Catastrophe Part 1

I cannot fathom sitting down and writing about the last 10 days in just one sitting. It's just too much for my little brain to process, and for your little eyes to read all at one time. So, here is the first emotional rollercoaster...

What seems like forever ago (but really only last week), February 7th, my last day of clinic. I was having a pretty good morning, despite a couple of my patients having incontinence issues. Things looked like they were ending on a pretty good note at the VA... then, at lunchtime, I checked my email, and found that my fourth rotation was CANCELLED!!! I was not welcome at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs due to some legal contract paperwork between the Academy and my school that was not finished in time. So, this is when my world started shattering to pieces. After hyperventilating, crying, then calling the important people at my school who might be able to fix it, I had enough hope and resolve to continue seeing patients that day. I left on the last day of my 3rd rotation without knowing where my 4th one was. I couldn't really do anything but continue my plan of driving to Portland, then to Denver to transport all of my stuff. Because, see, I have THREE sets of expensive plane tickets flying out of denver over the next three months. I can't be anywhere but colorado.

Then, everything turned around. As I was doing the 12 hour solo drive from Fresno to Portland, my phone kept ringing, eventually with good news. There is a site in Fort Collins that actually, actively NEEDs an intern!!! It is a vision therapy site, so I won't see any primary care patients, but I will get wonderful vision therapy experience. Even better, I am now staying with Paul's mom, who has been so gracious to open her home to me. I went from under the wing of one mother to another, and I couldn't feel happier or safer!!! The practice is literally a 2 minute drive from my new home, and I get to explore the hip town of Fort Collins while bonding with my future mother-in-law. The only thing missing is Paul, who is 90 minutes away in Denver... but I will see him every weekend, pretty much as we planned before.

The drive from Portland to Denver was a marathon. We left at 8am, and between Paul, Greg and I we rotated drivers and napped and chatted until 4am the next day (well, I did more sleeping as we got closer to our destination... the boys are superb long-haul drivers). We all ended up safely in Fort Collins and crashed until 10am the next day, upon which we lounged and watched movies and went out for beers and good food. It all worked out quite well, actually... somehow. Goes to show that just because you envision terrible things (car wreck, snow storm, black ice, running out of gas, running out of awakeness, etc), it doesn't necessarily mean they will happen.

So concludes the first part in the February saga. Stay tuned for news of the New York luggage debacle, first impressions of the new rotation, and the upcoming trip to LA.

Also, i've added a few pics on this entry and the previous.


Eden sporting the hat I knitted for her!