Rainbow

There are lots of rainbows in Dominica. I guess that is a perk of living in a rain forest: it rains and then it is sunny so you get a rainbow. However, this is the first rainbow that I've gotten a good picture of--taken from my balcony of course.


I found an old Irish lullaby on iTunes that my Grandmother sang to me when I was little. Then, when she was dying of cancer, I sang it to her. I even remember climbing in bed with her and singing it together. I was only six when she died but I vividly remember that day. I remember pretending to be sick so I wouldn't have to leave. I remember telling Mom, very frankly, that Grandma was dying so I needed to stay home. Mom and Dad made me go to school and when she picked me up I remember standing in front of St. Joseph's Parish informing her that I knew Grandma was dead. She asked me how I knew and I told her that I just knew Grandma would be dead before I came home from school (Mom told me laster that Grandma died about 45 minutes after I left for school). It was the day I knew I wanted to be a doctor. The pot at the end of this rainbow is completing my Doctorate in Medicine. Grandma will be so proud!

Question and Answer Period

Since this is the time of the semester that professors have Q and A sessions, I decided to have a Q and A session on my blog. If you have questions that are not answered, send me an email or post a comment and I will add them to my post!

1. How often do you go to the beach?

Not as often as I would like. We have to study all the time and unfortunately, there isn't enough time to go hang out at the beach even though I live about fifty feet from the beach. Oh, and a microbiology professor informed us this semester that the beaches in Dominica are full of hook worms. Hook worm larva are able burrow themselves into intact flesh!!! There are hook worm species that affect humans on the Dominica beach (yup the burrow into you, then move into your blood supply, and finally they form a home in your gut). There are also hook worms that primarily affect dogs and cats (those will just burrow into your skin and swim around without causing disease). Thus, I really don't wan to go to the beach much anymore.

2. Why is your hair so long?

Great question Uncle Al! There isn't anyone on the island that cuts white girl hair, that is besides Farley. Do you blame me for letting my hair grow out?

3. Are you EVER coming home?

Yes, I am leaving Dominica December 18th, spending the night in the Miami area and arriving in Spokane on the 19th about 3:00pm (assuming the flights are on time). It costs so much to get home that Farley and I could have gone to Paris or Rome for two weeks (and have eaten bread crumbs) for the same price. It is a good thing we didn't check out travelocity.com before booking our flights home.....

4. How long will you be home?

Thanks for asking! I get to be home for THREE WEEKS!! I'm so excited. I leave home on January 9th to meet Farley in Miami, then we go to Barbados for the night and finally we will get back, to Dominica on January 11th. If we wouldn't have gone with the travel route that has us staying in Barbados for one night, we would have had to leave home a week earlier. I guess we will just have to keep a stiff upper lip in Barbados!

5. Why does "doctor school" take so long?

That is a great question from my favorite little 5-year old! Doctor school takes so incredible long because we have to know how to make people feel better (and fast if possible). There is so much to know to saves lives or even to alleviate pain. Besides, little one, they have to make sure that I "know stuff."

6. Is doctor school as much fun as kindergarten?

Another great question little one. The short answer is yes and no. There are days that we learn some amazing, amazing things and I'm so excited that some day I'll be a physician. Other days, I'm tired and wish that doctor school didn't take so long.

7. Are you afraid of living in an apartment with no glass on the windows?

No, since I live on the third floor and the only thing on the other side is my balcony and about a 4o foot drop. There is 24 hour security and I close the wooden slates at night (mostly just to keep the bugs out). If I lived on the ground level, I would be afraid.

8. How is your view?

It is beautiful. I can even see part of the next island over, Iles Des Sainte which is part of Guadelopue, on a clear day. Does that make me qualified to be the Vice President? Here is a picture of the Cabrits (two little mountain things at the other side of the bay) with a cruise ship in the foreground and far, far in the background you can see Iles Des Sainte (just a two hour ferry ride). The first picture is a close up and the second is from further away so you get a better idea of the proportion. Oh, and yes, these are pictures taken from my balcony.

9. What is the best part of living in Dominica?

Beautiful sunsets, fresh squeezed juice for a $1.00 for 16oz and the opportunity to travel. I'd tell you about the negatives, but I'm trying to make a positive blog. Speaking of positive, here is a picture from the hall at the end of my apartment overlooking over the sea (looking south rather than north toward Guadelopue) .

