Monday, August 31, 2009
Background info
I changed our blog background to this because, well that what our life is now. School, studying, exams, lunch breaks, and friends (well not so much yet) and will be for the next 4 years! Michael is starting his 3rd week in the morning!
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Snake Bread
I would say today has been a pretty good day, other then the fact I've been sick all day.
Anyway, to make a short story long (or a long story short) -- We heard about a family in our ward giving away free bakery bread. Apparently this family goes and collects bread older bread from a bakery. Michael was nice enough to drive me to their house, because if I was looking for the address I would still be looking.
When we found the house, we were walking up to the front door and notice a rather large snake on their front porch. One of the kids answer the door we make sure we are at the right house ant then mention: "Hey you have a snake on your front porch" and starting making our way through the door, not thinking much about it. (I guess we have lived in Blanding too long.) The kid looks out the door yells for his mom, she looks at the snake and screams for her husband.
In the mean time, the snake went into the garage and that's when it became a problem. It was sort of funny because the whole funny started freaking out, "We have never seen a snake around here." I went inside to look at the different kinds of bread and Michael went outside to see how he could help.
It turned into quite an ordeal. The snake crawled up under some shelves were there was plenty of items, including an old couch and some folding tables, in storage. They tried to shoo the snake back out of the garage, but it seemed to keep moving deeper into the garage. Finally, Michael started pulling the stuff out a little at a time. Nearly 40 minutes later, they finally had the snake headed out. Of course, by this time the snake was quite agitated. It would strike at everything that came near it, raising the adrenaline level past rational levels. After pushing the snake back and forth several more times, Michael actually caught a hold of it with a garden rake, and pulled it toward the garage door. It escaped again, and headed back into the garage. In desperation he pinned it down with a flat-nosed shovel. The man of the house came to assist and promptly removed the poor thing's head with another shovel.
Since nobody was sure if it was poisonous and there were kids running all over the place, it seemed like the best thing to do. It turns out it wasn't poisonous, and may have been a Red Coachwhip that are common in this area, but rational thoughts slipped out sometime after the snake starting fighting back. Turns out the poor little guy was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
We went back into the house and collected our bread and headed home. Turns out it was quite an eventful trip... maybe even better than fighting traffic to get to the grocery store!
Anyway, to make a short story long (or a long story short) -- We heard about a family in our ward giving away free bakery bread. Apparently this family goes and collects bread older bread from a bakery. Michael was nice enough to drive me to their house, because if I was looking for the address I would still be looking.
When we found the house, we were walking up to the front door and notice a rather large snake on their front porch. One of the kids answer the door we make sure we are at the right house ant then mention: "Hey you have a snake on your front porch" and starting making our way through the door, not thinking much about it. (I guess we have lived in Blanding too long.) The kid looks out the door yells for his mom, she looks at the snake and screams for her husband.
In the mean time, the snake went into the garage and that's when it became a problem. It was sort of funny because the whole funny started freaking out, "We have never seen a snake around here." I went inside to look at the different kinds of bread and Michael went outside to see how he could help.
It turned into quite an ordeal. The snake crawled up under some shelves were there was plenty of items, including an old couch and some folding tables, in storage. They tried to shoo the snake back out of the garage, but it seemed to keep moving deeper into the garage. Finally, Michael started pulling the stuff out a little at a time. Nearly 40 minutes later, they finally had the snake headed out. Of course, by this time the snake was quite agitated. It would strike at everything that came near it, raising the adrenaline level past rational levels. After pushing the snake back and forth several more times, Michael actually caught a hold of it with a garden rake, and pulled it toward the garage door. It escaped again, and headed back into the garage. In desperation he pinned it down with a flat-nosed shovel. The man of the house came to assist and promptly removed the poor thing's head with another shovel.
Since nobody was sure if it was poisonous and there were kids running all over the place, it seemed like the best thing to do. It turns out it wasn't poisonous, and may have been a Red Coachwhip that are common in this area, but rational thoughts slipped out sometime after the snake starting fighting back. Turns out the poor little guy was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
We went back into the house and collected our bread and headed home. Turns out it was quite an eventful trip... maybe even better than fighting traffic to get to the grocery store!
Red Coachwhip
The doctor is in
This has nothing to do with Michael's Medical skills, but mine. Ok I guess both, so we have been practicing on Bella. Ok so that’s really not true. If you have been following us the last few days you would know that Bella our dog has hurt herself yet again, ok so it has been awhile but this time she has really done it. She ripped her dew claw well she more like cut it anyways. After spending $150 the first time another $40 for her follow up and they wanted us to come back yet another follow up. We said enough is enough. And all they did at the follow up was unwrap her leg and rewrap it. And charge us lots of money. So we came up with a better plan.
