Humbled

Today was an office day. We were at a different office than yesterday, which was much less conducive to teaching and comfort (i.e., no chairs for me to sit in during patient visits). My hips were hurting a bit at the beginning of the day and my foot continues to act up. I have a hard time believing that it's some type of foot sprain given how long the pain has been going on. However, I can't recall any type of injury, so I don't see why I'm having pain in the first place. I'm thinking that if I'm given the opportunity/time, I might head to an urgent care tomorrow night after work. That way I'll have an x-ray that can definitively say either yes, it's a fracture or no, it's all muscular. 

Anywho, on to the next subject. The doctor I'm currently working with specializes in urologic oncology: kidney cancer, prostate cancer, bladder cancer, etc. A lot of our day is spent meeting with patients and following up PSA levels, which is a marker of prostate cancer. Today we met with a patient who was newly diagnosed with prostate cancer and I was extremely honored to be able to be there for that conversation. He was searching for answers and recommendations on what to do. Given that prostate cancer doesn't follow a predictable pattern, the patient could go 20-25 years without any problems, or he could start having urinary and prostate problems within 5 years. It must be an absolutely terrifying to get such a diagnosis and the fact that he was so kind to me (a student who's just trying to learn by observation and listening) meant a lot. The doctor also shared his own experience with prostate cancer to help put the patient at ease and you could see the patient visibly relax knowing that his physician truly understood what he was going through.

I have an OR day tomorrow, which I'm not so excited about. And since I know I'm not going to be in any shape to hit the gym afterwards, I'm going to hit the gym beforehand. Thankfully, that only means a 6 a.m. wake-up rather than a 7:30 a.m. one. I can do that. So, I'll do it. Tomorrow - bright and early gym time. It's been a while since I've done any strength training so it'll probably be a bit rough, but I'll be fine :-)

No photos for today since I'm lazy and only took one, but look for some for tomorrow!

Santa Claus!

Today was soooo much better. Today I worked with the doctor I was supposed to be with last week, but he was on vacation. And he was great. He taught as we went along, he chatted about his undergrad at U of M (where I also did undergrad), and he explained things in patient rooms. Also, he looks like Santa Claus (Christmas in July, anyone?) and he bought me lunch. So, basically today was a perfect day. 

The only non-perfect part was that my right foot is really acting up. It was painful all day. It almost kept me from going to Zumba, but since I was out at 5:00 p.m., I really couldn't give myself an excuse. Yes, my foot hurt, but I also needed to get up and move. It wasn't too bad during the class, but I'm thinking I should really have it checked out sometime. The only thing is that I don't exactly have a doctor in the area. So I may have to head to an urgent care after work this week. Ughssss.

Anywho, today's meals were pretty decent. My food scale ran out of batteries, so I'm not tracking right now, but I'm trying to keep things about the same as last week. Breakfast was quick because I woke up late (and also the reason as to why there's no weigh-in today). Here are photos of today's meals (minus lunch, which was a turkey sandwich and sweet potato chips):

I had the whole bagel, but almost forgot about the photo

Leftover fish tacos

Today's positive: feeling awesome for going to work out and for having a great mentor.

Long week behind me!

This past week was a long week. And I didn't make it to the gym once. After 12+ hour long days everyday but Tuesday, I just couldn't do it. I hurt too much. For those of you who have had the pleasure of standing in the same place for hours on end, you know how it feels. Most days ended up with me icing my knees and falling into bed near tears. Urology is the worst. However, I was pretty spot on with my eating (until going home Saturday), so I'm glad that if I couldn't make it to the gym, I was able to keep eating decently clean and healthy. 

This week, I have some half days in the office this week which means less knee pain and hopefully more gym trips. I'm also going to try to do a weigh-in tomorrow.

Here are some photos from the week (on my phone - I'll upload camera ones later) and let's hope my butt gets to go to Zumba tomorrow!

Swimming day today!

Dinner the other night

Bailey doesn't care about me at all