Happy Anniversary!

One year ago today, this happened.

I tell people that she was like my unplanned pregnancy.  I definitely did not think that one through, and if I had, I would have logically and very sensibly concluded that second year of medical school - in the midst of boards studying, no less - was not exactly the ideal time to get myself a puppy, to say the least. 

But she came, and I kept her, and I still could not be happier or more grateful that Izzy became mine.  :) 

Top Ten Things Making Me Happy Right Now

1. Tonight's sunset from my neighborhood:

2. Coming home after a long day to wet, sloppy kisses from a sweet, wiggly, overly-excited puppy 

(this picture is clearly not doing a good job of demonstrating this, it was just the only one I had.)

3. Back on the bandwagon.  For the past month, maybe longer, I have been abusing my body: way too much drinking, way too much eating really crap food, way too much stress, way too little sleep, way too little exercise.  But I now have new resolve to get my shit together in that department, so today is day two of committed FitWit attendance and eating right.  Dinner tonight was a giant delicious salad that was about 50% avocado.  Yum.  :)  My muscles are also sore again, finally, which I secretly love. 

4. The new Imagine Dragons album.

5. The cheapest and most self-restrained visit to Target I have ever made in my life: $6.42!

6. Keeping in touch the old-fashioned way:

8. More hilarious patient stories.  Today, in clinic:

Me, totally overwhelmed after listening to an incredible litany of medical issues going on with a Parkinson's patient: "And what would you say is your BIGGEST concern today?" 

Parkinson's patient, totally deadpan, without missing a beat: "That Romney might get elected."

Swear, I do not make this stuff up.  I am not trying to be apolitical on this blog, but I'm also not trying to wave my opinions around or incite any sort of political discussions, either.  I am sure there are just as many snarky patient comments that go the other way every day, but these are just the ones I've heard personally.  And I think they are an absolute riot.  :)

9. A story I just heard from a friend who shall remain anonymous about how when she was in college she used to date the drummer of a band that has recently made it big and how she took his v-card.  And then he wrote a song about it.  And that song got him some sort of prestigious scholarship for some music school, or something like that.  This is probably funnier if you know the person and the band involved.  Sorry, I know this blog is usually a little more family-friendly, but for some reason this is just cracking me up right now.

10. This postcard from my sister:

Happy Wednesday!

Scenes From the Week, # 2

Beach puppy.

Scenes From the Week, # 1

My road trip buddy.

Spazzhead

Very short video of Izzy entertaining herself at my brother's house a couple of weeks ago.  Watching her play with people or other dogs is cute and funny, but this is my absolute favorite thing that she ever does - when she just goes a little crazy all by her little lonesome, running around and jumping and flipping toys to herself.  I think it is just hysterical and it honestly never gets old.  We only caught the tail-end of this performance, but you get the idea.

Happy Thursday!

My Furry Baby

Izzy, alive and well and snoozing away

So here's the setting for tonight's story: I am on labor and delivery at Grady right now, on the night shift this week.  These shifts last about 14 hours, from 6pm to 8am, with a usually pretty busy service of laboring patients, deliveries, c-sections, OB emergencies.  For some reason I was convinced that I was on days this week instead of nights.  I was so confident that I didn't even double-check the schedule on Sunday night.  So I showed up for my first L&D shift 12 hours early.  Better than being 12 hours late, I suppose.  

I was immediately corrected by my classmate whose shift it actually was, made fun of by the third year signing out, drove back home and tried to sleep through the day so that being up all night wouldn't be quite as painful.  But alas, I tossed and turned for hours in the bright daylight of my room, dozing and having brief bizarre anxiety dreams.  Definitely NOT restful.  Finally I just gave up and got out of bed, deciding to just make a big thermos of coffee and hope for the best.  The night went ok... I am guessing that no one ever feels like the first day of any rotation went really awesomely well.  At best, you are just trying to figure out what's going on, how things are done, where things are, what the personalities are on the team, etc.

Anyway, needless to say, I was exhausted and feeling rather brittle by the time I made it home at 8:30 the next morning.

