Cubs vs Mets.....

JT and I went to the Cubs vs Mets game last night and had tons of fun. I am putting some pics on here. They are mostly of me being extremely silly but what else is new. The Cubs, thankfully, won. It really did not matter much for them because they already clinched the division. It was fun though to watch Mets fans cringe when we sat down in our Cubs gear. I must say though, the hot dog was yummy and as you can see I loved the cotton candy too.

I should be studying. I really should. But I am not. Maybe I am "resting on my laurels", which is an ironic phase since I am having dinner with my friend Laurel tonight. Not just Laurel, though. JT's brother Daniel and his wife Denise got here from Louisville today. They are actually touring Central Park right now with J as their tour guide but I came home before dinner. So, tonight JT, me, Daniel, Denise, Laurel and Paige are going to dinner at Mesa Grill in Manhattan. It is one of Bobby Flay's restaurants. There were two reservation options, 630 or 900. We chose 630 because 900 is too late for dinner when you have to get up at 600am for work.

Well enjoy the pictures. More should come from our last week as New Yorkers.

I have the whole world in my hands....just kidding...
Eating the cotton candy....YUM!Post-cotton candy tongue!!!!
Alfonso Soriano batting for the Cubs
Me, cutting off JT's head with the camera

Monday...

Today is the beginning of a busy busy week. Tonight we, me and JT, are going to a Cubs vs. Mets game... The Cubs have already clinched the National League Central Division but it should be tons of fun!!! We love sports, if you did not know. Before heading out there, I have to clean up my clothes and pack what I want to take with me immediately and what will be on the moving truck. It was $1300 to rent a UHaul or $1500 to use a moving company. We figured it was easier and ultimately cheaper to use the moving company, but the problem is that we will not get it for about a week...so dealing withe clothes is a pain.

Tomorrow, Daniel and Denise are coming....(JT's brother and sister in law). They are riding back with us to KY on moving day. They are doing the whole NYC thing and helping us pack if we had time. It gets crazy from then on out. I have review tomorrow afternoon at the hospital in Brooklyn, a test Wednesday, a test Thursday, and official sign-outs on Friday. During all of this, we will have company, need to pack, and tell friends good-bye (which is the worst part of moving). Do not think I am complaining. I am just trying to tell everyone what is going on...

We had a great weekend. After our fun day on Friday, we relaxed at home on Saturday. JT and I went for a run here in Astoria, then, for dinner, JT made home made lasagna for me and my friend Paige and we all watched football. Sunday was much of the same but we all went to church and then ate dinner at Cafeteria, a restaurant in Chelsea.

That is about it for now. Hopefully I can add some pics from tonight's game. I put two great pics below. The first one is of JT while he was visiting his friend Paul in Texas. He is holding Paul's daughter whose name is ironically, Natalie. The second picture is of my Grandma Morris. She is getting ready to go for a fly/ride in my uncle David's gyrocopter (a mini helicopter-like toy) around Somerset. She is so funny. Have a great week! Wish me luck on my tests!

Brooklyn Bridge with a ton of pictures....

So JT and I have been wanting to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge since coming to NYC. One of the girls in my peds rotation told me that on the Brooklyn side there is a great pizza place and ice cream place. Also, I have been wanting to go this place in the East Village area called Pommes Frites that I saw on Tori Spelling and Dean show, the first season...(Please do not judge me for watching it. It made me feel a little smarter.) So, yesterday, since JT is finished with working and I got out early, we decided to head to city to try all of this out. We took my friend Paige with us, and I must say, it was one of the most fun days we have had in NYC. We walked all over the place, ate good food, and laughed like crazy. To top it all off, we came home and watched AnchorMan and Baby Mama. Baby Mama, in my opinion was not great, but sour patch kids and pringles make every movie better.

This place, Pommes Frites, is a hole in the wall that sells Belgian French Fries with over thirty dipping sauces for the fries....YUMMY. We tried the mango chutney, pomegranate teriyaki, and wasabi mayo. The mango chutney was my favorite. It was our first stop of the day. This is JT ordering the fries for us....

Paige and I both took pictures with the fries because we are dorks. That is a prerequisite for medical school, by the way. We all three shared the one order because it was huge.

