New Digs

I did a bit of research and made some calls before leaving MN on our road trip to SoCal, then spent one exhausting day looking at houses before finding The One. It is an older gigantic 5 bedroom home with 3.5 bathrooms near the community college in town and about a mile from the hospital. Located close to Arroyo Verde park, I see great trail-running in my future.

View of the front of the house. The balcony belongs to the guest room!

View of the back of the house and part of the yard.

I really should be an artist...right. This probably makes my architecture friends cringe, but I was just trying to make some sketches for my roommates. All the rooms are huge.

The house was originally built on a nearby site, then cut in half and moved to this location in the 70s. Since then, it has belonged to the Green family and with Mama Green recently moving to an assisted living residence in the area, we are the first renters. It has great character and the place is perfect for entertaining with a big yard and various producing trees – avocado, orange, apple, peach, kumquat, parsimmon, macadamia nut, and likely others. I will be living with 3 of my fellow interns in a little community but with plenty of our own space, perfect. It also means we have a sweet guest room with a balcony ready to host visitors in sunny Ventura!

Some of these pictures are from prior to move-out, hence the furnishings.

Empty living room, what you can't see right now are the fireplace

and the doors out to the patio on the left. This room is 18 ft x 24 ft!

Breakfast nook

My room, complete with king-size bedroom set

Visits encouraged! I would suggest flying into Santa Barbara. But if you prefer driving, I hear it is a great road trip choice :)

Road trip...back...

Heading out east from Southern California, through a piece of Nevada, we stopped at the Hoover Dam on the border with Arizona. Quite the site, I have to admit. We first checked out the new bypass bridge – The Mike O’Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge. Until this bridge was built, all traffic on US Route 93 had to drive across the 2-lane road on top of the Hoover Dam, a bottleneck and accident-prone area. The bypass bridge just opened in 2010, and is the second highest bridge in the US at 840 ft above the Colorado River – a little anxiety provoking as you walk across, with 4 lanes of traffic zooming by on the other side. Another fun fact - it is the first concrete-steel composite arch bridge in the US and the longest arch bridge in the Western Hemisphere. And the Hoover Dam is pretty cool too.

View of the The Mike O’Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge
from the Hoover Dam and then the other way around.

We made it to Williams, Arizona that first night with plans to check out the Grand Canyon the next day. I decided to do an early morning hike down into the canyon, while my mom opted to check out the sites on the rim. With just a sweatshirt for warmth, I was pretty well-chilled after my not-strenuous-enough hike 1/5^th of the way down into the canyon via the Kaibob trail. Despite the cold, it was pretty amazing. And after chatting up the ranger that led my hike, it is now my goal to do an in-and-out hike one day. Who’s with me?

A beautiful drive through Utah got us to Grand Junction that night where we stayed with Caroline Knox and Mike Lindow. It was great to catch up as they are planning a wedding for later this summer, preparing for their chief year and try to figure out what to do post-residency. I hope to make it back to Colorado again soon, winefest or music festival possible, and Jodi’s wedding for sure in June.

Early on the road, we fortunately hit no snow in the mountains and made it to Denver in time to get an oil change and grab some lunch. Then right back on the road – we didn’t want to be late for South Dakota. We did stop at Mount Rushmore, but it was raining and we tried to snap a few pics of the guys in between clouds. We skipped Crazy Horse due to the rain, and I wonder if and when they will actually ever finish it, 63 years and counting.

After we finished 3 audio books, we turned to our music collections – with ABBA and Vanbot making the cut! We spent the night somewhere in the middle of SD, because my mom vetoed a straight-through effort, and as we were making our way back the next morning we called Dad to make sure lunch would be ready when we arrived. Right. Good news, though, they finally made it in the field while we were gone – mid-May – and were busy.

It was a fun, and productive trip. I found a place to live, met new friends and caught up with old ones, explored tourist destinations in my own country, and shared it all with my mom!

My mom and I in Ventura

Road Trip!

I know, I know…. a lot has happened since Boston and I have yet to write about a short but very intense trip to Israel, my amazing and influential time in Sweden, and my momentous medical school graduation. It is coming, I swear, but I never claimed I was a responsible blogger.

