Quickie

Heyyy!!  Howzabout squeezing in one more post for the month right at the last second??  Surgery is  just killing this whole blogging thing over here... so it's gonna be all pictures, sorry.  :)  Here is another handful of shots I took last week.  

Enjoy your weekend!!

Back

Back to life in Atlanta, back to surgery, back to hot showers, back to studying, back to my puppy, back to worrying about lots of the same shit.  In other words, plusses and minuses.

Haiti was amazing.

I feel rejuvenated, revitalized, re-energized, re-excited.  Mostly, though, just so incredibly blessed to have had the opportunity to go on this trip, and incredibly fortunate to have a passion that I am lucky enough to follow.

I'll write more about the trip later, and just post a few quick pics right now.  I took way fewer pictures this year, and those that I took were mostly nowhere near as good as the shots I got last year, but a few other people took a bunch, so I will post a lot of good ones when I get the chance.

In the meantime, happy belated Thanksgiving, friends.  So much to be thankful for.

Cold Weather Favorites and Other Random Observations

My blogging frequency has taken a severe nosedive as of late - not my favorite.  My apologies to those of you who actually come here for new posts.  I really miss writing, but I feel like the world's most boring and exhausted human these days, which doesn't exactly lend itself to good creative output.  I blame surgery.  

The weather here in Atlanta has suddenly gotten, like, legitimately cold.  Just in time for our heat to decide to stop working, pretty much at the exact moment the temperatures swooped below 60 for the first time and stayed there.  The lack of a heated house is also not my favorite, but the chilly weather does bring some perks, and since I have not been feeling too terribly excessively happy recently, I wanted to do a quick post about some little things that make me happy.  I was gonna do a Top Ten list, but I am not sure that I have ten things in me tonight.  We shall see, shall we?

~ ~ ~

1.  Hands-down, the best thing about the cold weather and freezing house?  Izzy's snuggle-factor goes up exponentially.  

Her favorite thing is to curl up next to someone (or on top of someone, if possible), and preferably under a warm blanket at the same time.  I think she gets really cold because she is so skinny and short-haired, so she has no extra insulation at all.  She used to sleep on the couch at night, but since it's been cold, she has started sleeping with me again, like she did when she was a puppy.  When I go to bed for the night, she stands next to my bed and waits for me to invite her up.  I hold up an edge of my comforter, and she jumps up, diving underneath the covers and then turns around a couple of times before flopping down ascloseaspossible to me and resting her head on my legs or my stomach or my back.  It's the cutest thing ever.  It's also awesome for me because I would also otherwise be freezing, too.  And if I accidentally hog the covers in the middle of the night and leave her out in the cold, she wakes me up by grunting or whining a little bit and moving around until I throw the blanket back on top of her.  Sort of hilarious.

2. Speaking of snuggly things, the cold weather has also brought out blankets, sweaters, and fuzzy slippers.  It's impossible not to be at least a little cheered by warm, soft, fuzzy things, don't you think?

3. The cold snap also means it's the perfect season for lots of soup and hot tea and other delicious warm things to eat.  It's been a while since I've made some good soup, so that is on the docket for this week (can you tell I have been cold??)  My plan is to cook up a bunch of different stuff to freeze so that I have it on hand for quick, easy meals during my next month of general surgery, since by all accounts, being on plastics, I ain't seen nothin' yet.

4. Speaking of soup, I never really got around to writing about it, but a couple of months ago I did this thing called the Whole30 challenge, which is basically a super-strict version of the Paleo diet for thirty days (no grains, no dairy, no legumes, no sugar, no alcohol).  I successfully completed the thirty days, which made me more proud and impressed with myself than anything else.  At the time, I didn't really feel like it was life-changing, or anything; it was a lot of work, it cost a lot more at the grocery store, it took a lot of time in the kitchen... I literally felt I like the only three things I did all month were go to work, go to boot camp, and prepare food.  There were times when it was really hard, especially at social events.  There is like, nothing you can eat at a restaurant.  And I hate to say it, but the no-alcohol thing was the hardest part by far (and y'all, that is really saying something - I was drinking my coffee black!!)

I didn't really feel like I noticed a huge difference while I was doing it.  But over the month I did start to notice that I just felt good.  I liked it.  Towards the end of the month, I also started noticing that I felt better and stronger during my workouts.  When I really noticed the difference, though, was when the thirty days were over and I  went to a big party and went wild with all the delicious food-things there that I had not been able to eat for the preceding 30 days -  Cheese!  Grains!  Legumes!  Alcohol!  SUGAR!!  And I felt awful the next day.  Like seriously hungover, but from food.  Over the course of the month, I also lost about five pounds and had a few people were comment that I looked different.  Not a lot different, but noticeably so.

So I sort of took all those lessons about this new way of eating and decided that I wanted to keep eating that way most of the time, just not be quite so strict about it.  But then, in a creeping, insidious way, it became first one thing and then another thing and then all of a sudden I was grabbing CliffBars for breakfast again and then it was Halloween candy and then last week I made chocolate cookies TWICE and bought a bag of Peppermint Hugs.

The holiday baking has begun.  I am eating these as I write this.

And now, seemingly all of a sudden, it has actually been - dare I say it? - weeks since I have been grocery shopping for fresh produce.  And guess what?  Surprise, surprise... I just feel crappy.  Really, really crappy.  Physically, mentally, and emotionally.  I hardly think it's coincidence.  Plus those stupid five pounds are back, which sucks.  When it comes to food, I think I just do better when I have clear guidelines and am not left to my own devices to "moderate".  Anyway, I'm jumping back on this Paleo bandwagon.  I'm sick of feeling crappy.  

5. I go back to Haiti one week from today!!  So excited.  So surreal that it's coming up so soon.  (Note to self: remember to fill/take your chloroquine tonight.)

