End of the first week

Here's a picture of Laura at the "gas station", which involves driving out a narrow dock with no railings, turning around, and then backing up precisely over a metal plate in the dock. But it's open from 12 to 4 on some days. There are a surprising number of vehicles on the island considering that there are only a few miles of roads, total.
One of the biggest boats getting ready for the season; it pulled up to the gas dock as we were gassing up the neighbor's rig.

This is one of my dog friends, Puddin', on our walk today. Another dog took her place when she decided that she was needed elsewhere, a handsome and personable mutt of indeterminate pedigree, but I didn't get a picture of him. My preceptor, Laura, who going to be 50 this year, has inspired me to start running again, but this time I'm going to take it very slowly and use arch supports so that I don't get plantar fasciitis.

It has been in the 40s and maybe up to the low 50s, and drizzly, for days now. But today is reasonably dry and the wind isn't HOWLING like it seems to do most of the rest of the time. Planes didn't get in here for several days, because they fly on visibility only and there wasn't any of that to be had. But the ferry came in I hear--everyone is excited that they'll be running twice a month now instead of just once. I didn't get to see it.

Last night the local church had the annual fisherman's potluck to kind of bless and honor the fisher people before the start of the season. There was quite a spread, and many fisher folk and non-fisher folk were well fed. The fish was amazing! Salmon cakes, broiled salmon, fish pie--which is a traditional Russian dish that is pretty much just like chicken pot pie but not as soupy and made with--fish!
I know I keep putting up pictures of the same views, but the photos just don't do justice to the immense beauty of this place! I took this along the way with my walk with Puddin' today, and then on in to the clinic to do homework and post this missive.
This is the xray room. What you can't really see is the digital equipment, which is state of the art. The xrays are immediately available for viewing, and because they are digital, you can manipulate to some degree--lighten or darken for better contrast, zoom in, etc. These also get automatically transmitted to the hospital in Anchorage to be read by a radiologist. We have no xray tech here--techs R us.
This is a picture of the ER. I was here just last night--oh wait, it was actually early this morning. We had an emergency call for a Type 1.5 diabetic (remember your endocrinology, all you health care people! hint: AKA LADA; for all you lay people, it doesn't matter) whose blood sugar had dropped so low that he was unconscious. When we got him in here it was 64, but he was really out of it and testing within the next few minutes showed it to be 31! That's very low; that's like SEIZURE AHEAD if not treated immediately. We stuck some glucose gel in his mouth under his tongue, got an IV started and got some glucose going in. It's pretty amazing to watch how quickly hypoglycemia can be reversed. In less than half an hour he was alert, oriented and very apologetic about the whole thing. He scared the peewaden out of his wife and two grown sons. It's nice when things can resolve so well, so quickly.
Teleheath cart; this is an interesting (and very expensive) piece of technology! Right now it doesn't have the capability to go live, but may in the future. What it does is capture data like heart sounds, pictures of the inside of ears, pictures and recordings of a patient, etc., and save them in a "case" that can then be emailed to Anchorage to the Alaska Native Medical Center for review by specialists or ER docs or the like.
Tribe's flag hanging in conference room. It's been a good week! Thai will only be here until Thursday and then another PA comes in--quite a different sort from Thai, I hear. Blake (my younger son who is on a Hotshot (elite) wildland fire crew) is in Fairbanks, AK as of last night. He called me after his AK orientation, and was going to be headed out to somewhere in the surrounding area. I'm pretty excited for him--that is exactly how and where I first came to Alaska! I miss my friends and family and dogs and cat, but I'm still glad to be here. Emails, comments, phone calls and care packages will be rapturously received!
Teresa