Big Shoulders

The Big Shoulders 5K Swim: a Lake Michigan-size test of guts, determination and fortitude amidst the chilly, windswept waves. 


Fresh-water, long distance swimming: an event in a hostile environment at which humans are not supposed to excel, and yet excel they do. While most of Chicago and the sane world sleeps on the first Saturday after Labor Day each year, tough competitors take on Lake Michigan's currents, turbulence and temperature inversions, just for the sake of saying they have "big shoulders". Every swimmer that comes to the Lake that morning, starting with a jittery stomach and swimming with guts, finishes with a personal version of the title "Champion".


A couple months ago my friend April talked me into the above event.  Well, this morning it happened with us in participation.  Water temps 64 degrees and of course we, and most other swimmers were without wetsuits.  It was cold, there was no visibility, I thought I wasn't going to make it right after the start.  But then swimmers spread out and things got moving.  Other than feeling numb for most of the swim it was a good experience that I hope to repeat along with the 998 other swimmers.  Can't wait for next year!

finish line

after several days of big waves a calm lake for the  event!

panoramic at Ohio St beach pre race 

brrrr pre swim

And the elite swimmers are off!

Ready to swim!!

Done!!!

Pizza Pizza!

Supposedly I owed a good friend of mine dinner... I'm not sure what from.  I think maybe cover a couple cab rides?  So here's the result, homemade create your own pizza.

Step 1:  make pizza dough.  I was a little worried about this one.  Every other time I've needed to make pizza dough I've needed at least 24 advance notice.  Fortunately I found a William and Sonoma Recipe needing only about 4 hours tops with mixing, rising, rolling, and rising again.  I used regular all-purpose flour considering I was expecting a guest but whole wheat flour is always an option.  Otherwise all you need is some yeast, oil, water, and a pinch of salt

Step 2:  gather your toppings and choose what you want for your pizza.  I had some of the goods at home like the EVOO, Sundried tomatoes, tomatoes, onion, mushrooms, and fresh (homegrown and organic!) basil plant.  I ran in Treasure Island for some fresh olives, fresh spinach, goat cheese, and mozzarella cheese.  I also cooked a chicken breast for topping.  Shrimp is always another great idea, just make sure they aren't too wet.  Of course there are all sorts of other toppings too, anything you can think of go for it.  Tomato pastes can be pretty easy to make too.  You can either just cook down some tomatoes and add a little bit of olive oil and maybe some chile flakes if you want spice ... thats a quick and dirty version.  There are certainly other versions.  Or just buy tomato paste to keep it simply and time effective.   Stuffed crust is always an option too.  Just make sure you have a little bit more dough to roll out than a recipe calls for.  mozzarella cheese sticks work great to roll the dough around to "stuff" but any filler will work

Step 3:  bake until edges of crust and cheese begin browning.  I'd recommend using either a pizza stone warmed in the oven ahead of time or an actual pizza cooking pan with small holes all throughout.  It helps the middle of the crust to cook evenly.  Sometimes when just on a cookie sheet the middle doesn't cook through.  However, consider my current student status I'm have a budget to work with which means limitted pans.  Some day I dream of having an iron overhead with vines to hang my copper pots and pans and all sorts of gadgets and special trays / mixers / knives / gadgets to play with in the kitchen

Step four:  serve!  I cut my pizzas with scissors.  Maybe this is a Chicago thing or just a strange habit I picked up because my "international"  ie Florida.. friend thought this was an absurd idea.
Best enjoyed with good company, outside (weather permitting), with a sunset and good bottle of wine with conversation.

no instagram art on this one :/ got lazy

Of course if you are a little worried about your own pizza making for company... don't wait for them to arrive to assemble pizzas, make a few up of your own.  Allow time so that just incase they don't turn out you can run down to the block to "Homemade Pizza Company"... ha, while I've never actually been in one of these establishments I'm tempted to several times a week.

What kind of doctor do you want to be?

Growing up I've always known I'd go into medicine to be a doctor, nothing less.  It all seemed so simple at the time.  I even thought that once I got into medical school sure it would be tough but life would be good. Afterall that's where I needed to be to get the degree I wanted.  I though no more freaking out over every test knowning that just one test could lower my grade and lose me a seat in school.  Boy was I wrong.  The first two years every test puts you in a bit of a frenzy to keep an average and you know if you blow just one that could be it for you.  Repeat the class over the summer, repeat the year, or worse yet not be allowed to return.  Board exams even worse.  Yeah, sure you'll pass and still be able to get your degree but that score weighs heavily not on becoming a doctor but taking this childhood dream one step further and determining what KIND of doctor you'll be.  Afterall, not all physicians are created equally, or are they?

