Family Medicine Shelf

I got my scores from my Family Medicine rotation. I didn't study nearly as intensely as I did for Step 1, but I did fairly well. Looking at how I did based upon my score as compared to the national average for U.S. medical students and the standard deviation, I did better than I did on the Step. This is motivation to study even harder for the OB/GYN shelf in six weeks!

Start of the OB/GYN Clerkship

We had orientation on Monday and were assigned our preceptor. We will have the same preceptor for the entire rotation, which should be a great thing (unless we don't get along). We thought we were having hospital orientation yesterday, but there was some miscommunication so we really couldn't do much of anything yesterday. We met our preceptor, who I think that we will get along with very well, and then headed to buy more scrubs. Our preceptor, who we will call Dr. Hardcore, informed us to never dress up again because you never know what kind of mess you might get into. I call him Dr. Hardcore not only because he is an OB/GYN, which is notorious for having bad call, but because he chooses to cover the ER and the delivery suite at night. It sounds like he is on call 6-7 days per week. The good thing, is that we are going to see a lot working with him. On Monday, he was also given a P.A. student to rotate with him, so we will be working with her and next week another medical student is starting an elective in OB/GYN with him. So, all in all there will be four of us. With most doctors, four students may mean that each student wouldn't have much of a chance to get hands on experience, but not with Dr. Hardcore. Yesterday, when we were speaking with the PA student, she said that since Monday (yes, that is one day of rotation), Dr. Hardcore had eight deliveries! The even more incredible thing is that from how Dr. Hardcore described his practice, I don't think eight deliveries in one day is that unusual for him. One exciting thing is that Dr. Hardcore seems to like having students and he is completely willing to let us gain hands on experience. We will get to deliver babies and help assist in surgeries. I am really excited to have someone who is willing to teach medical students so much that he is comfortable letting us help out.

The hospital orientations were rescheduled for tomorrow, so I might get to help deliver a baby by the end of the week or maybe even deliver an Easter baby. I am really excited about this opportunity to learn and a bit nervous about the lack of sleep that I will have for the next six weeks.

Beach Day

Today, we decided to go to the beach. Regrettably, the weather decided not to cooperate. It was overcast, cloudy, and windy. I sat down on the beach for about an hour and a half before heading inside and Farley stayed for about a hour longer than I did. It just wasn't a beautiful day today. In retrospect, we should have gone to Sawgrass Mill's Mall today and the beach yesterday. Oh well!

It was a nice relaxing weekend break. We have our OB/GYN orientation on Monday. I think that OB/GYN rotation will be a lot more work, but I am much more excited about OB/GYN than I was about Family Medicine so I think it will be okay. I am just going to keep a positive attitude, work as hard as I can and try to learn as much as possible.

Sawgrass Mill's Mall

Farley and I before heading out for the mall.

On Saturday, Farley, a friend and I went to Sawgrass Mill's Mall, which is a huge outlet mall in Sunrise, Florida (Sunrise is just inland from Fort Lauderdale). I've heard about this place for years and it was the first time I've had a chance to go. I was not disappointed by the size of the mall; however, I wasn't in love with the stock. Many, many stores have lots of tiny party dresses, but not as many business/professional clothing. There were lots of high end stores and it was fun to see all of the beautiful things. At one store, I saw a little black dress that was $2,200.00 on sale!!! Can you believe it?!? I also tried on a $600.00 hat, which was also on sale.

This is a $600.00 hat on sale!!! It was over $900.00 regular price.

For lunch, we headed to the Rainforest Cafe. Farley and our friend had never been there so I thought it would be fun to go there. I didn't realize that there would be a huge line, there was a hour wait for lunch at 2:00pm, but we were lucky in that we found a place to have lunch in the bar. It would have been fun to be sitting in the middle of the cafe, but it was still fun at the bar. There were tons of little kids in the restaurant and they were all shockingly well behaved. I think there was so much going on that the kids were just sitting trying to take it all in. I love the giant fish tanks with salt water fish. They are so beautiful! The restaurant is rather dim and I don't think that my pictures really do the place justice, but I took some pictures anyway and here they are. It looks much more realistic in person than the pictures--oh and don't forget I lived in a rainforest for about a year and a half!

