I cannot say for sure that the things I have noticed in the last month up here in Anchorage are truly unique to Alaska, as they could also be considered normal in Northern Canada, Norway, Greenland, or even Northern Russia.  Any place that is far up north, thousands of miles away from the equator, and close to the North Pole likely has similarities when it comes to the climate, the weather, and the wildlife.    The first unusual phenomena I’ve been acutely aware of is the sunlight, and not just because there is so much of it, having passed the spring equinox and heading everyda ..read more

The phone call couldn’t have come at a worse time.  It was the day before we left for our move to Alaska and the movers were shuffling around the house, finishing up packing the few things they didn’t complete the day before, and loading boxes onto the massive truck that blocked our driveway.  Sleep hadn’t been great as the cats were disturbed, knowing that something monumental was soon to happen.   The incoming phone call was one I didn’t recognize, 775-328-3001, and was marked as Public Service, with the 775-area code indicated it was coming from instate.  I put it to voi ..read more

I’m wondering if the only physicians that think about how many stairs are in a patient's home are rehabilitation physicians.  While other doctors may be looking at a patient’s blood cell counts to monitor anemia, or blood sugars for diabetes management, or infection risk before deciding on medical clearance for a surgery, when I first assess a patient I’m thinking about whether she or he will be able to get into their house after their surgery.  It’s something new students or residents learn on rotations with me; that is, an essential part of the background information for a rehabili ..read more

By last call I don’t mean the last call for alcohol before a bar closes; those nights are long behind me fortunately, way back to my college days.  No, by last call I mean the very last time I would receive phone calls about patients by nurses at the hospital, from 5 pm to 8 am the following morning.  This night I was responsible for about eighty patients, and apropos for the last time I would be on call, it was a doozy.    The phone rang its signature jingle, the screen lighting up the dark hotel room, pulling me out of a deep dream sleep.  “Hello, it’s Dr. Brooke,” I ..read more

We all gathered around the nursing station in preparation for the last celebration of a patient discharging from the inpatient rehabilitation unit.  There were many more employees than usual lining the hallway, not surprising as the census had dwindled down from a high of twenty-six patients several weeks previously, to thirteen on the day I arrived to take over their care, to just one patient.    Everyone had a lot of down time as the patient census decreased, including myself.  Each day as patients discharged, the celebrations became more and more bittersweet, and the anx ..read more

I am not good at resting.    I recently said to my husband as he sat on the couch watching one of his favorite TV series, “I need to learn to be more unproductive like you.”  He looked hurt as I tried to explain, “What I mean is that you’re really good at taking breaks from doing things, you know?”  He smiled at me, patted a spot on the couch next to him, and we both laughed at how my judgement was really a compliment in disguise.   The reason I struggle with resting is multi-factorial, partly due to my innate nature, partly due to how I was raised by my family, and pa ..read more

The universe or God or fate or just random unluckiness is teaching me about acceptance and control this week.  I was sitting at a gate in the Denver airport several days ago, waiting to board a plane to Minneapolis, one day later then I was supposed to get there for my next traveling doctor assignment.  It all started the morning of my departure from Reno when I woke up to a text from the airline that said, “Flight 1296 from Reno to Denver is delayed because your crew has not had sufficient rest time required by federal law.”  Hmmm…I thought, why was this flight scheduled earlie ..read more

I was fully immersed in a fantastic memoir, Angela’s Ashes, sitting in an aisle seat on my flight back from Wisconsin to Reno last weekend, when I heard someone call out, “Is there anyone medical on board?”  I looked up from my book and saw a man on all four knees in the aisle a few seats ahead of mine, as if he was searching for something he dropped under a seat.  But then I saw the desperate look on the face of the flight attendant who was looking around for any raised hands.  Here we go, I thought, as I carefully handed my cup of coffee to the guy next to me, snapped my tray ..read more

I finally got on a plane yesterday to return from Wisconsin back to my current home in Reno, NV.  I spent the last 3 weeks doing a locum job in a town called Eau Claire—Oh Claire I was quickly corrected when I arrived—and was so happy to head back to warmer weather.  I had not experienced that type of cold since I lived in Vermont growing up.  I remember going to a Junior Olympics try out race my junior year of high school, along with several other teammates.  My mother had driven us up to Maine, and we were staying in a quaint little Bed and Breakfast, hoping the weather w ..read more

When I tell people I’m working as a locum tenens, most look at me with confusion, like I am speaking a foreign language.  Which I am, as locum tenens is a Latin word that means “to hold the place of.”  Once I see the confusion on their face, I quickly say, “a traveling doctor,” after which they usually respond with something like, “Oh!  Like nurses that traveled to work in other hospitals during COVID.”  Yes, that’s right, and I’m really not sure why nurses are traveling nurses, and doctors are locum tenens. Maybe it’s because it comes with the territory of being put up on ..read more