Oh the joys of another week gone by!

Oh I love life but this has been a long week.

I learned this week that I really can only work 4 days a week or else life just doesn't go so well. I think I've spent most of it ignoring my to do list, feeling overwhelmed, and just doing what needs to be done.

I worked M, Th, Fri this week and every day was crazy busy- filled with interesting diagnoses and fun patients. I loved it but needed a few moments to catch my breath. Just today alone was shingles, MRSA abscess (that I drained- oh I love pus), fibula fracture, 2 patients with chest pain, COPD with acute exacerbation, and then to top it off appendicitis. I haven't had a hot appendix in a while. I felt her belly and said get over the the hospital and get yourself a CT and come back afterwards. Well she never made it back- I called the surgeon while she sat in Radiology and had her walk over to surgery from here. She should do well. Oh and a few more patients besides these ones they just didn't have hot super cool diagnoses. so whine whine. I haven't charted on a single one.
I have decided it is Sabbath and charting can wait until Sunday!

The reason I am cranky is because Tues and Wed I had to get up early and drive to Portland for ACLS. Long two days. but now I can attempt to bring you back to life if you die. charging! Clear! All dead people deserve epi. It made me itch to work in an ER of something or be a paramedic where I actually used some of these skills.

So whine whine, the house is a mess and we got a Tree on Sunday but haven't had the time to decorate it. The tree is super cool through. 9 feet tall. We tromped around the tree farm in the mud and I kept saying I wanted to get the biggest tree we could find since we have such high ceilings. We got a beautiful one. We didn't realize the tree farm would come pick up our tree for us after we cut it down. We cut it down and hauled it 200 feet or so. That thing was heavy. Then we get to the front and they were like oh we could have gotten that... hmm...
I am looking forward to decorating the inside of the house this weekend.









Our Christmas lights on our new house! That sign in the upper window is Joy.









This is some of our moving party a
few months ago- in our new Kitchen!















This is our awesome Bathroom. I am loving the size- two sinks plus vanity space. To the right is a nice big bathtub and shower.
Toilet and multiple cupboards are behind me.










So anyways... there is something wrong with our camera... i am not sure what is up with the grainy lines. But happy Days--- God is good!

goals and dreams and such

P.S.- I don't think I posted on here...
you seen the side bar with the dreams and goals and such

Planning on crossing one off :)
Got tickets to New York for New Years. My mom and great friend Judy and I are going.

6 days!! we are all set and have a straight flight PDX to Newark, NJ.

The big topic of discussion is Times Square- we have learned that you get there early- we are going to try and go around Noon- and stand in little sections for hours...
the catch is it says very clearly that you cannot get out to go to the bathroom and there are no bathrooms- now I figure up until about 4 PM we should be able to at least go to the bathroom but that big 8 hours stretch until midnight.... not quite sure.
Then I watched Grey's Anatomy the other day where they were wearing Depends in Surgery... hmm...
Anyways- in the least we are all set and planning on being in Times Square on New Years.
with or without the depends is to be determined...

the holidays are here!!!

ooh I love Thanksgiving and Christmas. Mostly the anticipation of everything.

I have been prepping Brian for a month about putting up lights. We got up this AM and put lights up all over the place. I am so excited. Poor guy at one point it was pouring down rain and Brian was standing on the roof hanging lights from the gutter. they look awesome though. I am just waiting for it to get dark so we can really see it! The funny thing was even though it was raining and one week before Thanksgiving- there were 2 other neighbors on our street hanging lights too. We will have a fun street!

It's not even Thanksgiving yet and I have probably half of our Christmas present bought. whoo hoo!!

So I am sure I could blog about many things but I won't go on and on. Brian and I are loving our
new house, working hard, loving our church plant. Excited about what God is doing.
Trying to get pregnant- the longer it takes the louder I am about things. When we first started trying a year or so ago I didn't want to talk about it with anyone. now I tell everyone- people at work, my patients mid physical exam, and of course the great listening ears of friends and family. 2nd round of clomid right now... we should know if it works just before Christmas. I keep thinking that would be a nice Christmas present :)

We are getting ready to go up north to visit my side of the family for Thanksgiving! Brian keeps saying we are going to Canada... well almost but not quite. Just a few more days.