A bird at the Rainforest Cafe.

The Gorillas at the Rainforest Cafe. They put on a show every few minutes and the children loved the nose and chest pounding!!

The bird that was above us during lunch.

This is one of the elephants at the Rainforest Cafe.

Here is a picture of one of the many salt water fish tanks at the Rainforest Cafe.

The fish tank at The Rainforest Cafe. This picture was taken looking toward the gift shop, which explains the t-shirts.

After eating lunch, we continued shopping. I love the Nordstrom Rack at home, but this one wasn't as good. There were some beautiful things, but just not things I needed. Also, the Rack at home has tons and ties and this one did not so Farley wasn't too happy.

Like I already mentioned, this mall is huge. We got there at 12:00, left at 8:30 pm and we still didn't walk the entire length of the mall! Don't get me wrong, we hit most of the mall, but not all of it. Oh, and we obviously didn't go into every store but we did go into a lot of stores. We all got at least one good deal: our friend bought a pair of Cole Hann shoes that are usually $200.00 for $50.00; Farley got carry-on luggage that usually costs $160.00 for $24.00; and I got a little teal/Caribbean sea blue dress for $33.00 that was regularly $138.00. It was a fun day and I was really, really tired by the time we got home.

Family Practice Clerkship: Finished

Today, we finished our clerkship in Family Medicine. Looking back over the last six weeks, I have seen hundreds of patients, written many, many patient notes (SOAP and full H&Ps), and I have written lots of prescriptions (which involves looking up the drugs and getting the physician to review and sign the prescription). I do not think that these last six weeks were the most academically enriching of my medical career; however, I feel like my clinical skills are much better and I got to practice being a doctor every day.

The last two weeks, I haven't really liked the clinic that I've been assigned to. I really liked the doctor, but the clinic definitely wasn't my favorite. That being said, I have had a few really interesting patients the last couple weeks and the doctor gave us a lot of autonomy, which puts a lot of responsibility on us and helps us learn.

Yesterday, we had to take the shelf exam for Family Medicine. It was very difficult! Family Medicine doctors treat patients from birth to death, including obstetrics. A family medicine doctors are considered generalists, which means they have got to know about everything. They might not need to know the information in as much detail as a specialists; however, they still have a heck of a lot that they need to know. Studying for this exam was difficult because family medicine doctors are generalists: everything was fair game. I thought that there would be lots of questions on diabetes, colds and hypertension, which there were; however, there were also lots of questions on birth control, endocrinology and cardiology. The moral of this story is that Family Medicine doctors are really unappreciated and respected. Everyone knows that there is a shortage of Family Medicine doctors and that they do not make anywhere near the amount of other doctors. There is also a push to have mid-level practitioners, such as Physician Assistants and Nurse Practitioners, take over much of the primary care in this country. I do not think this is a good idea. The mid-levels know a lot of information and provide invaluable services in our community, but Family Practice doctors have years more training and one cannot exchange a mid-level for a Family Practice doctor. They are NOT the same and should not be given the same rights and responsibilities.

I have the weekend off before starting my OB/GYN rotation on Monday. I am really excited to deliver a few babies, scrub in and assist in surgeries, and work in women's health. Last week, I had a patient who thought she might be pregnant (and didn't want to be). Farley said that he has never seen me so comfortable with a patient. I have always considered OB/GYN and I am excited because I feel comfortable in this specialty (and I guess I exude confidence and comfort in this specialty). I still think that Hematology and Oncology is my number one specialty (most likely pediatric oncology and hematology), but I am excited to explore OB/GYN more!

