!!! Graduation is looking closer and closer and closer.

I just returned from a trip to St. Louis where I attended board meetings with students who were representing the other schools of optometry around the nation. We had a lot of fun- we were able to go see a hockey game and go visit the St. Louis arch in between meetings. It's a great group of people- I've been doing this for two years and now my term is up, so we will be electing a new representative from SCCO here pretty soon.

I'm also working on a senior research project with my roommate Deanna- we're working on comparing two diseases that affect the front part of the eye and both requre the fitting of rigid contact lenses to achieve functional vision. This is the area that I've decided I want to specialize in. I'm hoping to do a residency after graduation to focus on this area.

Other than that, everything's going well- I had a great time visiting Washington and Oregon while I was home:) And the best part, I got to be in the delivery room with Nicole when she gave birth to beautiful Ahry!! Congrats Nicole she is so beautiful:) And I was so happy to be a part of that experience. Take care everyone and I promise I'll write again soon:)

I'm back!!!!

Hey everyone-

I know it's been a million bazillion years since I've last blogged and you've all probably wondered if I've dropped off the face of the earth. Well good news- I haven't!! I have just been wrapped up in all the going ons of being a second year optometry student here in sunny and sometimes way too hot for me southern california.

So...to update you to my recent life story: It is almost the end of my second of four years here at optometry school- this means that yes I am halfway to becoming a doctor and I might, reiterate the might, just make it after all. My second quarter of this year was really tough, hence the lack of communication with the rest of the world. We started learning our clinical skills, and had proficiency after proficiency after proficiency...well you get the idea. And while it might seem like all optometrists do is say "which is better one or two?" there is quite a bit more that they expect you to know. SOOO I made it through that quarter...phew... and was well on my way to seeing my first patients!

Which I did already!! Another busy quarter and another three months of silence.... :( But I did see two patients that are not optometry students- yay! And I am starting to feel like a real doctor. My patients were great- I am posting a picture of my very first patient ever- Heather.

Another cool thing I got to do this quarter was go to Washington DC for an optometric conference. I am the student representative for my school on the national level for organized optometry, so I got to go with a few other students to the conference. We got to meet with legislators regarding various issues facing the profession of optometry and also graduate students (aka debt- very important to me!!) It was a really good experience, a great chance to meet legislators from Oregon and also optometrists from Oregon. All the students were paired up with optometrists from their home state to meet with the legislators. Plus seeing Washington DC was amazing!! Here's a few pics of the trip. The first one is a picture of me and the Oregon troops meeting with Representative Peter Defazio.

The only bad part about the trip the traveling part. I will never ever ever ever ever fly american airlines again. When we first left we got stuck on the airplane on the runway for about 3 hours before we even got to take off. We almost missed our connection in chicago- that was fun. And then on the way back our flight got cancelled and they flew us to Dallas where they wouldn't give us a hotel room but couldn't give us a flight out until the morning after we were supposed to have arrived in california. Long story short, three of us ended up missing a test- which we got to retake later that day luckily. We would have been stranded at the airport but luckily a friend from the conference lived in Dallas and offered to put the four of us up for the night- so lucky!! So overall, it was just one crazy adventure.

So far that's my life. Other than that, I 've been studying like crazy and hanging out with my cat Gus. He can be pretty crazy sometimes...I'll show you a few pictures of him being super cute. He loves his paper bags!!!

All right, well I hope that you've enjoyed this update on my life. I'll try to write again soon!

Take care!!!!

I'm Still Here!!!

Hello everyone...I know you're all probably wondering what happened to me...I've been pretty lame about keeping my blog recently:(
So what have I been up to since my last entry? Well, after camping I got in my little geo and hit the road to Oregon, I drove up the California coastline for a ways, stopped in San Francisco and hung out there for a few days. It was my first time to the great city, and I have to say I was rather impressed. I liked it a lot there, too bad it's one of the most expensive places in the US to live! I stayed with my friend Sonia and she showed me around the city. All the landmarks and whatnot, along with her favorite bars and restaurants. It was a great time! Although I have to say I was not prepared for San Fran weather. I was coming from the OC where it was about 95 degrees everyday and it was about 55-60 in San Fran! Woah, what a difference 40 degrees can make!!! But I like the rain and the cold, so I was right at home:)
After that, I headed up to Oregon, and stayed for about six weeks...it was nice to be back in a place where the word mountain means more than just a little hill:) I went camping and hiking and saw as many people as I could. Six weeks goes by soooo fast!!! I hung out with my niece and nephews a lot- we played a lot in the river and went to the park and played catch and I got to watch movies:)
Now, back to optometry school- second year began and we are 9 weeks into the first quarter! I started feeling the pressure about 4 weeks ago, and it hasn't let up since. Next week is our last week of classes and then we have two weeks of exams and proficiencies. And then the weekend to rest and we begin a new quarter the following Monday!!! It's definitely been a little stressful around here...but I'm hanging in there:) Also, by the end of next quarter we will have learned all of the skills we need to perform a full eye exam- so that means by the spring I will be seeing patients! That's pretty hard to believe, but I'm definitely excited about it.
Oh and the best part is that I moved into a new apt in June with some optometry students and they are great roommates! Also, I was able to bring my kitty down here with me this summer...that's been great:)
Okay, well that's all I have time for right now, have to go study for an exam. I'll write again soon and maybe even post some new pictures...