JT and Paige were beginning to get annoyed with me wanting to take pictures. They did not know this was only the beginning.
Here is the outside of the place. I do not know who all those girls were, but as you can see, it is a hole in the wall.
Our second stop, after walking down Bowery through industrial kitchen supply stores and part of Chinatown, was Little Italy. They were having a street fair on Mulberry. Little Italy used to be larger but Chinatown has pretty much overtaken it. All of the restaurants had deals and street vendors were everywhere.
JT was drinking a pina colada/strawberry daquiri mix and in the other hand was roasted peanuts... I think this pictures is so cute.
So we kept walking through lower Manhattan but were not quite sure where to go to walk onto the Brooklyn Bridge... SO JT ASKED FOR DIRECTIONS. Yes, a man asked for directions. I thought it needed to captured on film for posterity.
Then we realized we all three needed to pee. Guys have it much easier than girls by not needing to be in as close proximity to the toilet seat. This may have been the most disgusting bathroom ever. Paige agreed...Even worse than some on the island... JT thinks it was on NYPD Blue one time...YUCK, is all I can say.
JT took over taking pictures here. He is better at "city-scapes"..... This is lower Manhattan.
This is me and Paige, obviously, with Manhattan behind us.
Me and JT.....
We were looking northeast towards Queens. This is the Manhattan and in the distance, Williamsburg, bridges.
What a beautiful picture with the Statue of Liberty in the background.
JT got this shot of midtown from the bridge.
Likely JT's best shot ever.
Only in New York would you see a parking meter with this written on it...
Here is the yummy pizza place in Brooklyn. It is so popular that there is a line out front all the way down the block. Luckily we only had to wait 15 or 20 minutes because we were there early.
...from underneath the bridge.
Lower Manhattan just at sunset....
And lastly, while walking back to the F train, we randomly saw these silly metal cut-out things. Of course, I wanted a picture. I was touching the metal lady's breast.... AWKWARD.
So as you can see, we had a great day. It was honestly one of the best New York days. Plus, the weather here is perfect. Sunny, 70s, with a breeze. It should stay that way till we move next week. Anyways. Have a great weekend. Sorry there are so many pictures but I thought it was time for pictures after so long....

Last New York Call...

So last night as my last overnight call while in NYC. I am finishing pediatrics next week, and this past week and a half I have been at St. John's hospital. We are required to do one over night call...And MINE IS OVER. Granted, I did not do much. Well, nothing really. The doctor told us to get dinner and she would call us after, and she never did. So we (the other girl I was with, Alycia) ironically had two choices. One, share a twin bed with each other or Two, one take the bed and the other sleep on an empty patient recliner. I took the recliner and slept there. I guess it is like JT said..."It is better than nothing." So, at least on this call I did get to sleep. But, it is a little bit of a celebration because this means the next time I spend the night in the hospital for call, I will be in Somerset!!! Since I was able to rest today, I am catching up on all of the shows I have on DVR (Gossip Girl, House, Biggest Loser)

Another good thing.... JT is coming home from Texas today. I have really missed that man. I can't wait for him to come home and we can enjoy our last few days in NYC. We have a few things left to do. We are going to go to the Brooklyn Bridge sometime at the end of this week. You can go on top and walk across it from Manhattan to Brooklyn, or vice versa. We are also going to a Cubs vs Mets game next Tuesday.

The last few days while JT has been gone I have been hanging out with my friends. Over the weekend, Kim, the girl I lived with in Dominica, came over. We watched football and just hung out. I also took her to see where Frank and Estelle Costanza lived (they are George's parents from Seinfeld) and it is here in Astoria. My friend Paige came back to NYC on Sunday after taking her Step 2 exam, so I have been able to hang out with her the last few days. We went to see "The Women." It is the new movie out with Meg Ryan, Annette Benning, Jada Pinkett Smith, Debra Messing, Bette Midler, Candace Bergen, Eva Mendez, and other famous women I can't remember. It was hilarious because there was not one man in the entire movie. I won't tell you anymore. But it was a great movie to see with your girlfriends....only girlfriends would understand it. Not as funny as I thought it would be but still good in a different way.

Oh well...back to my Tivo-ed shows. Have a great day!
~nat

Kiss Me, I Donated Blood....

Leaving work today I saw the New York Blood Donor bus. They stalked me for months after my first donation! So much so that I even called and removed my phone number. But today, as I was leaving work, I saw the blood drive bus across the street at the mall I felt a social obligation to give blood. They did give me a funny shirt though. It said "Don't Be Caught with your Pints Down." Corny, but funny to me.