Ageism in the work place

I saw a pre-teen girl today in the clinic. She was very outgoing and asked me questions about the physical exam and labs. I liked her. Her dad left the room for a moment and this is the conversation that took place:

Pre-teen girl: "How old are you?"

Me: "I am 27-years old. Do you think that is really old?

Pre-teen girl: "No, I have cousins that are older than you. Are you married?"

Me: "No"

Pre-teen girl: "Oh, well then you are old."

Walk on the Boardwalk

Farley and I had another relaxing weekend. We watched Gonzaga play on Friday night! How exciting!! Then we had a pretty uneventful Saturday. I had my first workout since my surgery and it was extremely difficult for me. I've been really afraid to work out because I was afraid I would be in pain again and that I couldn't keep up. I was in pain, but it wasn't too bad; however, I have never gone three months without working out so I was having a hard time keeping up with the work out. After the work out, I went to Mass, which was peaceful and wonderful. Then, I decided that I wanted to have Greek inspired sandwiches for dinner. I made hummus from scratch (yes, I even used dried beans and everything), tzatziki (a Greek yogurt with garlic and cucumbers...creamy and yummy), and chicken with Greek Seasoning. I chopped up cucumbers and olives and made pita sandwiches. They looked a little sloppy, but they tasted like heaven! I also made baked pita chips to dip in the hummus and tzatziki and Farley decided to make cinnamon-sugar pita chips for desert (so yummy).

Sunday, obviously, I watched the Gonzaga game. It wasn't the best moment of the weekend. Then I studied and made lentil soup. Before dinner and the evening study block, Farley and I took a walk out on the boardwalk. It was really breezy, but here are a few pictures from the walk.

Entrance to the beach from the boardwalk at about 21st street.

There were three cruse ships going out to sea today and they were making the water very choppy. It was a bit overcast when I took the pictures. This is the best photograph of the cruse ships that I have. I will try to get another picture later. It is amazing to see how large these ships are and I don't think that this photograph really shows the size of the ships well (in part because it is hard to even see the ship).

This is one of the entrances to the beach at about 13th street near Lummus Park. Obviously, the entrances at different areas of the beach have their own unique look, as this is nothing like the picture posted above from about 21st street.
This is a picture of Ocean Drive from Lummus Park at about 12th street
Here is a panoramic picture of Ocean Drive from Lummus Park.

Miami Beach Apartment Pictures

Here are some pictures of my apartment in Miami Beach. The first one is a picture of the building, which Farley took. I just love that we are living in an Art Deco building! Miami Beach has the highest concentration of1920-1940s Art Deco Architecture (specifically resort architecture) in the world!

This is the living room. There is a big oak table on the side of the living room from which I am taking the picture that can sit six people. I did not take a picture of it because it is covered with books and study materials.
I LOVE this chandelier (or maybe it is just a light). It is in the middle of the living room.
Here is a picture of the tiny kitchen. The stove is brand new and despite being small, it is still pretty nice. There is a sideboard, which matches the oak table, that I can keep extra kitchen supplies in. Oh, and believe it or not, there is a closet with a washer and dryer in the kitchen (but it isn't in the photo).

Here is a picture of my bedroom. If you look closely, you can see the books on the dresser near the door.
Here is the other half of my bedroom.
Here is my bathroom, which is nice enough, but it is nothing compared to the resort like bathroom I had when we lived in South Miami. The South Miami apartment was newer and had some cool features, but this apartment has much better furniture, the location cannot be beat and the price is wonderful.
There is a second bathroom and bedroom, but they are Farley's domain, so I didn't photograph them. His bedroom has a door that leads down a path to the beach.

Let the Madness Begin...

