Updates!

Temple during x-mas

Why am I so bad at this BLOG thing? Well if I logically think about it... I have some pretty good reasons.. (or excuses)

-I work 12-13 hr days at the hospital.
-my computer took a dump--it crashed--losing EVERYTHING.
-And I'm just bad at this blog thing

So currently, I'm here at my house, just dropped B-money off at LAX...and I'm feeling slightly queasy from too much mexican food--so why not blog! :) And it's foggy out..otherwise I'd be basking in the sun.

I thought I'd do an overview of the past few months/rotations--since I haven't blogged since November?! (wow).

Foodservice--I finished it! yes! It was a pain.. but it's over. No more plating thousands of cookies, waking up at 4am, cooking with no measuring cups, creating menus for no reason, and dealing with the worst scheduling mis-haps!!! yes! BUT good things--I loved the people. And now I get free sweets and foods I shouldn't eat from the chef. :) Benefits of foodservice first.

ORTHO-My first rotation. NOT too exciting, but I did see a stab pt (who got stabbed on Valentines day.. :( ...) and my first TB patient.....and a severe case of AIDS/Cancer. Loved the preceptor. Overall--good first rotation. PLUS.. it turns out, I actually like clinical (who would have thought?!) AND I got called Doctor a few times.. ha ha ha..(and of course, I didn't correct them!)

CARDIOLOGY-Kinda freaked me out. I'm definitely going back home to get the parents in shape!!! And anyone reading this...PLEASE take care of your heart! (if you need help, ask me!). Got to see lots of post heart attack patients, congestive heart failure patients, and by-pass patients. And one really sweet patient who referred me to some great restaurants in LA. :)

NEUROLOGY-Absolutely LOVED this rotation. Not to mention my preceptor is the sweetest woman, who's other ambition in life was to be a jazz pianist--needless to say... we had lots to talk about :) Got to participate in rounds! (just like the TV shows!). It was pretty intimidating... since I had to answer to this Dr, who reminded me of an older Jim Carrey, and who could make you feel pretty stupid, if he wanted to. One day, we were waiting for the nurse to present the patient--she was taking too long, so he said "Brittany--can you tell me the diagnosis of this patient?"... I freaked out..."ummm, his head!?" ha ha ha (he had this HUGE bandage on his head, with one leg flailing in the air)..."On his left side, most likely paralyzed on his right side"....etc... it was pretty funny. You had to be there. :) Was exposed to lots of head trauma, comatose patients, paraplegic patients...pretty sad. But really made me appreciate my consciousness. :)

DIABETES-SO I thought I knew everything there was to know about Diabetes (DM), so going into this rotation.. I was like-- I know this!...boy was I wrong. DM is a little more complicated then I thought, especially when it comes to insulin dosing. So it helped me develop a great understanding of why patients aren't as compliant, and why it's more difficult sometimes.. plus my preceptor was a great teacher. Overall... great rotation. Saw lots of patients with out of control blood sugars, with pending amputations, and vascular problems--overall--very sick patients. :(

RENAL-(Kidney disease patients)-I was really scared to do this rotation. Basically when the kidneys have problems--A LOT can go wrong. (Your kidneys filter your blood, and balance your fluids and electrolytes, and balance hormones) SO a lot of nutrition needs to be applied--individualized to each case. Saw a lot of very SICK patients (what's new?!). But I made it through, and really like it. AND learned a lot. PLUS... I had a really cool story---I noticed this patient was LDS... so I kinda took a little more "personal" interest into his case. Turns out he has cancer :( So I'm doing my best to help him out (he's been unable to eat for days!!--can you imagine?!) So I just spent a little extra time chatting... finally upon my next visits with him---I saw a BofM on his table... so I finally put it out there--and told him, I know this isn't professional, but I'm LDS too! :) SO I think he's a little happier--to know he has someone he can relate to--someone on his side. :) You can feel depressed and unimportant as a patient---doctors are just trying to fix you, and get you out. So other than being a clinical waitress (taking food orders.. lol) and a dietitian, I'm a psychologist--providing counseling. Anyway... it was kind of a cool experience.

NEXT TO COME...
-Oncology
-Surgery UNIT
-Burn UNIT
-Out Patient
-Medical ICU
-Pediatrics

So... blogs are pretty lame without photos.. SO I'll post whatever photos I do have. :)

Getty Villa :)

LA from Griffith Park Observatory... so pretty :)

Me shooting a gun in AZ.. my first!! (hard times are coming... lol.. I guess I better learn how to use one of these?!) :/

Me and Mama during x-mas :) I LOVE MY MAMA!

Totally Crazy Awesome Adventures....

Okay... I really need to start keeping up to date with my blog!!!! I have been doing fun things EVERY weekend.... and I finally have some down time. My last blog failed to share ANY of the totally crazy and awesome adventures...for example:

-Chipped Tooth: When we were cliff diving in Sedona I chipped one of my molars!!! yay! And it is still chipped..since I have no dental insurance! Good times!! We still can't figure out if I hit my jaw while hitting the water, or if Shane (one of Chris's buddies) hit my jaw... if you take a close look at the picture his elbow is right in my face.... hmmm. You be the judge.

-Getting kicked out of Disneyland: We drove all night to go to Six Flags only to find that it was closed on Fridays... so we thought... next best thing: Disneyland. We weren't even IN the park, we were getting our bags checked through security, when Shane decides to joke "yay, you better check her (my) bags for knives and guns!"... the old man checking our bags did not think this was so funny... it cost us an hour in the hot LA sun, and a day a D-land. Shane was deemed as a a threat to the park, but could return the next day...apparently he wouldn't be a threat the next day... hmmm.




