The rest of my St. Patrick's Day was an improvement.
The medication pen that had previously very painful, was actually the most pain-free shot I've had in months! I even did it myself! That is a big deal for me. In 18 months of twice monthly shots, this is only the 3rd I've given myself. I guess it helps to be married to a doctor and always have someone around to give me the shots.
We had our traditional green dinner. This time it was green eggs and ham. And green pancakes, green toast and green milk. Yum.
I say: "Wow, my fingers look wonky."
He says: "You have ulnar deviation."
Uh, yeah, what he said. His way sounds better at least. :o)
You know that feeling, when your kid says he is on his death bed, and so sick he can't stand it. You take him to the doctor and he is miraculously healed before the doctor walks into the exam room and you end up feeling like an idiot with a chunk of change wasted on a co-pay? You do?! Glad I'm not the only one! Well, it feels even worse when the one that is so sick is YOU!
I finally made it in to see my Rheumatologist today. Unfortunately, it takes me far too long to go to the doctor, namely because of the reason above. You don't want to waste your money and the doctor's time if you aren't really sick, ya know? So then I end up waiting too long to go and spend weeks in pain.
Like I said, I finally made it in, and my symptoms were still there (phew!). She was sufficiently impressed by the level of swelling in my hands (my knuckles look like dimples they are so swollen on my left hand). And she was even impressed by the way my fingers bend sideways now on my right. So gratifying to have someone impressed by my symptoms. No one wants to feel like a hypochondriac, ya know?
I still need to upload some way cool pictures of Brad shaving off his beard. He won the contest between the other residents. Yay, Brad! And yes, the yearly exam is over. Happy happy joy joy! Hopefully I'll get those pictures up soon.
Today I was teaching a Sunday School class to 4 year old kids, one of which was my daughter.
I had printed my lesson out on some scratch paper we have in a pile. While at church, I was looking at my lesson for a specific scripture. Suddenly, Jamo asks, "What is THAT?!"
I looked on the back of my lesson, and what is on it but pictures of tracheas being sutured and the accompanying research notes. Lovely. Good thing it wasn't a 4 yr old that saw the picture. They might have been traumatized for quite awhile.
Yesterday, Brad and I celebrated being married 11 years. And I couldn't be happier. I sure love that man.
I thought I'd tell this story, just to show how far I've come in 11 years. ;)
We decided to go out to a really nice restaurant for our anniversary. I found the sitter, and since Brad has much more experience with the restaurants here, he was going to find the place to eat. He made reservations for 7 pm and we were going to walk around the Christmas village for a little while before eating.
But, when you are married to a doctor, things tend to not always go as planned. He called me at 5 to say that he was still with a patient coming out of surgery and he might be late. I said it would be fine if we skipped the walk and just went to dinner. But then he called again, saying he was going to be even later than planned, could I drop off the kids, bring him a change of clothes, etc. Years ago, that might have stressed me out, especially since we were having plumbing issues, Roo broke the silverware drawer, and there was typical dinner chaos. Now, however, I've adjusted to the uncertainty that is life with a doctor. 11 years and I'm getting the hang of this gig. ;o)
We went to an amazing restaurant. It was so gorgeous in there! The architecture alone was stunning. I told the hostess it was our 11 year anniversary. She asked me if I got married at 10 because I looked way too young to be married that long. I didn't tell her I am 34. haha!
We got a Wagyu steak, Chateau potatoes, King crab gnocchi and a fabulous chocolate souffle for dessert. We shared all of it and still couldn't finish it. Incredibly delicious.
I love being married to the man of my dreams and look forward to the rest of eternity with him!!
I have so much to be thankful for today!
Brad's dad is here for Thanksgiving from OK. He took us out to a delicious Indian restaurant the other day. Yum. My aunt Stacy came down from NYC too. She has been incredibly helpful which has been fabulous since RA has my knee looking like a grapefruit. Sugar just adores her too. Stacy has been having Sugar help with cooking and she is just in heaven. Plus since our house is tiny, space is at a premium. Stacy has been sleeping in Sugar's room, and she just LOVES having a roommate.
And for Thanksgiving dinner, we are having another last minute addition, missionaries. We aren't sure where we will have everyone sitting, but nothing warms the heart like a full house, right? Oh, and we have Jasper the dog visiting too. :o)
It has been snowing off and on this morning, which has been beautiful. And Brad has been able to use his medical expertise. First, he used a needle from his kit to inject the turkey with seasonings. Then he drained my knee of fluid. I had been fighting letting him do it for a long time. Draining just hurts so dang much that I didn't want to associate him with incredible pain. But, the pain of the fluid finally outweighed the pain of the drain. He managed to get 10 cc's out, but it hardly made a dent in the fluid level. Looks like I'll be going in for another knee drain next week.