I love March. It is the end of winter, the beginning of Spring and most importantly....it is time for March Madness. I LOVE college basketball!!!!!! I love it, love it, love it! If I could just take time off and watch the tourney non-stop, I'd do it. I love basketball. It is rather humorous because Farley could care less about sports, unless it is ultimate fighting. In fact, Farley and I couldn't be farther from each other on the love of basketball scale: I love it and he dislikes it (really dislikes it). This weekend is on e of the most magical time of the year: non-stop college basketball from Thursday until Sunday. But, alas, I will have to be in clinic and study so I won't be able to enjoy it as much as I'd like to.

In addition to all the basketball games, there are also great advertisements this time of year, which cash in on the madness.

Most importantly: GO GONZAGA, G-O-N-Z-A-G-A!!!!!!!

Techno

I like lots of types of music, but I've never understood techno or house music. I can't stand it! Why does the college guy who lives above me love techno so much? Why does he love it the most after 10:00pm? Why can't he go out to one of the many clubs on South Beach rather than turning his apartment into a club!! Why, why, why???

Spring Forward

I hate springing forward. I LOVE falling back. Well, today, it was the day to spring forward. I think this springing forward stuff is worse than flying into a different time zone. When you fly you prepare yourself for the change. When you spring forward, you look at the clocks in your house and realize that half of them still say 8:00 and half of them say 9:00 and you can't remember which clocks you changed so you are confused about the time. Or, maybe I am the only one who does that. Anyway, I also feel like my whole day get discombobulated. Oh, and that one hour of lost sleep--I don't know anyone who likes losing sleep. On the bright side, in the fall we get to fall back!

Farley wanted to go look for ties today, so we headed back to Lincoln Road and looked in at Macy's. Unfortunately, he didn't find a tie, but I found short-healed, black shoes for school. I wasn't 100% sure about them because they have pointy toes and I hate having my toes squished. They have gel insoles under built in and on the bottom of the shoes, there is a section that is a different color and different material, which is suppose to be shock absorber. The sales team stretched them out and by the time I left, my toes were not squished at all. I am hoping that they will work out because there is nothing worse than having to stand all day and having your feet hurt. If they don't work, I have six months to return them, which was my deciding factor when I bought them! Here is a picture from our walk home. It isn't the best picture, but it shows what a beautiful day it was today:

It was another beautiful day for a walk in Miami Beach. We are so lucky to live down here in such a beautiful part of the country. I love just being able to head out of my apartment and see the ocean, or people watch at a cafe. This is why people love Miami!

Jazzy Saturday Night

Saturday, we had a friend from school come down and we walked down the boardwalk to Starbucks for a nice iced coffee. It was a beautiful day and she had never been to South Beach before, so it was super fun to be able to show her around a bit. After we came back, I got ready and went to Mass. This was the most interesting Mass I've been to in Florida. In the middle of the Homily, a man walked up the center isle and was indiscriminately talking and raising his arms in the air. He sat down in the third row. The Priest was giving his Homily about the prodigal son and said something like, "God loves us and he forgives us for our sins." The gentleman then stood up, turned around, lifted his arms and yelled, "That is all you need to know. Come on y'all let's go!" Then he waltzed down the center isle. The organist followed him out and I was a bit concerned, but nothing happened. It was like an episode from St. Als.

After Mass, I was on the corner waiting to turn. All of the sudden a car cut in front of a bus and I was getting scared, but then it hit the gas: it was a Lamborghini. On the way home, I was behind the Lamborghini, then it was a Harley motorcycle and directly in front of me was a Bentley. Yes, life on Miami Beach is rough.

