As we move into finishing the first month of my 9^th trimester, things are slowly but surely getting back to normal. Here in Florida, the beaches and businesses are beginning to open back up, and my girlfriend and I have been able to get out of the house a little more to enjoy Pinellas a little more than we have been as of late.

While things are open, we still have been cautious and are limiting our expeditions to places with good social distancing practices and very small crowds. The most recent was a nice, brand-new brewery that opened up on Indian Rocks Beach! They have been in the process of renovations and opening up for the last year and were delayed by the onset of COVID-19. My run club has trained near it for the last year, and we were all eager to give it a try! I must say, it was a very nice place and I am glad to see them have a successful opening.

In addition to gradually exploring the city again, we have been doing a LOT of cooking! I have tried so many new recipes over the last couple weeks, but my favorites so far have been buffalo cauliflower, Indian butter chicken, Thai red curry noodle soup, and air-fryer breaded zucchini slices. While even before the quarantine we didn’t eat out too often, being able to challenge our culinary skills and try new dishes to keep things interesting has proven to be a lot of fun. My couple of potted plants are also starting to produce a lot of fruit lately, and I have been able to enjoy some lovely tomatoes, green bell peppers, and some pretty extreme Carolina Reaper and Ghost Peppers. I have been drying the peppers, and once I have enough to powder, I am going to try my hand at some hot sauce recipes! Should be a painful but fun experience.

Finally, a short school update from the virtual clinic life. We have been able to continue working on our clinical skills as much as possible by means of online assignments, discussions, and many educational webinars. I have learned a lot during this time, but still would rather have hands-on clinic. That being said, while we still have to wait till July to see patients, we are trying to institute Telehealth here at NUHS! This process will come with a huge learning curve, but I am excited to see what it is like treating and managing patients through telehealth systems. We have our first couple of mock patient encounters coming up in the next few weeks, so I am excited to share updates with you on how that goes.

As always, if you have any questions, please email me at [email protected].