A Stitch in Time Saves Nine

Last Friday marked the end of a significant segment of my medical career, my third year surgery rotation officially ended! During three grueling months I slaved and struggled through long hours, difficult cases, demanding attendings and excessive time away from home. For three months I felt like Will Smith in the movie I am Legend, despite my efforts to maintain some normalcy in life there was always a zombie looming in the darkness waiting to attack and make me one of their own. I feel lucky to have escaped unscathed.
Jenny and I felt that such a successful feat as this deserved a little celebration so we ordered up a couple of Vito's, best in Toledo, pizzas and I went to pick up a couple of movies, Enchanted (Jenny's pick) and I am Legend (my pick). I must say that we really would like to have gone out on the town to celebrate but both Jenny and Madison were out of commission with a nasty cold.

We first watched Enchanted, which I loved, because the main character, Giselle, reminds me of my own little fairy-tale princess Jenny. Next up was I am Legend which I also loved because the zombies reminded me of the constant fear and danger that I had just survived during the previous three months.

Thanks to the proper upbringing that my mom and dad gave me, I am always more comfortable sleeping when I know that the day's dishes are washed and the kitchen clean... at least that is what I tell Jenny. In reality I am afraid of sleeping after watching a scary movie, they give me nightmares. Anyway, while Jen went off to brush her teeth, I went to the kitchen to wash what few dishes remained. Among them was a nice tall glass with window pane etching on it. It was the only glass of its kind remaining in our cupboard and comes from the set that I once used while living in Swan Park with Dusty during first year. As long as I can remember it had always had a little crack along the rim but perhaps for sentimental reasons we never thought to throw it out. It is hard to let go of my Swan Park memories.

As I stood at the sink thinking back on my triumph over the zombies of general surgery and comparing myself to Will Smith, I reached for that glass and started scrubbin' away. It was a tall glass, but wide brimmed, so I did as I often had before and pushed with my sponge to the very bottom to make sure it was fully clean. One twist with the sponge, then another and then one more twist of the wrist and then *#^&&#!! "JENNY", I yelled (quietly because the baby was sleeping). After my third time yelling her name she came into the kitchen to see what the fuss was about. She was shocked at the sight of so much blood and the gaping wedge of flesh that had been filleted from my hand. I told her that the zombies had come for one last attempt at my life. We would have to go to the ER... the UTMC ER!

Well, to make a long story short... oops, too late for that. Better stated, to put an end to this story, at around 1245 am we packed up the baby and headed out to the ER. To my, ehhm, surprise, the surgery intern in the ER that day was a guy that I had met and knew to be a excellent candidate for radiology... not surgery, nor even suturing... but for radiology he's top notch. Oh well, what was I to do. He went to work sewing up my hand and my mind went to work imagining if this was every going to work out. By about 215 we were done and ready to head back home... that is as soon as I put on my own wound dressing. The next morning, when I pulled back the gauze to see how we were lookin' I was not surprised to see that a little "tidying up" was needed. It was a fitting end to my surgery rotation. The surgery gods took one last swipe at me before allowing me to move on.

Happy Easter!

Four Months Old!

Little Miss Blue Eyes turned 4 months on the 21st! Yeah, so fun. We love to make her giggle and smile. She is almost ready to start rice cereal which she should enjoy a lot more than her first encounter with solids:) No more spiders for Madison:0

Hello! Thanks Grandma Tanner for the cute St. Patricks day dress! It's so much fun! Happy St. Patricks day everyone!

Digested Spider Link

I AM SO TRAUMATIZED!!!

I am so so so so grossed out!!! You see this picture! Well... this is Madison's little bib and that gross black thing is a spider's leg. This morning I went to wipe Madison's spit up and I saw this little black thing on Madison's lip. I wiped it off and looked closely to what in the world it was only to be horrified at my discovery. I had just finished feeding her 10 minutes prior to finding this and had no idea where it came from. I had set her down for tummy time while I got ready for our Sunday church meeting and so I looked all around her blanket for the rest of this nasty little creature hoping that the rest of this spider was lying somewhere other than my babies tummy. I couldn't find it and didn't know quite what to think at that point. Anyone who knows me knows that I am terrified of insects, especially spiders. I had even just dusted all around and behind her crib and room the day before which I do several times a week just to make sure there aren't any bugs around. I was running late for our stake conference, Jake was on call at the hospital, and so I tried not to think to much about it while I hurried to finish getting Madison changed and ready for church. I was all ready to go and had her all bundled up in her carrier when I heard the classic diaper explosion. I took her out of her carrier and carried her to the changing table to see if the outfit was spared. However, that was the least of my worries when I looked into the diaper and found the rest of the spider. I couldn't believe what I was seeing! My sweet little baby had swallowed a spider, and it looked like a big one! Not knowing what to do I called poison control and asked them if there was anything I should be concerned about. They explained how the average person will swallow 3 or 4 spiders a year and that as long as she didn't have any bite marks she probably just got a little extra protein in her diet. Gross, she isn't even on solids yet:( I have continued to watch Madison closely today and she seems to be fine. Poor little thing. I felt awful. Babies have a lot of firsts but this isn't one that I ever expected.
If anyone wants to know what a digested spider looks like, I documented it. It's totally disgusting. Lets hope that her next solid food will be rice cereal.