Farley took me out on a date, which was super nice. We went to Cantina 27, which is a cute Italian place about a half block from our house. All of the pasta is homemade. Yummmmy! I didn't think that Farley wanted to go out after dinner, but I was wrong. We walked down to Lincoln Road and decided to go to the Van Dyke Cafe, which is a local restaurant that has live music on the second level. Tony Succar and his band were playing. They are a Jazz group that is strongly influenced by South American, Latin and Caribbean music. They were great! To my surprised, after I looked at their website, I realized that I had such a good time and I am glad that Farley enjoyed the evening because I have really wanted to go to the Van Dyke and have been trying to talk him into going. Here is a picture of us at the Van Dyke Cafe:

Flood Warning

We had our last day at the free clinic on Friday. I really liked working there and I am sad to be finished. I really liked the autonomy at this clinic and I think it has helped me grow as a medical student. On Friday, I was in a room with two other students: one is in 6th semester (like me) and one in 5th semester (preparing for her boards). I am really not that far past the 5th semester student; however, I feel my history and physical exam skills are so much greater than they were just a few months ago when I was a 5th semester student. I haven't felt like I've learned a huge amount this semester, unlike when I was on the island and every day I felt like I learned enough for a lifetime; however, I think I am mistaken. This rotation has taught me a lot of practical knowledge and I am much better at doing a focused physical exam and knowing which questions to ask, Anyway, the three of us went into see a patient who was depressed and implied her husband was abusive. After screening the patient for depression and asking the patient if her husband was abusive, we found out that she was depressed and that her husband wasn't physically abusive, but he was psychologically abusive. It was a hard day. I wish we could have done more for the lady, but she wasn't ready to leave. The patient kept saying that her husband was a good man, and one of the medical students stopped her and told her a personal story about abuse in her family. I was blown away by my friend and peer's story. I had already decided that she was great with patients, but on Friday I knew that she will be an amazing doctor.

After finishing up at the clinic, we headed over to drop off a paper and some paperwork to the mail organizing site for the rotation. Since we were halfway to Costco, Farley, a friend and I decided to go to Costco. As we were driving north, the sky got darker and darker. We ran into Costco and by the time we left there were lakes that were 6-9 inches deep throughout the parking lot. We all were soaked up several inches past our ankles. Once we finally made it to our cars, took off our socks (and rang them out), and took our shoes off, we turned on the radio and found out that not only was there a flood warning from the storm, there was also a tornado warning in effect. No wonder we were soaked sock people.

Farley wanted to go to Sport's Authority to get some work out equipment, which was just a bit north of Costco, so we headed in with our soaked shoes and all. After that we found our next rotation spot and headed to the grocery store before going home. It was nice to turn in the paper and have some time to relax this weekend.

Blood Draw

It was a slow day in the clinic today, but I got to do my first blood draw. I am happy to report that I managed to get the vein and the blood on the first try. I was a little scared to try last week, but this week, I was ready to go. If I haven't done a procedure before, the doctor or I tell the patient that I am a student under Dr. Soandso's direction and ask if it is okay if I do the procedure or if they don't want me to do the procedure, can I watch Dr. Soandso. (FYI: Dr. Soandso is always watching carefully whenever a medical student do anything besides a basic

history and physical). Well, today I just blurted out, "I've never done one of these before. If it is okay with you, I'm going to try, If I don't get the blood on the first stick, then someone else will draw your blood." The patient had donated blood and plasma in the past and was completely fine with me trying to draw his blood. So, with two staff members close at hand, another medical student, and Farley, who worked as a phlebotomist, I was ready to start. I felt for the vein, I tied the tourniquet, I felt the vein again, I cleaned the skin, then I inserted the needle, and to my great excitement the needle filled with blood. Farley pulled the needle a tiny bit out to help the blood flow more quickly, but I did it! I was lucky to have a patient with really nice veins, but I was also lucky to have so much help around. It is always fun and exciting to learn something new and to be a useful and helpful member of the team!

Trivial Pursuit Round Two

We were given over 30 random questions to look up for Dr. SNL. One of these questions was "Which disease is associated with Chromosome 7?" Now, since I didn't know the answer to this questions I used my good friend Google and discovered to find the "Chromosome 7-Genetics Home Reference" which is a website maintained by the National Institute of Health. They listed about 20-30 diseases associated with Chromosome 7. When Dr. SNL asked me about the question, I was happy to report all of the diseases on the list. From that point on, I think Dr. SNL liked me. I was playing his game of Trivial Pursuit and for one round, I beat him at his own game.

