Here's just a quick one. I took these pictures with my cell phone, and one of them was in the mirror. It felt much like that old riddle. What's the one part of your body you can't touch with your right hand? Do we have any suggestions for names for those guys?

I have now spent two months in the hospitals. My first month I was on the team, or more accurately, loosely affiliated with a team that was lead by two gastroenterologists. One of them was a hepatic specialist, or which there are surprisingly few of in a country so full of alcohol. It definitely wouldn't count as efficient education, but I did get to see a fair amount. I took lots of histories of patents with conditions related to liver failure, anaemia, and Crohn's Disease. One man who was having mild anaemia and liver trouble talked to us for a while about addiction and told us where to find an open AA meeting to go to to learn more about what it's like to live with an addiction. He is underwhelmed by physicians' understanding of the psychological and social aspects of addiction. We also examined these patients, and got to see and feel on live people many of the signs and symptoms we've read about in our pathology and physiology texts. For the last three weeks I've been with a urologist at one of the private hospitals in the city. It has been a wonderful experience so far. We have spent several days in the operating theater with him, and he has been a really supportive and proactive tutor. Urology isn't necessarily a branch of medicine I'm expecting to go into, but it has gotten me excited to learn more about surgery. Another great aspect of this rotation has been an hour long tutorial given to our group every morning we're there. It's generally about how to conduct a focused history/exam on patients in different wards (cardiac, respiratory, endocrine...) On Tuesday I start my next rotation, which will be 2 weeks of anaesthesia and 2 weeks of cardio/respiratory medicine. A lot of people have really been enjoying this rotation because you get to see surgery, and generally practice a few procedures. In the mean time we're studying furiously for a pathology exam to take place next week.

In completely unrelated news, I finally got a tattoo at the beginning of the year. I've been percolating the idea around in my head for several years, and finally I got the inspiration to do it. I've included several photos of the scene. To help explain one of the pictures, you should know that the place I got it done (by a German man named Stefan) among other things bills itself as the only place to get pole dancing lessons in Cork city. Needless to say it was an interesting afternoon. I though I had a close-up of the tattoo itself, so check back here for more pictures.

After some "gentle" urging from my Aunt Megan, here goes the first blog entry of my third medical year. The summer had a lot going for it. I got to spend a lot of time with my family, which is great considering how much those little nephews change in short periods of time. My work at the clinic was fun, educational, and I got to continue to develop some friendships and professional contacts there. There was some weird interpersonal stuff at one of the clinics, where a couple of the LPNs decided they didn't want me helping them. The other clinic, however, had plenty to keep me busy and were quite happy to have me. I also go mini tutorials from Dr. Sondhi throughout the summer, about some kind of medical condition that was relevant at the time. I also got to see a lot of my friends Carrie and Gabriel, and their spouses, which was really fantastic. I've been friends with Carrie since we were about 5 years old, and it's kind of amazing to have that kind of longevity to a friendship. Gabriel I met later, but it is great to renew that friendship after several years apart. I got to spend a full week on the Cape for the off-site session of Camp Tofu, which was too much fun. I don't have any of those pictures, so you'll have to harass my family for those. Because school started a month earlier than it has in the past I only got to spend a few days at family camp, but it was a great way to prepare myself for the coming year.

