You Know You are in the Arctic When...

So picture Saskatchewan. Now go straight up, through Nunavut. Over all the rocks and trees and tundra. Over the caribou, lichen, streams, and ravens. Drop off the top of Canada's mainland, cross the frigid waters that will turn you to ice in minutes, then stiffly climb onto the shores of Victoria Island. There you are. In Cambridge Bay.

Imagine a flat, white, landscape. Depending on the day that white will be cut in half on the horizon with blue-bird sky that surrounds you 180 degrees or with a matching shade of blowing white which makes you feel like you are in one of those snow globes someone is shaking vigorously.

Welcome to the North.

It has been cold up here. Not just "oh I think I'll wear a coat today" cold but more like "oh, I think I have to bring my blowdryer and an extension cord to work today so I can de-ice my lock when I get home" cold.

My walk to work is approximately 5 mins (or 1.5 Lucinda Williams songs I've discovered). And in that time all kinds of fun and interesting things can happen to you when it is -50 with the windchill.

Things like:
-your face freezing to the inside of your coat from the moisture in your breath. As if you licked the entire front of your face then stuck it to the side of a metal door.
-your eyelashes freezing shut
-a trail of snotcicles (icicles made of snot) clinging to your upper lip
-a pain, burning, immobility of movement in the fingers which leads you to believe that your fingers are actually freezing. It is not just an expression any more.
-your earphone cord seizing up to a taught, brittle, wire instead of the normally flexible plastic handing loosely by your side.
-tendrils of hair coated by breath moisture turning into wisps of ice hair framing your face, which then melts and plasters to your forehead imediately after stepping indoors.

It's fun. It's something different all the time. Today it is only -37 with the windchill so people are outside snow kiting in the bay to celebrate the chinook like change in weather.

Got to love those hearty northeners, hey?

 

ABB in 2006. Like my mitts?

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I am bringing over more posts from my other blog on the days when there are no politically incorrect professors, no bizarre statements from classmates, and no flashbacks to my emergency department days. 

Sleep Talker

Tobie talks in his sleep a lot. Usually it is mumbly and in French* so I have a hard time deciphering what the heck he is going on about.

A few nights ago his nocturnal ramblings came out loud and clear:

"Yes, I am going to be an action figure, they'll be flying off the shelves..."

Ok. For those of you who don't know, Tobie is a violist. And not a Hulk sized one.

I cannot get the mental image of a Classical Musician Action figure out of my head now. Complete with tiny little viola case and music stand. He could have his street clothes or performance tuxedo included with purchase.

If only I knew a twisted toy maker. 

*He's French and no he doesn't sound like Justin Timberlake in Love Guru.

You Like Me! You Really Like Me!

In happier news, Dr. D nominated me last week for a medstudent blogger award, and I actually tied for first place!

I was the third place underdog but with a last minute post of support from Rogue Medic I managed to sneak in a few extra votes.

It was all in fun but it is great to see some of the other blogs out there and read some of the musings from fellow medical students and nurses.

Thanks Doc D for sticking it to The Man with your personal medblogger awards! :)

Homesick

Weird. Seems I am homesick again.

This was partly the fault of a recipe that I am making for Tobie's return from NY tomorrow. Random, yes. It's what I used to make a lot the night before big skiing days.

I knew that I was going to be giving up a lot to go to medical school (i.e. contact with friends, family, my favorite forms of recreation, my favorite fish monger, my favorite tea store, my favorite wine store....oh and money to spend at aforementioned places.)

I know a part of me would have always been unsettled, wrestling with the 'what if?' question if I hadn't gone. The question now is, would that have been more uncomfortable than this feeling now?

Photo taken by me somewhere in the arctic circle, June 2006. 

A Timely Whooping Cough Outbreak

Ok I promise not to turn this blog SOLELY into a vaccination campaign...BUT...today the CBC reported a whooping cough outbreak in the west Kootenay region of BC, Canada. That area of BC's interior has the lowest vaccination rate by the way, not a coincidence.

I say it is timely as I just did a post a few days ago on Andrew Wakefield and his contribution to worldwide lows in immunization rates.

All 19 cases in BC were on un-immunized children.

I had an aunt that died at age 2 of whooping cough and a grandfather that was on the team of physicians who brought the first iron lung to Canada.

So I take vaccinations a little more personally that I ought to perhaps...

A Not So Humble Rally For Votes

The last time I won something was when I was 5 years old.

I sent in the bar code from a lucky charms box of cereal and won a large gum ball machine (complete with 2 refills of gumballs).

Now is your chance to give me the win over at Doctor D's blog. He graciously nominated me for a medblogger award and the votes close Friday!

Head over. Vote. For. Me. Often. :)

Heheh.

As Old MD Girl said, it's all for fun....I MUST WIN!!!!!!!!!!!!*

*Ok, actually she was classy and just said the "it's all for fun" part. I am the jackass.

I Do More Before 11 a.m....

So today I defibrillated someone (successfully), taught another person how to use their inhaler, took peak flow readings, conducted a chest pain assessment, a respiratory assessment, diagnosed an otitis media, performed a prenatal assessment, did a peripheral vascular exam, and carried out a Rinne/Weber test. All in 6 minutes or less each. All on actor patients or models (as in dummies, not Kate Moss).

But my proudest achievement of the day: a 6 minute speculum and bimanual vaginal exam. WHO knew it was possible?? I swear every time I have done those things in the real world it takes me about 20-25 minutes! I got the 'one minute' warning bell with the speculum still in and somehow managed to take the speculum out, get new gloves on, get the lube out, and talk my way through palpating the cervix, adnexa, uterus, etc. in time.  All I can say is thank goodness that was on a plastic dummy not an actual woman.

Yes, today was the mock-OCASE. I can't remember what it stands for but it is basically our clinical skills exam. My mind did go blank at a few key moments (like midway through the respiratory exam I forgot to auscultate for an apex beat, I left out the modified Allen's test during the vascular exam--even though the examiner was like "what other tests would you like to do???",  and nearly forgot to ask the prenatal how many weeks gestation she was!) Egad. Aside from the wardrobe malfunction during CPR (administered on the floor) where I am pretty sure the HEAD OF THE EMS saw my underwear due to blouse coming un-tucked and blazer riding up my back, I think overall things went pretty well.

I am going to watch an episode of "Bodies" now to reward myself for a job well done.