Wow. Nights like this are the reason my blog exists.
Brad convinced me that we really needed to go to a Japanese Sushi bar for Philly's Restaurant Week. Philly has some amazing places to eat, and getting them for a discount, well, that is hard to beat. And truthfully, the food was quite delicious! I still can't believe I ate an entire meal with chopsticks (except for the Hot and Sour soup) and that I ate so much raw fish. But, I love to try new things, so why not.
I digress. We left the restaurant before the dessert came so that I could get back in time for my first belly dancing class here. We walked down the street to the car, only the car wasn't there. Have I mentioned I hate Philly parking? (He was 6 inches into the No Parking zone. So petty) Our friends at the restaurant drove us to the impound lot, in a lovely area with such businesses as Club Risque and Show and Tel. Nice. Our friends played football out in the parking lot while Brad and I waited in a ridiculous line to get our car back. I can't even explain in words how incredible ridiculous the entire system was. Wait in line to pay the fee. Then wait in another line to fill out paper work. Then be told you need insurance and registration which is obviously in the car, so get it and wait again. There was one of those motivational posters on the wall that said 'Serenity', and I think it had the opposite effect on me. The irony was thick. During this waiting, our friend Jim took a football to the eye, which pushed his glasses into his eyelid. It was quite gross actually. I've been exposed to enough blood and guts to have a pretty strong stomach, but I couldn't look at it for very long.
This is a great time to have 2 ENT residents, and ER resident, and a PA hanging out. However, they wouldn't let Brad get his "tool bag" out of the car. We had to fill out a request form, and yes, wait in line again, just to get permission to get it. We were all trying to convince Jim, that yes, he needed stitches or something on his eye when the ER resident said, "Don't worry, Jim, I'll stitch you up right." Jim responded with, "Okay, listen, nothing personal, but if anyone is going to be stitching up my face, it is going to be the Facial Plastic Surgeon. I'm sorry, but if I have the choice, I'm going with Brad." We couldn't help it, Cathy and I just busted up laughing.
I eventually got the paperwork necessary to get the bag out of the car and ran it to Cathy. We had just used some Dermabond at church on Sunday when Roo had a lovely gash above his eye from hitting a pew. But, thankfully Brad had another Dermabond in the bag and they were able to close up his eye.
Now the problem was that we didn't have a registration card, only the sticker. Long story short-ish, we were at the impound lot for 2 hours. And I never made it to belly dancing.
Doctors can be pretty useful people to have around. Especially when they have tool bags. LOL!
I'm sure every wife out there has heard this from her husband:
"I'm sorry honey, I'm tied up at work and can't make it home for dinner."
I had this one:
"I'm sorry honey, I'm trying to get these leeches on a guy's ear and they just won't bite. I won't be able to make it home for dinner. I promise they won't get lost this time."
I love my life. There is never a dull moment!
Last stop on the blog tour! Our residency experience started out a little different. Brad had been set on ENT since he got his MBA between MSII and MSIII. He worked with a doctor during that year and loved the cases. However, he didn't match in ENT and scrambled into a General Surgery spot. He loved it and enjoyed being in the OR. We loved the town and the program and while intern year can be a bit, um, intense, it was over all a good experience for us.
Then, out of the blue, he was contacted by a med school friend and told about a position in ENT that opened up. He couldn't ignore the siren call of his first love and ended up applying for the spot. When he got it, it meant a little bit of craziness for our family. He only had a couple of weeks to move hundreds of miles, and we owned our house in MI. Thankfully, the friend that told him about the spot let him stay with him. Meanwhile, I stayed in MI with our 3 kids waiting for the house to sell. Waiting, and waiting. I had hoped and planned on a couple of months, but it ended up being 7 months. It was a LONG 7 months, and things were crazy at times. :o) We still own our house in MI and rent it out to some resident friends of ours.
It warms my heart when Brad comes home after 10 pm because of a 14 hour surgery to see him beaming from ear to ear because he loves it so much. Yes, it is hard, but I know this is exactly where we are supposed to be and this is EXACTLY what Brad is supposed to be doing. It makes the hard times easier on me.
Now, we are getting to the fun part of residency. Brad can finally moonlight and make up for the paltry resident salary. Philadelphia is not a cheap place to live. And call schedules are getting better too! Most days, his pager doesn't even go off! And finally, we are starting to interview for after-residency jobs. Oh my, that is fun!
