“This is how we say good-bye… in German.”

Well – it’s official. The higher ups of the US Army have spoken and, starting this summer, I will be spending my next three years practicing medicine in Germany. Months ago I had been told I would probably “get Germany” no matter what, but I was unsure of exactly where and was quite pleased when I got assigned to the actual medical center. (Rather than some distant small clinic, of which the US military has many in Germany). Yes, I will be spending my days at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center. (Info here) You may have seen it on the news – it’s where all the Iraq medical evacuations go to first. Even better, I will be practicing actual Internal Medicine, rather than just doing sick call for a bunch of healthy 19 year olds.

Landstuhl is a major referral center of the European region for the US. And though my chances of going to the “great beach with no ocean” are unchanged, I’m glad that my time at home will be spent doing actual medicine. And so in one sense I’m officially pumped. In another, I’m hesitant. And that is because it is once again time to begin the mentally and physically arduous process of relocating entirely. Again.

Since high school, my life has run on 3-5 year blocks. They all end with a massive change that I think I’m ready for…only I’m not.

Here’s the quick recap:
Birth through age 14: Connecticut and New Jersey
Age 14-22: San Diego (various locales, with a high school to college transition)
Age 22-26: New Orleans
Age 27-present: Seattle
Age 29-32(?): Germany (+/- 1 year in Iraq)

And there it is. My life history.

More on what it all means to me (to be moving again) in a later post.

For now, I’m tired, and trying to get to bed on time. ICU this month has been rough – not the most fun month at the end of the third year. Sick patients and lots of call. (And I still have another month of ICU left in May!). Ugh.

But ICU is better than the wards. It’s nice to step back, here at the end of residency, and finally feel like you have a good grasp of what’s going on at the hospital. I enjoy kicking it on rounds and watching the interns struggle where I once struggled – it’s a good measure of progress. And by golly – I haven’t been wasting my time these past three (er, seven) years!

My lack of blogging is a direct effect of the ICU month. Two more weeks to go. Most of my non-call nights consist of coming home, maybe working out, eating dinner, and then either: a)Madden, b)Counterstrike, or c)watching flix with Gwen. Other than that, not too much else going on. (Future post topic – how being in a stable relationship has made me boring.)

More as it comes. I’ve toyed with the idea of blogging from the hospital while on call, guerilla-style, with lots of quick hits as stuff happens. We’ll see if that comes to fruition. I’m on again tomorrow night (Tuesday). (I seem to have a real problem with “quick blogging”. I.e most of my posts I spend half the time proof-reading and rephrasing sentences to make the writing come off better. I suppose that’s against the idea of a blog. ‘Whatever comes to mind’ should probably be the rule. But I digress. And FYI, tonight’s block is rapid fire style, for once.)

For those interested, the WCD Madden season is still on the burner, though time is limited. I’m halfway through the week 4 game write up – it’s a great game, but the write ups can be painful. It’ll get done when it gets done, I guess.

Till then, lates.

A lot more to come down the road – about everything.

Maybe see you tomorrow?