While I was typing up this blog post, I found another site, "The Chromosome 7 Annotation Project" which is sponsored by The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. This website lists over 360 diseases associated with Chromosome 7. 360! Talk about Trivial Pursuit!

Trivial Pursuit

One of our proctors from this week is too interesting not to blog about. The first day I didn't know what he wanted and I felt so frustrated. After talking about him with Farley, we've decided that he is trying to be helpful and wants us to do well, but it just doesn't come across that way. He is like a comedic character from Saturday Night Live or Seinfield, so we will refer to him as Dr. SNL. Watching his interactions with students would be hilarious, if I were not one of the students!

Like many medical professors, Dr. SNL likes to quiz students. This is often referred to as "pimping" the student. Now, most professors like to pimp students on topics of importance either from the basic sciences or the clinical years (usually they focus on the clinical sciences since that is what will be covered on our next set of boards). The professors also like to focus their "pimping" on a patient and a disease that the student has been following. Not Dr. SNL. He likes to jump around all over the place. Dr. SNL is questioning a students on heart sounds and in the midst of the line of questions, he declares, "What is Kussmaul?" My brain doesn't work that fast, so I am sitting there trying to figure out what Kussmaul has to do with heart sounds when thankfully some other student asks, "Do you mean Kussmaul's breathing?" Then Dr. SNL confirms that is what he was talking about and obviously we do not know what Kussmaul's is so we must look it up (Kussmaul's breathing is hyperventilation and can be caused by many things, but is often seen in diabetic ketoacidosis). A student gives a dissertation on Kussmaul's breathing for Dr. SNL on the spot, but Dr. SNL says, "You had to think about it, and you cannot stop to think you must just know." A few hours later, Dr. SNL told us that we didn't think about things enough and that you cannot just burst out the answer without thinking. I am still confused about the whole thing. One hour he declares that we do not know the information if we have to stop and think for a second and later that same day, he declares that we don't think enough and we don't know the information well enough because we cannot think. I am telling you, it was like a game of medical Trivial Pursuit with the game's host being a character from an SNL skit.

I don't mind being questioned because it will point out my weak points (which is embarrassing) and make me a stronger student; however, his questions got a little absurd at some points. One question was "Think about the number 125. Tell me everything related to medicine that has to do with the number 125." I was flabbergasted. Usually, professors will ask questions like, "A patient presents with abdominal pain, give me the differential diagnosis." I have no idea what the purpose of asking about the number 125 was. He has a math degree and likes to think about numbers so he would just say things like, "I am thinking about the number 24. What does it mean." Then he glares at the students like we are idiots for not knowing what he was thinking about. It really would have been funny, if I were not the one getting glared out. He also asked us for the four types of cardiomyopathies, but we could only name three. He told us to look it up and find the fourth. There are only three cardiomyopathies--he just wanted to test us.

Anyway, we finally got to go see some patients. Dr. SNL wasn't very clear about what he expected other than that we go see the patient then report to him. My patient came in with a cold and after a line of questioning, I found that he had a psychiatric issue that I thought was very important. Every doctor wants things presented in a slightly different manner and Dr. SNL wanted things differently than the physicians that I had been reporting to the last few weeks. Some doctors are better than others about telling the students what they expect, and Dr. SNL was not very clear about his expectations. I tried to start presenting my case and I got stopped so many times I couldn't remember what I had told him and what I hadn't. Even thought my patient came in complaining of a cold, I thought he psychiatric issue was more important and tried to make that the main problem. Dr. SNL didn't like that and told me just to talk about the cold. I finally got through my case and in my assessment and plan, I wanted to send the patient for a psych consult. Dr. SNL was upset with me because I didn't talk to him about the psychiatry issue. I was so frustrated because I had tried to tell him and I finally just said, " I am so sorry I am not doing this as you want, but I don't know how you want me to present my case to you." He told me, "that is okay, I am here to teach you," and I got to present the case to him for the third time in less than 10 minutes!