After flying in on Wednesday night and graduation on Friday, I loaded up my mother’s Chevrolet Equinox with most of my worldly possessions (thanks for the packing help Dad!) and the two of us started across the country early Tuesday morning. Armed with a few audio books, my trusty GPS and some initial healthy snacks (I instituted a no-junk-food rule that made it to Nevada), we headed south from Sauk Centre with yours truly at the wheel. Somewhere in Iowa or early Nebraska I turned the reins over to Sally who, for some reason wasn’t listening to Mrs. Garmin, and after 10 minutes of sleep I awoke to, “Was I supposed to turn there?” But, “recalculating” got us back on track and we made it through an incredibly long and boring Nebraska, listening to Benazir Bhutto’s Reconciliation – I have to admit that the Sauk Centre library’s audio book selection was slim-pickings a day prior to our departure. The book was an example of many books I start and never finish – deep and informative and impossible to read; but surprisingly easy to listen to. And we did make it to Denver at the end of day one and spent the night at the house of newly engaged Jodi Marthaler and Jeremiah Ervin.

We awoke the next morning to rain in Denver, which we soon discovered was decently heavy snowfall in the mountains as we toiled through the Rockies to Grand Junction, where we stopped for lunch at a great Indian restaurant recommended by Ms. Caroline Knox. Denver and Grand Junction reminded me how much I love Colorado and why it was high on my list of residencies; but the snowy drive up and down the mountain slopes may very well be why it was not my first choice.

Our second night was spent in Las Vegas, at a casino-hotel off the strip. No gambling for us, but I did drive down The Strip on our way out of town for my mother to see, and photograph, the imaginative monstrosities that line Las Vegas Boulevard.

We took our time and made it to Ventura in the early afternoon. It was an incredible relief to unload the contents of the vehicle into Nicky and Kyle TePoel’s garage. The vehicle had been packed to the gills – no rearview mirror action, no reclining the cramped front seats, suitcases on top and bike on the back – and we had been unable to leave it unattended up to this point.

Nicky and Kyle had family in town and so we stayed with Amy Dilbeck. A dear Kampala friend, John Napier, had put me in touch with one of his best law school friends when he learned of my stupendous match. Amy is a recent graduate of Pepperdine Law and has set out a shingle as an expert in wills, estates, and trusts, in a beautiful historic house in downtown Ventura. She is a truly amazing person and a practiced hostess. I hope she realizes we are going to be spending lots of time together in Ventura.

The City on a Hill

On my way back to Minnesota from Costa Rica, I thought I would swing by Boston and see a few friends. Why not, right?

We planned it as a mini-Kampala reunion, and then it morphed into a Fogarty/Costa Rica party toward the end. Love it.

My friend Miriam, with numerous previous appearances on this blog, was in Uganda 2009-2010 doing research at the IDI with me. She picked me up at the airport (minus my bags), and we went out for sushi and wine at Ma Soba. The next day we hung out at Tufts in the AM. Me - trying to catch up on 3 weeks worth of email and work while Miriam had a class. But let’s be honest I didn’t get much work done. Tufts medical students = great people-watching!

After we got back to Miriam’s and my checked baggage was delivered, we did an epic walking tour of Boston. What a great tour guide, my dear Miriam, as we used the Freedom Trail app to guide us through some great New England history. It started out as a beautiful day, but by the time we made it to Modern Pastry in the North End, we were chilled to the bone and tired. Good thing my friend Mohamed is an ortho resident in town and was kind enough to swing by and pick us up after we had our fill of canoli, cheesecake, and hot tea. After downing a bottle of wine at Miriam’s and catching up on 3 years worth of life with Mohamed, we jetted off to meet our friend Sabine at Petit Robert. Sabine is one of the first people I met when I moved to Kampala in January 2009 and also worked at the IDI. She was in town for one of the big global AIDS meetings, the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI). It is kind of a big deal in the HIV research world, and Sabine was presenting at it, thus she is kind of a big deal. After much more wine and some amazing food, we set off once again to meet another beloved Kampalan, Jack Kelley in Cambridge, at Charlie’s Kitchen.

We took lots and lots of pictures and reminisced about Kampala. Then I proceeded to sleep the entire way back to Miriam’s, but somehow I got a second wind when we got home and started calling friends in Kampala. Thanks, Alison, for answering at work.

