The Dangerous Deep

It has sure been a long week. We had 8-5 classes mon thru thurs. I was very bad, but we had to get ahead in immuno because our teacher had an emergency and was leaving the island for a few weeks. But as a result we only had neuro on friday. So I came in and worked on neuro in the morning before class, which was actually a lab. My lab group is awesome. All but one of us is a married-old guy and so we are all serious about using this time wisely and it was very beneficial. But as soon as lab was over it was playtime! Greg, my fishin' buddy and I got into out swim trunks and went out to hit the ocean. When we got down there the water was angry. It was throwing big ole' waves up onto the shore but we are a couple of hardy, not to mention die hard, fisher-men. We waited for about 15 minutes to find a calm enough window to get in. It wouldn't be so bad if we had a boat and we could just drive out and jump in but getting in from the sore adds a whole new dimension to it. The last thing that we really want is to get smashed up against the rocks and bang our faces to pieces. Especially since our island doesn't have a hospital and we would have to get life flighted to St. Martin. So we found a semi-calm window and got in the ocean. After we gout out in the 7 ft swells we realized that there was zero visibility. I couldn't see the tip of my spear and it was only about 3 ft from my face. We swam out to see if it would get better further from the shore. We swam out about 80 yards before we decided that it was time to turn back. Now, getting in the water is hard but, it is WAY easier then getting out. We swam up to about 20 yards from the edge. Close enough to be close to dry ground but far enough away that we wouldn't get destroyed if a monster wave came at us. I sat there bobbing for about 5 minutes watching for my chance to make a break for the shore. I wasn't too scared. I knew that I would probably get rolled up onto the rocks but I thought the sooner I get out of the water the better.(I think that Greg was a bit more nervous then I was) All I knew is that I wanted to keep my head and face from playing ping pong with the gigantor rocks. I saw what I thought was a big enough window to make my run and I was off like a shot. I was about on my feet in about 4 feet of water(with big fins on that make it impossible to walk just in time to hear Greg holler something that was indistinguishable due to the unmistakable roar of what sounded like a tidal wave bearing down on me. I reflexively reached to grab any rock I could and tried to hold on tight, but a moss covered rock is hard to handle and in an instant I was like a monkey in a barrel rolling down a mountain side. I recall noticing that my fins were up out of the water at-least once and perhaps two to three times. By the time I got my barrings and was calling up the boulders on my hands and knees wondering if i had broken anything. As far as I could tell I was still in one piece but I had to get to safe ground before the next wall of water knocked me down. As it turned out I escaped with a few cuts down my left arm, a nice scrape across my back, a grapefruit sized bruise on my left thigh, two bleeding knees and my life. I knew that it might hurt but I was happy to be able to walk out on my own power. I stood up on a rock in order as to see out a ways so that I could tell Greg when it was safe to make for the shore. He got out without too much trouble. So we had an adventurous day in the Caribbean. You never know what kind of adventure awaits in the ocean but it is best to do all you can to keep from self imposed injury. We really wanted to get out and do some fishing but we were stupid. We now know better.

Dealing With Disappointment

Today was a sad day. First of all, the team that I REALLY wanted to win th Superbowl lost. The Vikings came out looking great then as the game came down to the wire they gave the game away. They had more then one chance to take the lead in the 4th quarter but gave the ball back to the Saints three times in field goal range(that I can think of off the top of my head). Also, all of yesterday the ocean was so perfect. There was no wind, and the water was so flat that the sky was reflecting off the surface. It was calm, so calm in fact that we could see where the currents were. Anyway, my friend and I decided that we were going to skip Psych and go out spearfishing. I was excited to get out in nice water. We haven't been out in nice water for about 5 months. I think that the last time we had that perfect of water was early October. I was going to try out our new under-water camera and everything. So I awoke this morning to a very blustery day. From our house (about 1000 ft above the water) I could see ginormous waves. From the moment I saw those ominous white-caps, I knew that the perfect day of spearfishing I had envisioned now seemed as far removed in the past as graduation seems in the future. I was crushed. It is a big blow to go from looking forward to a great day in the ocean one minute, to being faced with 4 hrs of the most boring thing you can imagine the next.
So when we got to immuno first thing she (we'll call her Dr. X) told us was that she had to go back to the US for a family emergency and that she was moving the rest of our immuno class to the end of the semester and moving micro up into its place. (sort of a schedule frame shift) So the whole class was excited to be so close to being done with immuno and Dr. X but alas she will come back and lecture us at the end of the semester. So that was a mixed bag of good and bad news. Sounds like bad news for her. I really don't think that she would go back in the middle of the semester if it wasn't a serious reason.
In neuro we had the teacher lecture with whom we had had some trouble. He hasn't been sticking to the schedule and we were behind for a lot of the first block because of it. We had cerebellum on tap for the day and I was optimistic coming in. So he showed up today and actually taught what was scheduled. He did stay on schedule but he just doesn't have a strong grasp of the material and that is a bit disheartening but, I can read the book if need be. Not that I own the book but, I can check it out for a week at a time from the pathetic school library. He really seemed to love the Vermis of the Cerebellum. he probably said that word 50 times in 2 hrs. he covered the anatomy well but the afferent and efferent tracts of the Cerebellum was a complete mess. The poor man means well but he just doesn't know the small details that we need to know to understand the goings on there. He has real world experience but he obviously has little academic experience.
The day did end on a good note. As I had mentioned earlier we were going to be in psych for 4 hrs this afternoon. But after only 2.5 hrs of absolute torture we were freed!

