Second Rotation: Psychiatry

I did six weeks of inpatient psych at the Seattle VA (10/1/07 - 11/09/07). It was OK, and I was the only student there, but my team wasn't the best because I had a really weird R1 who was a control freak and didn't want me to do much so he could show off how good he was (NOT!!!). He was from the east coast and just had a different attitude that didn't really jive with how most people are out here. It was pretty mellow, with the exception of never being in the loop with the other students and missing minor things like, oh, say, what was going to be on the test. I started out thinking Psych wouldn't be a bad job, but ended up not liking it at all. It seemed like all that was ever done was adjustment of medications. There was no physical exam stuff, practically no medicine. I found it boring and left thinking that not too many people are really helped.

But, the six weeks had some GREAT positives, too!
This was my second rotation, and I was well on my way to a true surfing addiction. Fortunately, call was light, so I was out at Westport almost every weekend with Seth. During this time the quiver started to expand rapidly. A quiver is what surfers call their surfboard collection, because every wave type calls for a different board. This is a picture of my S-Rail Fish made by Stewart, our favorite board shaper.

Many times we would stay Saturday night at a place called the Islander.


The attached restaurant is called the half moon bay bar and grill. The waiting area has a bench made from a surfboard, and there are tons of retro boards hanging on the ceiling. The drinks have names like "Surfrider," so you know what sort of crowd they are catering to. Unfortunately, they also cater to the Deep Sea Fishing crowd. They can be sort of gross and they tend to be smokers, heavy drinkers, fat, and loud. I know that's a big generalization, but that's been my experience. Westport appeals to surfers and the charter fishers, and they are like polar opposites in terms of personality, disposition, and the like.

Another thing we got from these excursions, were lots of new martini ideas from the Half Moon Bay Bar and Grill. One is a creation called the Sethifer-Tini:

4 parts Bicardi Lemon
2 parts Coconut Rum
2 parts Hypnotix Liquor

OK, back to surfboards. I thought that I would design my own S-Rail and have Stewart make it. Unfortunately, I'm a po mo fo, and went with stock board. Still, I'm saving this design for a future board someday when I CAN afford it...in a few years.

Seth also got a cool board. He always said that he wanted a board with a Kokopelli on it. There is a surf shop that was on my way back from UWMC while I was on my medicine rotation. Seth bought a trainer kite there for our next sport, kite boarding which we will do next Summer. But we have gone back there many times. We needed to order a travel bag for our longboards, and we went there to pick it up one weekend, and actually found THIS!!!


You might not be able to see it, but there is a Kokopelli on it!!! And even better, it was the right sized shortboard for him, AND it was like half off and totally affordable. I was seriously jealous!!!!


Halloween happened to fall during this rotation, so as you guessed, there was a theme again this year, and it was a Hawaiian surf theme. We had all of our surfboards up, an inflatable palm tree, a tiki bar sign (which still hangs in the entrance to the kitchen), and a big shark hanging from the ceiling (yes, it's still there to deter non-surfers). I was in a hula outfit, mom had a traditional mumu on, and Seth had his Hawaiian shirt and board shorts. We all had to have at least one lei and more than one surfrider martini.

We had great traditional surfing music from the 60s in the background. We actually got some, "Oh, cool" comments from the local teenagers. That's two years in a row, so we will have to come up with something "cool" again next year so we don't disappoint the kiddos. :)

This was a great night out for mom, and we had a wonderful time with her, as always.

The other thing that happened during this rotation was another ACEP National Scientific Assembly, this time in Seattle. I was appointed to another year on the national medical legal committee and had a great time. Most importantly, I met up with Lee Shockley, the director of emergency medicine at Denver General. He was also the former Program Director for the EM program. He had been a student in one of the the MBA courses I teach online, and so it was fun to meet in person. He asked me to help edit and write some chapters in a new EM textbook that he is editing. It should be a fun project. But most importantly, we really clicked and I feel like I have made a new friend with whom I will likely have a very long and interesting professional relationship. I really, really like Lee. He is something else, fo sho.