Since my last blog, let's see now. Graduation - it was fun, a big shebang and caboodle about a bunch of peoples' life achievement known as medical school. I have always felt that much of the ceremonial stuff is a bit antiquated, especially if we go to socialized medicine where doctors have no autonomy and can't practice the art of medicine as they were trained (another discussion all together), but I'm sure it is nice for the family and friends to come see it all. Many of them see the whole process and think, "Gosh, I could never do that!" Truth is, most of them probably could. Anyone who spends that many years training to become a member of a profession is gonna know his stuff. Much like a long-time plumber knows his shit. OK, that was a bad one, but here I am sitting in an endocrinology work room bored as hell. Anyways, what else?
Then there was vacation. It was a great reprieve from this year's opening events - you know, the whole Mia situation. Though she is doing great, we needed a break after all. It started with a graduation party at my parents' house. My sister was graduating from high school, my brother from college, and I from medical school. Party worthy? I think so. Then we were off to a cabin hidden away outside of Eureka Springs, AR. It was a 5Bed/3Bath cabin on top of a hill with a great view of the White River, on which I fished a few times. Only one very minor emergency room visit, which could have easily been avoided with a tube of lube. Before you get any ideas, Mia's G-button came out - an extremely common complication with such a device. But a little lube goes a long way in getting one back in, and of all things, that is the one thing we forgot. Got a massage, did a little shopping around, jet skied, and most importantly, relaxed. For when we came back, the move.
The move went without a hitch. A very smooth process. We got back and that very day, we were surprised to find out the previous owners would be gone by that afternoon. So we rented a UHaul and began moving that evening. Within 24 hrs, the rental truck was back at its home base, and 48 hours after that, we were done with the rental house. It was sad in some ways to leave that house - out in woods, total privacy, all the firewood one could possibly want with space to actually burn in outside, great "neighbors," and a very helpful and understanding land lord. But the time was right to buy. We got into a house with essentially no money down with money earned in our pockets. The $8,000 of government money paid the down payment and we still had $2,700 left to spend. Then the fun started.
The roof was in need of repair. To our luck, the insurance company decided to pay for it. But they would only do so if it was a complete tear off and re-shingle job. "OK," we said, "That's even better!" It's what our roof really needed, I would've been surprised if a simple lay-over job lasted 10 years with the condition of that old roof. The guys who came to start the job started on a morning when an obviously ominous-looking cloud was rapidly approaching. And what do ya know, it started raining. Heavily. They already had much of the back side of the roof stripped clean off when it started. But they were too dumb to have A) put new felt paper down over the decking, and/or B) have enough tarp to cover the bare decking in the case of rain. Their solution? Go stand by the car and smoke until the rain stops. WTF?!? Naturally, my wife called me 8:30 in the AM to tell me it was raining on her head - in bed. All three bedrooms, the only carpeted rooms in the house, had rain leaking into them. And plenty of it. I had to call the head roofer (even though he was supposed to be on site at 0530!) to get his ass out to the house with more tarp and a solution to the problem. Then the carpet restoration guys had to dry everything out and clean the carpets. Then the painters had to come and fix the ceilings which thankfully didn't have to be frankly replaced. And the whole time it was nothing but excuses for what happened. Everything was finally completed yesterday, 3 weeks after it all started. Bastards.
Other than that, the house is coming along great. The baby's room was first, followed by the hall bath, then the master bath and bedroom, followed by the living room/entryway/hall. I'm finishing the trim in the hall now. Got a plumber to come fix our obscenely high water pressure and water heater issues. Next we will do the office/future guest bedroom. The kitchen, well that will happen in November if we are very lucky, or next May at the earliest. That's a much bigger, more expensive project to tackle, and I need a stretch of time off to do it since I will be doing the work. No more contractors, thank you. The roofer was one too many. I won't even go into all the yard work I am either doing now or want to do. I refer you to a couple blogs ago for pictures of the house before we changed everything. As much as I would love to post pictures, I am having a difficult time uploading them at this time. Maybe later.
Oh, and my intern year. Yeah, that started too. July 1, 2009. I really don't have a work excuse for not blogging; it's been easy so far. I started in the ER at the VA (except for the first few days and weekend of the month when I got pulled to work on the ward to cover for a foreigner who was not in the least bit prepared to start his internship since he literally got off the plane the day before orientation. I have issues with the sheer number of foreign medical trainees in this country when so many of our own American students didn't match this year. But that's a whole different subject and question of how that even happened). In the ER, I worked 8-5, M-F. No weekends. No call. No overnights. Easy for an intern, right? Other than I had no idea what the hell to do in most situations for at least the first week. Now I am on a consult service. Again, 8-5 (or 4 or 3), M-F, no weekends, no call, no overnights. Again, easy, right? Sure, but here's the problem. We get four "easy" months for the year, 3 of which we can take a week of vacation. I am getting two right off the bat. Any takers on what that means for the future? My September through next June schedule sucks, especially after January. Oh well, I can ease into things only to get smacked around a bit later. I have a week of vacation this month, one in November, one in December/January for one of the holidays, and one in May. That's four weeks in my first year of employment - so I can't complain too much. AND I'M GETTING PAID! Hmm, that's different.
So what about Mia? She is doing great. She continues to see one of her NICU docs on an outpatient basis. He's a great, very nice doctor, but seems a bit hesitant to change certain things. On the other hand, much of what needs to change with her, particularly in terms of her feeding, is dependant on her response to therapy. No one can drive that change but her. (Does that sound too Obamaish?) She has been doing oral and physical therapy for a few weeks now and is making reasonable progress. She starts at a therapy-based daycare on Wednesday, which will be wonderful for her, but perhaps more difficult for her mom. Rachel has enjoyed much well-deserved time off with Mia since April 23rd. That all changes on Wednesday. Back to work, as they say. In the long run, the extra money is much needed for all the improvements we still want to do to the house, and she needs a new car. We'll see how the first month back goes. Pictures below:
TTFN Signed: Bradley A. Thuro, M.D. Sorry, I had to. I'm really not cocky, rather modest actually. You won't see that every time, I promise
