A Bit of An Update

I am going to attempt to emerge from this unofficial blogging hiatus. Like I said before, it wasn't exactly intentional; I've just had SO much swirling around in my head that I don't know how to put into words. Thankfully things have been getting better. The nerve pain has definitely eased up; I've had maybe 4-5 solidly good days in a row now, and that initial omgit'sback panic has settled down. I saw my College City doc yesterday afternoon, and his advice was basically: "Ride it out, see what happens, and come back if it gets worse. But I don't think it will get worse; I think it will get better." At first that frustrated me, because I wanted an answer not a wait-and-see. But now I feel better about, more like "well if he's not worried, then I shouldn't be either."

As per usual I have been insanely busy. Work, clinic, school, research, eating, sleeping (not much), and watching Scandal pretty much fills my time these days. To give you an idea, A Week in the Life:

Monday
9am-5pm: clinic
Tuesday
9am-1pm: work
1-3pm: class
3-6pm work
Wednesday
10-11am: therapy
12-6pm: work
Thursday
9am-12:30pm: clinic
1-3pm: class
3-6pm: work
Friday
9am-5pm: clinic
Saturday
10am-3pm: food bank
Sunday
SWEET NOTHING

My class ends the second week of July, so things should slow down a bit after that. Although I just signed on to do qualitative interviews for a study with another professor for a study starting this month, so that will probably take up a few hours a week too.

For the last couple of weeks, I was spending every free minute in my advisor's office helping him put together a giant grant proposal for a study he is planning. Literally, I would go after work or class every day and stay until 8 or 9pm. Thank goodness we finally got it out just before the deadline. It's a lot of money for a very exciting study so everyone keep your fingers and toes crossed that we get funded!!! My advisor (has he gotten a letter? Let's call him J) took me out to lunch yesterday as a thank-you. We went to this amazing restaurant where I ordered mahi mahi with lentils (YUM) and he ordered scallops AND THEN he took me to Starbucks and bought me a cup of coffee. What more could a girl want? It was really nice to have a chance to get out of his office and chat about non-school-related things.

Last night I had some friends over to open a bottle of wine and chat. For all the problems and disillusionment I've had with my graduate program, I really have made some great friends. It's sort of hard when you know that most people will only be around for two years, but I do not function well without a crew of girlfriends around. My former roommate and other college friends are great from a distance, but there's no substitute for having people to call on a Friday night, you know?

Clinic is still one crisis after another. Last Friday I had two suicidal patients back-to-back. One ended up in the hospital and the other ended up in a domestic violence shelter. So that kind of put a damper on my day. Then I saw a guy who has been living under a bridge since he got out of prison in 2006. His dad just died, and he cried for an hour in my office. I vacillate constantly between wanting to stay on and help these people, and wanting to get the hell out of this clinic as fast as possible.

Well, this was a little disjointed, but hopefully that gives you guys an idea of what I've been up to these past few weeks. Hopefully I will get back into the habit of blogging more regularly. Toodles!