Cory breaks his silence...

Cory here… Just thought it was time to break the silence and make a contribution to the literary portion of this blog. Don’t expect anything earth shattering. I will begin, however, with a bit of advice: don’t collect things that previously housed a live animal. From the time I was a child I have loved shells, in fact, I have a large box of shells that I have been toting around for the last ten years as I have moved from place to place. Living on a peninsula makes the temptation to pick up shells from the beach too hard to resist. As Erin and I were strolling along the beach the other night to get an ice cream con,e I ran across 3 small conch shells – fine specimens. I washed them out in the ocean water, carried them until they were dry, and then stuffed them into my pocket. As we approached the ice cream shop I realized that my hands and person reeked of dead mollusk. The doctor in me got the best of me so I jogged down the street to a public restroom and washed up prior to grabbing a cone. Despite the smell, I kept the shells figuring a good soak overnight would do the trick. Several days of soaking and soaping, as well as a dishwasher cycle managed to decrease the odor of the shells to a mild stench. Have I learned my lesson? I’m not sure, but I will definitely think twice before picking up my next shell.

While some things we can avoid, other things we cannot. Today was a prime example. I was scheduled to do a total hip with one of the consultants (staff doctors) today. I really had little information on the patient other than her name and a few brief clinic notes. (Their electronic medical record is not quite the same as back home.) As the patient walked down the hall I realized it was going to be a long day. She walked with her arms folded, resting on what appeared to be an armrest on either side but later turned out to be her rear end. Needless to say the operation was a bit of a struggle. I could hear Dr. Callaghan in the back of my mind and was reminded of the “good times” back at Iowa. To make matters worse, I still tend to call out for surgical instruments with names that are entirely foreign to the nursing staff here. While it must be amusing to them to hear me say “Army/Navy” or “Hemostat”, the blank stares that I receive in return do not make for an efficient OR experience. In addition, many of the instruments that we normally use don’t exist, at least, not at this hospital. Today when I was up to my elbows in adipose and I asked for an anterior acetabular retractor, I received a straight homan; it was kind of like shoveling your driveway with a spoon. Nevertheless, we made it through the operation just fine and the patient has a nice new ceramic on ceramic hip (that’s right – no worries about the squeak, mate).

Overall, things are going well. My coworkers here are great. The orthopaedic residents are top notch. They have a breadth of experience and really know their stuff. They are always in a good mood, never sleep in conference, lack dark circles around their eyes, look at you funny if you show up to work before 7 AM, and take time to enjoy themselves. This seems to stem from the fact that things here move at a different pace. Being part of this system has allowed my to do some things that I haven’t done in some time such as sleep 8 hours, eat sensibly, work out on a regular basis, and bike to work. The last one has been more of a challenge than I originally thought. Initially 10 kilometers seemed like just a short jaunt, but as I have discovered over the last two weeks, I am really out of shape. Regardless, I am continuing to bike but have scaled back my goals from 3 days a week from the original seven. One of my colleagues likes to tell me a story about a friend of his who rode a brand new bike to work, didn’t bother biking home that night, and left it in the office for the remainder of the year (thanks, Allen, for those inspirational words).
Finally, we purchased some tomato plants for our balcony in hopes of having some fresh ones this summer. I am convinced that no home is complete without a garden. While this garden won’t be the 10x20 spread we had in Coralville, it will probably get us by. The tomatoes should be bearing in about 80 days so for those of you making the trip, we should have some fresh tomatoes for you when you arrive. Hope everyone is enjoying the blog, thanks for your comments and make sure you add yourself to the fans of christiansensinnz!