I'm no Meridith Grey

So this past month has been kind of crazy. Boot camp has kind of ruled my life a little bit.

 I spent a week in the OR, which to be honest was kind of cool. It was nice to have an idea of what I’m getting into. Not knowing is the worst part of starting new things, and since so much of the next year is going to be in the hospital, its nice having a little prelude to what the next year will be nice. I got to see the robot surgery, hernia repairs and a bilateral amputation. Kind of cool. Not going to lie. Going into some of the more bloody surgeries I was a little worried that I’d pass out-which is a little embarrassing and quite frankly- lame. The good news is that I didn’t…in fact I kind of like the bloody stuff. That said- I’m no Meridith Grey, but it’s nice to know that I’m not going to pass out at the sight of a little/a lot of blood.

So the pinnacle of boot camp was a cumulative final that covered everything we learned over the past year. YIKES! And guess who passed…yup, ME!!!!! Not that I was super worried, but it is nice to have it out of the way.

Now that that is over, I start rotations in a week from today. I can’t believe it! In fact I keep asking myself, ‘what are you doing?’ Now that the stress of finals is over I’m stressing out about rotations. Can I just say..AHHHHHHHHH! 

La la la Life goes on...

-School:Probably the biggest news is that I found out what my first few rotations are. So November is OB in Johnson City, Tennessee. It’s only a few hours away, but still a new state! Yikes. The program rents an apartment for all the PA students doing rotations there, and it just so happens that there is a guy doing a rotation there with me, so we’ll be sharing the apartment. Awkward. The good news is that he is married and he is actually a really good guy, so I don’t think it will be too bad. And I doubt I’ll really be at the apartment very much- it’s my OB rotation- I’m pretty sure I’ll be gone all of the time. As for the rest of my rotations, they are all in Roanoke- so that’s kind of nice. My next 2 rotations are with primary care practices. I just can’t believe it is all happening so soon.

 I just officially started Boot Camp! AHHH. Basically we are reviewing all our skills that we have learned this past year the next few weeks. And at the end of the month we have a cumulative final over EVERYTHING. In addition to that, we are taking the Packrat, which is basically a practice boards exam (Pance). Surprisingly I’m not feeling very overwhelmed, which is a huge blessing. I’m feeling excited and motivated about rotations.

                This past weekend my friend Stephanie and I were practicing some of check sheets (we have a final check sheet practical test this next week) and it was nice to find that I do remember quite a bit and of the stuff that I didn’t remember, I’m relearning it much faster. They said that would happen, but it’s nice to know that I’m not immune to that perk.

                One of my classes this semester is Medical Ethics. At the beginning of the class, one of my teachers stood up and said, to sum up the class- there is not right or wrong in medicine. I thought that sounded funny, but now that I’m getting into case studies I can see how that is the case. I also discovered after a lengthy class discussion- I don’t think that the purpose of medicine is to save people’s lives. I think the purpose is to take away pain. We can save lives, but I really think that we do too much of that. Let people die! Seriously- you can’t avoid it forever, and if they have already gone, why bring them back? I think it is a waste of resources and frankly it is selfish. I the first part of that statement with my class and my teacher acted like I was crazy (he kept saying, really? Oh okay. Or that’s interesting.) After class this guy (he happened to be cute) came up and said, thanks so much for sharing your opinion. I totally agreed with you and I’m glad you said something. It was nice to know that I’m not the only one thinking those things- and it was nice that he was cute.

                - Church: Seeing as this past weekend has been General Conference it was so so SO nice.  I was so productive- I spent the morning reviewing check sheets and then I went over to the Dierckin’s house to watch the first session. The second session I watched at my apartment. I love that the church has made it so easy to watch conference- streaming it was so easy! Then this morning I went over to Hanh’s house and she made Grace, Amanda, Brandon, Jordan and myself a brunch and then we watched the morning session. Then I came home and watched the second session. It was just wonderful.    