Thanksgiving 2008

Farley and I decided to have Thanksgiving down here in Dominica. We are a bit weary of the meat in general, so we didn't try to hunt down a turkey (literally). Besides, I have a propane oven/stove, which is extremely difficult to manage the temperature (my oven is on or off); thus, I don't think a turkey would have turned out anyway. So, we decided to get chicken breast from Nelson's Chicken (the best chicken on the island and the only place to get chicken breast--he has a monopoly). I have never made instant potatoes or stuffing before (always from scratch at home), but I didn't have an option here. We bought the chicken early in the day, so I heated it up in the pot then made the stuffing with the chicken still in the pot. Honestly, I was shocked that the chicken tasted completely different than it does when we have it for lunch. We had some instant "Idahoian" potatoes, fresh green beans (which were the only thing that took longer than 5 minutes to make), and cranberries. I like my cranberries hot because we always make our cranberry sauce from frozen cranberries; thus, it was in a pan. Mom had sent me down black olives, which was such a treat, especially since Farley hates them! We also bought a bottle of wine, which was shockingly good. I wish the pictures looked a bit more artistic, but heck, my kitchen fits into a closet, so I'm just lucky I managed to cook all of this and have it all ready at the same time!

Above: There is our instant Thanksgiving meal.

Below: a close up of the stuffing/chicken dish.

Farley and I decided to take the night off and relax. We talked to our families, had some no bake cheesecake, and watched t.v. We can't ever really take a night off medicine, so we watched a plastic surgery show on Discovery Health, Grey's anatomy and the show with everyone's favorite OB/GYN: The Cosby Show. At one point on The Cosby Show, little Rudy said that she was board and Dr. Huxitable responded lets read a book to which she said I don't want to read. That prompted him to reply that he has 3 million dollars worth of medical text books and she couldn't find one interesting??? That just made me chuckle as I have, literally, thousands of dollars worth of books and I'm only in my second year of medical school!

Well, unfortunately, our day wasn't just no-bake-cheese cake and The Cosby Show, we had classes from 8:00-12:00 then we had an exam in Behavioral science-a ten minute full interview of a patient. I think we both did very well. Farley and I spent hours interviewing each other. We came up with some pretty interesting cases: patient with malaria and a G6PD deficiency (which mean that they can't metabolism some of the malaria medications and will get even more ill with medication), a pregnant medical student, a manic-depressant patient (Farley's shinning moment of acting), and a womanizing-old-man with erectile dysfunction and benign prostate hyperplasia (my shinning moment of acting). Well, all that fun practice helped out as we both were given great feedback from our examiners, but we don't have the final grades yet.

A few things I'm thankful for:

• Family and Friends!


• The Internet so I can communicate with my friends and family--it keeps me sane down here.


• The opportunity to be a doctor, despite my whining at times


• The semester coming to a close and getting to come home


• My health and the health of my friends and family, especially after learning about all the things that can go wrong. Heck, I'm surprised any of us are healthy there are so many things that can go wrong!


• Obviously, my Farley. Farley's picture is in the new Catalogue for Ross University School of Medicine that is sent out to all prospective student (see page 74). He looks so handsome and thoughtful in the picture. He is with Dr. "I LOVE ANATOMY", who perhaps, is the only person on campus who likes anatomy as much as Farley does (and when I say that I'm including all of the other faculty of anatomy. Farley and Dr. "I LOVE ANATOMY" are anatomy addicts).


• Which reminds me of another thing that I'm thankful for: I'm done with anatomy!

Doesn't Farley look like he is hanging on everything that Dr. "I LOVE ANATOMY" is saying. It's like Farley found a mentor who loves anatomy and teaching of anatomy as much as he does. Which is completely true, other professors are also great at teaching anatomy, but NO ONE is an enthusiastic as Dr. "I LOVE ANATOMY".

And I thought MY exam was funny....

After speaking to my peers, I realized that as humorous my examination of the physical exam was, other people had more humorous situations. How about the student with the heavy accent who repeated her patent's name as "Pepsi" rather than "Patsy," the patient who started to fall asleep during the exam (excuse me miss, could you please say "99" each time my stethoscope touches your back....zzzzzzzz), or the patient who refused to follow directions (sorry Farley, that was your patient). My favorite was from Farley's exam. When conducting a general survey, the medical practitioner must comment on weight and BMI. Apparently the student in Farley's group made a comment that the patient was obese and she went from dazing off into space to glaring at him for the rest of the exam. Farley also said that she was VERY obese. I think it isn't the most kind thing to point out someone's weight in front of a group of white-coat-wearing-students, but we have to do it. The thought of this woman glaring at the student, like it was his fault, just makes me chuckle.

