Ho Hum

The weeks in Iowa City are flying by, and I'm having fun catching up with old friends over dinner, a few beers, and at potlucks. After rounding at the hospital both days this past weekend, I'm in my last and final week of psychiatry on ECT (electroconvulsive therapy), a particular treatment modality recommended for major depression in certain cases. This morning, my resident taught me how to place electrodes and deliver shocks. After the sixteenth patient, I had the process down!

I'm excited that a little 'bit of Washington' will be traipsing through Iowa City this week --- Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., will be in town Wednesday night discussing environmental justice and health care, and Madeleine Albright is stumping for Hillary Thursday evening. I do have an exam for psychiatry on Friday morning, but ... priorities are priorities!!!

In other news ... it's sad but true, my braces will be back on on Friday for part deux of the metal mouth experience. I can barely contain my excitement. And, I'll be packing up and heading back on the road early next week for Sioux City, where I'll be starting my community-based primary care clerkship. I'll be there for four weeks, then Des Moines for four, and land in Storm Lake for four for family medicine before the winter break hits. I think I'm destined to live the nomadic lifestyle --- but, for the most part, I don't really mind. ;)

And my final tidbit for this evening --- I was skimming the police blotter in The Daily Iowan this afternoon and noticed that a 26-year-old Zales jewelers' manager was arrested for stealing $11,000 from the business. This wouldn't have caught my eye other than the fact that she admitted to stealing the money to pay outstanding hospital bills. My best guess for the hospital bills? She probably didn't have health insurance. A sad state of affairs all around.