One step closer to home ownership

Offer made, bid accepted - inspection pending - more to follow.

A tour of my new clinic

I thought I would take this opportunity to show all of you in Dallas my new digs.

After 6 weeks, my office is still organized - without boxes, sleeping bags, or stacks of unfiled papers.


And I even have pictures up on the walls



I couldn't take a picture of the waiting room, because there were patients in there - but we actually have a waiting room with a door.

Here is the front hall into clinic

3 exam rooms and one "treatment" room - used for accessing ports, etc. At the end of the hall is one of our 2 private infusion rooms - here is a close-up

We also have a "sub-waiting" area with a fish tank, and a nurses station with a glass wall that looks out over the subwaiting area, with a view of sub-waiting and both infusion rooms.



In the nurses station - there are 3 computers for 3 nurses (not 2 computers for 5 nurses). My office is about 50 feet from the nurses station, so I just bring my work in here and stay out of the nurses' ways.

We have a lab about 50 feet in the opposite direction, and we get CBC's back in about 15 minutes on a slow day. The pharmacy is across the hall from the lab, and all of our chemotherapy is made there - the pharmacy is actually a real room, not a converted coat closet.

I tried to get some pictures of the nurses and other docs, but they were all shy, so you'll just have to wait until COG to meet them - they are all anxious to taste real mexican food (perhaps the single "Dallas" thing I miss the most - other than all of you that I worked with at CCBD.)

I am meeting with the local Make-a-Wish folks today to try to get involved with the organization here - it is not nearly as well organized here as in Dallas, but I have hopes.

Keep up the posting on the cowbell blog, so that I can stay up-to-date.

I miss all of you.

Doug

One Month Anniversary

Today is my 1 month anniversary here at work in North Carolina. My office is still well organized, with no piles, and no sleeping equipment.

The kids started school yesterday at Asheville Catholic School - they really seemed to like it, and all of the kids and parents that we have met from the school have been very nice.

We have found 2 houses that we really like - and can probably even afford. Bonnie and I are planning to put a bid in on the house below.

It is a very nice, completely upgraded 1930's Tudor that is only about 5 minutes from work and 10 minutes from the kid's school. I will let you know if we get the house.

That's all for now - I will take picture of the people I work with soon, so you can have faces with the names.

Doug

A week in the life at Mission Hospital

I have now been working for real for about 2 weeks, and am starting to get the feel of things. It is certainly a different pace here than in Dallas. Clinic actually seems fairly similar - although we only see about 12 patients a day, it is just me and the NP (Brad) who see patients.

I take call every 3rd week from Monday through Sunday, and I am it - Mommy calls, ER calls, Floor calls - you name it. Actually it isn't as bad as it sounds (at least not so far). I typically get 3-5 calls a night, and the routine kids (sickle cell pain, F&N, etc) get admitted from the ER by either the ER docs or Family practice residents (which basically means that I dictate my orders to them). The floor nurses are very good, and very experienced - better than all but a few residents I have known.

During my call week, I cover the inpatient unit, which typically has between 3 and 6 inpatients - I am student/resident/fellow and attending all in one, so 5 or 6 patients can easily fill up most of a day. I also do all of the procedures during that week (the sedation is handled by the PICU, and I just show up, do my job and leave - everyone gets propofol). We are almost ready to open up a brand new sedation suite right across the hall from clinic, which will make it easier.

During the 2 weeks that I am not on call, I cover the clinic 6 days, with 2 days off, and 2 "administrative" days. Believe it or not, the clinic actually has a scheduling system, and patients actually show up at their appointed time (almost always within 15 minutes of their appointment).

Thats all for now - I will take some pictures of the clinic, and some of the people here for my next update.

I miss all of you in Dallas - I will see some of you at ASH in December, and I have not been able to confirm that I will be at COG in Dallas in March.

Bye for now.

Doug

My first week of work

I have been at work for a week now (actually, I have been here almost 2 weeks, but the first week was all orientation, and I didn't actually get my hospital privileges until noon last Friday (then I got to take call for the weekend).

Things are definitely different here in Asheville - for one thing, the clinic is about 3 times the size of the clinic in Dallas, and I see about 12-14 patients per day. I am either in clinic or on the inpatient service 4 days/week, and the other day alternates between an "administrative day" or a day off (in the middle of the week).

Here is a picture of the outside of the clinic building - it is not physically part of the hospital (which I am not too fond of, but not too far away)

Since I couldn't actually see patients during my first week, I have actually already unpacked my office (I have even hung up my diplomas) - believe it or not, I have no boxes, and no "sleeping arrangements" in my office.




Best of all is the view from my office window - a little better than the Rail Station.

That's all for now - I need to get to work - more to come soon.

Doug

Finally set up in Asheville

Well, here I am - finally with high speed internet access in Asheville - I have had e-mail for about a week and dial up since I have been here, but it is tough to upload pictures over a dial-up connection.

T0 bring all of you up to speed. After I got to North Carolina, I was picked up by Bonnie and the kids and immediately we went to her parent's cabin in the mountains - lots of time hiking and relaxing - here is a picture of my kids and my nephew looking over a waterfall -

After about a week, we came back to our very small (~850 square feet) 2 bedroom apt in Asheville to get settled in and unpacked. Here is the view off of the apartment's patio -

Since I won't have any vacation time until I have been here for 90 days, we decided to take a family (including the dogs) vacati0n to Hilton Head for a long 4-day weekend.

After that, I came back, and started orientation for my new job on July 17.

I need to get to clinic now, so I will post on my 1st week of "work" soon.

I miss all of you in Dallas.

Doug

Pictures from the Drive

DOG is my Co-Pilot


Welcome to Arkansas? Driving past St. Jude

Welcome to North Carolina

The Move - Part 1

Well, my family is now in North Carolina, and I am back in Dallas for my last 3 weeks of work (including 2 weekends on call).

The last 2 weeks have been really busy:
1) The kids left to visit my parents in Knoxville, TN on May 30 - later that day, we closed on the sale of our house in Rowlett
2) The movers came on May 31 - June 2 to pack and load up our house.
3) Bonnie and I drove, with the 2 dogs, from Rowlett to Knoxville (15 hours in the car) on June 2
4) Bonnie and I drove to Asheville on June 4 to sign the lease on our new apartment on June 5
5) The movers unloaded all 302 boxes on June 7 into a small 2 bedroom apartment and a 10x20 foot storage unit.
6) I returned to Dallas on June 8 (~7am) . When I got off the plane, there was a voice mail from Bonnie that the washing machine had been installed incorrectly (by the movers, not me - Thank God) and flooded the apartment.
7) On Friday, June 9 my parents brought the kids and dogs to the apartment, and helped Bonnie clean up the apartment and get it unpacked.