World AIDS Day: December 1st

Amongst all of the happy celebrations that occur this time of year like Thanksgiving, St. Nicholas Day's, Christmas, Chanukah, and New Years, there is a more somber day: World AIDS Day. It is observed on December 1st each year and is a day to bring attention to the world AIDS epidemic. 2008 is the 20th anniversary of World AIDS day. Today we had a lecture on HIV and I thought it would be appropriate to give you some interesting facts we learned during our lecture. The information I've provided is directly from my lecture notes.

AIDS: Number Comparisons

• 40 million people infected worldwide; Population of Canada: 30 million
• Over 21 million people have died from AIDS so far; Population of New-York city 21 million
• Over 13 million children, mostly in Africa, have been orphaned because of AIDS; 15 million students are in primary and secondary school in the United States
• About 1/160 people is infected with AIDS worldwide; about 1/520 people has cancer worldwide
• 16,000 people are infected with HIV daily; 11,000 children are born each day in the United States.

In the United States, it is easy to forget about how horrific HIV/AIDS is since we have such amazing medications that are extending the lives of HIV patients (and giving horrific side effects). Nonetheless, AIDS is still a huge problem worldwide, check out these numbers from UNAIDS and the World Health Organization:

Citation for the Red AIDS ribbon image on this blog post.

An exam of how I perform a physical exam....

Let me introduce you to my dear friend, Bates' Guide to the Physical Exam and History Taking. Our syllabus for Introduction to Clinical Medicine (affectionately known as ICM) states that, "Bate's Guide to the Physical Exam and History Taking" is the prescribed book for ICM curriculum. Now there are other suggested books, but this is THE book. Our exam in ICM today consisted of performing part of a physical exam and let me tell you Bate's was a lifesaver. If there was anything that I wasn't sure about or couldn't remember, Dr. Bickley discussed it in her edition of "Bates" and she also had a DVD so I could watch a master in action. There are videos of our professors performing the same exams, but they were done during class so you had to skim though an hour of stuff to find what you need; whereas, these videos by Dr. Bickley were five minutes or less (which is how long we had to perform the exam).

This exam is probably one of the most important things that we've learned how to do thus far in our training; however, the exam today was only worth 2.5% of our Behavioral Science grade. It is a bit of a bummer because it took so much time to master all of the exams (they are not hard, but there is a very specific order in which you are required to do them and according to the nurses and PAs in my class they are much more detailed than what is required of other professionals). Farley and I practiced the 14 physical exams at least 4 times each over the weekend, plus we did the exams that we were less confident about an additional two or three times; in other words, Farley did 56 exams on me plus the extra practice exams that he wasn't as confident about (and I did the same to him). I think we can safely say that our measurements of our JVPs are within normal limits, our carotid pulses are monophasic with a brisk upstroke, all lung fields are negative for bronchophony, negative for egophony and negative for whispered pectoriloquy, and finally the apical impulse is focal, in the mid-clavicular line of the 5th intercoastal space, it is tapping, full and lasting less than 2/3 the length of systole. Yes, Farley and I are healthy. Well, we are healthy as far as I can tell based upon the exams that I know how to perform at this time.

Speaking of the exam, it was rather amusing. So ten of us walked into the room, washed our hands and took our seats. A rather robust early 30s local woman was our patient. We had one professor grading us and one student a semester ahead of us as a second grader. Then the fun begin. There were 14 cards lying upside down on the table and as each of us volunteered to go, we had to pick a card then the timer started. You have six minutes to complete the tasks at hand, report your findings and answer questions regarding your findings. The problem with this set up is that some of the exams have 15-20 tasks necessary to complete them, such as "examination of the respiratory system excluding auscultation" or "perform a general abdominal examination" whereas other tasks have only four or five things that you need to so, such as perform an "examination for the presence of Ascites." I didn't want to go first, because I had never seen this professor before and I wanted to see how she was during the exam. To my pleasant surprise, she tried to help us by asking us the questions that should be at the end during the middle of the exam if someone got stuck and forgot to do something (for example if you forgot to check for edema during the "general survey" she might ask you what would cause edema to (1) get the question asked during the six minutes so you get the points and (2) try to remind you to check for edema). I think people were too nervous to notice that she was doing this. We were not only graded on how we completed our task, but if we were kind to the patient, if we explained the procedure to the patient and obtained consent correctly, if we dressed like a professional (or as I say, "dress like a pro so I can make them think I'm are already pro"), and if we answered our questions correctly.

