So it’s been awhile since my last post.  My wife so graciously has posted a happy birthday message for me. :)  Yep I’m 29 now!  I got some interesting emails this week from old Everquest players who were surprised to see be in medicine now.  Yeah, I remember playing Everquest with my friends and talking about taking my MCAT and applying to medical school.  Now here I am, Dr. Richie Truxillo the 1st year Resident, seeing patients prescribing meds and pretty much playing doctor everyday.  My my it’s been a long road.

This first month has really been an introduction month.  Patient care during the mornings (and occasional evening) with didactic teaching sessions in the afternoons.  I start working at the Salem Veterans Hospital on the 28th on the Internal medicine service and then the ICU/CCU.  So I’m getting hammered with experience right out of the gate.   Still, I enjoy it so far even though the hours are going to be long.  My main concern is getting to see my wife everyday and spend time with her.  I’ve also gained some weight and trying to get it off is awful.  In fact as soon as I finish this post I’m hopping on the Bowflex and then doing 30 minutes of cardio either with Taebo, my bike or Wii Fit (havent decided yet hehe).

I’ve made a couple posts on Realdealmedicine.com but thus far haven’t reached my goal of a post a day.  I celebrated my birthday this past Sunday even though it was on Monday.  Patty is out of town this week in Myrtle Beach with her family/  On monday I pulled 12 hours and came home to my solo dinner of 2 angus burgers I cooked on my new grill.  The phone rang and I turned my back for 2 minutes.  My dogs stole my dinner off my plate and gobbled it up just in time for me to turn around.  30 seconds later they gave it back to me as they barfed it ALL up on my kitchen floor.  The smell was horrid, like the smell you get when you eat chinese food and afterwards take a laxative to clear it out.  :(   Anyway, my birthday dinner ended up being a bowl of frosted flakes ;)  Such is life though! ha!

I’ve also found I don’t consider the little things anymore when I am tired.  Like this morning, I got up and let the dogs out to pee.  I walked outside in my underwear and waved to my neighbors and said hello.  Didn’t think anything of it! hehe  I guess it was a little drafty.

Well I need to cut this short.  I’ve got some studying to do and my gut isn’t going to get any smaller by sitting here at the computer desk. ;)   Leave some love on the comment box!  And Patty, if you read this, I love you and miss you.  Crap!  I just forgot, I gotta take the trash out too!

So graduation came and went, like a summer thunderstorm.  Some of my faimly came to watch me graduate and my best friend and his wife hooded me.  When I was up on stage, as soon as I was hooded, the wind blew really hard and knocked part of the stage down.  If anyone has video of that happening while I was up there, please send it to me!  I will pay to have the video shipped. :)  It’d be great Youtube video fodder!

I have sent out thank you cards to everyone who has given me a gift for the wedding and for graduation.  I’d like to take a moment and thank all of you publicly for your gifts as they have made moving to Roanoke and buying our first home possible.  :)  Thank you all so much!

It is June 26th, 2008 today.  I’ve been in orientation for what seems a week and a half now.   I have re-certified in Basic Life Support, Advanced Cardiac Life Support and Pediatric Advanced Life Support this week.  In addition, I’ve been to orientation for the Salem Veterans Hospital, the new EMR for Carilion (EPIC) and a short blurb on Carilion Clinic.  Tonight, we have the picnic where I can hang out with the new residents and meet their families.  It’s a pool party, looking forward to that

The Ebay stores are doing well.  I also am getting ready to crank up the seperate “Real Deal Medicine” project shortly, which will be blog posts based on what I learn during my rotations thru residency.  This is to serve a dual purpose:  1) To keep me honest on reading while solidifying knowledge by recording what I learn and 2) Provide somewhat of a knowledge base for med students and residents in layman’s terms.    There’s alot of information out there like emedicine and Harrison’s, but not really anything that breaks information down into layman’s terms.  You will find the project at realdealmedicine.com

All in all, things are going well.  I’ve got some other things coming down the pipe but looking forward to starting residency soon.   I am tired of being nervous about it and just want to sink my teeth into it and get this show on the road.