Life in Chanute

I've been in Chanute, KS for my rural rotation for two weeks now.  I thought it would be a fun rotation, since I lucked out and was paired with an OB/GYN.  I also loved my two rotations in Sabetha, but I knew it would be really fun to concentrate on the area of medicine I really care about.  As I've been saying for the past year, I don't really care if I ever see another male patient again!  (Unfortunately, I will have to, in the ER in April and during whatever off-service rotations I have in residency.)

First of all, the physician I am working with is awesome.  He is very professional and courteous with patients, and very smart.  He also really loves OB/GYN.  He is one of the few practicing OBs who didn't tell me to run screaming from the field.  He does force me to wear the short white coat (although today I convinced him that I am just spreading germs around and this is not the field to "get your coat dirty"). 

The unfortunate truth about what is on/in a medical student's coat.

Other than this anti-white coat attitude of mine, I can't think of any downsides to this rotation (except for Panera is not just up the street)!  The OR has become my new favorite place.  I think I pursued this field for obstetrics, but I am realizing how much I love gynecology (especially the surgical aspect) as well.  I guess it is a good thing that I'm not just enjoying 50% of my chosen field!  We operate Mondays and Fridays, although we had a cerclage placement this morning.  The rest of the time is spent in clinic.  Clinic days are very relaxed, and we have a lot of fun in between seeing patients.  I've taught my preceptor how to watch TV shows online for free (sidereel, anyone?) and we've been playing our favorite music in his office today.  Turns out, he has fallen in love with Lady Antebellum and Kellie Pickler.  I keep trying to catch him on video, and I have a great clip of him singing along to "The Best Days of Your Life."  He refuses to let me post videos of him singing along.  I guess that's probably appropriate for his professional reputation.  But it will remain stored on my computer, to be laughed at forever.

Chanute has been great as a town.  It's smaller than the town I went to undergraduate in (Pittsburg), but in a good way.  The lack of frat houses with couches in the front lawn is definitely a plus.  I am staying in a cute house across the street from the hospital.  It takes me about 30 minutes, door to door, to get to KU.  It takes me 30 seconds in Chanute, door to door, on a bad day. 

The cute house I am currently staying in.

An aerial view of the hospital - you can see the house if you look closely!

The size is large enough to support two OB/GYNs, family medicine, internal medicine, pediatrics, a urologist, and other specialties.  But the town is also small enough to have a great small town feel.  Everyone is extremely friendly.  Walking down the hall in the hospital, everyone smiles and says hello.  Try doing that at KU Med; people would look at you like you're crazy!  The staff at the clinic are very kind and helpful.  The nurses and other staff in labor and delivery and the OR are also very sweet.  I came in to pull my own gloves and the scrub tech told me, "Erin, we already have them for you!  6 and a half, right?"  (For anyone who is not a medical student, you must realize that this NEVER happens at KU.  Only when you are a resident does anyone care what glove size you wear, and even then it can take a while for people to remember).  This has made me realize that working as an OB/GYN in a small town is not out of the question; it is very much on my list of possibilities now.  I am not bashing KU; I love it there too!  It's just nice to have a break from the tertiary care environment every once in a while.

For now, we have a couple more patients to see in the clinic.  Then it's on to more evening wedding planning and Modern Family-watching!  I am staying this weekend on call in Chanute, so Dann and Carson are coming to visit.  We are going to have dinner with my preceptor and his family.  I have a feeling that they will get along very well; I keep telling my preceptor that he and Dann will be "bff".  Unfortunately, I have no pictures of Carson to share, but I certainly will by Sunday!

I do have one photo to end with.  Lizz is in Africa, and probably unable to read this, but when I saw this sign I thought of her!  This place is your "nightmare" but don't worry, it's been closed five years!