Estoy saltando

 So glad it's a leap year! It means March won't be a repeat of February. I know... weird things annoy me. Worse that it's something I have absolutely no control over. 

On a side note, today was the deadline I had made for myself last year to decide if I would extend my time in Togo, or return home as planned at the end of April. I didn't know at the time what returning home as planned ment, but felt a peace about finding out. God is good.

Last week was my call week. Thankfully with a little change. One of my favorite bands was coming to West Lafayette to play, and months ago we had bought tickets. When I saw of all weekends to be on call, I was assigned that weekend, I worked out an exchange with one of my partners. He actually suggested switching Saturday/Sunday, and I am so glad he did. I was able to fully relax and enjoy the evening rather than wonder the whole concert how my patients were doing and what would be waiting for me when the concert finished. In addition, that Friday call had kept me at the hospital until well after 11pm, and going into 48 more hours of call on little sleep like that doesn't make for an optimal experience.

My theme song since residency finished has been "Amen" by for King and Country. The concert was complete after they sang it that night, at least in my opinion! For a short period a couple years ago (without going into detail), I considered changing it, but I'm glad I stuck with it. The song has about as simple of a chorus as you can imagine, 

"All the people say
Amen
Amen
All the people say
Amen
Amen, amen"

It has become a personal resolution, that in whatsoever stage of life I am, whatsoever difficulties, trials, or tribulations I am facing, to persist in this anthem. May we forever say Amen! with trust in our Lord and Savior never faltering.

They played Little Drummer Boy as their encore song. One of my favorite Christmas songs as it really struck a cord with me a few of those years while I was out in New York. Yet, like a few other "Christmas" songs, I feel it can be appropriate and applicable at any time of the year.

Come they told me,
A new born King to see,
Our finest gifts we bring,
To lay before the King,

So to honor Him,
When we come

Little Baby,
I am a poor boy too,
I have no gift to bring,
That's fit to give the King,

Shall I play for you,
On my drum?

Mary nodded,
The ox and lamb kept time,
I played my drum for Him,
I played my best for Him,

Then He smiled at me, 

 Me and my drum

 

May we all play our drum, whatever that drum may be, but let's play our best for Him, our King. Amen!

Much Love.

 

Estoy prosperando.

 Have you ever been called on something that makes you wonder why it took someone so long to call you on it? For example, in residency, I'm not sure why but I had gotten stuck on the term globose to describe the typical obese American abdomen on the physical exam. I was a senior resident before an Attending called me on it. "What do you mean by globose?" Well... puzzled, I responded with the definition and a slew of synonyms. To which he responded with a general role of the eyes and essentially told me to stop the silliness and call it what it is... obese. I now realize the benefit of being as clear as possible yes, but there's also coding and risk factor calculations that are affected by a patient being obese, whereas "globose" can't be computed. This happened to me again recently, only this time it was a patient checking me. Without putting much thought into it, I've used the phrase "everything came out all right." in my general post op debrief, both with patients and their families. The vagueness, I thought, to my benefit as "everything" could be interpreted to be the specific anatomical structure I was operating on or the whole operation as a whole and both would be correct. The other day, after a quick debrief with my patient in the post anesthesia care unit I had dropped that line in my word vomit and started to move on, at which time my patient groggily and with closed eyes leaned towards the nurse and commented, "by everything, I hope she means my gallbladder!" As with before, I now realize the benefit of being as clear as possible, and I'm wondering just how many times I've left people confused. Why it took so long for someone to call me on the potential misleading words I had been using? I guess, thank goodness for the disinhibition effect of anesthesia!

Another definition I've been bemusing lately is thriving. "Thrive" essentially meaning to prosper or flourish, but the difficulty I'm having with all of those words is the subjectivity and/or lack of objectivity it carries. I had posted a few pictures from Nicaragua on social media last week. I received a comment, in statement form, "You're thriving," of course with an emoji for emphasis. The comment initially made me smile, but then I paused, hit by the reality of that statement. Did this mean it was assumed I hadn't been "thriving" before? I've run into this same conundrum before concerning the subjectivity of what it means to be "settled." Being asked by someone, "why don't I settle down?", when I already felt "settled." So what is thriving measured against? How often one posts on social media? If so, then yes, I do post more now than past years, and therefore could be considered thriving. But if you were to ask me in the past, with the exception of a few specific years out in New York, I would have answered, "yes, I feel I am thriving." By my definition, if you are where God wants you, doing what God wants you to be doing, then not only are you settled, but you're thriving. 

Much Love.

Estoy agradecida para el calor.

 I'm thankful to see the sun showing itself again in the MidWest. It had been missed. January weather kept many, myself included, either at work or at home indoors. It is nice to once again have temperatures that will allow me to get outside and stretch the legs. We joke from time to time that God could end up sending us to Siberia. It's a joke, but seriously... I sometimes wonder if that would be a physical impossibility for me. Loosing fingers to frostbite one at a time, strikes me as cruel and unusual. But I digress, the sun has shone again and I still have all my fingers!

Jake and I headed out to the East Coast at the end of January. Spent some good time with friends and family there mainly focused on the work done last year in Togo and Honduras, but also projecting steps ahead of us. The following weekend we sought sunshine in Nicaragua. No other reason really than the flights were cheap and I had the weekend without call responsibility, so why not. 

We were pleasantly surprised with Nicaragua and enjoyed it thoroughly. I had been expecting communities more similar to where we had been in Honduras. However, in Nicaragua we flew into the capital and stayed in that general region with more infrastructure and development, so honestly not really comparable to the mountainous countryside dotted with small villages where we had been in Honduras. 

We did appreciate that the majority of the tourism built up (outside of the national parks) was funded by foreigners and not really Nicaraguans themselves. Still speaks to the poverty of the locals. 

sunrise flight out of Chicago

Granada, Nicaragua at night

We stayed at Selina Hostel

Walking around Granada

San Francisco Church

Xalteva Church

Lake Nicaragua (Cocibolca)

View from Granada Cathedral bell tower

View from Granada Cathedral bell tower looking towards Lake Nicaragua

Looking down on Cathedral plaza, you can see Selina Hostel across the park.

Inside Granada Cathedral

View from Granada Cathedral bell tower

Granada Cathedral bell tower

horse drawn carriages lined up alongside the park

surprised by how nice the roads were in this area of Nicaragua

Finca Malinche, where we stayed on the edge of Laguna de Apoyo

those two small windows were to our kitchen

Our little Suzuki Alto and the road leading up to Finca Malinche

Had to ring the bell and then wait to be let in

Visiting the Masaya Volcano National Park. 

You can see the Bobadilla Cross in the background of this picture. Native peoples used to sacrifice babies and maidens to the volcano. Bobadilla placed the cross at a location he called la Boca del Infierno (The Mouth to Hell). 

Volcan Masaya

Crater de Santiago, Volcan Masaya (Boca del Infierno)

believe us or not, but a park ranger himself told us to go there!

Making friends on our hike around the Masaya Volcano National Park

Comedor Angelito

Comedor Angelito

the pool at Finca Malinche

looking out over Laguna de Apoyo

swimming in laguna de apoyo

sunrise over the Laguna de Apoyo

Much Love.