This is Shane getting TOLD by Disneyland Authority...not the happiest place on earth :(

-Collasal Pancakes!!! For my B-day Aunt Regina, Mom, and Chris came to LA. My birthday basically revolved around eating. One night it was Benny Hanna's with the fam (thanks guys!) and the next morning it was CRAZY pancakes at "The Griddle". These pancakes HAVE to be at least 1000 calories each.. but MAN they are good. I'm pretty sure you'd gain at least 1 pound by eating the entire 3 stack.

-Chicago!! I went to Chicago for the first time ever Oct 25-27. It was a FNCE conference (Food and Nutrition Conference and Expo). It's a HUGE conference for all registered dietitians (what I'll be soon!) We get to choose which events to attend and what speakers we want to listen to. I tried to attend all things related to sports nutrition, and managed to make some great contacts based in Arizona (coincidence?! hmmm :) I got to spend some fun time with the other intern girls.. we went on this cruise (put on by the company I'm slaving away for), and I got tired of the videos they kept showing, so I snuck into the "captain's quarters" and told them I used to row for NYU, apparently that meant that I could drive the ship! So I sat in the captain's seat! I also tried to get authentic Chicago style pizza.. but EVERY restaurant was packed with lines out the door... so we settled for California Pizza Kitchen... so lame.


This is the main street in Chicago.. I went jogging one morning and went camera crazy!


Here's more of Chicago.. Here's me and the girls...Jessica, Allison, Lily, and moi!





-Disneyland x's 3: I've been to Disneyland 3 times now. CRAZY! And all of them have been with Chris. 1) First date with Chris (good thing he turned out to be amazing, that would have been ONE long day at D-land) 2) With Mom, Dad, Tyson, Stacey, Scarlett, Brad, and Chris... SO MUCH FUN! 3) Chris, Rylee and I went to D-land this past week. It was SO different going with a child... but since I'd been 2 times already, it was fun to just walk around and see him have a good time.

Here's D-land all three times...
1st time:

2nd time:



3rd time:




-Horny Elephant: So this past weekend, Chris and I decided to go to the LA zoo...we were watching the elephant (he was a lonely fellow, in a pen all by himself), and he started to grab a tire, he then placed the said tire underneath himself and proceeded to HUMP the tire. He REALLY go into it.... he was seriously taking advantage of this rubber tire... he was doing the nasty. Finally he stopped, stood back...... and exploded. And this isn't urine we're talking about, it was serious elephant-man-juice. His elephant-mojo, his baby-making goo. Then, like a horse, he decided to relax...letting it all hang out. At this point, I threw up in my mouth a little, and could not believe what I had just witnessed. I would have taken some photos, but I felt he needed his privacy. It was like a car wreck you couldn't help but look at. You just keep looking, and now this elephant-masturbation extravaganza is etched in my mind. I will never think of elephants the same way again. whew.

-CRAZY Internship: This internship is crazy, and highly unorganized. But through all the lame-ness, I've managed to find some redeeming qualities. I'm just about to finish my rotation with Alahambra Unified School District in their Nutrition Network program. I created a board for a high school, read books to preschoolers, taught middle schoolers about sugar and fat, and created several educational materials. It has shown me a new passion for community, and I KNOW in the future I'll definitely be involved in community nutrition. (As long as I don't have to cut construction paper all day--I'll get interns to do it...)

This is a ridiculous board I had to put together for a highschool.... its about persimmons and water....this is what I'm talking about... enough with the construction paper already!!!

Future Adventures: This weekend I'm heading to Napa to go to Alissa's wedding/reception. SO excited, THEN I'm going to Utah for Thanksgiving! I can't wait to see the fam! I've missed you guys SO much! I LOVE YOU!!!

Los Angeles...

Hey Fam! So I haven't posted anything in forever.. so heres a little something something...with a few photos attached!

-Just started the internship. It's been two weeks..only 45 left! yay! It's crazy. It's draining. It's exciting. It's ridiculous. I could write a book. And one of these days, I will.
-Just found a place with Bradley. So far so good. The place is SO nice, and we have a good routine.... I make him food, he eats it. I make him run, well sort of.
-Just found an awesome guy. I know....it seems crazy... but it just happened...sometimes when you're not looking, things happen! So I've been going back and forth from AZ to CA... but it's been amazing!
-Just realized it's 11pm and I have work at 8am.. so here are some pics.. I WILL write more later!!

Love you all SO SO much!

THE InTeRnShiP

SO.. I'm pretty sure that everyone knows that I GOT THE INTERNSHIP! The internship is in Los Angeles, CA. At the LA County hospital, in conjunction with University of Southern California. It's a VERY prestigious program, that only allows 4 applicants. (Compared to 12, or say 20 interns). And the acceptance rate for first time applicants to internships is only 50%. Needless to say, I'm a BAD ASS. I start in September, and it's roughly 48 weeks long. UNPAID. :(

SO.. that means I'm moving to CA by July/August :) When I first found out, I was surprised and kinda sad. I honestly thought that they wouldn't take me, so I planned on moving to Brooklyn, and I planned on getting a dog :) So I guess the dog will have to wait. But sadly, I'd almost give up anything for a puppy :) (Yes Dad, even (maybe) move to Utah)

Since I have to put up more photos, I've added some of me and my friends in nyc. Some are taken in Atlantic City, and others in NY.