The icing on the cake was when Dr. SNL asked student #1 to think of the hardest question he could think of and ask student #2. Student #1 asked a question about diabetics and blood pressure (the goal is to keep diabetics blood pressure even lower than the normal population because they are at risk for heart diseases). Student #2 didn't know the difference in the blood pressure scales, but that wasn't enough for Dr. SNL. Dr. SNL asked student #1 how difficult he would rate the question on a scale from 1-10. The student said a 4 or 5, but it is extremely important. Dr. SNL then said, I didn't ask you for an important question, I asked you for a hard one!

I think the main problem is that English is Dr. SNL's second language and I don't think he is 100% comfortable with it. I think that we, as students with English as a primary language, speak too quickly and he can't process everything we are saying because of the language barrier (He wasn't happy with any student's case presentation to him and he missed things that other students said too). After thinking about the day, I think that Dr. SNL really wanted to help us and teach us rather than being picky just for the sake of being picky. However, I think if there was a camera in the room, it would have looked like the Medical School edition of Candid Camera. The best part of the day was when he looked at the us, five medical students who looked like we no longer knew up from down, and told us we could go home then he declared, "Okay. Good, good. I love you all."

The Gift

It was so unnecessary for the patient at the free clinic to give me a gift: A Cold. This is a gift that keeps on giving. I know, I know, by going to medical school I signed up to be exposed to colds and other yucky things. I've heard after you finish your first year of residency you've been exposed to so many things and have built immunity so you don't get sick too often. Right now, I am building immunity and I have my wonderful patients to thank. But really, they don't need to bring such kind gifts to me. I'm happy to see them without gifts that keep on giving.

Weekend Relaxation

I was so tired that I ended up going to bed at 9:30 on Friday night. I would have gone to bed at 7:30, but I didn't want to be up at 5:00am! Saturday was such a nice day. Since on Friday Farley and I had gone to the free clinic that we will be working at next week, I had a list of drugs that they prefer to prescribe so I looked them all up to review each of them (I feel like Pharmacology is one of my weaker points). Since it is a free clinic, they have to be careful with what drugs they prescribe. Unless there is a real emergency, they try to stick to the list of drugs (or other generic drugs) because they are on a budget and need to make the dollars stretch. Anyway, I reviewed all of those drugs and relaxed for a bit before getting ready for Saturday night Mass.

I was so tired that I ended up going to bed at 9:30 on Friday night. I would have gone to bed at 7:30, but I didn't want to be up at 5:00am! Saturday was such a nice day. Since on Friday Farley and I had gone to the free clinic that we will be working at next week, I had a list of drugs that they prefer to prescribe so I looked them all up to review each of them (I feel like Pharmacology is one of my weaker points). Since it is a free clinic, they have to be careful with what drugs they prescribe. Unless there is a real emergency, they try to stick to the list of drugs (or other generic drugs) because they are on a budget and need to make the dollars stretch. Anyway, I reviewed all of those drugs and relaxed for a bit before getting ready for Saturday night Mass.