JT is leaving town tomorrow for Lubbock, Texas, as I said previously. My Dominica roommate Kim is coming over stay and hang out. Hopefully we will have fun. And hopefully JT will have a ton of fun too.

I am watching "Because I Said So" with Diane Keaton and Mandy Moore.... It makes me think of my mom. If you have not seen it, you will enjoy it.

~nat

Good Day, Bad Day.....

So my stepdad, Bob, found out yesterday that his bone marrow is producing more cells so they do not have to do a bone marrow transplant immediately. He just has to monitor his transfusions, blood levels and such until next month's appointment at Vanderbilt. Great News! Except for one of the medicines that he is on in the meantime is making him very ill with nausea, fatigue, and generally feeling pretty crappy. Despite the good news, he is still sick.

I have not talked at all about Bob's illness on my blog since it began in June. I felt it was a family issue that deserved privacy and delicacy. However, I have realized over the last two years that my blog reaches many people and many of those people lovingly pray for things I talk about, even I do not ask them too. Therefore, I have decided to share about this....in order to optimize the prayers for Bob. You can never have too many prayers, right?

After MANY tests, he was diagnosed with idiopathic aplastic anemia. In my medical textbook, Williams' Hematology aplastic anemia is defined as:
"a clinical syndrome that results from marked diminution of marrow blood cell production. The decreased production results in reticulocytopenia, anemia, granulocytopenia, monocytopenia, and thrombocytopenia. Severe aplastic anemia is defined as pancytopenia accompanied by a markedly hypocellular marrow and two of the following three features: (1) a corrected reticulocyte count less than 1 percent, (2) fewer than 500/l granulocytes, or (3) fewer than 20,000/l platelets."
What all of that boils down to is that his bone marrow is not working. The bone marrow is responsible for making your white blood cells (infection fighters), platelets (make clots and prevent bleeding), and red blood cells (do many things but mainly affect hemoglobin which affects energy and everything in your body). So as you can guess, with aplastic anemia, you can get very sick from minor illness like the flu because you have no/little white cells, you can bleed/bruise easily from minor injuries (razor cuts), and you have no energy. Most case have no known cause. There is limited treatment. Basically, you have to do multiple platelet and red blood cell transfusion and take shots that boost your white count. In the meantime, you can try a treatment called ATG (horse or rabbit serum) that is complicated and is the first line. Next, you monitor the bone marrow (like they are doing with Bob) and see how it responds to the ATG. The last line is a bone marrow transplant. So for right now, they are just monitoring Bob's blood levels and bone marrow to determine if and when he may need a bone marrow transplant.

I just wanted to let everyone know so that prayers can be offered up on his behalf and ones for my mom to remain strong through this. It is emotionally and physically draining for both of them.

Additionally, my sister, Gretchen, has had two seizures this week, one Monday in class and one today before leaving for class. She is at the doctor now to see how he wants to adjust her medications and where to go from here. I hate that she has to deal with this while working and going to school and trying to lead a normal life. It just seems so unfair sometimes. Yet that is the nature of life I guess. I have to remember on days when I begin feeling insecure, feeling ugly or fat or inadequate in many ways, that at least I have my health and have been fortunate thus far. It is all about perspective when it comes down to it.

Well, I guess I am going to go study. I have a peds test and think I should probably not wait until the night before! Have a great day.
~nat

I wanted to update but do not have much to say. I am now finishing up my pediatrics at St. John's Hospital in Queens. This week and part of next week I am in the nursery again. This one is not as busy as the previous nursery....six babies compared to seventeen. Regardless, it is still fun playing with the babies.

This is JT's last week at work...so crazy. We went out to dinner last night with his co-workers to a great Italian restaurant. I don't remember the name but it was on Long Island. Had the lobster ravioli in a vodka cream sauce with diced tomatoes, asparagus, and shrimp on top. Yummy!

Not much planned for this week. JT leaves on Friday for his trip to Lubbock, TX to see our friend Paul, the guy who introduced us and ironically named his own daughter Natalie.... (and she is only a few weeks old). I intend to hang out with some of my friends this weekend and go out in the city.....but lets not exaggerate, I will definitely be in bed watching 90210 re-runs on Saturday and Sunday mornings.

I hope things are going well!

~nat

Rainy Day In......