Camping oh camping

Well, summer vacation is here...and I know this because I can't remember what day of the week it is...
We just got back from camping for two nights- it went by quickly, and was very relaxing. We had a big group of people come so that was really cool, I was happy about the turnout. We got a little rowdy, and got ourselves in trouble by the ranger...who by the way wasn't very nice to us and wasn't really making any sense. Anyways, it doesn't matter, we had a great time. The squirrels invaded our campground and stole our water balloons and ate our trash. They were pretty brave...silly squirrels.
I moved into a new apartment, can't remember if I mentioned I was going to do that or not. Now I live across the street from school and have two optometry roommates:) It should be a fun year.
I went to downtown Brea this past weekend when they were having their summer festival...and fried the skin on my shoulders. Ouch! it's just now getting better- my shoulders were pretty tender yesterday. if only i wasn't so fair skinned....
that's about it for now, I'm heading up to oregon on thursday morning for those of you wondering if i will ever come back! Should get into town on maybe saturday. i'm going to stop in San Francisco and see my friend sonia. hopefully it will be more enjoyable than the last time I visited San Francisco!!
Okay, here's some pics from camping, enjoy!

It's summer!!!

Wow, it's hard to believe that I've just finished my first year of optometry school. A few weeks ago I thought the end would never come, but really the year has gone by fairly quickly. It feels good to be finished with one year...I'll take the summer to talk myself up into tackling second year:)
I'm gettng ready to move into an apartment with two of my friends from school. It's so convenient because it is right across the street from school- which means all I have to do is cross the street and I'm at class! You can't beat that. I'm really excited about living with them...it's been almost a year since I've lived with people that I actually know:) This last place I've been living has been good though, a huge improvement from where I was living when I first moved down here! So today and tomorrow I've gotta pack up all my stuff and lug it on over.
Not much else going on around here though- for once!! I'm going to keep working at the admissions office for the next week in order to help out with the packets that they send out to the incoming class. I'm so excited to meet them! And it's hard to believe that they will take our place as the first years on campus.
I'm rounding up my friends for one last shot at camping before I head back up to Oregon for the summer. We're going to go to San Onofre again since it's such a nice place and it's not too far from Fullerton. Hopefully it won't rain on us this time around:) I'm really excited though because it sounds like a big group is going to go- so we'll have a good time.
I'm heading up to Oregon the second week of June and am planning on taking my time to enjoy the coast along the way. Should be fun- Sonia's going to show me around San Francisco since I've never really been there:)
That's about it for now...I'm off to enjoy my summer:)

Ode to neurophysiology

i'm taking a break from studying because my brain is stretched a little too much. I know I haven't kept up on this blog as promised...but once again I have found ways to keep myself too busy and stressed out...I gotta work on that little habit of mine.
I have been staring at pictures of the brain and spinal cord for the last 72 hours. I hope I don't get to the test tomorrow morning and forget it all- that would be really bad.
Let's see, what's the latest news from me? I got elected to the position of AOSA trustee elect for our school, which means I get to go to a lot of meetings and meet a lot of people. So it should be a pretty cool position. I was pretty excited about it. That means that next year I will do the job of trustee elect and follow the trustee around, and then in my third year I will take over the position of trustee and train the trustee elect. It also means I will be spending a week in Vegas over the summer and a weekend in St. Louis next January.
We had our end of the year class banquet, that was pretty fun. Everyone was all dressed up nice andwe had awards and whatnot. I will try to post some pictures of it, but it will have to wait until I get some..cause I don't have a camera. It's funny to think that I've already been down here a year, well nine months I guess. I've made some pretty good friends, and have really enjoyed myself, despite the fact that it's been a little hard:)
All right that's about all the time I have right now...here's some new music to listen to, they're really good. If you like reggae at all, you'll like these guys!
Bodhi: http://www.bodhitreemusic.com/