I love my new job!

I have been working for about a month and a half at my new job and I officially love it. I could not have asked for more kind people to work with. The two main docs I work for are Eric and Karen Heiden. 2 days a week I am in the OR and then we do clinic the other days. It is a mix of sports medicine and orthopaedic hand surgery. I am learning a ton and fortunately get to use some of my undergrad knowledge too (exercise science). We deal with people of all ages and goals - from Olympic athletes to everyday people. The best part is I am studying and learning about things I am VERY interested in. Of course I enjoyed learning all aspects of medicine in PA school but orthopaedics is especially fascinating to me. The human body is an amazing machine and how cool it is to see it in the OR!!! That is by far my favorite part of the job. I could not be happier about my decision.

So one interesting part is that Eric Heiden is a 5 time Olympic Gold Medalist in US Speedskating. He won all 5 events in the 1980 Lake Placid Olympics (similar to our modern day Michael Phelps). He is currently the official medical director for the US Speedskating team. So the other weekend was the World Cup for short track and I got an all access pass to help out. We just hung around on the sideline watching, ready for any bad falls. Their skates are pretty sharp so you can imagine the possible damage (um like a femoral artery laceration). I was given a few pairs of rubber gloves to keep in my pocket in case we had to jump out on the ice and help. Not sure if I would have been a help or a hindrance since I probably would have eaten it once I stepped on the ice myself! But it was a load of fun. I got to meet Apolo Ohno in person (really nice). Alex came the second day and watched as well as Eric and Karen's son, Connor. Here is a funny pic of us all - Connor leaned over to Alex and said "I just farted on my dad's leg"