I LOVE SPACE!!!

Summit of Mauna Kea, so beautiful!

This sort of reminds me of Star Wars for some reason

Are we on the moon here??

Subaru Observatories

Me on the summit of Mauna Kea, seriously who wears flip flops on a mountain?!?! It was really freakin cold (20's-30's) but I had blisters, so no shoes for me.

Sunset at the Summit

Happy Natalie among all of the other nerdy science lovers!

For those of you who didn't know, I love space. Yes it is true I grew up going to science camps instead of playing sports :) So for me the one touristy thing I really wanted to do was to go stargazing on the summit of Mauna Kea......14,000ft. It was absolutely amazing and so beautiful. We left Kona in the afternoon and headed up to the mountain. Made a pit stop at the visitor's center for food and gift shopping. Which was perfect, I bought sweat pants, since I didn't have any pants to wear!! Then we headed up to the summit for sunset. After sunset we came back down to 9,000 ft for stargazing. It was incredible, sipping hot cocoa and looking at the RINGS OF SATURN! Yeah AWESOME!!

Still waiting to hear if I even have a next rotation. It is now Tuesday and I'm supposed to be somewhere Mon! Hmmmmm, we'll have to wait and see I guess. I head home on Friday. Can't wait to see my greg. Although we both wish he were coming here!!!

Hope everyone is doing well.

Surgery is coming to an end...

This has been an incredible rotation. I have learned so much. I've been able to assist in surgery, much harder than I thought (the coordination thing gets me). I saw my first C-section yesterday.....let me just say AMAZING! I'm hoping to see a few more births before I leave. My preceptor has given me free reign on the hospital so I can just pop into any dept throw out his name and learn! A great opportunity.

I'm glad to be getting home......Hawaii is great, but come on paradise gets lonely without Greg! I still DO NOT HAVE MY NEXT ROTATION set!!!!!!! Am I stressed? I have gotten past that, now I'm just going with the flow. So we'll see what happens with that.

Hope everyone is doing well and sticking to those resolutions (mine is about half out the window........)
Take Care
:) Natalie

Family in Town

My cousin Linda came to visit! This is her first visit to Hawaii. It has been great having a familiar face around.

Whale watching off of Waikoloa on the Red Sails Catamaran. There were 4 very active whales, 2 of which were fighting for some hot female whale.

Another gorgeous night in Kona. It is so beautiful here. It really has been amazing waking up in paradise everyday! But I'll be glad to be home and see my Greg!

The Road to the Super Bowl

Well those who know me, know that I am not gifted with athletic skills. However, I've been rooting my team towards the Super Bowl and just have to say THE COLTS ARE GOING ALL THE WAY BABY!!!! Greg is more than thrilled that I finally picked a team (although he was disapointed I didn't choose Denver) last year and can watch an entire Colts game and cheer with the right lingo :) So next week be sure and cheer for Indianapolis!

1 down 3 to go...

See it can be cloudy here!

Oh Beautiful Kona

My place...small and cozy

Well I am finally settled in to my place here in South Kona. It's pretty small, feels like dorm life again. But hey it's cheap, clean, close to the beach and hospital! I am literally 1 block off of the main street that goes through the touristy area of Kona on Ali'i Dr.
So far surgery has been pretty incredible. It is very different from my previous rotations, I felt really out of place the first day :) But once I saw how things run and who does what it has been nothing but enjoyable. Yesterday was the first day that I got to scrub in and actually help out with surgery. I had my hand in a man's abdomen....incredible! And I didn't ruin the sterile field, which let me tell ya I was worried about....we all know I am the clumsy one and somehow I managed to harness it! The surgeons were removing most of his stomach due to cancer and this surgery would add a few months to his life.
I only worked Wed-Fri this week so I'm not sure exactly how the weeks to follow are going to go, but it seems I will be spending most of my time in the OR or on the medical surgical floor with my preceptor. If my preceptor does not have surgery I round with him first thing in the morning to check on his patients and then go up to the OR and see if I can watch any of the surgeries on the board. If my preceptor has surgery then I scrub in for sure.

It is a small hospital, which I am really growing to love. I don't see myself working in a large hospital or clinic at all. There are 3 operating rooms and they are all next to each other. Everyone knows each other and has a great sense of humor.

I don't know how I keep lucking out with all of these great rotations. My preceptor is another very laid back person who likes to joke around. I think these next 3 weeks are going to fly by, which is great cause I can't wait to see my Greg again! But we both agree it would be better if he were here and not freezing at home :)

It has been so great to hear from everyone! It can be hard sometimes being totally alone out here in the middle of the Pacific. I don't have the small community feel of Unalaska out here :) But it keeps me working out way more than normal, so that is a plus!

Hope everyone is enjoying the new year.
Have a wonderful day!!
:) Natalie

Happy New Year!

Family Snorkel Day!

Hanging out on the snorkel boat!

I love Honu!!

My henna tattoo!!

Sunset on the Kona shoreline

Hapuna Prince Pool

Greg and I posing at sunset

Sunset from Hapuna

Well Christmas vacation is over and the new year is here. Greg went home yesterday and I moved into my little studio for the month. We both wish he could have just stayed for the month.....but since he's the only one bringin in the bacon.....that just can't work. Greg is getting ready for the legislation which goes into session next Monday....lots of trips to the capitol for him.