Certainly, no, not all physicians are created equally, but one has to consider what they consider most important in their physician.  Is it the high board scores?  high gpa?  good communication and interpersonal skills?  good dexterity in a surgeon?  confidence in decisions and the ability to think fast?  This is something to think about.  I have my opinions and to keep it concise, I definitely don't think a high GPA or high board scores alone are enough to judge physician by.  And this is not based solely on my solid two years of believing that B's = balanced.  I'll never be top of my class on a single test and I'm more than ok with that.

So recently I've been thinking, just what kind of doctor do I want to be... since my work with St Jude Children's hospital I've been very strongly considering pediatric oncology or infectious disease.  This is certainly still a consideration but I've also opened my mind to other options.  ER, Sports med, adult infectious disease or oncology... and several others have drifted in and out.  I'm still very up in the air.  With these ideas I'm throwing around about 4 or 5 different residency ideas.... peds, med peds, internal med, ER, family med.  hmmmm I have a lot of thinking to do over the next year.  So I decided to take a little aptitude test resulting in...

1.  ER
2-7. different types of surgery / heavy procedure based specialties
8.  Nephrology  (fml... if you  know me well you know why)
10. Pediatrics
12. infectious disease
18.  Heme/onc
and finally good old #40.  Cardiology!  hahahaha this was last on the list,  especially amusing because I took this little quiz the last day of my Cardiology rotation at Resurrection Hospital.  I was not surprised at all by this result.  Most of you know my vendetta against hypertension, high cholesterol, and diabetes.  AHHHH.  Go back and read the post from somewhere around last Feb if you care to know more.

For now time to press forward and dig a little into the world of psych at Cook County Hospital.  So far so good.  Every patient different and very interesting.

We all just want to be big rock stars

This past Monday I took my first guitar lesson.  I learned a solid two chords:  E major and minor.   But I have a print out and some practice with about 10 others.  If only I had a guitar at home to practice more (something to work on... any friends want to lend me on temporarily?)  Perhaps if I follow through on this I'll actually record and post a little tune.

So Tuesday I go back to the hospital and was pleased to learn I'd be spending all day with my favorite cardiologist, Dr. Sroubek.  He happened to know I was taking a guitar lesson and he himself is quite the guitar player.  To be honest, he wishes he was a rock star instead of a cardiologist.  He starts scheming of how he can give me pointers and find me places I'll start playing in public and finally become famous.  He's even hopeful in his scheme that I'll convert the modern day rockers back to a look sans tattoos and piercings.  I say hmmm... j. crew, pearls, and some curly fluff.. the new rock star look?  Well perhaps maybe we'll shoot for fame at the Cultural Center or Millennium Park along a more classical route.

With these thoughts of j. Crew and how much I wish I had money to buy their current Sash Skirt in thistle of course their catologue came in the mail today full of beautiful cashmere sweaters and wool pencil skirts and delicate ballet flats.  sigh.  Maybe I should reconsider the rock star route


Aside, my highlight of the day courtesy of Vital Juice recipes:  Red Velvet Protein Shake.  Yummmm
protein powder (they ask for help but make it of your choosing)
unsweetened coco powder
soy milk or almond milk or skim mild
frozen banana
frozen cherries
a few ice cubes
Throw them all in a blender and mix 'til smooth

Monday morning blues

I'm finally understanding this "syndrome."  This afternoon while walking around Rush and Division to pick a restaurant for some al fresco dining coupled with quality people and car watching it hit me that it was Sunday afternoon and tomorrow means back to the Northshore Cardiology group for me.   Now I'm by no means complaining about what I do on a day to day basis, in fact I love it (though do not want to be a cardiologist) but certainly not as much as...

A sailing lesson followed by a random party at Belmont harbor

Getting home to play with the family dog for a bit and coffee on the patio even if I did have to Oly hospital afterwards on a Saturday

A classmates house party and a friend's concert  (Stephanie, sorry I stole pics from a google search)

A day at the beach for the Air and Water show  (bonus, successfully avoided a sunburn! spf 85)

And finally a sunset run and dinner of edamame mango and ahi tuna

'Til next weekend back to the grind, kind of :)  

bottoms up!

