New York

It's been a few weeks, but I'm still feeling determined about keeping this blog going.  I looked through the pictures on my phone today, and realized that there are tons of experiences from the last few years that I barely remember.  I'm hoping documenting them as they happen will help keep them at least a little closer to the surface. 

After a glorious vacation, I flew to New York for a rotation in Emergency Ultrasound at Maimonides Medical Center.  Maimo is located in a predominantly Hasidic neighborhood, and the patient population is extremely diverse--English-speaking patients are the minority.  There are about 70 curtained-off patient rooms, and they are all full, all the time.  There are patients in the hallways, double parked in front of other patient curtains, and just everywhere in general.  Pure craziness.  It made it hard to maneuver the US machine next to patients needing scanned, but we managed and I learned a lot.  The people were great and it seems like a program where I could learn a great deal, but I'm going to have to get past the fact that no one has their own space to work (or breathe). 

Without question the best part of this rotation block was spending so much time with my family.  I stayed with Joyce, Mike, & Jackson, and was able to spend my ample downtime with them as well as Jeannette and family.  Even without the pampering it was great to spend time with them, but there was definitely some spoiling going on (show tickets, mani/pedi, shopping).  I look forward to visiting while I'm in Philly (my current location), and I definitely wouldn't mind ending up in a program in the area.  Having some connection to a new city is nice, plus I love the fact that you NEVER HAVE TO DRIVE!

I was able to experience September 11, 2013 in  New York City.  The day has a lot of meaning wherever you are in the nation, but it's quite powerful to stand across the river, looking toward Manhattan at the skyline where the towers once stood.  I actually spent most of the day at West Point, receiving a personal tour from my cousin Robert, who made the tour even more impressive with his understanding of the history surrounding the area.  A few days after 9/11, I worked a clinical (non-US) shift in the ER, and cared for a man in his 50s with pneumonia.  He was a paramedic, and responded to the destruction on 9/11.  Since then, he's had recurrent respiratory illnesses, as well as PTSD.  It was another one of those wake-up moments that I had while at BAMC; these are real people with very real scars.  I didn't realize how detached I was until meeting someone intimately involved.  In the same vein, I cared for a Hungarian woman who had survived the horrors of Auschwitz.  Her memory was not good, and she was a little difficult to assess, but she was incredibly sweet and had an inspiring story to tell.  These are the kinds of experiences that slip away over time, but hopefully I can hold on to them by writing it down.

Tribute in Lights, NYC 2013