I found the same kind of bandage stuff they use, but in pink for a whole roll for $2.50 and I used a gift card. Thanks Melissa! Came home and looked around the house for some padding like gauze or something better yet, a breast pad.
Their Clinic Vs. My Clinic (I basically could be vet)
They charged us $16.85 for Extra physical restraint( because our 27 lb mean dog Bella, ok so Bella can put up a good fight.) Anyways I charged: Free = Michael holding her down
They charged us $16.73 for bandage extremity. My cost: breast pad .10 cents, some pink wrap .75 cents.
They charged us $5.75 medical waste disposal fee. All for a speck of blood. At my office: Free
Total cost at my clinic less than a $1.00
We have decided that what their motto really means: Treating your pet like family. Well you would spend this much on your kid, so why not the dog too. We do love you Bella, but this is getting out of hand!!
I found the same kind of bandage stuff they use, but in pink for a whole roll for $2.50 and I used a gift card. Thanks Melissa! Came home and looked around the house for some padding like gauze or something better yet, a breast pad.
Their Clinic Vs. My Clinic (I basically could be vet)
They charged us $16.85 for Extra physical restraint( because our 27 lb mean dog Bella, ok so Bella can put up a good fight.) Anyways I charged: Free = Michael holding her down
They charged us $16.73 for bandage extremity. My cost: breast pad .10 cents, some pink wrap .75 cents.
They charged us $5.75 medical waste disposal fee. All for a speck of blood. At my office: Free
Total cost at my clinic less than a $1.00
We have decided that what their motto really means: Treating your pet like family. Well you would spend this much on your kid, so why not the dog too. We do love you Bella, but this is getting out of hand!!
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Thursday, August 20, 2009
The Last Four Weeks in a Nutshell
Welcome back to the show, folks! I know the suspense must killing you all... Actually, I'm sure that most of you either know for sure or have concluded: I accepted the offer at Midwestern University, and, now, $45,000 and a histology test later, we thought we should fill you all in on the details in the middle.
After we accepted the offer, the magnitude of the decision came crushing down, and we had at least a thousand small panic attacks. At least. We also decided we better go to Phoenix to find a place to land when we got there for school. We packed up a weekend's worth of clothes and put the 5-day-old baby in the car and headed south. The car had different plans. We made about two hours of the seven-hour drive when the Nissan threw in the towel. We hitched a ride, all three of us, into Kayenta, AZ, where we could get a cell phone signal and figure out what to do next. We spent the next 2 1/2 hours in McDonald's while my parents came to rescue us (thanks, Mom and Dad!).
The next week was spent packing and calling apartments (thanks to Christina's mom and Melissa for all their help!). We couldn't decide on a place over the phone, so when we left for Phoenix on August 3, McKay's two-week birthday and less than two weeks since the call, we fit everything into the car we could fit and set off. After two nights in a hotel and two nights with a fellow first-year medical student and his wife (Thanks Aaron and Jodi!!), we found a place that would do for the next year.
We returned to Blanding on Friday night, and finished packing our stuff into a trailer my dad had agreed to tow to Phoenix (Thanks, again, Dad, and everyone else that helped!). By midday Saturday, we were pointed south again, only this time was permanent.
I started class the very next Monday, and there is not a lot of ease in time. With me diving right into school full time, and Christina doing her best to raise our two-week-old son, our house still hasn't gotten fully unpacked... it took us more than a week to even get it very livable. It has been a wild ride so far, with some extremely frustrating moments, but here are the highlights:
McKay screamed bloody murder immediately after eating and through most of the night for about a week and a half. When we had given up all hope of ever figuring it out, we saw a pediatrician. She said McKay was incredibly healthy and has already gained two pounds since birth, making him 10 pounds, 7 ounces now. She suspects he is having heart burn and gave us a handful of non-medication suggestions, and we have successfully integrated a good share of them, with very good results so far. Last night, he slept from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m., woke for feeding, and went right back to sleep until after 5:30 a.m. That is more sleep than we had in three nights combined previously...
Bella is not to outdone. Since she was a puppy, she has had a dew-claw like growth on her back foot. Somehow, she about tore it off last week. It was causing her a lot of pain, got infected and swelled up like a balloon. We finally gave in and took her to the vet. That was a mistake. The vet charged us more than $150 the first visit, then almost $40 for the follow-up. And, the worst part is, we feel like they made the problem worse. They shaved her foot, and nicked her skin and the little dew claw looks awful. We are supposed to go back again, but it's not going to happen. We'll nurse her carefully ourselves at home from now on.