I, unfortunately, had to take the blood pressure. Obviously, I can take a blood pressure, but I didn't want to have to fiddle with equipment during an exam. I was doing okay, but I had a heck of a time finding the brachial pulse on this very robust woman and I got flustered. I was so flustered, that I was shakin' in my stilettos! However, I was able to get back on track within about 10-15 seconds and I finished with time to spare. I'm sure I missed a point or two, but I'm pleased with how I did overall. If I was nervous, boy, some of my colleagues were scared to death. Everyone's hands were shaking, some of the gentleman's voices were cracking, one girl was shaking so hard that she could barely take a measurement, and one guy was so nervous that he didn't finish the exam because he had to stop and gather himself twice (he was about 30 seconds from finishing when the buzzer went off). But the worst, had to be the guy that was stating things that were not true. I think he was so used to practicing on his healthy friends that he just said the exam as if the patient was normal and she had a couple abnormalities; moreover, he stated that she had dullness in her stomach upon percussion and she didn't. The big problem with that was that when you percuss (you lay one finger over the patient and tap that finger with another finger) the whole room can hear what is going on; thus, the professor knew that he didn't know the difference between dullness in the abdomen and tympanic sounds (which are normal and what the patient had). Oh, it was a mess! On top of all of that, every time someone started his/her exam the student had to ask the patent's name and everyone of us said her name differently. It was all I could do not to start laughing. I'm still not sure what her name was, but I am sure she had high blood pressure and needed to go see a real doctor--not a medical student.

I think this exam was so nerve wracking because we have never done this type of exam before and we had to do it in front of our peers(no one wants to look like a dope), but next semester if we don't pass the exam of the physical exam we will fail the semester (we will have an entire class on ICM rather than having ICM part of our Behavioral Science class). I'm pretty sure it works that way from here on out. Moreover, as part of STEP 2 (the second set of boards that a physician must pass to practice in the US, which is taken after completion of four years of medical school) there is a physical exam. I'm not sure how it works, but I think you have to interview and perform a full physical. I believe that you are even graded on your "bed side manner" (as we were today). I'm not sure about the amount of time or anything specific, but I do know if you fail it, you cannot practice medicine in the U.S. until you pass it.

Farley and I took pictures last January once we got down to the Island. I called these our "Grey's Anatomy" pictures. Good lookin' but not really doctors. Well, I'm happy to say that we feel like we are in over our heads in medicine right now, but in reality being in our second year of medical school we are probably about knee deep. Nonetheless, we are really starting to think like physicians and we are well on our way to becoming excellent physicians!

You can't believe everything you see on T.V., but you can believe this!

Yesterday in microbiology we were had lectures on "strategies of laboratory diagnosis" and "antibiotics and resistance." During these lectures, our professor mentioned a procedure known as a fecal transplant. It is used for Clostridium difficile (see picture above), which is a bacteria that causes diarrhea. C. diff can be found in the normal flora (normal bacteria) of the gut, but if you are immunosuppressed (cancer patients for example) it can overgrow and run amuck. I suspect that the fecal transplant is used in other bacteria. I am not 100% sure all of the bacteria that are treated with this procedure because when I searched for academic papers, most of them discussing "fecal transplant" were so recently published that I couldn't see the full article online--just the abstracts. I did find news report published by the Canadian Broadcast Cooperation that discusses this medical procedure.

At any rate, on "Grey's Anatomy" last night, they discussed a patient who needed and received a fecal transplant. I am here to tell you that yes, in fact, this procedure is done. From what I know, this is reserved for patients who have had severe diarrhea for a long period of time (so perhaps the case wasn't severe enough to warrant a transplant). Nonetheless, it works when other things don't. I spoke with my professor (a PhD in microbiology) today about the actual procedure and she thought that it was done as an enema, but the next presenter (an MD) said that it would be administered via an NG tube (a tube in the nose, often used to feed patients who cannot eat). Yup, that is correct. Grey's got it right. Fecal transplants do, in medical practice, actually occur.

