Highlights

Here are the highlights from my month:

•  Disaster day: My school put on this disaster day so that we could practice our Emergency medicine skills. I was supposed to be a disaster victim, but when I got there bright and early, they said they needed me as a PA-grrr. So I took pictures while I waited an extra hour (that I could have been sleeping). I should have gotten in the picture, but I wasn't dressed up all cool. 

• Conference Weekend: I went down to North Carolina to visit Nate and Kelly. I was reminded of several things- first, I love love love my family. second- I love love love the church. More than anything it was a good reminder of why I'm doing what I'm doing with my life and why I should keep going. All in all- great weekend.

 Above: you can definitely tell I'm their favorite aunt! They look so excited to be with me. As Ruby is trying to get away and lyla looks like I'm pinching her. :) Don't worry though- I really am their favorite aunt.

 Above: I loved this picture of Kelly and Lyla listening to conference.
Right: This is Nate 'pondering' on what the apostles were saying. :) He must have learned it from dad...haha.

 Then one of my friends -caroline dropped off some flowers at my house. It was completely random and it totally made my day.

 So Dustin is like my new BFF (not really but sorta). He goes on walks with me- if you didn't know this about me, walks are one of my favorite things to do. BUT I hate going on walks by myself...so he humors me and we walk and talk and it's just a blast. We decided to go to a concert in the park- in down town roanoke. Brace yourselves...it was pretty intense. :)

Below: yup...all of 4 people listening to this band. Haha. Oh how I love roanoke. And the band...was interesting. I don't know if you can see the lady in the middle- she is wearing a totoo :) and playing a washboard. Not really my style of music, but it was fun to experience something different.

 

 Lastly- I found out that Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital (where I worked this past month) was ranked in the top 25 most beautiful hospitals in the US. I don't really know what they were judging...the outside or inside but I guess that is there one claim to fame. The background is gorgeous and the hospital entrance leads right into a greenbelt walkway around the river. It truly is gorgeous which is why I jog there when I get the chance. Way to go Carilion.

March=birthday month=awesome

Happy Birthday to ME! I love birthdays-well I just love holidays and honestly who wouldn't enjoy celebrating themself? Anyway, so this month has been a nice change from Februrary and January.
        First-It turned to spring! We've had 70-80 degree weather most days, which means that not only is it nice and warm, but all the flowers and trees are blooming. SO gorgeous. I know it has only been a year since last spring, but I forgot how much I love this time of year in Virginia. People always ask me if I want to stay here in Virginia after I graduate and while I would like to be close to my family, I could see myself moving back here some day. I heart Virginia!

 Second- I got to go horseback riding! Woot woot. Ever since my traumatic experience with horses last summer- I haven't been too fond of them. (I was petting this nice horse when he literally blew snot all over me! It was the most disgusting thing in the world. AND it stained my shirt. JERK) So last week I got together with a girl in the ward who has a horse farm and we road horses. Hopefully throughout this summer I'll get proficient at horseback riding. How cool would that be? Answer: Extremely cool!

 

 Then came my birthday! Saturday I went out to dinner with the Stanleys (in the Bishopric). Then on my actual birthday the Bishop and his wife took me out to breakfast. Then I just had a regular day at work- I got to see some interesting patients, so that makes it a little better. When I got home Dustin was waiting for me with cupcakes and balloons and we went on a walk because it was absolutley GORGEOUS outside. When we came back my roommate had bought me some bubble cake cupcakes-yum! And then I opened some presents that my mom sent me. She is just so clever. I just have to point out that everything had to do with 24...wrapping paper, 24 pieces of gum (which there is normally only 14- so she shoved in some extra pieces), 24 starburst...etc. She is just so clever like that. All in all- I had a wonderful wonderful birthday! It's funny how on my birthday I should be thinking about me :) jk/sort of...but I really was just grateful for great friends and family who make me feel loved and appreciated.

 

               


Some of the funny messages I got:
- Sara-one of my good friends from BYU called to wish me a happy birthday, which she followed up with- you're turning the big 2-5 huh? The funny part is that she is my same age- and she knows that. We had a good laugh about that.
-Joe called to wish me happy birthday but added that he was surprised that I hadn't called to wish him a happy baptism day-since he was baptized the day I was born. Oh JOE! :) (Don't worry- I called him back to wish him happy baptism day)
- Kait called me 6 times and left me different happy birthday songs.
-Allie called me 4 days before my birthday...she knew it was 2 days from St. Patrick's day, but apparently she got a little confused.
-Jamie Dahl addressed my message to Dr. Betsy...She's done that before, but every time I hear that I think- holy cow! I'm gonna be a PA!!! Rediculous I know, but true.