Lots of love and joy!

Quick note

SO! First football Sunday. My fantasy team is AWESOME this year. great day. great day.

We have moved in to our house! I will have to post more pictures but that would mean taking them. If you know me at all... I take a picture about every 6 months. I am so in love with this house. I know it is a just a house but it is a great one.

I took a bath in my bathtub a few nights ago. I could have swam in it. I forgot I was filling it and ended up shutting it off after realizing it had run out of hot water and had been running cold into my tub. Probably took the whole water heater to fill. Well I was bummer but decided to wait 15 minutes and see if I would have hot water again. 15 minutes later- scalding hot water. My next rhyme will be an ode to natural gas!

We have been settling in and having lots of fun with friends and family in the process. It seems there have been BBQ's, football games, dinners, birthdays- but you know... we can unpack later.

Cooked in the kitchen for the first time last night. very enjoyable even for someone who does not like cooking....

now to find those elusive items packed in boxes... :)

Ode To LASIK

Oh LASIK you are my friend.
You've never let me down.
I took the plunge almost a year ago
and you've never made me frown.

I had to wear these crazy goggles for a little while
and put multiple eye drops in my eyes
to prevent from drying
scarring or styes

But now upon arising at 5:30 AM
I no longer grope for my glasses
or poke my eyes with lenses
20/20 vision helps me stay ahead of the masses



If you are considering LASIK and haven't done if for some reason you should do it. It is totally worth it!

blooooging.

I just got back from fantasy football draft. My 2nd year in a row playing. I didn't really try to play but they decided they needed me so I went. I think I just like shocking people about how fast I spend my draft money. But I got Adrian Peterson who is #1 draft pick for pretty cheap. No we shall see how the season goes. I am ready....

Church was awesome this weekend. I just amazes me how God is so much bigger than my plans. Both Brian and I were exhausted Friday night and didn't have music together and I didn't prepare for Sabbath school until lying in bed sabbath morning. We arrived at 8 AM. No powerpoint ready for music but a bunch of song books. Passed them out to the congregation and took requests. People said it was the music was awesome. wow.. so God. Then sabbath school I sended up with 3 x the teens I thought I would have and we spent sabbath school singing and planning Toby Mac concerts and had a short devotional thought and wow... God blessed because I didn't plan anything. I think the most important thing sometimes is just showing up. will put a little more planning into next week :)

Then we headed to the beach to meet Ricky and Kathy. We had a wonderful relaxing time in Newport looking at the ocean, hanging out by the Bay, and eating yummy breakfast.

Now we are back and ready to start the week!!!!

oh wow the week is over!

I just want to put life on pause. There were so many great things that happened this week but it flew by so fast! Last night I was so overwhelmed and tired and just kept thinking I have 3 hours of charting left and it's only 9 o'clock. I had wanted to post a blog yesterday regarding interesting patient diagnoses but a las... I forgot half of what I had planned in my head.

Anyways... will spout off now about work. I think I am starting to feel like I have hit a groove of things. I am getting faster at seeing patients and more confident in my diagnosis.
Which is why when I had a 90 something year old with a fever, cough, and urinary symptoms Tuesday I diagnosed a UTI, read her CXR as normal and promptly went on my way... Thursday I get back to work.... hmm... her urine had no growth even though pretty positive on dip. and oh... she went to the ER because I missed a pretty glaring pneumonia on x-ray. I went back and reviewed the films. My supervisor was like- on Tuesday- I walked past the films saw the pneumonia, poked my head in the door and said hi to your patient (he was primary) and told her you would fix her up. Didn't think you would miss something as obvious at that. Bummer. We made the decision that if he see's pneumonia on my films maybe he should double check that I noticed but kick myself... because crap... I screwed up. But oh yeah life goes on.