A Gold Human!

Jake finally let me take this picture of him (he is so modest;) This last Friday Jake was nominated to be a part of The Gold Humanism Honor Society. He was selected through a process including peer and faculty nomination followed by a review of each student's required essays, clerkship comments and record of community service to be a member of this national organization. This award is in recognition of exemplary service, integrity, clinical excellence and compassion as a medical student.
Jake had no idea when he went to the ceremony that afternoon that he would be receiving the award. I chuckled when he told me that he was planning on just sitting in the back and eating his bagel that he had sneaked in his pocket (my mind then thought of Napoleon Dynamite and his tater tots). He was prepared to not go hungry at what he thought would be a long boring required attendance event. Little did Jake know he would be sitting at the front of this required meeting receiving such an honor. Congratulations Jake on all your hard work! I'm so proud!

Madison's New Friend

Madison wasn't very happy when she discovered her new friend didn't taste very good:)

Blonde Moment

So...two weeks ago I planned a super fun activity for the youth in our ward. It involved getting on a plane and visiting different countries. We had our friends Dusty and Cortnee dress up in real pilot and flight attendant uniforms. Our Bishop was security and made sure none of our youth took anything fishy on the plane as they went through our pretend scanners. We even had the sound of a plane taking off and served peanuts and sprite on the flight. It was a lot of work and the day of the activity I was pressed for time down to the last minute. Jake barely made it home in time to help with Madison and just as we were leaving he looked at the passports I printed out and started laughing. I was confused and then he asked where I got the image on the front. I told him I got it from looking up eagle on insert images in word. He then let me know that the 16 passports I had printed all had the Nazi eagle on the cover and the inside. Who knew? In a rush I hurried and changed the image and made it just in time to set up for the activity which turned out to be a hit!

The Lion King

On my birthday Jake suprised me with tickets to the broadway musical the Lion King! He was so creative in how he did it too! He had a calendar made with lots of fun pictures of us on each month and in February he had our Lion King date printed on the square. What a fun suprise! Back in October he told me that he had my Christmas, b-day and valentines presents planned. I told him that was a suprise enough! Even if he didn't give me any presents the thought of him planning it our so far in advance meant a lot:) Thanks Sweetie!
It is an amazing show! The animals were beautiful and the singing was amazing! If you get a chance go see it! I loved it!

They shall not stray...

It has been said that if parents teach their children right and true principles, that throughout their lives they shall not stray far from them. It is with this in mind that I have taken it upon myself to teach Madison the importance of choosing the right in matters of Mountain West Conference athletics.
As one educated in an environment where I had the freedom to choose my own bed time and decide for myself the clothes I would wear; not to mention the freedom to drink a real Coke if I so desired, I of course have given Madison enough information about both sides to allow her to choose for herself. It is with great pleasure that I present to you her decision! You can just see the radiance in her smile knowing that she has chosen wisely. You can only imagine, in fact, you kinda have to imagine how happy she'll be when the Utes are actually good again.

Jake's New Hobby...

... well actually it is more Jenny's doing than anything. I just get the chance to be a model. Inspired by her creative drive and the need to brighten up the gray Toledo winter, Jen and Kerri (our neighbor downstairs) have been putting together these delightful little hair clips! Hair clips like these are not only the latest fashion trend for tired old medical students like me, but also are sported by cute little babies like Madison. As you can see, Jenny loves making these flowers and we only have one little girl so... give Jenny a holler if you would like some. I realize that I have a large enough head, and fortunately enough hair, to accommodate many but, I think they are better suited elsewhere.

Three Months old and chatting up a storm!

Madison is three months old today! She is growing bigger everyday! We have so much fun dressing her up and taking her picture. She loves to talk, laugh, and eat. Anything that she holds she trys to put in her mouth. She also started sleeping on her side. It is so adorable! She curls up when we lay her down in her crib and stays on her side most the night. Anytime we put her on her belly she pushes up and rolls over onto her back. Such a strong baby! I love being a mom, it is so much fun.

Starting to blog again!

Back into Blogging. I have not touched this blog since having cute little Madison. I am going to try and keep it up to date for family and friends. Here are some cute pictures of our adorable little girl! She has found her voice and makes cute noises all day! She has also learned how to grab toys and roll from her stomach onto her back!