I walked into the house and Izzy greeted me at the door, which is never a reassuring sign when no one is home.  Both my roommates' cars were gone, so I knew they had already headed to work.  Izzy is only about 10 months old at this point and not really reliable being left alone, so usually we try to make sure that she is either left out in the yard or put in her crate if everyone is leaving.  I dropped my bags and headed back to the kitchen/living room, surveying for trouble as I went walked down the long hall that goes the length of our house.  Everything seemed to be in place until I saw it on the sofa: my very recently-new, nearly-full cardboard container of chocolate calcium chews, empty.

I immediately burst into tears.

Izzy just looked at me, with her big floppy ears all perked up, doing her adorable quizzical head-tilt, big brown eyes meeting mine.  I freaked out, imagining her imminent death due to hypercalcemia.  I called my vet, whose office wasn't open yet.  I called the emergency clinic whose number my vet's away message gave me.  The emergency clinic operator told me that they were closing since it was time for regular clinics to open and that I should call my regular vet.  I called back a second time and got the away message again.  I left a frantic voicemail.  I googled "my dog ate an entire container of chocolate calcium chews" and got a surprising number of hits.  I ended up on some website where you could chat live with a vet, who would answer your question for a mere $35, which I paid.  The online vet basically told me that as long as my dog was generally healthy, I could expect some upset stomach but that she would be ok.  I then found a much more detailed and reassuring response to my exact question from my previous Google search.  (I clearly don't make the smartest decisions concerning spending unnecessary money when under duress.)  After all of this, Izzy still looked like she was just fine, and I felt much better about just watching her and seeing how she did for the rest of the day, so I calmed down, collapsed into bed and passed out.

The short version of the rest of the story is that the next day, she was pretty miserable for about 24 hours, vomiting a couple of times and shitting out those silver foil wrappers all over the back yard, but she has since made a full recovery and is back to her cute energetic self now.  I know she is just a dog, and maybe there are those of you out there who think that it is silly to get so worked up over a pet, but I have been surprised since adopting her how much my little buddy has come to mean to me.  I am thankful for the love and companionship she has brought to my life, and I am so grateful that she is ok.  :)

roomie Elena enjoying post-work snuggles on the sofa with Izzy and Luna

"Dog"

Today, sitting on the patio at Victory Sandwich Bar, (a patio that is awesome because they let dogs sit there), and enjoying a fantastically perfect spring afternoon, my friends and I drank Jack and Coke slushies while Izzy made friends with everyone.  One of her new friends, after gushing about how cute she was, said, "She is such a perfect DOG.  She looks just like what you should see if you looked up 'dog' in the dictionary."

Random Monday Cuteness

...brought to you tonight by Izzy.

I realize that I *might* be sightly biased, but seriously, if there were such a thing as the Gerber baby of dogs, it would definitely be this pup.  Or at least the Baby Gap model of dogs, what with being a mutt and all.  ;)

While Mom is at Work

Izzy has a dog-walker that takes very good care of her during the middle of the day when I can't make it home.  Feeling grateful for my pup and the people who help me keep her healthy and happy.

Gratuitous Doggie Cuteness

Who could believe this is actually the face of a trouble-maker??  

Really, though, don't let those professional sad-puppy-eyes fool you...

...And We're Back!

First off: boards.  I took it, I survived, I have no idea how it went, I don't have my score back, I'm still praying I passed.

I am LOVING the brief time off from school/studying.

I haven't been doing much at all, really... putzing around my apartment, cleaning and organizing, catching up on Modern Family and Up All Night, flying through the Hunger Games trilogy, reconnecting with a couple of people in Atlanta, getting some exercise, playing with my pup.

And speaking of Izzy, it's high time for an update.  

Martin and Marielle kept her for a week while I went to Colorado for the exam, and I think it's pretty safe to say that she had more fun during that experience than they did.  When I asked him how it went, Martin said, "I have no idea how you do it."  It was so awesome of them to help out, even if their niece is a ball of spastic energy that demands constant attention.  She adores Marielle, who has a higher chaos tolerance than my brother does.  Jake and I went to Birmingham to pick her up and hung out there for a long weekend, and I found a really great dog park literally blocks from their house that Izzy loved.