               -Social: Basically my social outlet has been with BYU football. The past few weeks I’ve gone over to the Creamer’s house and watched the game on their big screen. I know I’ve said this before- but I love football and the Creamers.

                Jamin is a new girl in the ward who is going to cosmetology school here in town. Anyway she needed someone to practice cutting hair on and she asked if I would help her out. Even though hair is super important to me- I took one for the team and let her practice one me. I went in thinking it would only take 20 minutes…yeah 3 hrs later I walked out. Not only is it a straight hair cut- it is a super straight hair cut. She was concentrating so hard on making sure my hair was straight, she wasn’t even trying to talk to me. So pretty much I just sat there for 3 hours, but I guess that’s the price you pay when you want an extremely straight cut. It reminded me of all the times Kaitlyn or Allie would cut my hair- yeah they definitely didn’t spend that kind of time and I’m SO glad.

                Lastly I just want to say that I’m listening to Christmas music and I just feel like everything is right in the world. Oh how I love Kenny G and Jon Schmidt! 

Family Videos...

I’m sitting here watching a family video and I just love my family.  I had some pretty interesting insights while I was watching it…

First I didn’t realize this, but even when I was 4 everyone still called me Elizabeth or Eliz or Liz. To go along with that- a couple of weeks ago during good news minute in Relief Society I decided to share the fact that some of my family members have started calling me Lizzy. Well the ward just jumped right on board with that and now they are all calling (trying to remember to call)me Lizzy. It’s kind of fun.

So the part I’m watching is Christmas and in the background there’s Handel’s Messiah playing and along with that you can hear dad trying to sing along. Dad has a really good voice, but he tends to try to sing both tenor and bass so you can hear him trying to sing both parts (when the tenor part gets too high that’s when he tries out the bass). Anyway I just love that- because that is so typical dad.

Probably my favorite part was when mom was asking me what I thought of Christmas that year and I said, “well, I just love my Baby-all-gone and Bj.” Mom said, Oh don’t you love anyone else? And I replied, “I just love Mom and Dad and Bj and NOT Nate and Rachel and Baby-all gone.” I’m not exactly sure what happened to Joe in that statement, but I was laughing so hard at my snide comment. Haha. I obviously loved Nate and Joe, at the time, but I just have to say that I love them even more now.

So here’s a little shout out to them….I really have some of the best brothers! I know this is a little thing, but it really meant a lot to me. First, Joe is always really good about talking to me on Sundays and the other Sunday when we were ending the chat, we always say we love you and then hang up. He said it and I said that I loved him as well and then he stopped and said, No really though- Betsy…I love you. I could tell that he meant it. Not that I ever questioned whether he did or not, but sometimes it is really nice to be reminded that people do love me and support me.  Nate is the same way. He just takes the time to call and chat with me. The other day he left a message on my phone (that I saved by the way) and it just said ‘hey betsy, just wanted to call and check up on you and say that I love you.’ I can’t even tell you how much that meant to me that he would take time out of his day to think of me- can you tell that my love language is time? I have experiences like that with all of my siblings. I honestly believe I have some of the best siblings EVER! I feel very fortunate to have them in my life. I know they are busy with their own families and keeping their kids and their wives happy, and so I’m especially grateful that they remember me.

Another realization I had was that I was kind of a brat. I was cute as well, but I was just really bossy and LOUD!  I don’t think I’m quite as bossy or loud, perhaps I am, but I hope I’m a little more refined than my 4 year old self.

AND my birthday ‘month’ tradition started when I was 5. It isn’t completely my fault that I love celebrating my birthday all month long. I was raised that way. J

So I just want to share some cool experiences that I’ve had this past week. So Friday we had a Relief Society Recipe Exchange and of course there were just a few of us. Sister Peterson was the first person here and she had brought homemade bread. I was excited about the bread and I made some comment about it and she said- so I just have to tell you the story about this bread. Bishop woke up this morning and decided he wanted to make this bread because he wanted to show the Relief Society how much he loves us. Maybe this is me being conceited, but I think it was mostly so that I would know that he supports me and appreciates what I’m trying to do- even though it isn’t very much. She went on to say that he never cooks, but he spent all morning struggling through making bread for us. What an amazing Bishop!

