Spring Break 2013

It may be hard to believe, but I've never had a Spring Break before.  I wasn't at UM during spring semester.  BYU doesn't give days off...ever...let alone a whole week.  So, for the first time in my far too many years of college, I got a Spring Break.  How did I spend it, you ask?  Daytona Beach? Nope, not really my age group.  Vegas?  Too far away.  A cruise?  If only.  Nope, I decided to get back to my roots and spend some time in the great outdoors.  I went camping up in South Carolina.

It's been a long time since I went camping, and with a week long break, I thought it was the perfect time.  My Home Teaching companion, Dave, and I set off Monday morning for the 7 hour drive north.  Yes, 7 hours is kinda far to go camping, but have you seen a topographical map of Florida?  They consider ant hills "mountains" here. 

Day 1
I had found a free spot to camp for our first night.  It's a spot not far from Greenville on Forest Service land.  Basically, we just drove to the end of the road, put on our backpacks, and hiked down the hill to the creek below.  We had to clear our own tent sites, gather our own firewood, and boil our water straight from the stream.  No services here.  The nice thing was, there wasn't a soul in sight for miles.

Breakfast

Day 2
I wanted to do some hiking and since this first campsite was very undeveloped, we drove about 20 miles to Table Rock State Park.  It was pretty overcast that morning and even started drizzling while we broke camp, but that didn't phase us.

We got to Table Rock around 11:00.  We set up camp in time to do a hike, so we set off on Pinnacle Trail.  Stats: 7.2 miles round trip, 3425 feet elevation.

Bald Rock overlook

Visibility was pretty low, but you could see the fog sticking to the trees down in the valley and it looked like a forest fire. 

It started raining right when we pulled into camp, so we ended up spending the rest of the night in our tents, eating jerky, fruit, and trail mix for dinner.

Day 3
The rain broke sometime in the early morning and we woke up to a beautifully sunny day.  A perfect day, in fact, to hike to the top of Table Rock and enjoy the view.  Trail stats: 6.8 miles round trip, 3124 feet elevation.

Somehow failed to get my own pic of Table Rock so I "borrowed" this from Ourupstatesc.info

Our campsite is down near that little peninsula in the lake.

We made it back to camp relatively early in the day so we had tons of time to cook and just sit by the fire and relax.

I had a genius idea while shopping for supplies before the trip to make a stew out of beef jerky, carrots, and potatoes.  It. Was. Delish.

Day 4
We decided to break camp before breakfast and drive into Greenville, SC for some down home diner breakfast.  We weren't disappointed.  We asked a couple of older gentlemen we met in town where the best breakfast place was and they led us here.

This is one of those local, family owned diners where the waitresses have been working there their whole lives and they call you things like "Hon," and "Dear," and "Sweetheart."  I fell in love with the place instantly.

After getting nice and full on some country cooking, we drove to downtown Greenville.  This was a place I had dreamed of settling down someday with my family.  My visit only confirmed why that was an awesome idea.  You could tell that they had put a lot of money making their downtown the place to be.  Trendy boutiques, restaurants, art galleries, and fine arts centers.  Not to mention a beautifully developed trail/park system along the river that runs through town.

They did have a slight water sanitation problem though

Statues were everywhere. Like, seriously, on every corner.

Outdoor stage for community plays, free concerts, etc.

Greenville really was a beautiful town.  It was so much better developed than I had imagined before.  There are definitely parts that were quaint/old-fashioned, but I was surprised by how progressive and fancy the downtown area was.  Looks like it has become the financial hub of western South Carolina.


Now, I'm back in Gainesville with only one more day left until school starts again.  I'm feeling slightly sad about that.  Definitely not ready to start up again.  I could use another week, that's for sure.

Bucket List

So, I promised you a little more excitement in this week's post, and I will deliver.  However, I want to tell you about this week's other happenings first.  So, here goes.

Monday, our intramural co-ed flag football team had its first game.  It was so much fun.  I never really had the chance to play intramurals at BYU, so this is kind of a new experience for me.  Let me tell you, the outcome of this game was so much better than it ever was during intramural basketball this summer.  We won 29-0!  They had to invoke the mercy rule.  Here we are after the game.

Naughty Bears

On Tuesday, we had our first Pharmacology exam.  It covered pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, and Antibacterial drugs.  I wasn't too sure how I would do one, but it turned out just fine.  I got a 91%.
We also started our Hematology/Oncology section in Clinical Medicine.  This is proving to be the most difficult section yet.  There's about a hundred different kinds of anemia.  Then there's the whole coagulation cascade, which is a fairly complex biochemical chain reaction whose end goal is to clot off your blood so you don't bleed to death when you get a cut.
On Thursday, we had our ENT exam and, unfortunately, this was my lowest grade yet.  Barring any favorable point adjustments, I scored somewhere in the high 80s.  (Official scores should be posted tomorrow).
Then on Friday, we had to endure the WORST lecture since school began.  I think it was a combination of factors that made it so terrible.

1. It was the last lecture of a very long week. 
2. It was a 2 hour lecture  
3. The lecturer was incredibly boring AND talked way over our heads
4. The material was complicated...or at least he made it complicated

I mean, if anybody can decipher this diagram, let me know.