The Dr. I am working with is laid back and it sounds like this rotation will be another enjoyable one. In fact today I had the day off, so I went to check out the operating room....where I will be tomorrow morning at 7:30. Two gallbladder removals and one carpal tunnel decompression are on the schedule.

Hope everyone enjoyed the holidays!


Happy New Year!

Christmas Time!

Salt water pool at the condo....amazing when there are good waves comin in

There's a turtle here.....can you find it??

Greg on Christmas Eve playing in the waves

Part of our condo in Kona

Mele Kalikimaka!

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve and it is sunny and warm here! Definitely does not feel like Christmas except for the palm trees wrapped in lights. We've done some snorkeling and boogie boarding. It has been awesome spending time with Greg's family........We've been BBQ-ing and relaxin everyday. Hope you are enjoying the holidays with your loved ones.
:) Natalie and Greg

School's Out! Time to start vacation!!

Natalie and Chad goofing off in class.....stolen from Nina's page :)

Natalie and Nina back at school.....(I stole this one too)

I'm finally done with class back on campus. Let me tell you about having to sit in class after being able to be up and busy all day with patients, it is tough! But it was great to see people in class.....and always good to hear about rotations so you know what to expect.

So we arrive at the airport this morning with smiles only to find out that our flight to Kona has been delayed. You are probably reading this and not feeling sorry for us, we understand cause we get to go to Hawaii!! We're very excited to spend Christmas with the Miller clan, this is our first with them.

Greg will be in Hawaii until 1/1 and I start my surgical rotation on 1/2. I am working with a general surgeon and I have no idea what I am going to be doing. I have heard from classmates that surgical rotations vary a lot. So I may be clamping, retracting, and closing and get some good suturing experience or I may just be observing for the next month. I'll definitely miss being able to see patients in the clinic setting, which I have discovered I absolutely love! Regardless, I'll be on a nice laid back island with sunshine :)

Hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season!!!
Take care,
:) Natalie

I'm in Unalaska!

I've been in Dutch Harbor for 3 days and have had quite the exciting start! I landed on Sunday late afternoon got settled in and started clinic on Monday at 9am. Worked all day with my preceptor and thought the day was over at 5pm.

I got to fly with a flight paramedic and flight nurse out of Dutch to transport a patient to Anchorage. The patient was having cardiac problems but was stable for most of the flight. The pt then crashed just as we were landing, the nurse and paramedic had to shock him. Then once he got into the ambulance his blood pressure sky rocketed and we had lights and sirens all the way to the hospital. It was CRAZY! I can't wait to fly again if they have room! We stayed the night in Anchorage and flew back to Dutch this morning. I came home took a shower and went to the clinic for the rest of the afternoon.

They have housing for me here and a car.....driving a nice little Jimmy. My house is a 3 bedroom place with a full kitchen that looks out to a lake and a mountain. The mountains here remind me of Kauai. The clinic I work at is the Iliuliuk Family Health Clinic. They have a couple of doctors, a few PAs and a NP. The patients are pretty diverse, a lot of local residents, but also part timers like crabmen/fishermen and cannery processors.

If the rain dies down tomorrow I'll try taking some pictures, but as of now I am literally hoping that I don't blow away when I go outside. Seriously rain from every direction out here.....and it hasn't stopped all day! Pacific Northwest has nothing on Dutch! It really is pretty amazing out here, I really like it!

Hope everyone is doing well!!!
Take Care,
:) natalie

There is always something going on in Dutch/Unalaska

Well I am getting settled in to life here in the Aleutians. Went on a great hike this last weekend with my preceptor and his family. It was absolutely beautiful.....the weather changes here every 15 minutes, so a hike in the sun can quickly turn into wind and rain.

I did get to go to the jail and give a prisoner an injection. I don't ever want to go to jail. When the door closed behind me in the cell, that was enough for me!

Yesterday a patient came in from one of the crab boats that is being filmed for the Deadliest Catch on the Discovery Channel. So keep your eyes peeled if you watch the show. I had to sign a release so I'm on a little bit of the footage!

And now for the story behind my new nickname at the clinic Dunkin Donuts Miller. A patient of ours came in to have an infection looked at and he offered to take me on a boat tour. He works on a fishing boat that also does processing. So Dr. Baines thought it would be a good idea for me to get an idea of what people are doing when they injure themselves at work and come into the clinic. So I was very appreciative that they let me go on the boat so I brought along a box of donuts for the crew, because as you know I love donuts. We had to cross over 2 boats to get to the patient's boat. He was ahead of me as we were crossing from boat #2 to #3.....lost his balance with the donuts in his hand and fell overboard!!!!!!!! I couldn't believe. The crew got him out, he was probably in the water for 2 minutes or so and then they took him inside to warm him up......so there ya go, Dunkin Donuts Miller :)

It has finally snowed here! But nothing that sticks....but it is gorgeous in the mountains around us!!

Got to get back to it! Have a great week everyone!