Just another day in a caribbean med school

Our Island

I have added these few pictures onto the page to give an idea of what some of the landscape is like. My neighbor just brought over some fresh squeezed tangerine juice and wow was it amazing. It is hard to live in the caribbean but someone has to do it!

Fishin' at the cove

Saturday I spent the morning studying the nuclei of the brain stem. I don't quite have them all down yet but they are coming. I told Alden earlier this week that I would take him fishing on the weekend, and he either didn't forget or he was reminded by his mother, either way I needed to take him and try to get him a fish or two. He lasted about 15 minutes before he wanted to join his brother and mom in the warm caribbean water. But before he got side tracked he "caught" two little fish. One baby Parrot Fish and one baby Grouper. I continued to fish and had two good sized ones on but considering the great equipment to which I am privy, I thought I did well to hook them-if but briefly. So we spent the afternoon in the water and had a great time. It is kinda sad that the water is so glassy this morning because it hasn't been so for so long and I am dying for a good day of spear fishing so that I can put a few picts up here.

Day one

Well, I have wanted to start this for a while now. I want to have an outlet for all of my adventures as I feel I have a few to share. I don’t want to share a lot of sissy thoughts or feelings, but more of my day to day goings on. Tales of the deep(spearfishing) classroom hubub and family stories. Living in the Caribbean is-for the most part-an interesting voyage. So do I have any pressing or good kickoff story to begin my days of blogging? no-not really, but I do have a thing or two to endulge upon in the next few days.
I have been studying medicine for a little while now and am currently in my third semester in the Caribbean. I am at SUSOM east of Puerto Rico. Why did I descide to come to a Caribbean Med school you might ask? well that is a great question. Right out of college I thought that I wanted to be a chiropractor and was very sure that I would not be interested in being a MD. I was wrong-flat wrong. I worked as fast as the government would allow and finished all my requirements a few months before I had been in chiropractic school 3 years. I was stoaked to have my DC and I was going to “rock the world” -well at least their atlas’s. But it didn’t take long for my young family and I to get a jolt of reality.
I moved to Denver and opened my own practice just in time for the “recession”. It wasn’t long before I realized that I wasn’t going to be helpng as may people as I had envisioned. Here I was at 27 with my doctorate and excited to have accomplished something and I felt more like a used car salesman then a doctor. I was miserable trying to convince patients that they needed my care. I knew that my skills had value but I was stressed to the max and not having fun in life.
I was talking to some friends who asked if I had ever thought about being a MD. I was taken back at the thought because for a chiropractor the words “medical doctor” are about as dirty of words as you can think let alone say. I was even more taken back that the thought of being an MD didn’t repulse me, as I thought it would. I did some research and found that I had all the requirements but one -the MCAT. It was Jan(last year) and I knew that in order to study for the MCAT and then apply to med school, I was looking at a year and a half wait to even begin. That would put me at 30 and just beginning a 7-8 year process. YIKES. So, after a bit of research I found that I could perhaps pursue a foreign school and I may be able to start sooner.
I began searching frantically for a way out of my contract and my practice in Denver. After a few weeks I had someone lined up to take over my spot. I told him that if he wanted my stuff, I would give it all to him if he would just replace me on my lease. I just wanted out! He agreed and I gave him all my stuff, on which I had spent 40k, and my family-Becky, Alden and Eli packed up all of our stuff and moved 4000 miles to a small caribbean island to start 4 more years of school.
Well, here we are 8 months later and much further in debt and enjoying life in the warm sea and sun. And I cant really speak for my wife, as I know she misses family and real shopping, but I really am enjoying things.