Pandakar

In a few weeks I will be traveling to the imaginary country of Pandakar to participate in Operation Bushmaster. This is an extremely intense field exercize where I will learn how to operate in a field environment. The following link goes to an article that talks about the exercize. This is from last year and is pretty accurate.

http://www.aamc.org/newsroom/reporter/sept06/military.htm

Caleb and Charlotte in Their Internet Video Debut

Lake Needwood Hike

We spent last Saturday exploring the woods around Lake Needwood. It was a fun little diversion for us. Emily missed the adventure due to sickness, unfortunately.

Our Hawaii Trip

And So It Ends

This year has been a roller coaster of emotion and adventure.  I have traveled across our great nation.  I have been in the hospital in the middle of the night assisting in an emergency open heart surgery.  I have delivered 2 babies.  I have performed several vasectomies.  I have interviewed hundreds of patients. Now I am a fourth year medical student.  A senior yet again, and for the last time.  

Medical school is a terribly difficult proposition.  It involves stressing your mind and your body to the limits of fatigue.  It does take a toll and there are those that don't make it.  Here I am at the cusp of the fourth year of medical school.   In addition to school life also moves on.  Emily and I will introduce a new member into our family in February of next year. 

There is a part of me who wants to be done.   It is tough to persevere, but in the end it will be worth it.  I will be able to look back on my medical school experience and wonder how I made it through.  I look back at what I have already done and think the same thing.  For all the budding doctors out there, buckle down and get to work.  It's not easy, but when you finally have a patient who tells you that you made a difference it makes it worth it.

So ends the third year of medical school.

Samuel Grindstaff

It has been a fun trip. It was definitely worth it. This is probably our only chance to be in Hawaii unless we get lucky enough to get stationed here later on.

As a side note I saw some of the newly graduated doctors from USU getting ready for the start of their internship year. That will be me next year. Come July 1st if you need to go to the hospital that young doctor taking care of you will most likely by a brand new intern. Make them feel good and say "hey newbie, congratulations on completing medical school." Then it is time to pray that the new doctor won't hurt you. (The best time to get sick is in May or early June because the interns have learned the system, they are battle hardened and they have learned from their early 'mistakes.')

Paradise Cove

Emily left and I had the opportunity to go to Paradise Cove for a luau. It was a lot of fun. THIS IS JUST AN EXAMPLE OF A HULA AND WAS ORIGINALLY GOING TO BE A SHORT VIDEO BUT THE DOWNLOAD DIDN'T WORK SO I ONLY HAVE THE FIRST FRAME. If I can get a video to upload I will quickly post it to the blog.

Surprise

As all of you now know we are expecting another little one. Congratulations to Kara to be the first one to find out and to Chelle for being the first one to call.

And I Thought I was Crazy

The alarm goes off and it is another day of dealing with the endless problems of others. Part of psychiatry is finding out why people are crazy. Usually it is because sometime in the past the individual had an inner conflict where they hated their father and loved their mother and so they fixated on that said event subconsciously and if they cannot overcome the said conflict they will be stuck in a state of dysforia forever. This kind of logic works because no one really knows what it means, but it sounds smart.

It is nice that I have been able to be in Hawaii for this rotation. It has taken my mind off of other peoples minds. I have learned that people can be really crazy. I thought I knew what crazy was by growing up in the Grindstaff household. We had a bunch of star players like Chelle, Scott, Matthew, Amy, Sandra, Isaac, Aarron and Anita (quite the bunch). Looking back, we were definitely crazy, but we weren't wild crazies. The people I deal with make us look as sane as the Pope on Sunday (extra points for using a Pontiff cliche).

Now we have a new bunch of kids growing up in families across the United States. Hopefully they have fun with their not so wild but still crazy parents (the inlaws may be crazier then the rest of the bunch because they chose to come into our nutty family). As it is I will send my therapy bills to Mom and Dad. Don't worry, I will still have to pay, when my kids get old and realize they grew up with a bunch of crazies.

Samuel Grindstaff

Guess What?

I don't think that many people out there read this blog, but those of you who do are in for a treat today. You see there is a surprise found in this particular writing.

Now we have been enjoying a wonderful time , especially playing at the beach and staring at coconut trees. This has been particularly enjoyable. There is a coconut tree that is right outside of our hotel room that we can see by the balcony. There are three of them together and we have watched the little coconuts get bigger, and now they are turning yellow. Next they will turn brown (most likely when we are gone) and then they will be ready to harvest. This will probably be done by an ambitious medical student who will climb the tree, fall and then spend the rest of medical school in a full body cast. We are an adventurous bunch.

Emily and I will leave this place with happy memories of the islands of Hawaii. Even though I am ready to go I will miss this place. We have gotten a lot of souvenirs. We got a bowl made of the hardwood trees of Hawaii (though it was made in the Philippines), we got a dancing hula doll, a small drum, a ukulele, and another timeless gift.

I told you that reading this would be worth it. I hope you have enjoyed my blathering. As for the surprise, call me and see if you guessed right.

Samuel Grindstaff

Here we are at the dole plantation. The highlight was seeing what a pineapple looks like when it is still on the plant.


















Here are some pictures at an old volcanic crater. Notice the brown backgrounds with Grandma and Grandpa Hilton. There has been a drought this year.

We managed to find ourselves at the Hawai'i temple and the Polynesian cultural center. This is where I got this stellar tattoo. Of course it was ink (injected into the subcutaneous tissue with a small hypodermic needle.) The kids got them too.

This is more from our trip. On memorial day we went to pearl harbor and saw the USS Arizona memorial. This is where WWII started for the United States. We were also able to go on the USS Missouri, where the surrender was signed by Japan ending WWII.