Everything changes
One of the professors at MUA is from Oklahoma City and stopped by the hospital yesterday to say “hello!” It was really awesome to see the super smart, college football-loving, art-appreciating, breast cancer expert, research specialist and clinical skills instructor. Those of you that have spent any time on the Nevis campus should know who I’m talking about by now.
Dr. Plaid Shirt is home for the holidays and spent a lot of time in academia at our hospital. He says he doesn’t even recognize it from the days he worked there. We sat chatting in a conference room in some adminstrative office-y area and there was a painting of the hospital on one wall with the name of the original architect in the corner. It looked like the painting was from the 60′s or 70′s and I sat staring at it for several minutes convinced the painting had the wrong name or wrong city on it. That was NOT our hospital.
When Dr. Plaid Shirt commented on how much the hospital had changed, it clicked. The sprawling 4-story building that encircled a charming courtyard with several small outlying buildings has been transformed over the years into a towering 11-storey model of efficiency complete with a skywalk. I think the first floor bowels of the emergency room and countless unmarked doors (where I once saw a bagged and zippered body being delivered) are probably the only things that remain mostly unchanged.
Everything changes. Even huge brick buildings that take up entire city blocks change.
It’s been 8 months since classes ended for me on the island. There are certainly some things I miss about that time in my life. But I am so proud of how far I’ve come. I can’t wait to rock Step 2 next year, finish out my core rotations, and get excited about narrowing what kind of doctor I want to be when I grow up by participating in some super cool electives.
Today’s photo is obviously of the idyllic and untouched island of Nevis somewhere in the Leeward Islands of the Caribbean. I wonder how much it will change when Brandon and I return someday 20 or 30 years down the road…
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
December 31st, 2009 at 5:24 pm
I am glad to see Dr. Plaid Shirt visit the med students there in OKC for a second time. It is a cool feeling to see the students we teach do well. I saw one who was at Wycoff while I was in NYC this past summer. She is doing very well and did rock Step 2 CS and CK. I am sure you will too Jennifer. Good Luck to Brandon on step 1
I am in ATL for the New Year’s and will be off to my new job and school this Saturday. I wish MUA well.
Dr. PGM
January 5th, 2010 at 8:06 am
I sure wish I could have been there to witness Dr Plaid shirt because he was such a great inspiration of someone that can be something more than just a doctor and more like someone that I would like to be.
Also, I hope we can make it back there before 20 years, but I know realistically that it is probably not going to happen. I must admit that I miss our house on Mount Nevis with the sparkling view and the wonderful pool.