Scopes and Folks

"'Faith' is a fine invention when gentlemen can see---but microscopes are prudent in an emergency" --Emily Dickinson c. 1860

I really like Pathology; in fact, it is one of my better classes. Of the "hard sciences" this is the subject that just makes sense to me. Don't get me wrong, I still have to work my tail off, but the study of disease is just more fun than some of our other subjects. Moreover, I feel like I retain the information well after I study, which is always nice. No one wants to spend hours reviewing then not be able to recall the information the next day, which unfortunately, happens to the best of us occasionally. Currently, we are studying pediatric pathology--the professor is one of my favorites (and he is--without a doubt--Farley's favorite professor). Maybe I like pathology so much this semester because intellectually, I love pediatrics, hematology/oncology, and reproductive health (Obstetrics/Gynecology). We've covered three of the four in the last month, but I don't think that is why I like pathology so much. I think I like it because is feels like we are really learning something important, something that could, perhaps, save someone's life. I do know one thing, I don't want to actually be a pathologist. I like the subject, especially the human aspect of the disease and conditions, but I do not like the microscope enough to spend my life devoted to pathology. And no, even the pretty, shiny and pink Hello Kitty microscope isn't enough to make me change my mind--I want to spend my days a physician with folks not scopes!

Hot water, HA, it' s been out for over a month!

That's right, living on a Caribbean Island may seem like sunsets, rum and lazy days, but my friends, it's not. I have not had hot water in a month--yup, I'm showering in ice cold water. I don't even think the bottled water on this island is as cold as my shower. It was luke-warm for about three days a month ago and before that it was another month. That's right it has really been more like two months since I've had a really good, hot shower. It is so bad that if either or Farley or I have not freezing water at we immediately calls the other to say "get in NOW, before the ice cubes start flowing again!" I'm not quite sure what we'd do without each other. We have a study buddy and a not-so-ice-water-shower-notifier. Yes, it is more than most can ask or even expect in a significant other! Farley spoke to the management yesterday and "told them what to do." Well, when I checked the shower water tonight, it is warm and even clear--not brown!!!! It's a good day!

As if the hot water situation isn't enough, our Internet has been out at our apartment for about a week. Yea--it stinks! But right now, we are back in business as I'm typing during a study break at my little apartment right this very moment. A great thing about the Internet being back is that I get these cravings for music and with the Internet I can buy whatever I want to hear. It is the only indulging I get on this little island, so I allow it. I missed my Dad today, so obviously, I downloaded his favorite Christmas tune, "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch." I think Dad thinks he IS the Grinch, but he isn't. Before the last exam, I decided that I needed to dance to "Thriller" and "Billy Jean." Yesterday, I decided I needed to hear "The Mission--Gabriel's Obeo." Anyone who attended a Jesuit School probably, like me, is very familiarly with this amazing work of music. I didn't love the movie (with Robert De Niro), but I LOVE (can't emphasize enough) the music.

Another great thing about the Internet being back is that I can talk to Mom and Dad again on Skype or Google Talk (or anyone else if you email me and we can exchange Skype names---how fun!). Now that Mom and Dad have high speed Internet, the world is their oyster! They can even look at my smiling, tan face and I can see them.

I haven't posted a Caribbean Sunset lately and since I've been complaining, I should put something positive up too:

The end is near

Farley and I are about four or five weeks away from being done for the semester. Boy, am I ready!!! I am so tired. I just want to rest, but I can't. We have a billion (okay not a billion) exams left in the semester and I must be battle ready to take on the professors and their questions. We just finished up a review by one of the professors about our oral exam in behavioral science and we are having another on our oral exam for clinical medicine. I am doing excellent in Behavioral Science and am not too worried about the oral exam; however,I do need to focus and do well on these exams. Back to it!

It's okay

I stopped trying to guess how an exam goes. It is just too difficult. However, when I left on Monday, I thought I probably did absolutely horrible in Microbiology. I was bracing myself for the worst---it didn't happen. Going into the exam, I thought I was extremely prepared, but the questions were very strange (by strange, I mean difficult to interpret what is being asked) and the questions didn't reflect what was stressed in class (I hate it when they ask a minute detail mentioned in passing, considering that we get 1.5 questions per hour of class. To give you an idea of how much information is taught in an hour of class, it isn't unusual to have 80 pages of a medical text book covered in one hour and those textbooks are thick.) Anyway, I wasn't 100% please with how I did on the exam (but I doubt any of my classmates are either). Actually, I did pretty amazing in Behavior Science and Pathology and Microbiology and Pharmacology were okay. The great thing about medicine is the repetition. By the time I'm responsible for any of this information and a patient at the same time, I will probably see it at least one if not two more times (oh and there will be an attending and probably a senior resident to double check me). The medical profession knows that there is a mountain of information to learn and not enough hours in day--so we repeat, repeat and repeat.

