I'm a survivor!!!

       I Survived SURGERY!!!!! It turned out to be not nearly as bad as I was thinking it would be. I worked mostly 12s, but I only had to do on call 3 times and I got post call off. The hardest part about the month was the hours. I had to be there by 5am, which meant that I had to wake up at 4. UGH! That also meant that I had to go to bed by 8, which is super hard.  I think I learned a few things while on my rotation as well J.

First and foremost- I learned I do NOT want to do surgery as a career. It’s just not for me. The people aren’t the nicest nor are they the cleanest people in language or morally. AND I just really like having relationships with the patients I work with-which you don’t get in the OR.

                Some fun things I got to see…laproscopic and open appendectomies, tons of cholecystectomies, cataract surgery, thyroidectomy, several exploratory laperotomies, splenectomy, colonoscopies, Upper endoscopy, gastrectomy, gastric bypass. During my on-call nights I saw some stabbings and motorcycle accidents.

Probably the most interesting case was a teenage boy who came in after he dove into a creek that was too shallow. He ended up hitting his head and demolishing his C5 vertebrea. He presented with complete paralysis and it took me a few minutes to realize that it wasn’t just going to be a temporary thing for him. He would forever be paralyzed all because he got drunk (and probably was doing some other good stuff) and made a stupid decision. How quickly life can change! It’s a little crazy and scary to realize that life is so fragile.

Fun stuff-well I didn’t do much this month because I was working 6/7 days and I had to wake up super early, but I did go swimming and on a few walks with dustin and Jessilyn.

I’ve been so blessed. So a while ago my car was leaking oil- and it hasn’t since then. And my computer wasn’t working- the screen would constantly flicker- and now it doesn’t. It’s stuff like that, that I completely forget to be greatful for, but I’m so glad that they aren’t broken.  The Lord is so good to me!  I’m grateful for his presence in my life. I honestly would be so discouraged and lost without him.

Bentonville!!!!

Over Memorial Day weekend I had a surprise week off (my schedule just worked out that way-woot woot) and I decided rather than sit around Roanoke I would go visit Joe and Naomi. I was super hesistant because it's a 16 hour drive (by myself) and besides the time investment, that's a ton of money (that I don't have). Anyway after a ton of debating back and forth- I decided that I would go and I was SOOO glad I went. It was just what I needed for tons of reasons.

Highlights of the trip:

           -Boating: I got up on the wake board.

-Layton: saying his name ‘Layton Jofith Wright’; I would ask him what his favorite color was and he would say…I just love all of them (while doing and Vana White hand action). SO adorable; Probably my favorite moments with him were when we played catch outside in the backyard and he was just chattin with me.

-Singing and dancing in the car and at home to One Directions ‘What makes you beautiful’; it was also great that by the end of the week Layton knew some of the words and would randomly start singing them.

-Joe put on new rotators- or whatever they are called in my car. And my car works so much better now! It's funny how something so small can make such a difference

-Went to the Sam Walton museum and the new American Art Museum (which had amazing . landscaping)

-bonding with Logan; what an adorable little kid. He is mostly happy, unless you don’t feed him soon enough…then he gets pretty upset. I would totally want a baby if I knew he would be as cute as this little guy-and that's saying a lot for me.  (I put the picture above on my desktop and every time I open my computer I smile.) How can you not love that kid???

-I got to read books to Layton and Izzy during quiet time. She even fell asleep on me which was kind of fun.

So that was my trip. It was definitely worth the money and 2 days of driving. Now I’m back and I start my rotation tomorrow in surgery. UGH! I’m hoping it won’t be as bad as everyone is making it out to be. I’ve heard that a lot of my schedule depends on the resident that I get, so I’m crossing my fingers that I get someone that is nice and doesn’t expect me to stay forever and ever if I’m just going to be standing there doing nothing.

As for May, I’ve been doing Orthopedics. It’s been fun- pretty chill and just kind of nice. I got to work with some awesome doctors that let me do tons of knee and shoulder injections. I worked with Dr. Kells who was just a fantastic teacher and so that was pretty awesome. I worked with one Doctor (Mierish) who said- I would hire you in an instant. You just understand things, you want to learn and you are excellent patients. So that was nice to hear.

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.