I had my first exam just one week after the start of classes, in histology. I scored 93%, just above the class average. I have my second exam, in biochemistry, tomorrow morning at 7:30.
The temperature is unbelievable here. We've had it as hot as 114 F and never, during day time hours, less than 90 F. Even when its raining (which it has done twice).
Our house is still a mess, at least half our belongings in boxes, Bella is still limping and it's still hot. But, McKay is doing much better, Christina and I are settling in, and we are doing well. We just might make it down here.
After we accepted the offer, the magnitude of the decision came crushing down, and we had at least a thousand small panic attacks. At least. We also decided we better go to Phoenix to find a place to land when we got there for school. We packed up a weekend's worth of clothes and put the 5-day-old baby in the car and headed south. The car had different plans. We made about two hours of the seven-hour drive when the Nissan threw in the towel. We hitched a ride, all three of us, into Kayenta, AZ, where we could get a cell phone signal and figure out what to do next. We spent the next 2 1/2 hours in McDonald's while my parents came to rescue us (thanks, Mom and Dad!).
The next week was spent packing and calling apartments (thanks to Christina's mom and Melissa for all their help!). We couldn't decide on a place over the phone, so when we left for Phoenix on August 3, McKay's two-week birthday and less than two weeks since the call, we fit everything into the car we could fit and set off. After two nights in a hotel and two nights with a fellow first-year medical student and his wife (Thanks Aaron and Jodi!!), we found a place that would do for the next year.
We returned to Blanding on Friday night, and finished packing our stuff into a trailer my dad had agreed to tow to Phoenix (Thanks, again, Dad, and everyone else that helped!). By midday Saturday, we were pointed south again, only this time was permanent.
I started class the very next Monday, and there is not a lot of ease in time. With me diving right into school full time, and Christina doing her best to raise our two-week-old son, our house still hasn't gotten fully unpacked... it took us more than a week to even get it very livable. It has been a wild ride so far, with some extremely frustrating moments, but here are the highlights:
McKay screamed bloody murder immediately after eating and through most of the night for about a week and a half. When we had given up all hope of ever figuring it out, we saw a pediatrician. She said McKay was incredibly healthy and has already gained two pounds since birth, making him 10 pounds, 7 ounces now. She suspects he is having heart burn and gave us a handful of non-medication suggestions, and we have successfully integrated a good share of them, with very good results so far. Last night, he slept from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m., woke for feeding, and went right back to sleep until after 5:30 a.m. That is more sleep than we had in three nights combined previously...
Bella is not to outdone. Since she was a puppy, she has had a dew-claw like growth on her back foot. Somehow, she about tore it off last week. It was causing her a lot of pain, got infected and swelled up like a balloon. We finally gave in and took her to the vet. That was a mistake. The vet charged us more than $150 the first visit, then almost $40 for the follow-up. And, the worst part is, we feel like they made the problem worse. They shaved her foot, and nicked her skin and the little dew claw looks awful. We are supposed to go back again, but it's not going to happen. We'll nurse her carefully ourselves at home from now on.
I had my first exam just one week after the start of classes, in histology. I scored 93%, just above the class average. I have my second exam, in biochemistry, tomorrow morning at 7:30.
The temperature is unbelievable here. We've had it as hot as 114 F and never, during day time hours, less than 90 F. Even when its raining (which it has done twice).
Our house is still a mess, at least half our belongings in boxes, Bella is still limping and it's still hot. But, McKay is doing much better, Christina and I are settling in, and we are doing well. We just might make it down here.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Good morning, maybe not so much!
My son decided to start the day off early like 3:30 am early. ( I know babies get up in the middle of the night, but he doesn’t want to go back asleep.) So we are just hanging out. I think he is asleep now in his swing, and I think he will stay there for the rest of the night because if I move him he will wake up. So I will put the monitor on and crawl back into my bed for a few hours. And hope he stays asleep.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
McKay's 3rd Week: Life in Phoenix
So this is our 1st week in Phoenix and McKay's 3rd week of life. So far.... I guess he has slept through the night. It's the days that are not so good; he likes to scream -- all day. He doesn't want to sleep, which is fine, but he wants to be held, constantly. That would be OK, too, if I didn't have a house that needs to be found beneath all the moving boxes. So far the master bathroom is put together. Today I'm hoping to get the laundry done.
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Moving Again!!
Don't have much time!! But we are moving again!! Today, well finishing moving. We have been in Phoenix all week for Michael's school stuff. We will try to keep everybody posted. We did finally find a place to live in Surprise, AZ. And yes that’s really what the city in called, it's not a surprise.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)