Songs of my life

I don't know if anyone else is like me but I get stuck on a song for a couple of months. What I mean by that is when I find a song I really really like, I replay it over and over again for a couple of months. My poor poor roommates!
Anyway, so here are some of my top songs....

1. R. Kelly's 'World's Greatest': Freshman year of College...everyone on my hall got to enjoy this one with me. :) I was also really into the song 'you're beautiful'...but his voice...yeah, it got a bit annoying so I didn't want to put that one up.

2. Jesse Mccartney 'Beautiful Soul': Sophmore year. I also really got into the N'Syn christmas CD that year.

3. Matt Nathanson 'Come on get higher': Summer semester 2009- Tara

4. Bruno Mars ' 'Just the way you are': Fall 2010

5. Beyonce 'If I were a boy: Fall 2011

6. Sugarland 'Stuck like glue' : Fall 2011- Mostly because of the Sing off- Pentatonix sang it and then I watched the music video and I just loved it.

7. Currently I'm stuck on a couple of songs. I have the sheet music for the Rascall Flat's song 'Bless the Broken Road' so that is always in my head because I play it on the piano. The other one that i really like is Gavin DeGraw 'Not over you'. Don't worry there isn't a deeper meaning or reason- I just like it.

January and renewed desire to floss

          January rolled around and I got to start a new rotation-my second primary care at Roanoke Family Carillion Clinic. It was this nice large office that was mostly run by residents. There were 40 doctors/residents on staff…which is kind of a lot. My schedule had me with a new person every 4 hours. It wasn’t until the end of the 2^nd week that I had repeats. So basically, every day was a first day. AWEFUL!  I hadn’t realized how important personal relationships are until this rotation when I had none. I was literally having to introduce myself constantly and I just felt like I had no connections. But then by the 3^rd week I started to get to know some of the attending and they would say hi and I can’t even tell you why, but after that I just felt so much better about the whole thing. 

 I also got to go to the Virginia Tech vs. BYU basketball game. Now, I'm not really into basketball, mostly cause I never really watched a game...but it was pretty exciting. I particularly enjoyed the fact that we were completely surrounded by Tech fans and so when we would cheer, it would pretty much be just us cheering, but who doesn't love standing out/being the center of attention- honestly :). To top it all off..we won!!! Go Cougars!


 

(Me, Hanh, Amanda, Grace)

 

Lastly, I used to like dentists...until yesterday. I had no complaints and I just went in for a cleaning and then they start telling me all the things that are wrong with my teeth.  I went in and they did a complete mouth xray thing (which took forever). I’m used to the 4 xrays, but no…18 xrays later- Ugh…anyway, after the hygienist looked at it she started asking about my front bottom tooth. She eventually just came out with it and said, well it looks like you have an abscessed tooth and that you’re going to need a root canal. Say WHAT??? I’m 23 years old, why would I need a root canal? So a year ago I had a couple days of super bad tooth pain. It hurt SOOO bad, but then it went away and I thought, I must have irritated the nerve and whatever. But apparently that was my nerve dying.

At the office I was acting all fine, but as soon as I walked out I called mom and I just started crying. It sounds ridiculous, but I was really upset that I had 'bad/dead teeth'. I know they are just teeth- but to have one that died…that just sounds so sad doesn't it? It was one of those moments where I would cry and then be fine and then I would start crying again, but meanwhile I’m thinking- this is ridiculous, I know I shouldn’t be crying.

From this I learned a couple of things...first- I don't like dentists. And second- I have a renewed desire to floss my teeth daily. I'm pretty good about brushing my teeth, but they effectively scared me into flossing more often. Job well done dentist- but I hope you know that doesn't mean we're friends!

December

           In December I had my first primary care rotation. It was here in town at an Urgent Care with Ken Anderson. It was an awesome experience, but it didn’t start off that way. On my first day I locked my keys in my car. How embarrassing is that? I’ve never done that before. What made matters worse was that my cell phone and wallet were also locked in the car. So I had to walk back in and tell them that I had locked my keys in my car. The nurse was super nice and called her husband (a cop) and ask if he could unlock my car. He couldn’t because too many people had their cars ruined that way. So I had to look up my roommates’s phone number on LDS.org, but it was the wrong number so I had to call her mom. Awkward!

