Bringing some handy backcountry woodswoman skills to the Zoo

This afternoon I had a chance to help some zoo visitors by putting my backpacking skills to use. One boy in this zoo-going family had broken a flip-flop and was stumping around with a dirty foot. His mom and 2 brothers had all been enthralled with my schpeel about the Amur Tiger, ooh-ing and ahh-ing at the clawed up, mangled toy ball the cat had destroyed. At the end, they were the last folks at the exhibit and I asked if they needed some help figuring out the map. The mom said they had wanted to go see giraffes and zebras, but she felt bad the boy had only the one shoe and unfortunately the zoo gift shop doesn't sell flip-flops (I was thinking to myself that's probably because little people tend to lose them (a.k.a. "drop" them) in exhibits like the giraffes and zebras...). I had some time on my hands as today was not very busy, so I offered to try to fix the shoe. As I whipped out my handy-dandy knife and a key-ring I explained I just moved to Oregon from Montana, where I did a fair amount of backpacking: if you're out in the backcountry and a shoe dies, you have to figure out how to fix it to get home! Working to prove I am at least as smart as a chimp or raven, I threaded the key-ring through the broken shoe part so it held the toe-strap fast against the sole and VOILA it seemed to work!

They thanked me profusely and set off to Africa.

Ah, a satisfying finish to a busy day at the ZOO for this little naturalist.

Salmonella, Toxoplasmosis, Giardia, Oh My!

I realize that the blog has been a bit static for awhile...Kadie has been filling in for people at the Zoo and I have been studying infectious diseases. As I write this, I am taking a break from studying at Pacific's library in Forest Grove. I don't get over to this campus very often, however today we are going to a micro lab here to do some gram staining and I thought it would be interesting to check out the campus library. The infectious disease module is a doozy. There are lots of diseases caused by various organisms: bacteria, viruses, protozoans, worms, fungi....and lots of drugs to kill or at least limit the effect of said organisms. All of which I am trying to cram into my head for the assessment this Friday.

This morning I glanced at the calendar and asked Kadie where had July gone? "You were studying". Yep, that pretty much sums it up. In fact, the semester is almost over! How the heck did that happen? A note to my friends who are thinking about applying to PA school: just do it! It's crazy busy and hard and you study all of the time, but the material is soooo cool!

Anyhoo, back to infectious diseases. This is a subject that I love! Not to acquire, mind you, but it is fascinating how, for example, a virus gets into your cells and takes over the machinery to do its bidding. Crazy.

Picture of the library from my phone.

Hilly Ride

After watching the tour on Saturday morning, Andrea and I took our bicycles out and did a very hilly ride north of town. We started out on a paved multi-use path along Rock Creek. A nice thought, but at each busy street the trail ended abruptly with neither crossing signage nor ramp, and we were forced to play "Frogger" to cross, all the while searching for the next segment of trail. Ahhh, suburban "city planning".... Sigh.

However, we did finally make it past Hwy 26 and wove our way north through less and less gnarly traffic, til we were winding up, up, up and over old passes beside quaint farms and thick forests. Andrea kept track at one point and we climbed a steep (8 or 9%) grade for more than 3 miles without a break! It was tough, so I felt better as the only other cyclists on the road passing us were the following: 3 women from a local racing team, a triathlete, and a Cervelo team pro racer!

We lunched at the Helvetia tavern, where we enjoyed very hefty onion burgers and some fried onion rings before heading back toward Hillsboro. It was a really good ride!

Lavender fields: like in France!

Helvetia Tavern (below) for a tasty burger lunch.

Braggin' Rights

Andrea's been freakin' out all week about the assessment for pharm which she took this morning. I got a text mid-morning: 75 out of 74.

ROCK!!!

A little R and R

We took Chili out to Rood Bridge Park for a jaunt last weekend and she got to go swimming in the creek. Andrea went down to toss a stick and found out the bank was really slippery...

"Well crap. Guess I'll just stand in the creek then."

In other news, we rode around Hagg Lake and it was hilly. Beautiful, too. There was a triathlon going on the morning we did it so we got to see lots of fancy race bikes!

Haiku (for Mary)

Bald Schwalbes grip asphalt

in summer's sweltering heat:

We need more sunblock.

4 weeks of physiology down, 1 week of pharmacology up next

We had another physiology assessment last Friday. The week definitely took its toll on the entire class. Assignments were due in Clinical History and Evidence Based Medicine and group presentations in Current Topics, then the assessment. Now that that's all done, we started a week of pharmacology basics that will culminate with an assessment this Friday. This will wrap up our Fundamentals of Clinical Medicine course and then we start something completely new next week.

Heat Wave!

So it's been HOT here. There's a "heat advisory" in effect thru Friday. Today's high was about 100 degrees and with the higher humidity here that feels pretty shockingly awful. Even Chili is lethargic. I gave her ice cubes and they are her new favorite treat.

Andrea is still bicycling to school and back, though it's "15 minutes of hell". Her words exactly. (tough chica)

She is now studying renal physiology, and specifically the ways the kidneys conserve water. How's THAT for pertinent!

Portland Art Museum and Essential Health Clinic

Last Thursday was a very long day! I had class from 8 - 12:30ish then hopped on the MAX for a trip to the Portland Art Museum. This was part of our Clinical History course, where we are learning many things, including the art of observation. The university hired docents to take small groups throughout the museum. My group started with renaissance paintings and moved forward through time to modern sculptures. I have to say that I saw differences I hadn't noticed before. In looking at paintings before and after the plague, there were discernible differences in facial expressions and the colors used. In paintings of essentially the same thing (think Christ child....it was the renaissance after all) the facial expressions after the plague were much more dour. Very cool experience.

Chihuly sculpture made of blown glass.

Outside the museum

After the afternoon of observation I caught the MAX back to the apartment and was able to relax for 30 minutes before heading off to clinic. The Essential Health Clinic is a free clinic located in Hillsboro that is staffed by volunteers, including students from our PA program. As a first year student I "shadowed" 2nd and 3rd year students during their patient exams and wrote up the subjective portion (the patient's chief complaint, symptoms, past medical history, allergies, meds) for the chart note. I was there until 10 pm and it was a great night! It was nice to be able to interact with patients again and remind myself why I am studying every waking moment.

Farmer's Market

Believe it or not these berries taste as good as they look!

Backroads of Oregon PHOTOS

Here are some photos from our ride this morning:

Hillside Cemetery is, fittingly, situated atop this hill. This is a very steep hill, but we are not quite dead yet...

Lounging

I don't know if this dog is quite comfortable enough. Maybe we need to get a few more cushions...

Ahhh...sun