It is raining like crazy....I guess secondary to that whole hurricane thing. JT is taking a nap because he worked today. I have been binge watching episodes of House on USA. I have not watched it since being in Dominica. I have, of course, seen all of these episodes but still enjoy watching them. Speaking of Dominica, I found out online today that they found a new professor dead early this morning. I do not think I knew who it was (names have not been given yet) because it was supposedly a new professor. However the rumor going around, which really is not fair to spread without actual verification, is that he/she was found at one of the local drug dealer's homes. Like many things at Ross, all of the details are just speculation. Nevertheless, it is just so unfortunate the effect the island has on some people.

On a happier note, I just wanted to post a few pictures my aunt Kathy sent me. She is one of my dad's sisters... I hope you enjoy. I still love getting pictures, even I am home from Dominica.....

My Aunt Mickey (dad's other sister) at Kathy's house
My cousin Mark's daughter Maddy Kate in front of her playhouse
My Aunt Kathy is the second back on the left side
My cousin Mark's son, Ben (in the red), while in Alaska

Rump Shaker and Groceries....

Is it inappropriate to listen to Rump Shaker by Wreckx-N-Effect in grocery store while little kids ran around me speaking Spanish....? Maybe so. I found it humorous. Speaking of groceries. You would not believe how much cheaper unhealthy groceries are. Maybe that is why food stamps only cover that kind of food... I went today to buy the groceries before it starts raining. Because I wanted something easy for today and also easy for JT tomorrow while I am on call, I bought some bad food...like pringles and an oven pizza. SO MUCH CHEAPER than healthy food like veggies and turkey burger.

I know it is random but I am a little bored....Have a great day.
~nat

Hurricanes in New York?

I mean, really? A hurricane is supposed to hit New York City. So maybe it is not really hurricane strength. But the winds and rains from Hurricane Hannah, I think, are going to be around her tomorrow. Thankfully for me, I am off tomorrow. Unfortunately, JT has to work. I am making up for it though; I have to go in for twelve hours on Sunday...my last official day at Wyckoff Heights Medical Center... And it feels great. The last three weeks are spent at St. John's, where I did my OBGYN rotation. It is closer to home, and I can drive...relieving my subway stress and perpetual sweating before the day even begins.

I hope everything is going well at home. We are moving home in 25 days. It is crazy that it is so close. I talked to the hospital in Somerset today. I have a lot of paperwork and logistics to work out in the three days before I start. However, running around town in Somerset is a lot easier than New York City.

I hope everyone has a great weekend. My friend, Paige, is taking her step 2 (the second board exam) this coming Wednesday... Say a little prayer for her...Board exams are very stressful.
Again, miss you guys. Have a great weekend.

~nat

Maybe a Doctor....

I guess I am getting close to being doctor. This time next year, I will be a doctor. However, I have moments when I think "this is really going to happen." Whoever thought I, me, would be a doctor. Like last night for instance.... I was post call, meaning I worked all night on Tuesday night until Wednesday morning. Well at nine o'clock last night, I got a call from the hospital last night asking me, a third year medical student, if I was the one who ordered a urinalysis. Yeah, right, me, student making orders for patients' lives. And then I realized, in the not so distant future, I will be actually making important decisions in the lives of my patients. It is just crazy.

~nat

Addition....
(I see people are voting on the poll... I would REALLY LOVE to know why people think I should go into a specific field. I know the poll won't let you comment. But you can post comments....Would love to know....)
~nat

Only In New York...

Can a man sing reggae music out loud on the train and in the middle of his "rap", if I can call it that, he would bark. Yes, you heard me BARK. I could hear it over my ipod....

Can you order a hamburger with guacamole at ten in the morning....

Can you know only one person in your building and there are at least sixty apartments...

Do two patients (pediatric patients) say "hey that is my boy....we be on the same block" while they (a 9 year old and 17 year old) watch Home Alone together with their IV bags beside the beds

Can you work 26 hours and be awake 30 hours, not get to sit down on the train for the hour commute which is in distance, only 6 or 7 miles.....

Hope you enjoy!
~nat

Labor Day....

Well, on labor day, most people abstain from working.... Not us on the pediatric floor at Wyckoff. On Friday, the program director told us that if we were on the inpatient floor, we had to be there. What is funny is that we all get there, albeit slower since the trains and buses are on a holiday schedule, and the residents walk in and say, "What are all of you doing here? We did not expect you to be here..." Great, right? At least they let us leave a little after eleven. All we did was write our notes...

As for all of you going to labor day parties and enjoying the holiday, I hope you have a great time. Lets not forget to keep the people in Louisiana in our prayers.

~nat