Don't wink, don't think, don't even blink!

Monday night, I took a break from studying and watched part of Boston Legal. At one point, William Shatner's character said something like, "Don't wink, don't think, don't even blink." It made me chuckle, as this show always does; however, I was a bit shocked that midway through my exam I heard him saying that to me. There were several questions, as there always are, that I think to myself, "I'm pretty sure the answer is C, but I have no idea why." Now, if I stop to think about it I almost always talk myself into another answer and miss the questions. So Tuesday at the appropriate times I didn't wink, I didn't think nor did I blink---I bubbled! I have no idea how this exam went, but as Farley and I discussed, I'm usually wrong if I get a strong feeling one way or another---I guess there is no point in speculating!

Tuesday was such an exciting night. We went down to the election party at our beach side bar and restaurant. It was fun to hear people yelling and dancing as the election returns came in. The funny thing was that at least half of the people there were not even Americans, but they were as loud as the Americans!! There were students from Canada, Africa and the Caribbean as well as professors from all over Europe, the Caribbean, Canada, Africa, and the Middle East (I didn't see our Chinese Histology professor, but her children are very little, otherwise I'm sure she'd have been there too--she is too fun to miss a party). Anyway, Farley and I returned home to watch the end of the returns and the speeches. Wasn't it amazing? We lived a moment in history! In 50 years, we will tell people where we were when President Obama was elected!!! I was also pleasantly surprised with Senator McCain's gracious speech. Overall it was an amazing night. Wednesday when we were at Nelson's Chicken (best chicken on the island) getting our yummy lunches, Nelson told Farley and I that he heard people in the streets at 2:00am and thought it was the students celebrating. However, it wasn't. It was the locals. It would have been unbelievable to be in Chicago or D.C.; however, to be outside of the U.S. on this monumental night and to see the people of the world cheering was, well breathtaking.

Here is my favorite political cartoon posted on Slate Magazine today (it is probably my favorite online magazine). You should check out all of the cartoons--I don't think I've ever seen so many uplifting and positive political cartoons. They will make you smile.

Dancin'

Farley has brought me over to the dancing side. He thinks it is imperative to dance before each exam, as he explained last February. Well, I hate to admit it when he is right, but I've had an overwhelming dance crave come over me while studying for the exam tomorrow. I even had to download Thriller because I think, with practice, I might be able to dance as well as the inmates in the Philippines. Farley would also say that tomorrow we gotta, "Showin' (professors) How Funky Strong Is Your Fight" but I wish , "It Doesn't Matter Who's Wrong Or Right." Well on that note, I've got to get back to memorizing drugs and bugs, which is clearly not as much fun as dancing or using Jackson's lyrics to describe my "battle" tomorrw, but much more important!

I only have a studio--no room for roommates, large lizard in my window!!

Remember Leo the Lizard?? I posed about him last August in Miami? Well, today, Farley had to save me from his great, great, grandfather! I was minding my own business at my little desk and I had the erie feeling that someone was looking at me. I looked at my window seal and there was about a 5.5 inch lizard. I thought he might be dead--then he blinked. I calmly stood up and marched to Farley's house. Farley, in his manly way, staggered over, took one looked at the lizard and declared him "a grandfather lizard." We both though he looked sick, that was, until Farley poked him with a pen. This time I didn't manage to walk slowly out of the room, I ran. Farley kindly pointed out that running, screaming, from the lizard doesn't help the situation. If Farley knows one thing, it is how to keep his cool---maybe he will be a trauma surgeon (I like to joke that his future career path changes each time we learn something new because he likes most of it so much).

At this point in operation lizard removal, I called maintenance; however, they were all on vacation (remember the five day weekend??) They were going to send up the gal at the desk or the housekeeper (who is probably 65). Well, my manly Farley wasn't going to stand for that! He sent me to his house to get some gloves then promptly stood on the desk and negotiated the lizard into the corner. Then he grabbed the little guy and took him outside. I took a picture of him. Farley wanted me to zoom more in on the little guy, but he tried to bite Farley. Well, lets just say our little lizard when on a little trip to the grass below my apartment complex. Don't worry about the little guy, he landed in the grass. Besides, remember when I told you about the giant lizard that fell off the landing and landed on the cement---he was fine.

Well this lizard got into my apartment via a screen that had been broken (and reported to maintence) three weeks earlier. I was a little too busy studying to be a doctor to follow up and well, I paied the price. Good thing my hero was around to keep me safe!!