The next morning we picked up Sabine at her hotel, went to the Buttery for breakfast, then to Flour for post-breakfast sweets before some shopping. One of our stops was referred to by Sabine and Miriam as “the coffee store.” I realize there is this entire odd culture that I am missing out on because I don’t drink coffee and was totally lost among all the capsules at Nespresso. Sabine and I also got some alone time at Jacob Wirth in Chinatown while Miriam had a meeting at Tufts. As Sabine was about to fly out, she has a craving for French fries and insisted on McDonalds. Instead we steered her to the Beehive and had some signature drinks along with a delicious variation of fried potatoes.

After saying our goodbyes to Sabine we met our friend Katie at Giacomo’s in the North End for dinner. The last time I had seen Katie was just a week earlier on the beach in Costa Rica after her wedding, and she knew Miriam from the Fogarty Research program. We did lots of chatting about the upcoming match, and they did not yet know they were both going to match at UW in Seattle for Internal Medicine! After some amazing seafood pasta, we thought we would check out The Drink. For those of you from the Twin Cities, this does not in any way resemble the bar of the same name in Mpls. The Drink in Boston has old-school bartenders that get to know you and ask you about your drinking habits so they can surprise you with a tantalizing libation that suits your taste. Another Costa Rican wedding guest and fellow Fogarty scholar, Miranda, met us there. And I was happily surprised that evidence of her wedding night diving incident had almost completely healed – her face looked great, thanks to super-doctor and father-of-the-bride John’s adept superglueing skills.

Before heading back to Minnesota, Katie and I had one more good greasy breakfast Friday morning in the North End and then did some boutique shopping before heading out to the airport. American Airlines canceled my flight, twice, but I managed to get home eventually. My mother picked me up from the airport and I hung out with my family for a bit before I performed my almost-perfected unpack-repack routine and settled back into reality for the next 4 weeks (kind of).

Match

Hours later I was still shaking, and I think I have yet to absorb it all.

Match day is kind of a big deal for medical students, and schools, and residency programs. At the same moment across the country (and the world actually), every medical student who will do a residency in the US finds out where they will be receiving their next 3-7 (or more) years of training. This is after a pretty lengthy and intense application, interview, and ranking process.

Pre-Match Day Retreat, 2011

The day before the match, we had a retreat to reflect on what medical school did to us. It was organized by the Gold Humanism Honor Society, a group of peers chosen for this honor by their classmates for their demonstrated excellence in clinical care, leadership, compassion and dedication to service. I am honored to be part of this group, and was very involved in planning the retreat. We had a huge turnout of students and got great feedback, which I consider a success. Many students invited physicians they admire to facilitate some small group discussions and we had amazing speakers including Dr. Rose Quirk, Dr. Ruth Westra, Dr. Tom MacKenzie, and a favorite standardized patient, Rich. It was great catching up with classmates and a wonderful transition to the next day’s activities.

Mom and Dad during breakfast, pre-chaos

On Thursday, March 17 University of Minnesota medical students invited family to join them at the McNamara Alumni Center for breakfast and the envelope-opening chaos to commence at 11:00 CST. I was not a bit nervous leading up to the day. I had put in my rank list 2 months earlier and was convinced I would be happy at any of my top choices. But the moment I was about to open my envelope it hit me, the significance of what I was about to see. This moment was going to tell me where I will live for the next 3 years, and the training I receive over that time will likely influence the rest of my career. And…it hit me that I really AM going to be a doctor, and soon!

Hometown friend and fellow graduating medical student, Cory, and I
staring at our envelope-laden table, waiting for some kind of signal

As we realize others are already opening, we start reaching...

Really? Can I open it?

Okay, stalling...pose for one more picture

My friend Justin waiting to see my reaction

And I surprise myself with a little squeal when I see my match

Showing Dad

My friend Katie is in Finland, with no internet access, so her dad opens her envelope and we call a random phone in Finland to give her the news

The map, showing where our classmates are headed

Match Night Party at the W Hotel,
celebrating with friends Christine, Maiken, and Katie

Some pictures of Ventura from my interview!
This is in December, no less.
Who wants to help me move?!