I am one very happy wife of a resident. :o)
I thought I'd participate on a blog tour. It has been awhile since I've thought about medical school. I'm trying to block it out. ;o)
I think the thing I hated the most was the applying for medical school part. Sooooo much time and money spent on taking the MCAT, applying to schools, flying out for interviews, etc. I just wanted him to get in, and I didn't care where. It was such a huge relief when the acceptance letters started coming in.
We had 3 kids by the time Brad finished med school. And somehow it took me until MSIV to realize that I was going to have to start planning and doing things without Brad. We'd plan dates, or get invited to activities, and somehow I kept thinking he'd always be able to attend. It was a very freeing day when I finally realized that I could go places and do things without him. And it probably helped prepare me for the 7 months we lived apart after a residency change.
And I really remember how great if felt to be done with medical school. If only I'd realized we were only half-way there! LOL!
Here is where to find the tour:
http://queseraaasera.blogspot.com/2010/08/life-as-medical-school-wife.html
I finally got pictures put up over on Cookie. Took me long enough! LOL!
Brad got a week of vacation this month. We used part of it to go to South Dakota for some job interviews. Oh my lands, it was fun! They paid for plane tickets for us and our 3 kids. They even got us adjoining hotel rooms so our kids wouldn't keep us up all night. There was a beautiful fruit and snack basket waiting for us in our room. They arranged for childcare during fancy meals with the other doctors. Took us on tours of the town. Had realtors to show us around neighborhoods. Arranged a meeting with the school superintendent.
Then we got to talk about salary, signing bonus, loan forgiveness, moving expenses, housing payments, stipends, etc. It just feels so wonderful to be getting spoiled like this. There is a light shining at the end of the tunnel and it is beautiful!
We really liked the towns we visited. I could definitely see myself ending up there!
Then we used the rest of the vacation to go to Niagra Falls. Wow. I am at a loss for words to describe how truly incredible it was there. I tried to convince Brad we needed to move there. haha! It was absolutely stunning! We wanted to do everything we could while we were there.
The first thing we did was go on the Maid of the Mist. Aaaaaaaaaamazing. I couldn't wipe the silly grin off my face. It was complete bliss for me. I love waterfalls, and being right under there was unbelievable. The Observation Tower was great too!
The next thing we did was go to the Aquarium. There was also a seal show and a magic show there. We went to the Discovery Center for some hands-on fun, rode around on the Trolley. Walked over to Luna Island. That was a little freaky actually. You are right over the rushing river and it didn't seem like there was much of a guardrail. It was a little intimidating to realize how close you are to water that is about to plunge 180 ft. And I loved every second of it! I couldn't help but think about white water rafting seeing all of those rapids. :o)
Not content to be merely above the water, we next went down for the Cave of the Winds tour. Absolutely INCREDIBLE. You stand under the Bridal Falls, only a few feet away. The water is extremely powerful and you feel like you are going to blow away! The water just pounds down on you with amazing force. We couldn't get enough of it! Jamo and I kept going back up for more. We even did it without our plastic covers! Well, I only went up to the Hurricane Deck. Jamo actually went under the falls. That's my boy! He was soaked!
Then we ate dinner at the Top of the Falls restaurant. We ate on the outside deck with a gorgeous view and tried to dry off. We went over to Terrapin point for another stunning view. We went to watch the movie playing in the Visitor's Center. The boys bought super cool rocks and Sugar bought a fishing pole.
We waited for night to fall and enjoyed the beauty of the color lights on the falls. I still get speechless thinking about it. Then there were fireworks! I can't think of a more spectacular way to end the day. I'm already plotting a trip back so we can do the Canadian side!
Has it really been this long since I've posted? Oops. :o) Things get a little crazy when kids get out of school. And when I develop an addiction to Burn Notice. hee hee
We are getting ready to enjoy Brad's week of vacation for this 6 month period. We will be in South Dakota for a few days and then spend some time traveling in the East. Yay for vacations!
Brad is now a Post Grad Year 4 (PGY4) resident, and better call hours come with that. It has been super nice. Sometimes I even forget he is on call. It is a little crazy to think we only have 2 years left, assuming he doesn't do a fellowship.
I've signed up to row on the river with a club called Dragon Ladies. I'm pretty excited about it. Our first practice is next Saturday. I've seen boats on the river and I thought it looked like a blast, and now I'm going to be on there! I can hardly contain my excitement!!!!
