Good morning, or whatever time it is while you read this. I've been home from Ireland for less than a week. The last month has been a whirlwind of exams, details of a new home and newer floors, packing, escaping from Ireland before the volcano could cause me any trouble... Once landed I've gotten various forms of insurance, registered my car, and done all of the other things necessary for a new house and life. The next week will be all about packing and moving to Northampton with Kate. We'll have a few weeks to paint and move in before I start the doctoring at Baystate. An exciting time to be sure.

It was strange to leave Ireland. My last exam was enormously exciting and relieving. I had the exam in Tralee, so we had a 2 hour drive back once the day was over. We had champagne and beer for the trip back, and the mood was quite different than on the way over that morning, as you can imagine. The following several days involved recovering from the night before, packing, seeing friends, and taking in my last days in the city where I spent the last 5 years.

I'm picking up this paragraph some weeks after writing the first two. Life has been good, and busy. More painting has been done (with more yet to do, probably today!) some artwork has been hung. We've had some people over so the house feels more alive. New cichlids have been added to the tank. And I started at the hospital. I have to say everyone at Baystate has been great. The other interns are an interesting, friendly bunch that I'm looking forward to working with for 3 years. Talk about a diverse group. Different ages, family status, countries of origin, countries of education... Fascinating. Plenty to learn both in and out of the hospital! After a week of various training and orientation we had our first few days in the hospital. They are taking it very easy on us to make the transition smoother. Four of us to one patient, no real responsibilities except learning the electronic charting and figuring out how to report back to the attending. I will be starting in outpatients tomorrow, where we will continue to have a day or two of orientation and shadowing, and then start getting our own patients. It's all very exciting, and still only mildly nerve-wracking. I hope the balance stays that way!

I'm not sure how this blog will continue. I know I don't want to be worrying about patient confidentiality issues, so I will stay far away from that. Hopefully I will have the time and energy to continue to write about my experience as a resident, and thoughts about medicine and life. Stay tuned. The blog title no longer makes much sense so don't be surprised if that is different soon too!

Thanks for reading these 5 years. Talk to you soon.

Eli

You can tell it's exam time because the days are getting longer, warmer, and sunnier. How's that for a mixed blessing?!?!

Hi all. I know I haven't posted in a while. Have been having trouble keeping up with my email as well. I wonder if the moods that allow both to happen are related. Anyway, where am I at? At where am I? That's the ticket. For the last two weeks, and for the next two, I'm in Limerick in the pediatric department. I'm learning a lot there. Lots of kids with CF, and a wide assortment of other problems. There's an outbreak of measles currently, due largely to the bozo Wakefield in England claiming the MMR vaccine causes autism. Another out break is in the Traveling community here; they're a group of gypsies, basically, though racially they're Irish. Because they move around so much it's hard to make sure they get all of their immunizations. This year has been bad for measles in Ireland. Luckily the vaccination rates are back up to nearly what they were before all the damage was done.

I suspect most of my readers (are there any any more?) know, but I do have exciting news. I will be starting as an intern at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, being trained in internal medicine. This is great for a number of reasons. Being close to my family and being at a great hospital being two of the most important. Only 6 weeks left in the hospital here! Then 2 weeks of study time (or perhaps 1 week to travel in Italy and 1 to study) then a month of exams, then I'm done!! Hard to believe. This time feels to have gone both quickly and slowly here. I suspect I will have a more reflective blog entry in a few months once I've finished here.

That's it for now. I've got to apply for a Massachusetts medical license!

I suppose I've not been great at sharing my experiences this year. Haven't felt particularly motivated for whatever reason. Trust that I've been keeping busy! I'm now only about 4 months from finishing my degree. Wowsers. That's mostly what's in my head these days. Perhaps once some of my school work and residency stuff slows down I'll find the muse to write some more. Until then, here a few pictures of the "extreme weather" we've been having in Cork. The flood picture is really quite mild compared to the destruction in caused the the center of town (though the stairs to a rehabilitation hospital is not really an ideal spot for a waterfall), and the winter shots are what happens when you get a hard frost in a country as humid as Ireland. It's snowing as I type, so perhaps I'll include some pictures from that soon.