I did my first rectal!  woo hoo ... pause.. gross.  But I do feel like this is almost a right of passage in the medical student world.   I'll admit I don't care to do another tomorrow, though wouldn't say no if the opportunity presented itself.  Though I'd prefer a patient with some  clinical pathology that be picked up on physical exam (enlarged prostate).  In my patient we were simply testing for occult blood in the stool to start along the path of ruling out a GI bleed.  Of course when I was done my senior asked if I used one or two fingers, unnecessary I said.  He replies "But you always need a second opinion! hahahaha"  Dr humor.  This is my future...  :)

re-doing my normal menu

Recently I've taken on eating "clean."  Many who really know me are probably thinking at this point... Caroline, Eating clean?  well yeah that's been going on for years.  Ok, you might be right, I can be a little neurotic about what I eat, but I'll always love ice cream.  However, this new"clean" adventure I've taken on involves eating no processed foods (at least for the most part)  I've decided I'm allowing Greek yogurt, organic rice protein powder, almond milk, and Ezekiel whole grain bread.  In reality I'm not limiting myself from many of my usuals other than things like salad dressings, whole grain pasta, pitas, cottage cheese, ...all cheese, tomato soup, canned tuna, etc.  Anyway cut to the point, I started to feel a difference within about 3 days.  It's been wonderful!  I have more energy, clear skin, and (while it will never be possible) I'm a little closer to lower abs.  I may have slipped up for one dinner though, it was a date, I mean I couldn't turn down a sushi/thai dinner ;)

Here's the other thing... I love to cook!  So what have I been making since the start of rotations and new recent menu change.  I'm finally on track with figuring things out I think.  At first the whole packing lunch and not being as excited about taking the time to cook when I get home spun me for a loop.  I'm not one to carry out much at all and living in Lincoln Park that had definitely been tempting.  I can't walk a block in any direction without passing a restaurant that looks tasty, is affordable, and is fast.  Not to mention great sushi and mexican and mediterranean places directly across the street.
Here's some tricks I've picked up and simple yet tasty and fresh easy to transport recipes

Breakfast!   Most important meal of the day, get that metabolism going :)  Throw in a short abs or legs circuit to really get it up


Tone it up Protein Pancakes  (don't mind the cheesy title, I have to give Karena and Katrina with TIU credit).
What you need:
Ripe banana:  1
Organic rice vanilla protein powder:  1 scoop
Ground flax seed:  1 tbsp
Egg white:  1 large
Mash them all together, get yourself a quality non-stick pan and cook it like you would any other pancake!  But watch it closely using low heat, they can burn pretty easy
Extra Tip:  If you are short on time in the morning make 3 servings at once and store in an airtight container
One more extra:  mix up and in other ingredients.  Perhaps berries, apples, almonds, cinnamon, lemon
And finally:  Come autumn consider mixing in pumpkin!

Coco Banana Cinnamon Protein smoothie
Mix in a blender...
Banana, frozen:  1
Organic rice protein powder:  1 scoop
flax seed:  1 tbsp
organic unsweetened coco powder: spoonful
Ice:  as needed
Almond milk to taste
(if you're a caffeine addict like me):  2 espresso shots
If you're post workout and really hungry, think about adding a scoop of Peanut butter.  Yummm, like a reeses peanut butter cup.  Cinnamon adds a good taste too!

Greek yogurt with berries or mango and raw almond slivers
self explanatory :)

Oatmeal
pretty simple, minus any sweeteners, try just some fresh fruits with it


Lunch  (easy to eat at a desk, on the go, or if you're lucky like me in a lecture)
Quinoa with fresh veggies and salmon or chicken
Quinoa:  1/2 cup.  to prepare mix with 1 cup water, place in sauce pan, bring to a simmer and cover for about 10 minutes.  It cooks up just like rice but with the added benefit of being a complete protein and high in fiber
Sauteed veggies:  take your pics of mushrooms, peppers, asparagus, spinach, onion, etc
Garlic if you're into that
Once everything is cooked mix it all together and put in in the fridge overnight.  I recommend adding some diced tomatoes after its chilled
Putting a grilled chicken breast or grilled salmon filet on top really completes the meal nicely and keep you going all afternoon

Chicken, Salmon, or Shrimp salad with stir fried veggies
Romaine Heart chopped
Stir fried veggies (just like mentioned above)
diced tomatoes and cucumbers.  yummmm
Top it off with a grilled protein of you're choosing!
if you're not going un-processed try some kalamata olives and goat cheese
Dressing: pick your favorite or if sticking with my current change splash some balsamic or red wine vinegar in a plastic bag and put in on your salad at lunch later

that greek yogurt deal, also excellent for lunch
with a side of veggies too, up those vitamins and nutrients

Dinner
I'm too lazy to keep typing but food for thought :)
Egg-white frittata
Grilled chicken breast / shrimp / salmon/ ahi tuna / etc with stir-fried veggies
Steamed Oysters/ muscles: unfortunately gotta ditch the white wine in your sauce, but add some tomatoes and chili pepper flakes and garlic
Sashimi
Quinoa plus toppings of your choosing
The list goes on.

Due to my schedule this has actually taken me a few days to type up and since it's been almost 10 days of eating non-processed :)  Except this past Sat where I visited Sultans Market with a friend and my fam took me out for dinner to Gejas.  I wasn't about to pass up the cheese appetizer fondue or chocolate dessert.  No chance no way