I went to St. Patrick's Church on Miami Beach. It was built in 1926 and was the first Catholic Church on Miami Beach. They have a grade school and other buildings near the church and they are all beautiful. The church itself was smaller on the inside than I expected based upon the outside of the church. This church has six masses per weekend, which is a lot for a parish church. Apparently they also have an award winning choir, but they only sing at the morning services (I wanted to be able to sleep in, which is why I went to the Saturday night Mass). Anyway, I was shocked when the organist started playing the pipe organs: he was amazing. Many of you might not know, but I had a scholarship for piano performance when I started college and I am not a pipe organ expert; however, even I know enough about the pipe organ to know that this organist was exceptional. The Cantor was a tenor and his voice was so strong and beautiful that I wondered if he was trained in opera. I wasn't so sure if I'd like the priest at first because he seemed a bit more conservative than I am; however, I really liked his homily and he had a nice sense of humor. My dad would have loved him: he was a super fast priest. This priest was a no-nonsense mover and shaker. He finished Mass in 45 minutes (and no, he didn't skip anything nor did he rush anything). I think he was able to finish so quickly because he started the Eucharistic prayers as the ushers were doing the collection rather than waiting for the collection to be finished, he didn't sing any of the prayers, nor did he recite any of the prayers in Latin (which I LOVE). Despite all of this quickness, he still managed to give a 10 or 15 minute Homily. Overall, I liked the church and I plan on making it my adoptive parish while I am living in Miami Beach. There are a couple of other Catholic Churches that I'd like to check out (one historic Jesuit Church in Downtown Miami especially), but St. Patrick's has many services and is conveniently located just about 5 minutes from my apartment. Below are some pictures of St. Patrick's Church.

After Mass, I picked up Farley and we ran to Target so he could find a pull-up bar. Then we went to Marshall's and I was able to find a brown and black pair of dress shoes. I have brown and black dress shoes that work with dresses and pants; however, they have never fit just right. They are Clarks, which are suppose to be comfortable for standing, but they are horrible. When I bought them, I bought the size that was a little snug (thinking they would stretch) since the next size up was loose on my foot. They were okay last semester, but never great. I didn't wear them much during my break from school (I have much cuter and more comfortable shoes at home), but started to wear them again at the start of this rotation. I knew that it would they would take a little getting used to, but they were hurting more and more rather than getting better. It is amazing how painful feet can become and how much they can impact your day. I didn't want to spend the money on more shoes, but I got a great price and I think they are going to make a huge difference in my days. Oh, and when I compared the new shoes to the old ones, the old ones are visibly smaller than the new shoes despite them both supposedly being the same size. Perhaps my problem the whole time has been that they are too small.

Next we ran to the grocery store. The yucky winter is greatly affecting the prices of produce in Florida. I used to buy a large bag of green beans that would last me a week for $1.50-$2.50 (depending on the exact weight). Now, I cannot even find the same size bags that I used to see and I buy a much smaller bag for $2.60-$4.00 (really I only buy the $2.60 bag, but they are now priced as high as $4.00). After the grocery store, we had a nice dinner and then Farley asked if I'd make cookies. I made a peanut butter and chocolate chip cookie, which turned out great!

Sunday was a beautiful day so Farley and I decided to take a walk. The Food Network was having a food and wine festival so we looked into tickets to a food tasting. They were $185.00 to $215.00 per person! I really thought they would be $10.00 - $30.00 per person; needless to day, we did not go to the food tasting. The wine tasting classes and tastings were $85.00 per hour! That just seems a bit crazy to me. So, we decided to go walk down to Lincoln Road and look at the fancy shops and restaurants. There were many chain stores, Gap, Banana Republic, and Starbucks, but there are also many boutiques, designer stores, and local restaurants. We went into Books and Books, which is a local book store. I really liked it because they divided the store into one main room with smaller rooms off the main room. The smaller rooms were the size of a large bedroom and they had books of a specific genera in them. Books and Books was obviously smaller than a big chain store, but they had more unique authors. I found several books that I really wanted to read, but I am in the middle of one book and have another waiting so I decided not to buy anything right now. I forgot my camera so I'll have to go back to Lincoln Road and take pictures later!

After going to Lincoln Road, I started baking and cooking. I have been wanting to make a walnut and Gorgonzola cheese bread and I had the time to do so yesterday. While the bread was rising and such, I decided to get a head start on the week by making lentil soup and sweet and sour meatballs. When the bread was almost finished, I started my pasta with meat sauce. We had a great dinner, if I do say so myself! After dinner, I had to hit the books again and I reviewed some information for the Monday.

All in all it was a great, relaxing weekend. I can't get too used to these!