OK, now that that's out of the way, let's talk about the awesome stuff.  I was able to check two things off my bucket list this weekend!  The first one is kinda nerdy, but I don't care.  I have wanted to learn how to fence for a long time now.  It's just a really elegant sport that requires calculation and quick reflexes.  Shane, a member of my ward has been fencing for about 5 years and is now the co-owner of a fencing club here in Gainesville.  So, he brought a bunch of equipment to the church on Friday night for an Elders Quorum activity.  He taught us about the history of the sport and how that influences the three different styles (foil, epee, and sabre).  Then he showed us some simple footwork and how to lunge.  Since there wasn't enough gear to go around, half of us suited up and the other half learned how to poke us with swords.  After being a pincushion for a few minutes, we switched sides and I got to do the stabbing.  Then, he would officiate while two people dueled (or whatever they call it).  It was a ton of fun and a great work out for your legs and butt.

Me acting the pincushion.

My turn to do the stabbing.

Look at that form.

My first point...right in the throat.

This is me scoring a point.  The first shot got him in the shoulder, which doesn't count.  But, the next shot is picture perfect.  I won 5 to 3.  Shane actually asked me if I had fenced before.  Not too bad for my first time, huh?

Then, on Saturday, I was able to do something that I have wanted to do even longer than I have wanted to learn to fence.  This wish began when I was really little.  I would have these fairly regular dreams that I could fly.  Not like a bird, but like Peter Pan.  But, my dreams were as close as I ever got to flying.  Then yesterday, I actually got to fly in real life...well, kinda.  I went SKYDIVING!

My friend from class, Laura Beth, is a member of the UF Adventure Club and they were going skydiving this month.  She invited anybody that wanted to to come along.  Well, I had been putting it off for years for various reasons.  The time wasn't necessarily "right," but I didn't see it ever being perfect, so I took her up on her offer.  I was not disappointed.

We left Gainesville at about 20 to noon to make the 50 minute drive out to Palatka.

Sorry, these first couple are out of order. We took these on our way out.

We got there just in time for our 1:00 appointment.  Turns out that whole "appointment" thing is a load-a-poo.  We had to wait 5 HOURS before we got to jump.  I guess they had just sold their big plane a few weeks ago, so they were using these 2 little tiny planes that could only hold 4 people max.  Well, when you do a tandem jump and have a photographer, that means that only one paying customer can go up at a time every 20 mins.  There was another group ahead of us plus a bunch of regulars that, for some reason, got to go in front of us.  It was a bit frustrating but totally worth the wait.

Laura Beth and me

Next up!

Getting strapped in.

Jairo trying to proposition me.

Yeah, it's my middle name.

Kinda surprised this tiny, rickety, old thing made it to 10,500.

Both feet back on the ground.

 It was seriously one of the most amazing experiences I've ever had.  You spend 20 mins cramped up in this tiny little plane.  Then they open the door at 10,000 feet.  There's this blast of cool air (but I barely registered the temperature...my mind was elsewhere) when they open the door.  The camera man climbs out, then you and your tandem instructor scoot toward the door.  That's when your brain starts screaming at you that jumping out of an airplane will lead to your certain doom.  But, you're strapped on to somebody else, and once you step out on that step, there's no turning back.  After rocking forwards, then backwards, we launched ourselves out into nothingness.  Back on the ground, I had asked Jairo if we could do some extra flips on the way out, and he didn't disappoint.  We got a good 3 or 4 in before flattening out.  I cannot describe to you how loud it is.  It was like nothing I had ever experienced before.  I was kicking myself for forgetting my earplugs.  The free fall only lasts about 50 seconds, but it seems more like 5.  It's all over so quick, then you're under canopy.  But floating down under your chute is almost better than the free fall.  Once he pulls the cord, everything goes silent and you can see for miles around.  Jairo was cool enough to point out landmarks as we were coming down.  He then gave me the toggles for the chute and totally let me control the turns.  I was a little tentative at first, but he reassured me that I wouldn't break it and told me to really give it a tug.  I sent us into some great turns...at least they felt pretty awesome to me.  Then after a couple minutes, we were back on planet earth and it was all over.  I wanted to get right back on the airplane and do it again.  It was such an amazing experience.  I got video taken, so when the DVD arrives, I'll be sure and post it.  Someday, when I've got the cash, I'll definitely do it again.

So there you have it.  All-in-all, it was a pretty amazing week.

First mock patient interview

Today was our first videotaped mock patient interview.  This is how it works.  You dress up in business/professional attire and go to a place called the Harrell Center.

Holy optical illusion Batman! Both sides of this image are the same length.  Go ahead and check it yourself.

 This is a simulation lab for health care professions students.  They have a bunch of exam rooms that are set up just like a normal doctor's office.  Each room has a couple video cameras in it.  We got paired up with another classmate and had to take turns being the patient and PA.  As the patient, you had to come with a simple malady and a researched list of symptoms.  As the PA, it was your duty to obtain an HPI or History of Present Illness.

The HPI consists of eliciting from the patient the "sacred seven" or the 7 attributes of a symptom: Palliative/Provocative factors, Quality, Region, Severity, Timing, and Associated manifestations.  So, at the Harrell Center, your partner waits in the room and you, as the "PA" stand outside the room and wait for the man to come on the intercom and say something to the effect of "You may now begin the interview."  Then you enter the door and do your best to conduct a thorough HPI in the 10 mins that they give you.

About an hour afterwards, they upload your video to your account on their website so you can watch it and determine how big a fool you just made of yourself.

I kinda had a leg up on my classmates though, because I did something similar every week at the MTC.  We would have to "teach" investigators and then watch game-tape.

Here I am afterward with my awesome classmate Fallon.

I look like a freakin giant

She did a great job playing the PA, and I was an awesome patient (I had amoebic dysentery...i.e. abdominal cramps and diarrhea).

I think I did a pretty good job being the PA.  Granted, we had a lot of time to practice before-hand, but it's still easy to forget things when you're put on the spot like that.

My Class

Don't know if I'm allowed to do this, but here's my class.