She has now been in Atlanta for just over a month, and she has grown a ton!  Exhibit A: the carrier I crammed her into for the flight here from Colorado:

Exhibit B: her old bed:

Side by side comparison: the day I brought her home, and yesterday:

New bed to grow into:

Izzy also has a playmate named Haley (my roommate's dog).  Haley was initially not too sure about this obnoxious puppy invading her space all the time, but they seem to be getting along pretty well by now.  Izzy doesn't ever not want to play, and Haley walks around with this resigned, exasperated expression on her face half the time, but they do plenty of wrestling and tug-of-war-ing and sometimes even snuggle together with me or my roommate on the couch.  I tried to get a good picture of the two of them together, and this series is what I ended up with.  

It actually captures both of them pretty well:

My compilation of Izzy and Haley playing together - the freeze frames of them with their mouths open and their teeth bared make them both look really scary, but they are not actually biting each other, just mostly slobbering all over each other and making a lot of growling noises. Haley always decides that she is done with this game sooner than Izzy, and it is the only time that Izzy ever barks - when she is trying to badger Haley into playing more.

One more week of pure freedom left (most of which I will actually be using to pay my taxes, register my car, register my dog, get a new driver's license, take my car to the shop, get some "professional" clothes, get a badly needed haircut... you know, fun vacation-type stuff.)

Keeping Me Sane

Right, so I realize that ever since I got her, approximately every other post on this blog has been about my adorable puppy.  

If you're here because you want to read about what it's like to be in med school, I apologize.  When I started this blog, that's what it was supposed to be about.  It was definitely not supposed to be a blog about someone's obsession with their pet.

I really never thought of myself as a crazy-dog-lady type, or even someone with the potential to be one.  I guess it's really true that you never stop learning new things about yourself!  And it's also another important lesson for me in not judging people when I'm not in their shoes, which I have a strong tendency to do.  But I digress.

I can only say in my defense that Izzy is by far the most (okay, the only) exciting thing in my life at this current juncture in time, and unless you want to read post after post that says, "Let's see... today, I studied.  And then I studied some more.  Then I took a break, and then I kept studying!", well, then... this is what you are going to get.  Plus, I mean... just look at her!  So cute!!!  I can't help it.  

The other day my brother asked how the studying was going with the pup around.  This is a frequently asked question these days.  I told him that while she is definitely a lot of work, and she definitely keeps me from studying as efficiently as I probably should, she also makes me incredibly happy, and having her around to play with has also really kept the stress at bay lately.

He commented, "Well, you do seem really... sane, for studying for Step 1."

Life is all about trade-offs, right?  I think in this case I am getting a great deal.  Exhibit A -- the perch she gets into when she really wants to get a good look at what is going on down below our window:

Oh, nothing... just getting a better view...

What?

What a goofball.  Love this pup.

Pooped Pup

Today I took Izzy to -- wait for it -- doggy daycare.  

I know, I know!  I seriously never thought I was going to be one of those people, but evidently the second I got my own dog, I totally became one of those people.  (As my sister put it, "You are like such a dog lady now.")

Well, whatever.  There was a groupon-type thing, it was a good deal, I bought it, I took her to doggy daycare, and she loved it!  This morning was her "temperament testing" to see if she would get along with the other dogs.  HA.  She trotted right on back to the play area without so much as a backwards glance at me, and when I came to pick her up four hours later, she didn't want to leave.  The owner said, "She did great!  She has no fear whatsoever - she loves playing with the big dogs."  OMG, I feel like a proud parent.  That's my girl!  (Seriously, who am I right now?)

Anyway, doggy daycare turned out to be the best idea ever.  Izzy played nonstop for four straight hours while I had totally uninterrupted study time, and when she got home, she ate lunch and then PASSED OUT, pretty much for the rest of the day.  I have never seen her sleep so hard.  She usually monitors my location at all times, even while she dozes, but this afternoon she didn't stir even an inch.  Win-win!!

Bonus pic: last night's sunset.

How Izzy Spends Her Day While I Study

Blink, blink, blink... need more coffee.

Let me guess... you're going to sit here all day and study.

Fine, then.  Guess I'll get comfortable.

Hmmm... what's happening on Ponce?

Weather's nice.  Siiiiigh... 

Back to napping.

Time to try a new spot.

Ugh, you're still studying??  This is how I feel about that.

I know, she has a rough life.  Try not to feel too sorry for her.  

(Don't worry, she was actually not inside all day long... we drove to the airport, stopped at a coffee shop for breakfast, went for a short run and she had a nice long wrestling match with a neighbor's dog.  She was actually pretty pooped all day after that!)