6. This video: Kiss Me, You Fool.  Siiiiiiigghhh....

Okee dokee... evidently I only have six things to talk about tonight, so there you have them.  (Sunday Six?  Maybe I'll make it a thing...)  Happy Sunday night, friends!

Help for Haiti, Again

I am going back to Haiti, and I need to ask for your help and support once again.

It was my great fortune last year to be able to join a team of doctors and fellow med students from Emory on two separate week-long medical mission trips to Haiti's Central Plateau with Project Medishare.  These experiences were transformative and incredibly affirming of my calling to be in medicine, in a way that nothing else quite has so far in medical school.  

You can read about those trips here, here and here.  

Project Medishare provides healthcare in Haiti to people without access to the most basic medical needs.  This organization takes groups of volunteer medical professionals and students to Haiti's Central Plateau to conduct health fairs and mobile clinics, in addition to  their ongoing community health programs, providing a consistent, sustainable, and community-focused mission in Haiti, and enabling better access to healthcare for Haitians in that region of the country. 

I have committed to raise $3000 to help pay for medicine, equipment, travel, and other expenses, and I would like to ask you for help reaching this goal. 

Project Medishare has set up an online donation system if you would like to donate to my personal or team page.  The link can be found at the upper right of this page, or you can click HERE.   

Thank you so much for your consideration.  I am truly grateful for your support!

Thomonde, Haiti.  June 2011.

Haiti, part three

Here is the last group of photos--our last two days in Haiti.

If You Build it (So to Speak), They Will Come
In true Haiti fashion, our last day of clinic started out uncertain and confusing and then somehow worked out reasonably successfully, after all.  At first we were told that we weren't going to even have a clinic on our last day in Thomonde, and then we were told that we would be helping the regular doctors in a permanent clinic site, and then we were told that we were going someplace else, and then when we did finally get on the road, we drove to a completely different location entirely and pulled up in front of an empty school and were told that this was our clinic site for the day.  So we did what you do in Haiti, which is to say, "Ummm... okaay..." and then you just go with it and make it work.  And it did.  

Daily ritual: get up, get dressed, have coffee, eat breakfast, wait for instructions.

Either the Haitian Medishare staff were far better at communicating the plans for Friday's clinics to their communities than they were to us, or word of mouth spreads at lightning speed, because by the time we arrived, there was already a crowd of maybe 30 women with babies waiting in the schoolyard.  Less than an hour later, the crowd had swelled to more than 200 people of all ages waiting to be seen.

The local doctor delivering a call-and-response style lesson on cholera safety
to the waiting crowds.

I know I took quite a few of these shots, but I just loved the way they turned out.

The school building turned out to be the best setup we'd had yet for organizing different pediatric and adult clinics with triage and waiting areas for each.  By this point in the week, we were short one doctor and had one less interpreter with us, but our clinic flow was efficient enough that we ended up being able to see every patient who came to us that day.

Pediatric triage waiting line.

It was totally impossible not to want to bring some of these
babies home with me.

Some of the kids cried because it's never fun to be poked and prodded--
others screamed their heads off because I think they were terrified of the
white people (those ones were the hardest to calm down, obviously.)

Lots of the kids in this location were perfectly healthy, which was sort of
boring for us but really awesome to see-- I think many mothers just wanted
to take advantage of the fact that we were there to have a general checkup.

This cute little chubster is probably the fattest baby in all
of Haiti--and her mother brought her in because she was
concerned that she was losing weight.  :)

Me in the embroidered scrub top I bought from a lady in
Thomonde-- can't wait to wear it around Atlanta clinics!

Around Thomonde

I loved the small, simple houses in brightly painted color combinations on the streets near where we were staying, so on our last morning there, just before we packed up the 4x4s for the last time, I went for a stroll with a couple of friends to get some photos.  (And the lovely early morning "stroll" we were hoping for was actually closer to a trek through an outdoor sauna, which left us all drenched with sweat.)

Partners in Health

On our way to Port-au-Prince from Thomonde, we stopped in Cange to take a quick tour of Zanmi Lasante, the Partners in Health hospital started by Paul Farmer.  It is a really very impressive place--built up on the side of a small mountain, it is more like a small town, with multiple different buildings, clinics, labs, housing, walkways, small gardens and courtyards.  Almost the entire grounds are shaded by towering trees, and in between the concrete paths and stone retaining walls, there are lush bushes and flowering plants.  Compared to the surrounding area, it even felt cooler and breezier.

Groundskeeper who showed us around

Views from the very top of the hill

Group shot at the top with two of the interpreters and three of the docs

Stone walls, stairs and walkways everywhere

Beautiful tile work and benches tucked in quiet, shaded corners

The delivery ward

Clinic dedicated to Thomas White, whose contributions made PIH possible

Residential buildings for staff and art studio space

I have been so humbled and so thankful to have the love and support that so many of you have shown me through this amazing process.  You supported me financially, emotionally, physically, prayerfully, and I am grateful for each and every one of you.  This trip was such a welcome confirmation for me that I am following a calling.  The entire time I was there, despite the tough situations or the physical discomfort, I just felt so content.  One evening it struck me that this was exactly what I wanted to be doing and exactly where I wanted to be; there's not a single thing I can think of doing that would be more awesome to me or mean more to me.  It was exciting to realize that the long process I started almost four years ago has begun to pay off in ways that inspired me to start it in the first place.  I hope that I can carry that renewed sense of purpose forward with me as I start classes again in less than a week.


I tried to post a good selection of my favorite pictures here without going overboard, but if you want to see even more, all 393 pictures from the trip can be found in this Picasa album.

Also, if you haven't gotten a chance to read David Malebranche's wonderful stories from our week in Haiti, you can find them here.