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.