Saturday, August 30, 2008

And We'll Have Fun, Fun, Fun...'til we have to make the drive away

I just finished up my active duty military family medicine rotation at Madigan Army Medical Center in Ft. Lewis, WA. It was an amazing experience!!! I loved it. I loved it even more because I was able to take my sweetheart and my two mini-me's along for the trip. It really felt like a vacation for the most part- even during the actual rotation. It didn't feel like work most of the time. I was doing something I really enjoyed and finally in a favorable position with the Army. It's been a long-haul getting the Army to accept me into the scholarship program, and it was such a sweet feeling being on active duty status (even if temporarily) with the military and training at one of their best facilities in the specialty field I've come to love and adore- family medicine. The staff physicians and residents had fantastic, upbeat, genuinely friendly personalities which made the rotation such a fun and non-pressured environment to learn.

Now, I have to travel back home, and it's sad because no matter how much I want to train at this facility and no matter how much the staff want me there, it is ultimately up to the Army to fill all of their programs as proportionately as possible meaning that getting to train in family medicine won't be a issue, but getting to go to the location I would like the most (Madigan) for residency could be.

Michelle and I are currently in Boise, ID again, but now on the way back to Missouri. We plan on stopping in Cheyenne, WY tomorrow night, and then Monday will finish the last leg of the trip. As sad as I am to leave Madigan, and my extended family in WA, it will be nice to sleep in my own bed and no longer fishing for clothes out of the suitcase (instead I look forward to fishing for them from the hamper and floor like old-times ;-P)

Friday, August 1, 2008

I'm Going to Boise, Idaho!!!!!!!

Well, actually, we got into Boise last night on our way to Washington. We had a fairly uneventful trip. As expected, Jacob is STILL not a fan of being in the car for hours. Lizzy did better than Jacob. She slept quite a bit and was happily playing with the tag attached to Jacob's travel tray the rest of the time. Jacob, on the other hand, fussed for over an hour before finally falling asleep in the car towards the end of the trip, then he woke up after 45 minutes only to fuss the rest of the way to Boise. The kid's a turkey! He did get some wrestling time in with Dad last night. I think it helped wear out some of the pent-up energy in the boy. He slept well last night.


But hey, gotta run. We gotta checkout and get on the road to Washington today. I'll leave you with a picture that Michelle took at one of the rest stops yesterday: