Mother Nature Archives

A hui hou and Mahalo Moloka’i

February 21, 2024 No Comments

Aloha and greetings from gray-skied Germany!

The fact that my last post was in August of 2023 is a good indication of how busy I was over the last 6 months.

Our time in Hawai’i has bittersweetly come to an end. We departed Moloka’i on January 19th, 2024, just 9 days shy of being there a full year. I am so happy I decided to go and grateful for the experience.

As previously mentioned, we moved into a new house for the remainder of my contract. The view from that house is perhaps one of my favorite views I’ve had anywhere. The house was spacious but certainly also gave me plenty of work keeping it clean. There seemed to be seasons for critters who tried to join our living situation. Cockroaches, scorpions, centipedes, ants, and mice all seemed to take turns keeping me on alert all the time. I always with house shoes on. I would scan the floor each morning before my toddler awoke to make sure nothing was lying around.

My fear was either of us getting a centipede stab most of all. Many on the island had told me these hurt the worst. I had also seen some infected wounds in the office. I didn’t mind the centipedes’ appearance, just their potential. The scorpions were my least favorite encounters, however. I’m happy to report we both made it off the island unharmed by critters.

We stayed mostly on the island of Moloka’i the second half of the year. Aside from a weeklong trip to visit my mother and sister in Ohio and New York, respectively, and an extended weekend trip to Miami for a friends wedding. Hawai’i is just so far away! Travel times were longer than my average travel times to Europe from the mainland. Luckily, my toddler is seasoned when it comes to long flights and we managed them relatively well.

Mokulele Monopoly

One of the main reasons we didn’t venture to the other islands for short trips was related to the singular and awful local airline. Notoriously unreliable, Mokulele, also called Moku-delay-lay, has made life difficult for the community on the island. Aside from frequently moved flights, delays, or cancellations, they are also quite expensive. A short 20-minute flight to Maui costs about $120. Whereas you can island hop between the other islands with Hawaiian Airlines for a fraction of the price. Although I realize flying small propeller planes is likely more expensive per capita than a full jet plane, it hasn’t always been this expensive. Pre-pandemic airlines used to offer reliable $50 one-way tickets. That company was sadly bought up by Mokulele and well, they certainly didn’t continue their business model in any regard.

The flight issues have lead medical specialists to stop coming to the island. Home physical therapists stopped their services as well. Patients have a hard time making it to their doctor’s appointments on time in Honolulu. Some offices have resorted to just saying “Get here and we will see you when we can”. I’m positive it is impacting more areas of business than just healthcare. I truly wish and hope that this improves for the people of Moloka’i quickly.

Waiting once again on our flight after several delays

The People

Besides the beautiful ocean views and ability to visit the beach on the weekends, I will certainly miss the people and community of Moloka’i. There is beauty in small towns and the communities that inhabit them. Certainly, there are also drawbacks. It’s not for nothing that a popular sticker reads “What happens on Moloka’i, everyone already knows!”

The vast majority of people I interacted with were grateful for my presence as a doctor. I always replied, “It’s my pleasure, a beautiful island is not a bad place to be!”.

The island doesn’t feel like your typical Hawai’i. It feels like real people, living real lives, with culture and community. I don’t blame them at all for wanting to keep it that way and hold off any major tourist development. This would undoubtably change the vibe of Moloka’i. So, if you are looking to visit Hawai’i, please, go to any of the other islands that are set up for tourism. Not only do those islands need the tourism to sustain so many people’s livelihoods but you’ll also find enough beautiful nature on the other islands with much better infrastructure to accommodate you. Don’t be shocked if you aren’t exactly made to feel welcome on Moloka’i as a tourist. It’s not what she is there for.

The Office

The office staff is another area I will miss dearly. The whole staff was female except one male MA (bless his heart for managing to work with all of us). They are fun, fierce, loving, caring, and work hard. My toddler enjoyed visiting all the aunties and especially loved being spoiled with chocolates.

Being a small town, patient and staff interactions were much more intimate and intertwined than in bigger cities. Many patients were someones relative or they had gone to school together. It often led to the hallways being filled with staff stopping at exam rooms to chit chat with patients or patients chatting across the hallway between rooms with other patients waiting. It was just a really lovely environment to work in. Props to those women and man for supporting their community so well.

The Beach

Months before our departure, it dawned on me that we only had a limited amount of weekends left on Moloka’i. To not regret not having used the opportunity wisely, I made an effort to go to the beach every weekend, usually on Sundays. It worked most weekends unless it was pouring rain. The few hours on the beach grounded me. My toddler enjoyed our beach days too. Nothing like rolling around in the sand and running into the ocean. We often started our time on the beach by ourselves and as it drew closer to noon, a few others would appear.

There was a group of paddlers that met most Sundays at one of the beaches we frequently visited. My toddler loved looking at the canoe and climbing all over it while on shore. I knew some of the paddlers through our friend who rented us the house we were living in. They all embraced my toddler’s curiosity and enthusiasm with the canoe and often would allow them to climb in and even handed them paddle to paddle the air. So often, my toddler requested to go out on the water with them. I sadly had to deny the request and said we would have to wait until they were older and bigger for it to be safe. So, while the crew of paddlers took off on their trip, my toddler and I would run, splash and swim in the ocean instead.

Looking back on those beach moments, I think being on those beaches was when I was most at ease.

On duty, all the time

Many people asked me if I would be coming back to Moloka’i in the future. I could see myself going back, for a few months at most. Alternatively, when my kid is in their tween years. As much as I enjoyed our year on Moloka’i, it wasn’t always easy. That’s not to say it was hard, but it was very busy. I initially thought it would be a more relaxed year overall given the limited distractions. While this was true in one sense and I certainly felt calm with living the slower-paced, less distracted life and daily views of the ocean,…normal day-to-day things kept me constantly busy.

On the mainland, I had several factors that helped simplify my life as a single working mother. I would occasionally have a cleaning person clean the house we stayed in. There were many opportunities to entertain a toddler including museums, parks, libraries, playgrounds, etc. I had an au pair last year which allowed for me to have a few hours a week to do something for myself such as work out or sit in a cafe and read. Purple Carrot (a vegan meal kit subscription) was not only extremely convenient but I didn’t have to plan what was for dinner. I’d also have a healthy, delicious lunch left over for the next day. I was closer to family which allowed not only for more visits but also gave me a sense of back up if I needed my mother to fly in to watch my child in case of illness.

In contrast, on Moloka’i, I had none of this. No one to clean the house (which took up several hours every weekend). No restaurants that catered to vegan or vegetarian diets and Purple Carrot didn’t ship to Hawaii. This meant I was fully responsible for all meals and if I didn’t have the energy to cook, we’d have pasta with tomato sauce. Besides the beach, there was one playground we could go visit. This had to be done in the early morning or late evening otherwise it stood in the hot sun throughout the day. There were no other toddler activities to partake in. My family and friends were so far away, that I hardly had anyone visit (despite SO MANY people saying they would when I announced I’d be going to Hawaii).

The above essentially meant I was always doing something. Rarely did I just sit and take a deep breath. If I wasn’t working my 40-hour weeks, I was fully engaged in being a mom and taking care of the home. I am aware that this is the reality for many women. Furthermore, I chose to go to a remote island. I’m merely reporting that it was a lot to juggle constantly and now, being around more resources, I more profoundly realize just how busy I was managing it all by myself this past year. Moving forward, I have to ensure certain support systems to prevent burnout on my end and to continue to allow me to enjoy the lifestyle.

What’s up next?

To be determined. For right now, I am enjoying some much needed time with family and friends in Germany. I’ve eaten my weight in bread because it’s just so darn delicious. The plentiful cafes and restaurants have also made me happy. I have some exciting developments in the works that I will share more on once finalized. So stay tuned for that! Shouldn’t be more than a few weeks.

mfg

Happiness, Locum, Mother Nature, Travel

Aloha from Hawai’i

August 19, 2023 No Comments

It’s been a little over 6 months since we moved to Hawai’i. More specifically, we moved to the island of Moloka’i. It is known as the last island of “real Hawai’i” as all the others have been dominated by tourism. Tourism has its positive and negative aspects, but the majority of the population of Moloka’i has decided they’d rather not have tourism here. Instead, we find ourselves on a rural island with small-town vibes.

A Quick Island Overview

The whole island itself has about 7,000 people. It takes about 1h45 to make it from one side of the island to the other by car. It takes that long mainly due to the winding roads on the East end and speed limits of 20 mph to 45 mph along the whole route. About midway along the main road that runs along the south coast of Moloka’i is the main city of Kaunakakai.

Kaunakakai

Kaunakakai is where our critical access hospital is located, my office is across from it. This is also where you’ll find our main road. It has two grocery stores, the post office, the bakery, a few other shops, an art gallery, and that’s about it. There are no chain stores here. Amazon takes anywhere from 1-2 weeks to deliver goods.

East vs West

The East end of the island is lush with beautiful greenery and a water wall at the very end. The beaches we tend to go to on the weekends are located on the East side. The west side is flatter and drier. There are also some nice beaches that are bigger. But they don’t really have the palm trees lining the shore as the east-end ones do.

The impressive and historic North shore

The whole north side of the island contains the world’s largest sea cliffs. They are truly magical to fly by when you’re headed to or from Maui. Jutting off of those seacliffs is a triangular piece of land at sea level that is called Kalaupapa.

Per the national park services website:

When Hansen’s disease (leprosy) was introduced to the Hawaiian Islands, King Kamehameha V banished all afflicted to the isolated Kalaupapa Peninsula on the north shore of Molokai.

Since 1866, more than 8,000 people, mostly Hawaiians, have died at Kalaupapa. Once a prison, Kalaupapa is now a refuge for the few remaining residents who are cured but were forced to live their lives in isolation.
https://www.nps.gov/kala/index.htm

Since many of the affected people didn’t know life outside of Kalaupapa, they decided to stay. The park services and state promised to continue to care for them until they passed as an effort to right the wrongs of history.

You used to be able to visit the community by taking donkeys down the cliff side but the community has been closed to visitors since the pandemic. There isn’t a timeline yet for when it’ll reopen to limited amounts of visitors. It’s something I would be extremely interested in seeing firsthand.

Life on Moloka’i

It was certainly a process of getting used to life here. Life is not hectic here, one of the things I looked forward to. We don’t have a movie theater, a mall, or even a Target to entertain you. The main forms of entertainment on the island are beach days, hiking, hunting, fishing, paddling, and spending time with your ‘ohana (family). For my toddler and I, that leaves us mainly with beach days.

Child care

During the first three months we were here, my sister Karoline joined us from Austria to be the nanny while I looked for local childcare. I knew that having an au pair was not going to be an option when I decided to come to Moloka’i. I also think an au pair would be bored out of their mind with minimal opportunity to meet similarly aged people. It wasn’t easy for Karoline either. She would spend four days at the house with my toddler. Our place was located up a steep hill, not within walking distance of a park or beach. On the weekends, we would make several trips to one of the beaches. She definitely got a lot of book reading in and started a bracelet-making business. I really appreciate her coming to help me out and realize it was not the easiest time.

I’m thankful I found a wonderful babysitter who now watches my toddler while I’m at work. There are a few other kids as well which is so much more fun than being the only kid. They play a lot outside in the mud and water. My toddler is even picking up some Hawaiian words!

Work

I work in an office with a really great team. The island went through a lot prior to my arrival. Two primary care physicians passed away (both having had long careers and large patient panels on the island). Two left the office to move back to Oahu (I came as a replacement for one of them). A primary care nurse practitioner also retired at that time. For an island of 7000 people, to lose 5 primary care providers was a lot. The one doc who passed away and was in private practice probably had a patient panel of 2500-3000 people himself. So my first couple of months were spent absorbing a lot of his patient panel into our office while also covering the panel of the doctor that moved away.

Thankfully, my appointment times are all 30 or 60 minutes slots. That is a real luxury as many of my colleagues would attest to. Even so, when I’m not actively seeing patients, I have a bunch of paperwork, orders, and coordination of care that keep me busy. I’ve continued with my four-day work week and don’t plan on returning to a 5-day work week anytime soon. It is such a wonderful work-life balance that I am grateful I can have.

The patients have all been absolutely lovely. Unlike many patient encounters on the mainland where you feel like patients merely use you to get what they want, patients here are truly grateful that I am on their island helping out and it’s a much more collaborative approach than I’ve experienced elsewhere. I think a big contributor to this is the beautiful Hawaiian culture that thrives on this island. They have such a wonderful respect for their kupuna (elders) and a sense of community.

Community

At first, we were rather isolated. The weeks looked pretty much the same. Go to work for four days, and be home with Karoline and my toddler for three days during which we would grocery shop and hit up the beach. But there wasn’t much interaction beyond that.

Thankfully, over time, I have built up a community of people. I’m not extremely close with anyone but I have made friends with neighbors, patients, and co-workers. Through one neighbor in particular (thank you Karoline for the initial connection), I have met many wonderful people who live on the island. We’ve had a few organized group dinners. I’ve been invited to patients’ homes and graduation parties. I’ve hosted a dinner myself too. So though it is mostly my toddler and I who spend time together, there is always a little event here or there to mix things up.

Cost of Living

The cost of living here is horrendous. Groceries are the most expensive I’ve ever seen them. I will easily spend $150 on not really that much. A watermelon costs $10-20 dollars depending on the size. I’ve seen a container of strawberries for $16! A big bag of chips will cost you at least $8. A packet of butter is easily $10. It’s insane. How anyone affords to live here, I do not know. I am privy to the fact that many share fruits and veggies among themselves that they harvest in their yards. I myself have an avocado connection and many patients have brought me mangos. But even so, all the things you can’t grow yourself (and are imported to the island) will cost you a pretty penny. Shockingly, even pineapples grown in Hawai’i cost over $8! It’s just wild.

I make my own soymilk. I initially was not able to find organic unsweetened soymilk. So instead, I ordered organic soybeans on Amazon and made the milk myself. It’s definitely not as creamy or tasty as the store-bought kind but it does the trick for cereal, cooking, and baking. I also made my own coconut yogurt for a while using probiotic capsules. It is not easy finding vegan alternatives. There are a few alternative meat options in the freezer section but two Beyond burgers will cost you $14. I mainly miss soy yogurt and tempeh/seitan. I do plan on trying my hand at my own soy yogurt one of these days.

Traveling Adventures

Traveling to and from the island is truly adventurous. Since the pandemic, there is only one airline that services the island, Mokulele Airlines. Funny enough, Mokulele means plane in Hawaiian, so it’s the plane airlines lol. Anyways, they might also just be the worst airline I’ve experienced. The pilots and staff have always been friendly so I don’t want to throw any shade at them. The issue lies with the schedules.

I have flown with them MANY times since being here (again, my only option) and I don’t think I’ve had a single flight leave on schedule. I’ve had several flights canceled, a flight moved ahead by 3 hours (sorry, I couldn’t leave work early), moved to different days, or delayed with no information given as to when we might leave and spent 5 hours at the airport with a toddler (so fun) before we left late at night. And all of these come without the benefits the big airlines give you. I’ve had to pay for my own hotels in Honolulu because we missed our connecting flight. I’ve gotten vouchers for flights that were canceled but not refunds. It’s as if they know they are the only option and couldn’t care less.

Every trip with them is a gamble. I’ve had appointments in Honolulu that I would fly out two days in advance and spend money on a hotel or Airbnb just to make sure I was there for the appointment. Oh, and they are so expensive! A round-trip flight to Maui (a 20 min flight) or Honolulu (a 35 min flight) costs $250 per person! The ferry that used to go between Maui and Molokai stopped service many years ago. So Mokulele is literally the only commercial way off the island.

Island Hopping

My aunt and uncle came to Hawaii for several weeks back in March. We met up with them on three of the islands on my days off.

Maui

Our first weekend with them was on Maui. Mokulele was doing the most so we ended up actually catching a private boat to and from Maui. My office staff really came through and found a boat with some room on it for us. It ended up being a bit cheaper than what the flight had cost and we got a nice 45-minute ocean boat ride out of it. We even saw several whales along the way. So although it was stressful to get it organized, it ended up being a cool experience.

We landed in the historic harbor of Lahaina. If you’ve been following the news at all lately, you’ll know that it tragically and horrifically all burnt to the ground this past week due to a wildfire fueled by a hurricane over 600 miles away from us. My heart is broken for the people of Maui who have lost their lives, their homes, their communities, and the life they knew. Lahaina was one of the cutest towns I experienced on any of the islands and it seems incomprehensible that it no longer exists. I’ll be posting some ways to donate to help those affected at the end of this post.

After grabbing something to eat and strolling through Lahaina, we drove to the peak of Maui, Haleakala. It holds the world record for the highest climb in the shortest distance- 10,023 feet in a mere 32 miles! The landscape changes several times as you drive up over the clouds to reach the peak.

The following day, we drove along the Road to Hana. There are many attractions along the way. It’s more about the journey than the destination. We stopped by the rainbow bamboo and the botanical garden. There are a few waterfalls to see along the way. We also made a stop at Hamoa Beach before heading back to the AirBnB through rugged terrain.

Kauai

To get to Kauai from Molokai, we first had to fly to Honolulu and then catch a Hawaiian Airlines flight to Kauai. As you probably already guessed, Mokulele royally screwed up this itinerary too. This is when we waited at the airport for 5 hours, only to have to get a hotel for the night in Honolulu and rebook our Hawaiian flight (for a fee as well) to the next day.

When we finally did make it, we had a great time. Kauai is a very beautiful lush island. We mainly spent our time on various beaches. My uncle and I took a helicopter ride around the island and got to see the waterfalls featured in Jurrasic Park. It was a wonderful experience that my toddler was able to join for free and slept through the entire ride.

The farmers market we visited had a lot of cool artists and beautiful flowers. The island had a bit of an artsy hippy vibe to it that I really appreciated.

Big Island

I was under the assumption that Big Island was going to be even more big-city than Honolulu. I was so wrong lol. The island is just that, it is very big but the towns are small. The two main cities are Kona on the west and Hilo on the east. We had our AirBnB on the Kona side. It’s a bit more in the mountains, cooler and wetter than in the east. Kona has an old hippy vibe and is filled with a lot of great shops and restaurants. Hilo gave off an old-time vibe with a bit of art deco flair. We took a trip to see the volcano. At the time, it was quiet, several weeks later in June, it was the active volcano in the news.

Overall, the big island had a very chill aura to it and wasn’t quite as touristy as Maui and Kauai are.

I really only got a small glimpse into each island over just a few days we were there. Given how expensive flights and especially AirBnB’s are though, I don’t have plans to return to the other islands for visits while I’m out here. I wouldn’t mind working a gig in Kauai sometime though, I’d like to explore that place some more.

Homeland

We took a trip to Germany in June. It was a long way to get there. We were there for two weeks and I did nothing else but see friends and family and host a family reunion. I never dealt with jet lag before becoming a mom. I just never had it. But now I get jet-lagged by proxy because my toddler is jet-lagged. It took about 5 days to get into a normal rhythm going there and almost a week when we came back. If I ever were to go to Europe from Hawaii again, it would have to be for at least a month.

What’s up ahead?

My original contract was only until the end of July but I extended it through the end of the year once childcare was established. I recently moved into a new house. After six months, I needed a change of scenery. I liked our first spot but I itch for change after 6 months. Our new place is actually the home of one of the friends we made. He is on the island for 6 months and on the mainland for the other 6. It’s a really beautiful house with a killer view of the ocean, a pool, an in-home movie theater, and plenty of extra space for guests.

My first guests were scheduled to arrive tomorrow but due to the events on Maui, had to cancel their plans. I was really bummed although I completely understood and agree with their decision. Although I’ve made friends here, I was REALLY looking forward to seeing some of my own people again and sharing the experience here with them. If I’m lucky, my next guest may be coming in October but nothing is booked yet. I’ll be headed back to Ohio and Rochester, NY next month for a quick week-long visit to family. Hawaii is really far away from anywhere else, so even a trip to the Midwest is an odyssey.

The above images were captured by the talented local photographer Arinna (ariannapaikii.com)

Support Maui

The wildfires on Maui were devastating. What those people are going through and what they experienced, if they were fortunate enough to survive, is unimaginable. I see Lahaina, or what used to be Lahaina, from our house. We had strong winds and a power outage for a few hours. Beyond a pool, deck, and yard that needed to be cleaned up, we are ok. There was a brush fire on the west side of Molokai that the firefighters were able to extinguish relatively quickly. What happened on Maui easily could’ve happened here and that is just terrifying. I was expecting so many different consequences from a hurricane but a wildfire was not on my radar. Since I am not physically on Maui and don’t have any items to donate with me, I have been donating money to causes that are helping people get what they need.

Please consider donating something. Even if it’s $5, that helps. Here are some links to make it easy for you.

Maui Food Bank

Hawaii Red Cross

Together Rising

Mahalo (thank you) for your support!

That is it for now. Take care and stay safe everyone!

mfg

Mother Nature, Motherhood, Travel

Emotional Rollercoaster

June 3, 2022 No Comments

Well, after being a bit smug the last few weeks about how I hadn’t had Covid yet despite being exposed to it from essentially day 1 of the pandemic (and thinking I might be one of the lucky “immune” people), Mother Nature humbled me last week when I tested positive last Thursday. I’m fully vaccinated so my symptoms were luckily really mild. I tested myself due to a scratchy throat. With the current requirements, I haven’t been allowed to return back to work yet. I won’t be back to my normal schedule until next week. This unexpected forced vacation has allowed me to get some work done that I haven’t had the time to do otherwise. Finally getting an update here is one of those things.

April showers bring May flowers and somehow we are already in June?

It has been almost two months since I last posted. The weather has continuously gotten nicer in the Eugene area. We moved out of our house and into an apartment for the last two months of the assignment here. It is a bummer to have left that neighborhood due to it being so walkable and a park just down the street. The new location is located near the Willamette river though and we are able to take beautiful strolls along the river. Still on the lookout for our nearest playground.

We flew to Ohio to celebrate my baby’s first birthday and for me to attend my co-residents wedding. As my facebook friends may have also noticed, I’m now in a relationship. My facebook relationship status hasn’t changed since the day I created my account many, many years ago. So, it’s a big deal for me. There have been a lot of great moments for me over the past two months.

Unfathomable events

But there have also been absolutely heartbreaking moments. The shootings in Buffalo and Uvalde tear my heart to shreds. As do the many other shootings that have happened since but don’t get as much media coverage. These occurrences make it harder and harder for me to justify being the United States. I have become so aware and alert of my surroundings. I look for my nearest exit when I enter a building. But even if I were to leave, that doesn’t help keep the people still here safe. I believe the US could do so much better, be so much better. If only money didn’t corrupt humans so much. It’s unfathomable to me that we as humans can witness 19 children and their teachers slaughtered in a classroom and not change anything about the laws that helped facilitate it from happening.

Before I was even able to get around to uploading this post another horrible shooting has taken place. This one also hits me hard personally. A fellow physician was gunned down at a medical facility in Oklahoma by a patient that blamed him for his ongoing pain. The elementary school shooting shattered my heart and made me fearful for children everywhere in this country. As I intend on having my children go to school abroad, its one less fear I have for my own children. But I have a niece and nephew here in the states and friends with children. So it still is a fear that effects me personally.

The murder of a physician and staff members over dissatisfaction on the patients part solidifies a deep fear in me for my own safety. I try really hard to help my patients. I will try to find ways to help them and feel less pain. Sometimes the safest and recommended option is not what the patient wants and they get angry. Weaning a patient off of addictive and harmful medications is the right thing to do (while obviously working on the underlying issue and finding other, healthier alternatives). But when patients get angry, there is a part of me that is terrified they might try to retaliate. I am hyper-aware of my surroundings when I’m entering and exiting my places of work.

I shouldn’t have to feel this way when all I am trying to do is help people. Children shouldn’t have to fear for their lives going to school to obtain an education. Black people shouldn’t fear for their lives going grocery shopping. No one should have to fear for their life just living their life not hurting anyone else.

The ongoing war in the Ukraine. I know the news cycle has swabbed out coverage for other issues, but horrific and utterly unnecessary damage continues to be done to the people and their country.

None of these situations are natural disasters or forces of nature we can’t control. They are deliberate decisions by human beings and that makes it that much more heart retching to me. People choose to not love and help one another. It must be such a sad position to be in to willingly hurt another human being or help facilitate that hurt. Were these people not loved as children? It’s the only explanation I can think of. Humans aren’t born evil.

Adventures

I don’t really have a clever way to transition from such dark topics, so I won’t try. I’ll just continue on to share some of the beautiful places we visited over the past few weeks.

Eugene Saturday Market

I’ve written about this market before. We’ve been back a few times. The opening weekend was definitely the busiest. The subsequent times were less visited but nonetheless fun to attend. We also made it a few streets further north to the Farmer’s Market. I have a hard time visiting a farmer’s market and not buying fresh flowers. There is just something magical about a fresh bouquet of flowers. 😉 We also met the “bubble guy” and had a blast taking some fun pictures.

Sahalie Falls

My local nanny, her two sons, Ally, my baby and I all took a road trip to see the Sahalie falls in April. The plan was to hike a few miles and see a couple waterfalls. As we ascended into the mountains, however, the snow started accumulating height. The parking lot wasn’t plowed so everyone parked along the road. The walk to the viewing area of the first waterfall was an adventure in and of itself. Ally, who is still getting used to how snow works, took a few tumbles navigating the snow and ice. Many years of Wisconsin winters in my life allowed me to navigate the trail well enough not to fall with a baby strapped on my back. Although we only made it to the first fall, it was worth it.

Redwoods

I drove to Medford with my baby for a weekend to visit a friend and explore the Californian Redwood forest with her. These trees are massive. I felt like I was in a Jurassic Park movie just waiting for a velociraptor to appear. The grandiosity of it all doesn’t even really hit until you leave the area and start seeing “normal” sized trees again. The weather was amazing and the lighting in the forrest was magical. We did a quick pitstop on the coast before returning to Medford. What a great area to live with the Redwood forrest and a beach so close to one another.

Crater Lake

This location has been on the top of my Oregon list since we got here. I’ve been waiting for warmer weather so that more of the roads would open up. Despite going in late May, there were still winter weather condition and closures happening. A friend of mine from Ohio, also a SMBC (single mother by choice) and my baby nurse during my labor and delivery experience, was in town visiting with her child. She really wanted to see Crater Lake as well so we figured this would be a great time to check it off both of our lists. Despite there still being snow, and I mean A LOT of snow, the limited views we did have were well worth the 3 hour one-way trip. When there aren’t winter weather conditions at that altitude, more access roads are available as well as the many trails in the area.

I would definitely like to return in the future to check out some of the trails and see the lake from different view points. My aunt was the one who first told me about Crater Lake. She had seen it mentioned on a show in Germany that was discussing different shades of blue. Apparently, Crater Lake’s blue color is quite unique. The water in the crater is from precipitation. It doesn’t have streams feeding into it. That combined with the depth of the lake and the way the sunlight refracts in it, creates a very beautiful blue color.

South Jetty Beach

I can never get enough of the coast and ocean. My friend from Ohio and I took the babies to the beach one day and it was wonderful. It was a bit chillier than I expected it would be (I should have opted for something longer than shorts). We had the beach all to ourselves for most of the time. It was really low tide so the beach extended far out. This provided plenty of crawling/walking around opportunities for the kiddies. Nature’s sandbox is a good place to be.

Emotional Rollercoaster

These last few weeks have really been a ride for my emotions. I don’t believe you are living if you aren’t feeling. Life has its ups and downs. You can’t appreciate the highs if you don’t experience the lows. Having that emotional complexity makes us human. It’s not always easy. Especially experiencing the lows. Whenever the lows occur, I first allow myself to experience them. Then, I fairly quickly try to figure out what the low can teach me. Often, I adjust my priorities. Especially if the low is inflicted upon me by another human. I don’t hold grudges. I’m not mean. I don’t retaliate. I adjust my priorities. And sometimes, that means that person may have fallen lower on my ranking of priorities. I can’t control how people act but I can change my reaction to it.

No one has personally hurt me recently. Those comments are meant in a more general, life-view sort of way. On the contrary, I’ve received a lot of loving energy personally in recent weeks. But I’m also a very empathetic person and the recent events around the world weigh on me. The senseless gun violence, the loss of life, the attack on people’s right to bodily autonomy and abortion laws… it all affects me. As a woman, as a mother, as a physician…and above all, as a human.

I’m not naive enough to believe all these issues will be solved quickly. If anything, they will have less media coverage to make room for the next big story. The sadness, anger and hurt will seemingly fade and it won’t resurface until the next big tragedy. I hope I’m wrong. I hope that this time, something good will actually happen. As the German saying goes “Die Hoffnung stirbt zuletzt”… Hope dies last. So I will continue to hope and find ways to make a positive impact in this world and help protect and heal my fellow human beings and our planet.

mfg

Happiness, Locum, Mother Nature

From Land to Shining Sea

March 14, 2022 4 Comments

Oh my! The last month was busy! Before I dive into what I’ve been exploring lately, I want to first address the horrifying things happening in Ukraine right now.

War has always been horrible. There are constantly wars and conflict happening around the world and often times, we are ignorant to them. To a certain extent, we have to be. If we knew about every human suffering occurring in the world, we’d all constantly be depressed and distraught. So we focus on news and events in our more immediate surroundings. When horrible things then happen to people that easily could also be us, it hits harder and deeper.

Since I’ve become a mother, my emotions are on steroids. I love harder, I grieve deeper, and I empathize more intensely. Where I used to see mothers and children of the world suffering and would feel terribly saddened by it, now I see myself and my baby in the women and children being bombed in the Ukraine and fleeing for their lives and its heart wrenching. I walk a fine line between staying informed and protecting my mental health. Since I’m on a contract right now, I can’t be in Germany helping the refugees. So instead, I am supporting various humanitarian aid charities that are helping the people of Ukraine. Hopefully, you’ve been able to do the same.

The clever ways people have been helping the Ukrainian people has been proof of human ingenuity. I’ve seen people booking AirBnB’s in Ukraine with obviously no intention of staying there but rather getting financial aide directly to those Ukrainians. I’ve read about information being shared as reviews on various sites because the Russian government is censoring social media.

It is absolutely despicable that one man can cause so much trauma, heartache, death and destruction. I don’t know how, but this war needs to stop.

Coming to America

A few days after my last post, my AuPair Ally arrived from South Africa. The first few days were spent giving her some orientation and letting her adjust with the jet leg. 10 days after her arrival, my aunt and uncle visited from Germany for 10 days. Thus, the last few weekends were rather busy and I enjoyed them fully. We initially wanted to take a trip to Crater Lake. My aunt had seen a TV show discussing blue colors around the world and Crater Lake was mentioned as being particularly beautiful. It’s still winter season here in Oregon however and the road circumventing the lake is closed at this time. We had a great alternative weekend adventure instead!

Let me share some of the fun things we’ve been up to!

Spencer Butte

The second day Ally was here, our local nanny (and now good friend of ours) took us on a hike up Spencer Butte. It’s located a short drive outside of Eugene. There is a steep ascent and a gradual one. We took the steep way up. My nanny and I each packed a baby and Ally packed our two backpacks. The ascent was not a walk in the park. It had rained a bit before we started our hike, so the paths were a slightly muddy at times. There was also a bit of boulder climbing involved but it was a lot of fun and provided some amazing views. We even saw a full rainbow once at the top!

McCredie Hot Springs

On her second weekend here, Ally, my baby and I drove an hour southeast of Eugene to take a dip in the McCredie hot springs. This was Ally’s first time seeing snow! There were a few pools available. We shared one with just 4 other people. Baby loved it! They love bath time so this was a special treat.

Sweet Creek Falls

The first stop on our weekend tour with my aunt and uncle was at Sweet Creek Falls. Located about 1h15 west of Eugene and on the way to Florence, is where you’ll find the beautiful forest and water falls. The hike was easy and took us through lush greenery up along the river to the waterfalls. The water was cold but I can see myself coming back on a hot summer day and splashing around a bit.

Heceta Lighthouse & Cape Perpetua

After a short stop in Florence to visit the marina and grab lunch and coffee, we headed north up the coast. Our first stop was the look out area overlooking the coast with the Heceta Lighthouse in the background. When I was here with my mother, we discovered hundreds of sea lions hanging out directly below us. Unfortunately, none were to be found this time around. So we snapped a few pictures and headed to the Heceta Lighthouse.

The parking lot for the lighthouse is located at sea level across from a beach. To get to the lighthouse, you have to take an uphill walk past the Bed & Breakfast to the lighthouse. From the top, I was able to take some nice pictures of the coast line. The blue, green, gray and white color palette of the nature is right up my alley.

Upon our decent, we spent some time hanging out on the beach and letting baby play in the sand. Afterwards, we drove 20 minutes north and up to the Cape Perpetua Lookout. From here, we could look down on the coast line and watch as the sun started to set. We didn’t stay for the actual sunset because we still had to find a hotel for the night and cellular reception was nonexistent for us where we were. We had intended to visit Yachats as well but decided to continue north to Newport for the night.

Newport

A few miles north of Yachats, I finally had cellular service and was able to look up a motel for us. We headed to the port of Newport to grab dinner. It was already pretty late and restaurants were close to closing. Luckily, the Clearwater restaurant was open longer than the others. It is situated right on the port. The best part was truly what was happening in front of the restaurant on the marina side. The floating docks were filled with sea lions! They were the first thing we heard when we got out of the car. It was dark, so we were only able to see the ones illuminated by the dock lights. It sounded like there were hundreds more hanging out in the dark bay.

The next morning, we grabbed lunch at the Nye Beach Cafe before going on a walk along Nye Beach. The ocean seems to really ebb and flood on this beach. We found beautiful sea anemones (amenonemomne?) amongst the rocks. There are some pretty cool shops in Nye Beach. We stopped by the Blue Pig Bakery for some delicious treats. The bakery is worth visiting even if you don’t have a sweet tooth because every room, nook and cranny is filled with gifts and goodies.

After stuffing my face with a scrumptious cinnamon roll, we headed back to the port where we had been the night before. The port is lined with a lot of shops, many quite unique. We browsed, snacked, and shopped for a while before heading back to Eugene.

Svikki MD

Work has been good. The patients I see have medical issues all across the board. I’ve had a few no-shows (not uncommon for a FQHC- federally qualified health center) which allowed me to catch up on the copious amount of tasks that flood my in basket. The team I work with is really great and I enjoy my time at work.

We are already looking ahead for the remainder of the year. Usually, jobs don’t get confirmed until 2-3 months before the start date. The job I’m currently at was confirmed unusually early and I’ve don’t it again with my next assignment. I’ve also been able to negotiate a pay raise which feels really good. Anecdotally, I’ve experienced women be less direct about pay raises and negotiating. It’s definitely still a work in progress for myself as well but I definitely scored a win this round.

Starting in August, my baby, Ally and I will be headed to…. Wisconsin! Go Badgers! lol

I will be working in a town close to Milwaukee, Madison and Chicago. I’m excited to show Ally the state I grew up in and it’ll be nice to be close to so many lovely friends I have in that area. Eugene doesn’t really get any snow, so we will definitely have to prepare Ally for a Wisconsin winter. She saw her first bit of snow here in Oregon but I’m going to blow her mind with a legitimate snow storm in Wisconsin should we have one this year.

So, to all my Wisconsinites, I look forward to seeing you and introducing my baby to you later this year!

mfg

Happiness, Mother Nature

Amateur Advocate

April 25, 2021 No Comments

Today, April 25th, is World Malaria Day. Earth Day was just a couple days ago. Two causes that are important to me. So let’s dive in!

World Malaria Day

Malaria is a parasitic infection that is transmitted by the bite of the female Anopheles mosquito. Nearly half of the world’s population is at risk of malaria. Refugees, pregnant women, and children are most vulnerable to the disease. In fact, every 2 minutes, a child dies of malaria. The disease is preventable and treatable! In 2019 however, there were still 219 million new cases and 435,000 deaths. Children under the age of five made up 70% of those deaths.

There is good news though. About a century ago, malaria was nearly everywhere in the world. Through innovation, scientific progress, financial investments, and governmental/non-governmental programs, more and more countries are being declared malaria-free! Just recently, Algeria, Argentina, and El Salvador were declared malaria-free!

Malaria Fun Fact: the word “Malaria” comes from the Italian “mala aria” or “bad air”. It used to be believed that the disease was caused by bad air around marshes.

Nothing But Nets

I don’t just happen to know all these facts and figures out of nowhere. I’ve traveled to malaria-endemic countries, like Ghana, and was placed on preventative medications at the time. During medical school, I learned about the disease. What really got me in-the-know was something much more recent. A friend of mine posted about the Nothing But Nets Leadership Summit on Instagram that was planned for April 18th-20th.

Since I am currently on a break from work and wanted to fill my time with interesting things, I signed up for the summit. I’ve always had an interest in Global Health and plan on doing international work in the future, so it seemed like a good fit. Part of the sign-up process asked if I’d be willing to speak to my members of Congress on the issue. I haven’t done a lot of formal advocacy work so I thought this would be a good opportunity to get my feet wet.

In the weeks leading up to the summit, there were a couple of virtual meetings that were held going over the congressional meetings and the summit lineup. I researched the pages of Nothing But Nets, the Presidential Malaria Initiative (PMI), the Global Fund, and the members of Congress I’d be involved with. All of the organizations do amazing work and have continued to do so during the pandemic as well. Set up a successful system to combat one disease and you are ahead of the game to help combat another!

The first two days of the summit were a few hours each afternoon and had all sorts of speakers associated with the Nothing But Nets organization. There was representation from the WHO, the PMI, the Global Fund, the Luol Deng Foundation, artists, models, activists, etc. Videos transported us to the frontlines of where the work is being done. It was pretty cool.

Congressional Meetings

The last day was our day of meetings! I was in a group with 5 other people representing Ohio. There were four virtual meetings lined up with the two Ohio senators and two Ohio representatives. We spoke with members of their staff rather than the Congress Senators and Reps themselves. We had a script of information we divided up amongst the six of us. Every office was receptive to what we had to say and appreciated hearing from constituents on the matter. Each of us had a different reason why Malaria elimination was important to us. Some are survivors of the disease, some are part of Model UN, and some like myself, are avid travelers interested in Global Health.

Our goal was to get them interested (many offices already were) in the fight against Malaria. But also, to ask for two main things while Congress continues considerations of the fiscal year 2022 appropriations. The first being flat funding for the Global Fund at $1.56 billion. This ask is in line with the three-year commitment that the U.S. Congress made around the Global Fund replenishment conference in October 2019. This will allow the Global Fund to save an additional 16 million lives. Secondly, we are seeking an increase for the President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) from $770 million to $902.5 million so that PMI can do three main things:

A) increase procurement of next generation bed nets to overcome insecticide resistance,

B) train and deploy more community health workers to reach at-risk populations, and,

C) address global supply chain disruptions caused by COVID-19 that led to increased manufacturing and freight costs for malaria commodities.

Bottom line: Advocacy is fun and important!

The meetings were totally not intimidating and the staffers really enjoyed hearing from us. We had former congressional staffers working for Nothing But Nets now that reported that they really liked talking with constituents while on the Hill. So if you find a cause you are passionate about and can get involved with congressional meetings, do! Hopefully next year, I’ll actually be able to go to Washington D.C. and show up in person for the meetings.

If you’d like to learn more or even donate to the good cause, check out these links:

Nothing But Nets: https://nothingbutnets.net
The Global Fund: https://www.theglobalfund.org/en/
The President’s Malaria Initiative: https://www.pmi.gov

Earth Day

I could write a whole blog of its own on the topic of saving the beautiful planet we live on. So, I will keep it short here and keep content for future posts. Short and simple, we need to care about our planet and climate change. We need to care NOW and act NOW. Limiting climate change isn’t just selflessly for the planet but also very much selfishly to keep the human race alive. Many humans, mostly in the poorer regions of the world, are already suffering greatly from global warming. The cruel irony is that the people who contribute the least to the problem are the ones most imminently and strongly effected by it.

Live Earth Concert – Wembley Stadium London, UK – One of eleven benefit concerts held across the globe to help raise funds to help combat climate change. It’s hard to imagine being in such a packed crowd now, but that was an amazing concert to attend!

I have been interested in living in a more sustainable and environmentally friendly way for a long time. I remember buying books about the subject in my teenage years. It started off with an awareness of turning off the faucet when not in use, turning off lights, unplugging electronics, and recycling appropriately. My vegetarianism was not initially motivated by the environmental impact but it solidified my stance when I learned about how many resources the meat industry uses to produce a pound of meat.

Over the course of the my life, I have taken opportunities to learn more about what needs to be done. I continuously analyze different aspects of my life and think about how I can live a more sustainable, environmentally friendly life. I’ve swapped out various products for environmentally friendly, plastic free alternatives (I’ll share some of my favorites in the future!). I try to reduce my consumption of goods, reuse items I have or buy second hand, and try to recycle everything that is recyclable. If I can, I walk everywhere I can instead of getting into the car. If public transportation is available, I try to utilize it. There really are limitless ways to help and many have the added bonus of being good for you or your wallet.

As I said, I will touch on the subject more in future posts. I believe everyone can change little things in their life if they are made aware of them! It is not hard implementing measures but you first have to be consciously aware of them. Once you are, it becomes second nature. It’s becoming more prevalent in the mainstream as well with more car companies reporting converting their fleets to electronic cars and President Biden’s commitment to combating climate change at the recent Climate Summit that included 40 world leaders. It’s happening and it needs to! We need to be better residents of this precious planet. Mars doesn’t look very inviting yet.

mfg

Locum, Mother Nature, Travel

Exploring Pahá Sápa

November 29, 2020 No Comments

I know I am not alone in having spent the last week much differently than I thought I would. Here’s to hoping everyone stayed safe over the Thanksgiving Holiday. I know it was hard not doing the big family gathering. My family did not get together from various states to celebrate together and that sucked. But it was the right thing to do. As I try to make the best out of every situation, instead of a party of 10+ people, I spent the holiday with one very good friend of mine.

But first, I had to work Monday and Tuesday. I was on call both days… my 4th and 5th days in a row.

Svikki MD

As my hospital census keeps growing, I needed to restructure my schedule. It was no longer feasible for me to have an open clinic schedule from 8:30AM-5:00PM and manage a hospital census of 6+ patients… at least not without spending every waking minute in the hospital. A reason I chose locum work was to avoid that very scenario.

Going forward, my mornings will be spent working as a hospitalist and my afternoons will be spent in the clinic. This will allow me to completely focus on the hospitalized patients and I’ll be able to round with the nurses and ancillary services. I look forward to seeing how this works. Depending on needs in either the in- or outpatient worlds, I’ll adjust accordingly.

Pahá Sápa

Pahá Sápa is Lakota for “Hills that are Black” aka the Black Hills.

The Black Hills National Forest is located in the western part of South Dakota and extends into Wyoming. The area is considered sacred land by many Native Americans.

For a bit of orientation, here is a closer view of the Black Hills with some key locations marked:

Deadwood

My friend and I set out on our adventure Wednesday. The first stop was naturally Deadwood! As I still don’t trust most people to follow hygiene recommendations, we didn’t go into any restaurants or casinos in Deadwood. We did walk the historic main street. We also found a fun wood carved chair to sit in and be the biggest tourists.

Custer

I rented us a remote cabin near Custer for 4 days. We arrived in the dark but we could feel we were in the beautiful middle of nowhere. The cabin was GORGEOUS! My favorite part was definitely the fire place in the living room. Our hosts had a pecan pie waiting for us. It was much bigger than it needed to be for two people but I wanted a cabin that actually looked like a cabin (lots of wood), was remote enough to escape artificial lights to view the stars, and had a fire place. This place checked off all the boxes.

Crazy Horse Memorial

Our Thanksgiving day was jam-packed. Our first stop was Crazy Horse Memorial. I had stopped by many years ago while on a two day trip to the area with a friend, but we didn’t really experience all there is to see at the location.

The story of the memorial is fascinating. Once it’s finished (not likely in my lifetime), it will depict Crazy Horse, an Oglala Lakota warrior, on his horse pointing to his tribal lands. A Lakota elder named Henry Standing Bear commissioned Korczak Ziolkowski to sculpt the memorial. He wanted his people to have a memorial of one of their heroes.

Korczak devoted the rest of his life to the memorial. His wife Ruth joined him and their 10 children all pitched in too. Korczak turned government funding down twice because he did not trust the government and feared they would overturn the memorial’s plans. After Korczak died at the age of 74, his wife Ruth took over as CEO. She made the decision that Crazy Horse’s face should be completed first instead of the horse’s face as Korczak had planned. She felt this would increase tourists visiting and thus increased income to fund the project. Ruth died in 2014 and her daughter Monique became CEO. She works with three of her siblings and three of the Ziolkowski grandsons.

The Memorial and so much more!

The grounds also house the Indian Museum of North America, the sculptor’s studio, a restaurant, a gift shop, the Native American Educational & Cultural Center, and The Indian University of North America.

It is a great place to learn more about some of our Native American brothers and sisters and appreciate all the beautiful art they create.

Mt. Rushmore

Four white males carved into the face of a mountain in one of the most sacred places for some Native Americans,… surely not without controversy. My friend and I stopped by the monument to take a picture and were then invited to hear a 30-min lecture about the controversies surrounding the monument.

The concept of a memorial at Mt. Rushmore originated from Doane Robinson, a South Dakota historian, who thought carving figures into a mountain would attract tourists to South Dakota. Originally, South Dakota figures like Buffalo Bill Cody, Meriwether Lewis, William Clark and Red Cloud, a legendary Lakota leader were considered. Robinson commissioned Gutzon Borglum to sculpt the memorial. Borglum wanted to memorialize “the founding, expansion, preservation and unification of the United States.” Thus, he picked Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and Roosevelt.

Rose Arnold Powell and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt wrote to Borglum and advocated that Susan B. Anthony is included in the memorial. Borglum cited lack of rock and lack of funds as the reasons why this was not possible. His main rationale, however, was that it didn’t fit his artistic vision… (eye roll).

Besides the obvious lack of representation in the figures carved, the mere fact that it was carved into the mountain in Native American sacred land makes it plenty controversial in my mind. Nonetheless, we visited and were able to learn about these various aspects and have a discussion about a monument that clearly isn’t going anywhere and does have a story to tell. It also fulfilled its intended purpose of increasing tourism to South Dakota.

Custer State Park

After viewing monuments, we wanted to view some wildlife. We drove the Wildlife Loop through the park and the name did not mislead. I even had a friendly stand off with a Bison. Since I didn’t intend to have my rental car damaged, I backed up slowly and we eventually parted ways peacefully.

The friendliest creatures were definitely the formerly domesticated but now wild donkeys. They enjoy a good ear rub and are not shy to pop their heads in and say hi!

Thanksgiving Dinner for Two

After all of that, we managed to cook for three hours to prepare a delicious vegan Thanksgiving dinner with a little (a lot) of help from Purple Carrot.

Friday – a day of rest

Since Thursday was so jam-packed, we decided to enjoy the cabin and surrounding land and just stay there for the day. We explored the quartz and mica on the hills and wandered through the forest. I collected pine cones and cut-down pine tree branches. Hopefully, I’ll be able to make wreaths out of both of those things.

Badlands National Park

Before having to leave me, my friend and I set out to see the Badlands. The landscape is pretty wild and seems like the perfect filming location for a Star Wars movie. We drove Badlands Loop Road (Highway 240) and stopped at various viewing points to see bison, big-horned sheep, and the silly prairie dogs.

I was sad to see my friend leave. Since I’ve been in South Dakota, I have had no physical contact with people beyond professional contact at work. I also haven’t spent time outside of work with anyone because of the pandemic. My friend got tested before coming to see me. We are both really cautious about the virus so I waged the risks and benefits and came to the conclusion that it would be relatively safe for us to spend several days together. Facetime gets close but it definitely doesn’t replace the feeling of a hug.

One thing I love: Looking at the stars on a clear night in a remote place.

One thing I ate: the delicious vegan Thanksgiving dinner pictured above. I’ll talk about purple carrot in more depth sometime. For those who don’t know about it, its a vegan meal kit delivery service and a life saver for me!

One thing I’m grateful for: my friend for coming to see me and my family for having made the decision to cancel this year’s gathering. Everyone’s safety and health will always come first. That didn’t make it any easier that it didn’t take place, but sacrifices must be made. I’m grateful for all the people who worked this holiday. I’ve missed many holidays myself due to work and will likely miss many in the future. I hope people who aren’t accustomed to missing holidays but did the right thing and missed out this year, can find some comfort in knowing they were not alone in doing so.

mfg

Locum, Mother Nature

Speared Fish & Sweet Deals

November 22, 2020 No Comments

I’m on call all weekend and it’s actually been a bit busy. But I definitely wanted to keep up with the weekly post. So let’s dive in!

Svikki MD

Outpatient

We were very unstaffed from a nursing standpoint this week. The nurses that were there rocked it though and got us through. I probably saw the most patients this week since starting work. It was a mix of interesting cases and a lot of COVID.

Inpatient

I spent Thursday in Rapid City working with a hospitalist who has been taking care of COVID patients for the past 5 months. We reviewed treatment protocols, his experience with patients, the patterns of decline/improvement he has been seeing with them and discussed safe patient scenarios to keep at my hospital in Deadwood (and when to transfer). I’m very grateful they were willing to let me come and discuss with their doctors. There is also more awareness for them now that we will be admitting COVID patients.

Call

I’ve been on call for 4 of the last 7 days. That lead to a few more admissions to my inpatient panel. Between seeing them on the floors and seeing patients in the clinic, this week has once again flown by.

I’m getting used to constantly being on call for my own patients. Late night and early morning phone calls don’t surprise me anymore.

Spearfish

I live in a town called Spearfish. The town symbol is exactly what you might think it is…a speared fish. Exhibit A:

Spearfish is a quaint community with the main street filled with restaurants, bars, and shops. The public library is a block off of the main street, just next to the police station and fire department. There is a community bank up the road. It reminds me a bit of a larger version of the town I grew up in. However, unlike Muscoda Wisconsin, you don’t have to drive a mile before you hit your grocery store, fast food restaurants, and the local hospital.

The surrounding land is pretty flat and sits adjacent to the Black Hills. Someone recently mentioned to me that there is a recreational path that runs through Spearfish. This seemed like a safer option for me to explore than finding trails in Spearfish canyon without cellular reception. You never know, something could happen and no one would be able to find me.

Spearfish Recreational Path

I’ve spent the last two weekends exploring the rec path. It’s a concrete path that works it’s way through meadows and woods. The people are friendly and almost everyone you cross paths with smiles and says hello. I’ve been doing a power walk/jog combo for the 3.5-miles back and forth. The trail itself is much longer than that. It feels great to be outdoors and amongst nature. I’m interested to see how well maintained the path will be when we start having snowfall again.

Along the trail, there is the D.C. Booth Historic National Fish Hatchery. It’s free to enter. According to their pamphlet:

Created in 1896 to propagate, stock, and establish trout populations in the Black Hills of SD and WY, D.C. Booth Historic National Fish Hatchery is dedicated to fish culture and resource management. After a very successful fish production history, the hatchery’s current mission is to help preserve the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s historic and cultural heritage.

I took a walk around the grounds for a bit and checked out the fishies from below in the Underwater Viewing Windows area.

Although there are many, many trails in the broader area, the rec path seems like a safer alternative for the time being. The weather has been fairly sunny recently and the temperatures tolerable with a fleece while working out. I don’t think it’ll be long though before I switch out the sports shoes for the snow boots again.

Hey Macklemore, can we go thrift shopping?

I love thrift shopping. It’s something I learned to love from my mother. In big metropolitan cities, I shop for clothes and shoes and in smaller cities, I check out the thrift store before buying items new if I can. The environmental impact our consumer society has on the planet has not gone unnoticed. Also, I will save money any day I can! Most (if not all) of my Ralph Lauren sweaters, J. Crew jeans shirts, and Gap turtle necks are thrifted. I usually can’t find pants for my long legs but I have issues with that in regular stores too.

When I first arrived in Spearfish, I noticed the kitchen was missing a few essentials I needed for meal prep. I found most of them in good condition at the St. Vincent de Paul store a few blocks away. When I needed winter gloves and some shopping totes for groceries, St. VdP had me covered. My greatest deal I’ve made so far was yesterday.

I won’t be home for Christmas

I’ve decided that if I am going to spend Christmas far away from family and friends, I’m going to decorate my apartment this year and have a Christmas tree. I stopped by St. VdP to look for decorations. They currently have a deal going where you can fill as many Christmas decorations into a box as you can for just $10! I filled up on ornaments, beads, lights, stockings, a snowman mug for hot cocoa, two decorative small trees, and a Christmas tree stand. All for just $10. I felt like a rock star. Now I just need to find a tree. When the Christmas season is over, I’ll repack everything and donate it back to St. VdP. So, it’s really more like a $10 rental fee.

I’ll show you the tree once I have one and it’s decorated

If the other items I purchase during my time here are in good condition when I am ready to leave, I will donate them back. It’s an earth-friendly, wallet-friendly alternative to Amazon Prime.

It’s almost the most wonderful time of the year!

One thing I love: Pre-Christmas season….it’s so close, I can taste it. Literally, see the next section.

One thing I ate: Lindt Lindor White Peppermint Truffles. That melting white chocolate with the refreshing taste of peppermint…I’m in trouble.

One thing I’m grateful for: the invitation I received to have Thanksgiving at my colleague’s house with his family. Although I declined because I already have plans for myself that day, I truly appreciated the thought of inviting me to their family time since I’m out here in South Dakota alone. That being said, please remember, a Zoom Thanksgiving is better than an ICU Christmas. Please only celebrate with your household or core group of people. Our healthcare system can’t handle much more and I want everyone to be as healthy as possible.

mfg