I learned a ton about anemia from one patient I have been working with. a couple weeks ago they walked in very dizzy. ran tests... hey your blood count is really low... you need a transfusion. Fixed up with a transfusion. Usually when that happens it's because of GI bleeding. so I worked up for that.. but nothing turned up. Ran other tests... wow... hmm. low retic count. Macrocytic anemia with normal B12 level... Bone marrow biopsy. Acute myelogenous leukemia. Very sad. but a very good lesson on how to work it up and diagnose it. I was like what is going on? this is weird something is wrong..

anyways. I had another dizzy patient today.. I was like you have benign paroxysmal positional vertigo. Then I dipped her urine... oh wait you have a urinary tract infection. ahh the ever learning life of a PA.

Anyways I noticed I kind of stopped blogging when our church plant started so I should update everyone on that.

Riversedge Seventh Day Adventist church has been up and running since May 1st!
I have been blessed by many amazing messages. and am grateful for our fearless leader Jim John. Brian and I have been doing music like crazy people most weeks. We need more musicians!! We have pulled many people in to help. But we enjoy doing music and worship and it has been awesome to see people learning songs and singing along. And just singing praises to God.
I am leading the youth. Mostly I have around age 12-13. They are an awesome group. this week I have convinced myself that we need to go see David Crowder Band in October. The girls to the revolve tour in November and Toby Mac in December. So need to start fundraising!
We have 40-70 people come every week which we think is awesome for summer time. Oh so many great things. God is blessing and I think what is happening is so out of our control.
I have settled into a regular pattern. This fall I think we may shake things up a bit. But wow I can't believe everything that has happened. I am not too worn out yet :) mostly just loving life and trying to keep my head above water. Praying every day!

anyways about to fall asleep and it is only 9 AM on a Friday night! Off to slumber and then church plant time.

Good friends

Brian and I have some good friends.

Friday night Joe showed up on our doorstep with 3 dozen cookies!!!!! They were still warm. so yummy and just what we needed.

My mom came Friday-Sunday to spend some time with us.

Matt and Judy came over for lunch after church. Brian made gourmet Baked Ziti, my mom made a delicious salad, and I made some garlic bread. They ended up staying until 11 PM!!! Oh I am so glad we have friends that feel comfortable hanging out at our house all day. We were determined to finish a puzzle (which we did after 8 hours of intense labor), played some ladder golf, and each took small cat naps throughout the day.

We also, with the help of Nikki, Matt, and Quentin went again to look at the house we are planning on buying. we probably spent an hour just walking around dreaming. What a nice way to spent sabbath.

Today is Nikki's birthday so we got to go out to Crescent cafe and celebrate!!! Whoo hoo. Worth the wait- the food was delicious.

So thank you my friends. And for all my friends that live far away or I haven't seen in a while. I miss you and treasure you as well.

Exciting Happenings!!!

So Brian and I have wanted to sell our house for a few years. We were waiting till I finished school- paid down a little debt. but really we have lived in our lovely cute little house for 5 years and we are ready for a change. Now that I have finally lived at home for an entire year without traveling to a crazy rotation we need something new to spice up life!

Tuesday- after our 9th month total on the market we got an acceptable offer on our house!!!! The inspection was today so as long as that is acceptable and no financing bumps (they are pre-approved) we should be able to move at least by the end of September. Sooner if we have our way!

It is such a buyers market right now. We had to lower the price of our house by about $30,000 and even then the offers we finally started getting were $20,000 below what we were asking for. I don't fault them for trying but it's a little frustrating to get 3 offers in one week- each one lower than the previous unacceptable offer. But exciting at the same time to know that people want your house. So we got one of the offers to come up significantly to something reasonable and it is looking good!

We already have a house we have put an offer on. It is beautiful! In a neighborhood we didn't think we could afford.

Here are a few pics:

This is front. I think the Orange door is a sign that it should be ours!

This is the best part of the house- the amazing Kitchen. The pic actually doesn't do it justice.

This is the backyard porch. There is also a huge side yard.

3 bedrooms and 3.5 bathrooms. I think the perfect house for us. It is actually like 2 blocks from Brian's grandparents. Only a mile away from the house we are living now.

