Patient tears

Here we go again with more patient and Dietetic Internship adventures at the Memphis VAMC!
(Blog post for Weeks 1, 2, 3 can be read HERE)


DIETETIC INTERNSHIP: Weeks 4 & 5 (of 41)
Week 4 - Outpatient at the hospital
Week 4 ushered in a similar, but slightly different patient: Outpatient at the hospital.  Just as if you might go to the hospital for appointments with your cardiologist, have blood drawn at the lab, etc, you would also see your Registered Dietitian.  

I am coming to (quickly!) learn: Every rotation has new challenges.  This one started with 2 enormous assignments that took about 40 hours (outside of work) to complete, teaching a food demo, co-teaching a cardiology healthy living class (cholesterol focus), and a truckload of online training courses due this week. Oh, patients, too.  Let’s not forget about them   And a presentation on Friday.  To top it off, a fun transition from an 8:00am start time to 7:00 am.  I like getting up early.  I don’t like the loss of an hour change!

Some highlights from this week:

Patient 1

On Wednesday morning, my patient was an 86 year old man that had never had a visit with an RD.  He was progressively gaining weight, particularly in the past few years he had put on significant weight, yielding uncontrolled diabetes mellitus, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol.  I started with the basic appointment questions, and quickly surmised that something was amiss.  I probed.  I gently questioned.  My empathetic connection has always been well-oiled and running, and soon this gentleman was in tears.  As was I.  He had terrible, unabashed tears.

Coffee IV & Earwax

Alas my 10-month Dietetic Internship has finally commenced! (Oct 2012... I'm just a tad late in postings!)  My applications were due back in Feb 2012, and I was matched April 2012 to the Memphis VAMC.   Master degree + thesis + graduation, followed by a 3.5 month journey to South Africa, and I have finally installed myself in The Bluff City!

DIETETIC INTERNSHIP: Weeks 1, 2, & 3  (of 41)
Weeks 1 & 2 - Orientation & Training

The first two weeks of a much-anticipated start date were significantly less eventful than expected....

The entirety of days 1 & 2 were consumed by an all-facility orientation for all new Memphis VAMC employees.  Every single person that steps through the door as an employee is required to attend (endure) a 2-day orientation of a revolving door of speakers on various topics:  IT Security, Privacy, Confidentiality, Biosecurity, Parking, the 5-foot greeting rule, Ethics, etc… 

It was boring, it was tiring.  Occasionally some doctor’s pager would sound and everyone would whip around, lusting that it he who was needed to step out of the room.  Who knew sitting in a chair listening to   people talk could be so exhausting!?

Next step: Dietetic Internship

Many miles from the last place I called Home, I have now fully installed myself in Memphis, and on the second full calendar week in October 2012, I began my 10-month (41 weeks, 1,436 hours) required Dietetic Internship at the Memphis Veteran’s Affairs Medical Center (VAMC). 

So…  a required Dietetic Internship venture?  In a nutshell, to become a Registered Dietitian, one must, at least:

• complete a Bachelor’s of Science degree,
• complete specific, relevant nutrition coursework at university, and
• complete a minimum 1,200 hour dietetic internship at an accredited facility.

This last one is the trickiest…

The Bluff City AKA Memphis

Many miles from the last place I called Home, I have now fully installed myself in Memphis, Tennessee.
(THANK YOU, Mom, for all the help moving me here!!)

This city is definitely different from other metropolises where I have previously lived, and I am excited to learn what makes it tick.  It is located in the most Southwest part of Tennessee, and is separated from Arkansas only by a river.  A very large river.  The Mississippi River! 

Driving around, I have noticed that there are a lot of:  barbecue restaurants, car washes, and donut shops.  I’m not sure if these are related… stay tuned, I will inspect them all carefully.  The city has a pro basketball team, the Memphis Grizzlies, and thanks to a new owner (who is 34 years old, a millionaire, handsome, and of course, married) and a 'Welcome to Memphis' column for him, I have had a crash course on a new quotidian:  (Thank you, Geoff Calkins of The Commercial Appeal, for this list)

Betty & Jessie visit Elvis

1. Elvis jokes in Memphis are like Toto jokes in Kansas.  Best to skip them.

Home with open arms

3.5 months out of these 2 bags.
All repacked and ready to go in Cape Town

Alas, after nearly 3.5 months in South Africa, my inaugural visit here has ended.  It was with ambivalence that I entered the airport destined for my home country, leaving behind a newfound home.  South Africa has much beauty in its natural landscape and people, and it would take little convincing to move to some cities.  I would readily move to CapeTown, but many other cities, such as intense Johannesburg, would take a lot of persuasion.  The country still has a long walk to economic and social equality, but continues to progress in the right direction.  Overall, my impression remains: I would like to travel to this “Rainbow Nation” again.

Next stop?  33 hours and 24 minutes of flights and layovers.  Cape Town à Johannesburg à Frankfurt à Chicago à Orlando.  I went through security 5 times, two times of which my bags were subjected to a bomb search.  (I was negative both times!)  I can blame this double treat to bringing home two carved ostrich eggs...

Hungry, Hungry Hippo!

Hippopotamuses kill more humans in Africa each year than any other animal.  They are fearless, aggressive beasts weighing over 2 tons (4,000 pounds!) as an adult.  With these facts before me, WHY on EARTH would I ever want to kiss a hippo?  For the answer, watch the first few minutes of this:

Or read more here: http://animal.discovery.com/tv/jessica-hippo/jessica-hippo.html

Yep, I kissed Jessica, this precious girl of 12 years old, and I loved it.  She comes up to the dock on her own free will each day; she has no water gates or dam that keep her tightened within the Joubert property.  Each day visitors rub her back with their feet and toes, feed her diluted sweet tea and vegetable chunks, and kiss her sweet, bristly nose.  I had the pleasure of doing all of this with some of my best CARE friends:  Brittany, Melissa, Alex, and Brittany’s mom. 

Kissing Jessica

Cape Town or Bust!

Two days of drizzling farm work completed my 2 weeks of self-sustainable farm living in KwaZulu-Natal, and only 10 days remained in my 3.5 month South African journey.  The past 11.5 weeks, excepting a short trip to Joburg, have been filled with lots of work, sweat, and dirt, and I am relishing my next stop of pure-tourist vacation.  Cape Town or bust, baby!

With yawns plaguing my flight, I flew in to Cape Town well after 9:00 pm and only saw the city’s abundant lights casting the sky big and bright.  As I rode into the city in the comfort of a bus provided by my backpacker’s hostel, I looked around but saw very little.  New destinations always initially tire me with a certain level of concerned anxiety, regardless of my excitement at planning the trip.  Cape Town was no different, and watching my normal bedtime hour run by didn’t help.  Making small talk, the bus driver, a native Capetonian, told me, “Welcome!  If you’ve come looking for Africa, Africa is not here.  This is Cape Town; this is not Africa.”  I did not really know what he meant, but it didn’t too take long to figure it out.

The next morning I awoke early, well before the other 7 people in my 8-person dormitory room.  The sun was just starting to lift above the horizon as I stole a peak out of the window.  The next thing I saw was startling, the most majestic up-close vision seemingly within feet of my view.  This was what I saw:

View of Table Mountain from my room