After getting an interview at Drexel over the summer, I was once again rejected. I was having a really hard time getting excited about coming back here. But, with the help of various professionals (including the McKenna/Crawford/Smith family doctor, Julian Jonas) I find myself quite happy. My mood is generally much higher than it has been in years, I'm feeling confident, more or less relaxed (how relaxed should I really be in medical school, you're wondering). I'm also noticing that I'm able to feel more at home and content here, and less like I'm divided across two continents. A whole bunch of us seem to be happier, so there could be some kind of adjustment period in effect as well. Something else that helps is that the school is much better organized this year than it has in the past, so with a few exceptions, things have been running quite smoothly. It's also the first semester I truly feel like I'm in medical school. We're finishing all of our class work (at least for this year) by Christmas, so it's going to make for a very busy fall. Or autumn as they insist on calling it here. Pathology is the biggest single class, and that's moving along at quite a clip. Who needs more than 3 hours to talk about disease processes of the lungs, anyway? Pharmacology, epidemiology, clinical practice, and an elective (I'm hoping mine is going to be a moot court with a lawyer who's on staff here). One of the other exciting things is that 3 mornings a week we're in the hospital. Our role is minimal, by which I actually mean non-existent. We're there to take histories and examine patients, since those are the skills that will provide about 90% of our diagnoses in the future. In the spring we will be full time in the hospital, I believe with a little more explicit teaching going on. In the mean time, I'm with a gastroenterologist who specializes in liver disease. Let me assure you there is no shortage of that in this country, naturally mostly due to alcohol. These patients make for interesting examinations and histories, which is great. Also learning some about ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease. Lots to do!

The pictures in this post are a random sampling of recent months. The top is a picture from our tutorial on how to scrub in for theater. At the bottom is a picture of Camp Dad took from the ridge, and a picture of me and my cousin Molly from a hike we went on with Pam, Megan, and Mom. Fun times!

I suppose that's enough for now. Hopefully I'll post some fun/exciting/interesting stories from life in the hospital!

All my love,

Eli

Here are some pictures of the actual wedding...

At the end of March, I went down to Peru, ostensibly to go to my friends' wedding. Of course, I didn't travel all that way for a weekend of ceviche and pisco sours. I got to spend a couple of days in Cusco, Aguas Calientes, and of course the magestic Machu Picchu.

St. Patrick's day in Cork was quite an event. We missed the parade, because we had an exam the following week and were attempting to study. But there's always time for a pint!

Here's one picture to give you all a taste of my parents' visit to Ireland. It does show the lovely weather we had. Behind us you can see the Cliffs of Moher. We went that day because the weather was supposed to get worse. What a country. Come back soon for more updates.

Here are several pictures of us at the annual Med Ball. The mutton chops were entertaining, but foolish-looking without the tux.

Finally some new pictures, these showing my beard. I'm mostly growing it out of laziness. Don't expect to see it in real life. The top picture shows my team of scratchers, the next one is Brian, the other American in my class. I wish I could tell you what was going on in the picture. The bottom picture is at a dent student party. Two canadians, two kuwaitis, and me. A regular UN here in Cork.

Here are two pictures of the Brookfield Science building. Brand new. The outdoor picture is taken by the entrance we use (when did Nick find a time when there was no one standing there? It's usually ridiculously busy there) and the indoor shot is from that entrance towards our main classroom, which is G10, if you must know.

These are two pictures of the Main Quad, which seems to make Mom think she's at Hogwarts. Some trivia: it is made out of locally mined limestone, I believe actually mined from the spot where the Boole Library now stands, immediately opposing the Quad. Also, the lore on campus is if you walk on the grass in the Quad you will fail your exams.

If you're standing where the last picture was taken, this is at 11 O'Clock. It's the student center.

This is the main part of campus. At 12 O'clock is the chapel, which has beautiful stained glass and floor mosaics. To its right is the O'Rahilly building. I'm not sure what they do there. I don't go in there.

These are just some pictures around the periphery of campus. Western Rd, and a couple pictures of the River Lee.

These are some pictures from around town. St. Finbarr's Cathedral (UCC's slogan is "Where Finbarr taught let Munster Learn." He's an important guy around here. The courthouse, and a couple of pictures of the main shopping/strolling/people-watching part of town. The part shown I believe is called St. Patrick St.

Here is a good group shot. From left to right: Mahta, Blair, Moi, Martin, Laura and Caroline. They're all Canadian. Beneath are a couple of pictures of Team Purple. Completely accidental of course. In real life the shirts are much more similar in color. The one in the pub is the place called Western Star that sponsors Medical Society (or MedSoc). I'm sick of going there. Too loud, crowded, and full of 18 year-olds.

These are all pictures of my trip to Youghal (pronounced Yall) with Mahta. It was an appropriately rainy day for a trip to the Irish countryside. Had my first Irish fish and chips here.