The second cool experienced happened as I was walking out of church. It was the weirdest thing, but as I left the church I just had this wave of sadness and loneliness hit me.  I was just on the verge of crying as I got to my car and there was a note stuck in my door handle. I opened it and it was from one of the girls who had left before me. She just said how much she loved me and how she loved seeing me at church. In that moment I knew that my Heavenly father was very aware of me and what I’m feeling even before I feel them. He is definitely taking care of me. Even though sometimes I feel all alone- my Heavenly father is sure to remind me that I’m not all alone. He is right here next to me. Even if I can’t see him- he puts others around me to remind me.

My Latest attempt at being Jennifer Garner

I realized that I never posted about my latest attempt at being stealth. Big surprise...Mission sneak attack- FAILED!

The truly RIDICULOUS part was that I was determined to succeed so I didn't even leave the car and they still caught me! I recruited one of my friends to help me because of my covert curse. 

We planned out the whole mission...and my job was to stay in the car, which was parked sneakily in a distant neighbor's driveway. My friend ran through the wooded area to place the basket on their doorstep meanwhile I'm just chilling in the car- which is completely out of the way. My friend was making her way back through the wooded area and as I'm waiting patiently for her to return I poke my head up just as the wrong moment and see Sister Creamer sitting in the passenger seat staring right at me as they drive by. Really??? Seriously??? Who looks in their neighbor's driveway? 

Well- I figure if I do it enough, one of my mission is bound to be successful...the odds are definitely in my favor.

A day in MY life

One of my good friends took pictures of her day to day life and I thought it was a fun idea. So here's my life....

 So, obviously this is my room...with my fancy curtain!

This is the wall I face every day :) It is actually my quote wall...any quote that I think is really really cool goes up here...you can't see most of them cause they are on white index cards, but yup...they're there. And yes- that is a dead rose held up by masking tape. I thought it might look good. CLEARLY I'm not going into interior decorating!

Here's the living room that I share with my wonderful roommate Laurice and the Paul (the greyhound).

I live on the middle floor...so I'm level with the wooden bridge...

This is the view from my parking lot...I'll have to update it when the flowers are in bloom...it is absolutely GORGEOUS! They do an incredible job with the landscaping. The coolest part is the section of day lilies. During the spring they shoot up to my height...I know I'm not very tall, but still-for a flower...that's tall!

I drive past the Fire house every morning and I've always thought it was funny they have this big steel dog in the yard. This is literally just down the street from me.

Bridge of flags...yup I drive over it every morning on my way to school.

So this is my school. It used to be a hospital, but my school bought half of it while the other half is still outpatient stuff. Below is a close up- the glass square section- that's part of my classroom.

This is just the entrance to the school/hospital. My classroom is just to the right of the main entrance, which is really convenient when I'm running late. I pass by the security guard- Gary every morning where we have the same conversation... 'good morning. how are you doin?' 'good. how are you honey?' 'good.' If have a test or anything he always remembers and wishes me good luck. I just love southern people!

On the Left is the new Virginia Tech Medical school where we have a couple of joint classes with the med students. On the right is the Roanoke Memorial Hospital where I'll be doing a fair number of my rotations...at least the ER, OR and internal medicine.

Since I do live in the 'Star City' here's a picture of star. It goes to show how many trees there are here...I remember my first impression of Roanoke was that I had moved to some tropical country. All of the hills that surround Roanoke Valley pretty much look like this- completely covered with trees. While the family was in Hawaii I remember saying that the scenery looked a lot like Virginia and I wasn't exaggerating. There are plants and trees all over. It is absolutely amazing.