Ortho. Behind the scenes.

Today, Andrea got to practice casting (and uncasting, I hope).

I emailed this photo to Kadie mid-afternoon so that she could see what I was up to....The last time I had my left arm in a cast was when I was 11. I had ridden my bike off a jump and did not make the landing. As an 11 year old I thought being in a cast was pretty cool.

My first cast!

These legs belong to my classmate Trish. The closest leg is my first attempt at a short leg cast, or any cast for that matter. This pic was taken halfway through the process. I still needed to add another layer of the fiberglass casting material. After I finished I got to cut off my first cast. The saw is a bit intimidating, but we both made it through ok. Just think, the next time I get to do this it will be on a real patient. heh.

Winter Break 2010 Bozeman

It is hard to believe the entire 3 weeks of winter break went by so fast, but I guess that's what happens when you're having fun. We enjoyed the sunshine and glittering snow, the friends and food, the skiing, and the drinks. Andrea's summary of the break: "Eat. Sleep. Ski. Drink."

"Bunny Pose!" The Chi is such a good sport.

Nordic skiing with my little Swede

For Christmas, Andrea got me a book I'd been drooling over, "The Bread Baker's Apprentice". I dove in and baked up a storm in Kaaren's kitchen. The Kitchen-aid mixer was fun to play with and I had time to try a couple of different shaping techniques.

This challah tasted as good as it looks

Even the squirrels are in better shape in Bozeman!

The last few days of our Bozeman break the temperature didn't get above 0 degrees, so we made the most of it, staying all cozy and warm reading and resting up from all our adventures.

Oregon had some very cold weather, too!

"paper cut on your butt"

The title of this post refers to an anorectal disorder chart that my classmate Won sent to me today (you see, we have to learn a ridiculous amount of information and many of us share our "disease charts"). This was after we had an amazing lecture by a Colorectal Surgeon who trained at the Cleveland Clinic. With 4 days, yes that's right, 4 days left in the semester we are finishing strong with the gastrointestinal module! So this afternoon was everything that could go wrong with the colon and butt, taught by a self-described "butt doctor".... it was quite possibly the best lecture we've had all year.

Common complaints for the butt doctor:

"something fell out of my butt"

"it feels like a paper cut on my butt"

"i think i have a hemorrhoid" -- apparently it's never a hemorrhoid (I'll just let your imagination run wild with that one)

...and so on.

Richter the Oversized Squirrel

This squirrel actually has multiple chins and when it lands on the patio we feel it in the apartment. Hence it's name, Richter, as in the scale.

Andrea says, "I think he is going to burn out his pancreas and then we'll see him hopping around the porch with a squirrel-sized insulin pump attached to his belly."

Thanksgiving Weekend

I had a lot of fun baking and cooking with my girlfriend this weekend! On Tuesday night I started a sponge for the Rustic Country Bread pictured below. I finished it Wednesday just in time for Andrea to taste after she passed her endocrine exam.

Isn't it Rustic!

Then on Thursday we finished the Sage Stuffing, two types of cranberry relish, a turkey, kale with panfried walnuts, sweet potato coins, gravy, and mashed potatoes. For dessert, we tried Trader Joe's pumpkin cheesecake (decadent!).

Sage Stuffing

Full-on gourmet dinner

To burn all that off, we walked around in the woods. Well, by Saturday we'd managed to get off our keesters. We took Kaaren and Chi to hike on the Banks-Vernonia trail. I think Chili will sleep the rest of the weekend.

Andrea was trying our new camera's zoom.

Oh, you didn't need your pillow, right?

Snow day!

Or maybe a better description would be "classes cancelled due to treacherous icy roads day." As I was stumbling around the apartment this morning with coffee in one hand and my Blackberry in the other I read that classes today had been cancelled. I looked out and saw 1/4" of snow on the balcony....woot! It's actually quite nice to have a snow day because it gives me an extra day to study for tomorrow's (hopefully tomorrow's) endocrine exam. It has been a long 6 weeks and we have been going non-stop through Pulmonology, Cardiology, and now Endocrinology. The fatigue of the entire class is palpable. Prof Von tells us to just hang in there in a little bit longer! After the Thanksgiving break we have GI as our final module for the semester. Then it is back to Montana for 3 whole weeks. It is amazing to realize that the didactic year is now half over and that in 6 short months I will be starting clinical rotations!

Dusting of snow on the porch

Mushrooms!

Last week I got to go on a "walkabout" with the other volunteers from Jackson Bottom Wetland and 2 experienced mushroom hunters. We found MANY different fungi, including the 2 very interesting ones I have in pictures below. The boletus edulis is also known as porcini (Italian for "little pig"). I was very excited to see so many, and such big ones! Because they are so tasty, other critters like to eat them as well: maggots, centipedes, slugs, etc... so it is important to pick only firm specimens, and to remove as many of the interlopers as possible while you are still in the field. I brought a bagful home and sauteed them in butter and olive oil before freezing them for later.

Boletus edulis

We also came upon a whole mini-forest of poisonous toadstools! The brightest ones were Amanita muscaria. These can cause hallucinations, but they also can make a person very ill. Very pretty, though!

Amanita muscaria