Last week, something broke in the box for the dining room light. Brad was on call and ended up being gone most of the weekend. Last night he was in a laryngectomy and didn't get home until after midnight. Today, we were having company for dinner. And the light was still broken. Thankfully, it stays light longer since it is the summer, but I wish I could have found some candles so we could have all eaten by candle light. Oh, the stories I'm living in this house.
You have 3 pagers and a cell phone so you can be reached at all times.
Check out this funny video for Mommy's Day!
Any of you remember him?
No? Refresh your memory with some good ol' Sesame Street singing Oklahoma for all my Okies out there!
Jones is still my middle name, perhaps I should add Forgetful to it as well. Here's the story:
Since our schools take off for Yom Kippur, we had school today. Someone, who shall remain nameless, texted me this morning to say that he left his hospital badge at home and he needed it by 4 pm. (How did you figure out who??) I planned in my head that if I got my errands done, I could get to the hospital and home before the boys got home from school.
I dashed over to the store to get cupcakes and cake mix for Roo's birthday. Then it was over to Staples because Jamo was in need of glue sticks. While there I met a lady with a 2 yr old girl, a 7 yr old boy and a 10 yr old girl. Our boys are in the same grade at the same school. Her husband is from France and owns a restaurant called Hummus. We chatted a long time. I think I'm in love. LOL! Then I dashed over to the library because they charge a lot if you return movies late. Finally, I was able to head out to the hospital.
Which leads me to Philly traffic. Ugh. Here is the problem: The right lane is bad because of all of the buses stopping frequently. The left lane is bad because of all the people trying to turn left without a turning lane or turn signal. In other words, there is no good way to drive in Philly. I eventually made it to the hospital and met up with Brad. Then it was time to head back to my side of town with a now sleeping SugarPea.
While on my way to pick up Brad's dry cleaning, I got a call from my Visiting Teaching companion. I had totally missed our 1 o'clock appointment. OH MAN! I can't believe I did that! I also forgot to eat lunch. Yeesh. So, by the time I got home to eat lunch it was 3.
Let's hope my memory starts to function again soon.
The other night, Brad and I decided to snuggle and watch movies. No, not the latest romantic comedy. We watched something like this: ***warning, might be a little too graphic if you can handle looking up a nose LOL! ***
He was watching it, and some others, in preparation for a procedure he would be performing, a balloon sinuplasty. Maybe it is because I don't see him performing operations and working in the hospital, but sometimes it is strange to think what his job is when I see him helping with dishes and taking out the trash. But, if you asked Brad, I'd bet he would say his real job is being the amazing father he is to our children and the wonderful and supportive spouse he is to me. He is just that awesome.
Today's post is brought to you by the letter ZZZZZZZZZZZ and the number 10, which is when Brad fell asleep on his laptop last night. Poor daddy.
Remeber this little nugget of fun? Well, here we go again!
Brad is on call this weekend. I got to talk to him a little this morning and he mentioned a big surgical case coming up this afternoon. I wished him luck and told him I would talk to him later. I am pretty tired after a lack of sleep last night, so I was on the couch taking a nap while my SugarPea was taking her nap.
I was roused from my nap by the phone ringing.
"Hello?"
"Hi, did you call Brad's phone?" (male voice this time)
"Uh, what?" (I'm still groggy and trying to figure out if he meant 'is this Brad's phone' or what was going on since I know I didn't call Brad)
"Are you trying to reach Brad?" (light bulb comes on in my head)
"Oh! My kids must have tried to call him. Is he in surgery?"
"Yes, he is all scrubbed in."
"I'm sorry for the trouble."
"No problem."
I then told the boys this wasn't a good time to be calling daddy. Obviously, I can't fault them for wanting to talk to him. They didn't know he had surgery this afternoon. Oh, the joys.
Being married to a doctor leads to some interesting situations. Take this for example:
It was a late night, and I got distracted, so it was nearly 11pm before I called Brad. I expected he'd be sleeping, seeing as surgeons are up and going by 5, and I'd leave a message apologizing for not calling him sooner. But it was nothing that I expected. A woman answered his phone. Our conversation went thus:
"Hello?"
"uhhhhh...." (I was in a bit of a shock that a woman answered the phone and my head was trying to come up with logical explanations)
"Hello? Hello? {Dr Mons, I think it is your wife.} He's in surgery, he'll have to call you back."
"uhhhhhhh..... thanks....."
I figured out what the situation was before she said something, but I confess to being momentarily stunned. It isn't every day that a woman answers your husband's phone. He wasn't even on call that night, so I didn't expect him in surgery at 11 pm. Naturally, I made sure that his phone was on his belt holder and not in a pocket, because then I'd have to chew him out.
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