oh what a day...

So I am not prefacing the story, i know real weird for me.
OK, so as you know I got my extern assignment last week. I started today, the rest of my class started yesterday, but my site needed a day i guess to prepare for the fun that was going to hit them.

So being that I would be working in the med center I decided to take a test drive out there on Sunday, to figure out exactly where I was going figure out parking...etc. Well I found the hospital but I had no idea about parking. I wound up giving up and went home.

Yesterday (Monday) I started thinking that I was going to have to leave REALLY early to be sure about parking, so I called the Dr. to ask for clarification...again. When I talked to her she said a street and some landmark that really made no sense, but I thought maybe once I was there it would, so I made a second test drive...with no more luck and just as confused as ever I go home again. I was starting to have a sinking feeling that something wasn't right...why would the office tell me they were on memorial south...when Memorial doesn't even go to the med center...what brown building...and there is no free parking ANYWHERE near the med center, especially with no permit. I called my mom and decided maybe it would help if she drove me, then I could focus more on looking and not on traffic, and even run in the hospital and ask for direction if needed. So we venture down there a third time, I run in the hospital and hand the guy at the reception desk my paper with my assignment and ask him the best way to get there, he looked a little confused, and told me the suite they gave me was the mail room. So he needed more details to find where I belonged, details I didn't know, I didn't have a DR. name, or apparently an address, it was after 5 so when I tried to call to find out it went to an answering service. He traced the mail room number to an office, but it still wasn't making a lot of sense. I asked him about the mysterious free parking and he said for a fact that does not exist.

So I leave again, growing more and more frustrated that nobody knows where I go including myself. On the way home I was fighting crying...partially because I was hungry and tired and cranky, on top of all this madness. I start thinking I am REALLY uneasy about it all and felt like there was no way this could end well. So I decide I need to talk to the lady who coordinates our externships. But I don't have a phone number for her...that isn't her office. So I text another teacher, and she sends me her number...which is disconnected. I'm running out of options, so I get home and after some thought remember I am myspace friends with my teacher, so as a last resort I wrote on her wall to call me, but thinking she wouldn't check that. Well luckily she did, and she called me. I told her all that had happened, and she tells me to meet her in the morning at school because that really didn't seem right and she didn't want me to go all over town since it was her fault I had the mailing address.

So this morning I get there and let her call the dr. office (at this point I was already late, and I didn't want to be the one to tell them I was late already on the first day) Well, imagine both of our surprises when we find out I had been placed in HUMBLE...which is an hour from where I live, if not more. So she politely tells them that is not going to work and that I would not be the extern for them.

So at 8am I am sitting in her office, already a day behind on my externship realizing that it might be another day or 2 before I could be placed. BUT the good thing is that I was able to in a way pick where I would wind up...so clearly I said Katy, and in pediatrics. It's funny though because now I was a little disappointed because in fixing the disappointment from not getting peds to begin with I convinced myself that cardiology was a better specialty. Oh well.

So I had my first day at Katy Pediatrics. I LOVE LOVE LOVE pediatrics. One of the first patients I helped was a little girl with down syndrome, while the mom and the other MA were talking about symptoms and stuff I bent down and started playing with the little girl...when we were walking out of the room the little girl reached out for me, her mom said that was really unusual and that she must have liked me. Then I had to observe blood being drawn...while the MA was putting the tourniquite on to find a vein, the little boy (maybe 4yr old) started crying...next thing I knew I was tearing up while she started to draw the blood, luckily I was able to hide it. It was really funny because after a few people they let me start getting the patients on my own and doing vitals. I'm not going to lie, I felt so important, the moms would tell me the symptoms like I was going to turn and tell them what was wrong. The kids were on their best behavior...they thought I was cool.

However, I'm not sure how I feel about the office, I don't know if it's just that office or the nature of the job, but nobody seems that friendly, I seem to be the most outgoing, and I'm really not that outgoing...the other 2 MAs one seems nice and one does not. The one that does not seem nice would get mad at me for weird things, like she asked me to send a fax, so I did it, but the line was busy, so I kept trying, and she came out and was mad that it was taking me too long, but I can't control if the recieving party is busy. But I am a little relieved, because they seem to have plenty of MAs so I can't imagine that there is a possibility of being hired, and so that takes some pressure off, obviously I still want to do well because they will be a reference, but if today was any indicator, even if I am offered a position I do not think I'll take it.

Anyhoo, it's funny how I was all worked up last week and now I got exactly what I wanted to begin with...and it feels REALLY good to be doing something I really enjoy.