A couple of minutes after I got off the phone I realized that I had worn my heavy coat into the office and low and behold- my keys were in my jacket. I was even more embarrassed to have to call Laurice’s mom and tell her that I didn’t need her to come and open my car. And of course the only phone that I could use was the one right where everyone was standing so everyone heard that I had lost my keys…. in my jacket. By the end of the day I had forgotten about it until a nurse from the other side of the office came up to me and said- oh I’m so glad you found your keys. Thanks SO much for reminding me that I’m a dork- and informing me that the ENTIRE office of 30 people knows that I’m a dork. Don't worry though- the month ended really well.   (picture: Dr. Tims, Allison-lab tech, Cindy- RN, Ken-PA; we're standing in front of the urgent care hall way. We had 4 rooms plus a treatment room for suturing etc.)

                Earlier in the month I was feeling sad that my roommate and I hadn’t put up any decorations. Don’t get me wrong, I had put up lights in my room in November, but we didn’t have anything else in the whole apartment. I remembered seeing a Christmas tree at the church in the priesthood closet and I knew that no one was going to use it so I went to church one day and took the tree. To clarify, I didn’t steal it, I just borrowed it and to be honest, I’m so glad I did. I had no idea what a difference having a tree made. Every morning I would turn on the lights and read my scriptures or study by the tree…I just loved it. That to me is Christmas. And you just add a little Kenny G and you are set. Mom and becca also sent me a package- a stocking filled with the 12 days of Christmas. It reminded me of all the times that I had help put those together for the missionaries and I always thought they were really corny, but I really enjoyed it. I found myself looking forward to opening a little something every night. It also made me look forward to next year when I can actually be home for Christmas.

For Christmas I went down to Nate and Kelly’s house. It was SO nice being around family and it has been especially nice to be around Nate and Kelly. 

Friends...

I was talking to my mom a couple days ago about one of my friends and she reminded me of what amazing friends I have/had. I have been extremely blessed to be surrounded by absolutely astounding people that have truly made me a better person. Later this week I heard this song from Wicked and I was again impressed by the great people in my life.

In church they always emphasized the importance of choosing good friends, but I never really realized the importance they had on me until I looked back...

Sophmore year Andrea taught me that it is actually 'cool' to be good. Not that I would have done anything differently, but I definitely gained some confidence and pride in being obedient. It was at that point that I decided I didn't care what other people thought of me- I was going to do what I thought was right, no matter what. (at least I tried to)

Senior year of high school I had the option of taking a CNA class with Jamie and Shanna . I don't think I would have actually done it if it hadn't been for them.  I had no idea what I wanted for a career, so I mostly did it to have a class with a friend. It's funny because that decision opened up so many career options that I wouldn't have had otherwise.

During college I had some pretty stellar friends. I can't even count all the things that they have taught me over the years, but I am so grateful for them in my life.

Senior year of college I had a friend who was also applying to PA school. Sometimes I wonder if I would have applied if it hadn't been for her because my whole application was all messed up and I had no idea how to fix it.

I know there are loads of other friends who have shaped and influenced my life. I could try to name them all but I know I'd miss a few...so I'm not even going to attempt it.

Last but not least, some of my best friends are my family members. I am so so so lucky for them and their wonderful examples of faith and goodness.

To all of you who have made me a better person...Thanks!

Me and Stanley

So this picture looks a little funny, but here are the people I've been working with for the past month. (Dr. Hinton, Angie, Karen). I'm crossing my fingers that tomorrow I'm going to be able to deliver a baby on my own.








My friend Lori has a nephew that is doing a class project about flat Stanley. She asked if I would go on a vacation with him...so here's my picture with flat Stanley just before I went into surgery. Funny story real fast...So during one of the surgeries one of the nurses looked at me and said...do you use latisse or something because you have super long eye lashes. I actually had no idea who she was talking to so I didn't respond and then she said...I guess you don't and we don't like people who have naturally long eyelashes. At that point I clued into the conversation and gave the polite chuckle.  I thought it was a nice thought though...but now the nurses hate me...not a good thing. ;)

 So about 5 miles from my apartment in Blountville (pronounced bluntvol) is the Bristol Motor Speedway...ya know, where they have all those race car races-thingy. I don't know...but I had to find something cool for flat Stanley. :)

I have the best family and friends! I really do! On Friday I got this package from my friend Beth because she knew I would alone on Thanksgiving.By the way- it was delicious! How nice is that? Seriously! I don't think I could find better friends or family.