Week 2:
Finally Getting Started!

June 11, 2023

This week I was finally able to start working at the hospital full time! The beginning of the week, I received both of my badges for Children’s Hospital and Colorado University, and was able to start on Tuesday. The first day back I went through a bunch of training videos, but after that, I was able to get started on my project.

My project is about hip dysplasia in infants and looking at how COVID-19 affected the treatment plans and diagnoses during the pandemic. More specifically, we’ll be looking at patients born within the 2017 – 2022 range and comparing screenings, treatments, and recoveries before, during and after COVID-19. My main focus right now is sorting through patients’ charts and selecting which children will be part of the project. There are a few categories that they must fit, and, based on that, I enter information such as demographics, treatment plan surgery, ultrasound specifics, and more. If they aren’t included, I won’t go past demographics of the patient, but most of the time they are. Because I have a lot of patients to go through in my list, I spent the whole week doing demographics of each patient alone.

The end of my week was a lot of fun, as I was able to visit the Rocky Mountains National Park with my roommate, a friend of ours, and his PI and his husband. I met them before at a barbeque last week, so I knew going with them would be a lot of fun. We left pretty early, getting to Estes Park around 11 am, where Ingrid, Cal, and I grabbed a bite before heading up the mountain. Going up the mountain was a lot of fun as we stopped at places that Nate (the PI) or his husband (Shawn) thought were pretty cool. As we got closer and closer to the top, we went on a trail that had an altitude of about 12,000 ft, and let me tell you, I could immediately feel the difference up there. The higher you get, the sleepier you feel, because of the lack of oxygen, and going on that hike was hard! You definitely have to take it slow, especially if it’s your first time, but once you make it to the end, you’ll feel proud of yourself.

After the trail, we went all the way to the top where there was a little gift shop and café for those that got all the way up there. Shawn suggested I try the hot chocolate, and it was absolutely delicious. It probably tasted so good, because of how high we were and the fact that it was extremely cold up there. Either way I enjoyed the warmth the drink provided. We decided it was best to head back down, since the 14er would take 3 hours, and the hike before got us good.

On the way back down, we were able to see a moose, which was a first time for some of us, and then got dinner at Estes Park. The way back went by fast, and I fell asleep immediately in the car. I’m glad I was able to experience going to my first national park and hope to go on more adventures while I’m here!