Networks: Great opportunities spring from an open mind

I am very blessed with the opportunity to travel. And I believe that past experiences allow for future opportunities. This recent trip to Costa Rica brought together many connections from different times in my life and I believe as a result of this trip, there will be many more adventures to be had.

Some of the connections…

Felipe and Yader were medical students from la Universidad de Ciencias Medicas (UCIMED), who I met while rotating at Hennepin County Medical Center (HCMC) in 2009. Felipe is now a physician in San Jose and picked me at the airport. His family (Roberto, Iliana, Luis, Nati) graciously hosted me in their home in Santa Ana the first 5 days of my trip. They fed me continuously, drove me around, and also brought me to their farmhouse near Orotina for the weekend. Yader is now an Internal Medicine resident at HCMC and we went out for dinner the night before I left where he provided me ideas of things to do in CR and phone numbers of his family, girlfriend, and best friend.

"Los Hermanos Herrera"

Luis and Felipe

Angie is Yader’s girlfriend with whom I went out to lunch and shopping on my last day in San Jose. David is Yader’s best friend who will hopefully be an intern at HCMC next year. He had me over to his family’s house where we had a great time laughing, eating great food, and drinking wine. Then we went out to some live music and later a club until the wee hours of the morning. His dad was impressed with some of the hikes I have done, and him and his wife invited me on a hike over the weekend. I took them up on it and spent my Sunday hiking 7+ hours up a mountain on the outskirts of the city.

"La Cima"

Xinia and Enaldo, at the top of La Ventolera

This trip was not work-related, but I did manage to spend a couple days observing in the dermatology department of one of the public hospitals in San Jose – San Juan de Dios. I was invited there by two dermatologists, whom I met in Minneapolis over 2 years ago. Dr. Osvaldo Monge and Dr. Jorge Sanchez came to lecture at the University of Minnesota Global Health Course and Dr. Monge attended a party I had at my house for participants and visitors in the course. It took me a couple years, but I eventually made it and saw some great cases in addition to being able to observe yet another health care system.

"Primos"

Kembly, Marcelo, Jonathan

La familia Villacis, my host family in Quito, Ecuador has family in Costa Rica. Berthie, the sister of my host mother, Maria Eugenia, has a son that moved to Costa Rica and now lives in San Jose (San Francisco, actually) with his wife and son. When my host brother, Rolo, saw (via Facebook) that I was in Costa Rica, he sent me his cousin’s contact information and I was able to visit them in their home while I was in town.

"Zipliners"

Part of the wedding crew in Arenal

Katie is a great friend who took the scenic route through medical school with me and I met her amazing husband Seth when they started dating. I am so grateful that Katie and Seth decided on a destination wedding in Tamarindo, Costa Rica...and invited me! It was an interesting group of guests from all over the world and I had a great time meeting, partying, and traveling with their friends and family. After picking up her brother at the airport, fresh from Lima, and meeting the group near Volcan Arenal, we explored the canopy and relaxed in the hot springs before traveling out to Guanacaste for an amazing array of wedding activities. I found some travel buddies within the group and continued the adventure with them after saying goodbye to the newlyweds.

"Travel buddies"

Beto and Annie with Omutepe and Lake Nicaragua in the background

Between the wedding crew, renewed friendships, new connections, and fellow travelers, I have no doubt more adventures will spring from this great trip!

Blink

Time goes by so fast, and things happen so quickly. I have not been great at keeping everyone updated. Since the last post, so much has gone on in my life, some wonderful and inspiring, but also events that I have had a hard time dealing with.

After leaving Uganda in June, I spent a summer in MN spending time with my family and old friends, making new friends, working, taking classes, and staying busy. I went back to Uganda for 3 months in September and we started enrolling patients in the clinical trial I have been working on. My basketball team, A-1 Challenge, made it to the national championship, but took second, again. I met amazing people and solidified friendships. But I also lost a good friend in an accident in Kampala, and that experience has had a deeper impact than I think I have yet to admit. And it is something I have to deal with before I can move on.

But life keeps going, and I have to keep running. I came back to the US in December and did interviews for residency. I continued working, finishing a rotation before going to Costa Rica for a few weeks. Now I am back and am going to try and put my thoughts down, so bear with me.

Life is an adventure.