So we are praying and hoping and getting excited. Pray with us that things will go smoothly. With this crazy economy you never know.

Musings of a sick John

Oh so much is going on! This isn't really the perfect time to be sick. I have not been sick all winter... I am quite proud of this fact since it is my first winter to actually see sick people all day every day. Except for last winter when I was doing pediatrics and was sick for 6 weeks straight!!!

Well Tuesday I saw some beautiful teenagers with colds and somehow I got one- despite the handsanitizing... and no it is not the swine flu but that is affecting me as well...
So yesterday, my day off, I spent most of it sleeping! Today I made it to work- with homemade soup and all but am feeling quite dead at the moment. One more work day to go... I think I will make it. I think I can I think I can.

I had to go to work today- because it was the going away party for my MA!! I have pictures to prove it.

She is going to be missed. One smart cookie.
Note my name plate in the background... yep my office... I really like where I work. it's a pretty good set up.
And after the third person asked me what I was bringing to her going away potluck today, despite my informing them repeatedly that I don't really cook. I brought taco soup.. which turned out pretty good.

I also snapped a pic of my new MA- Ashley- who is already doing an awesome job and learning the ropes.
Note the right hand corner is my own personal can of hand sanitizer that I keep of my desk :)

oh I can't be sick right now because it's a big weekend...
Our church plant starts this weekend! We've been having sabbath school every week for the past month but this week we actually are going to meet in our rented building and have church and sabbath school. I feel like I should be doing more to get ready but really- we have been planning this for months. Brian is in charge of worship and we have practice tomorrow night. I'm singing. Jim is preaching. Got sabbath school leaders, greeters, PA people... we're all having spaghetti dinner to celebrate after the service. Got the business cards printed, the banner, the invitations. Craziness. Brian has been working on the print stuff and doing an excellent job. I'm leading the youth group. So far we have two pre-teens so I am going to gear it towards middle schoolers. So all we've got to do now is pray!!

On top of everything we have decided to put our house back on the market. Now as I post this the last day of April I am wondering why we made our list date May 1st and if my house is clean enough for pictures tomorrow. It is about as spacious as it can be yet still have people live here. Our spare rooms are pretty much empty. Oh... I hope it sells in 2 days. That would be nice. but I am braced for a long haul in this economy. Anyone need a house? great town!

What else... also this crazy swine flu. I'm like yeah- Mexico and spreading here... but then I realized... HEY- We're going on our awesome Mexico vacation in 10 days!!! So I kind of think it's not going to happen. They rerouted this weeks cruise ship to San Francisco, Seattle, and Victoria. Hmm... nice except cold... and kind of the same weather as home. We are considering switching the cruise to the Carribean or using our airline tickets to California and going to Disneyland.

It has been BLAZER Mania at our house. Brian has taken to wearing his jersey to work on game days. Unfortunately we lost tonight.... so season is over. There is always next season.

Happy Tax Day

I like to think of Tax day as our anniversary. Since 6 years ago was the day we started dating!! In true fashion I made Brian take the afternoon off and we had planned to go our for fancy food. I called the place to make a reservation yesterday and they were closed for remodeling. After discussing several options we ended up going shopping for a kitchen table in Salem and got Kwan's food. Kwan's in Salem in delicious. Brian is going to take me to Nick's on Sunday for lunch... yummy.

Now we are back to watch the final Blazer game before the playoffs. They are on fire... and so much fun to watch. Maybe I should put my Roy jersey on for good luck!

What else what else. My MA Laura is leaving. I knew it was too good to last for long. She quits the end of the month to take 20 days to study before her MCAT's. She is one smart cookie and will be missed. I think I'm a little spoiled... my first MA out of PA school went to Dartmouth on a pre-med track! They've already hired someone to take her place who starts on Monday. She has big shoes to fill... I am happy for Laura though. She is going on to better things.

We are moving forward with Church planting! This weekend we held out first Sabbath school meeting. Brian led some songs- even had powerpoint, and then Jim led a lesson on Faith. It was simple and fresh and 25 people came. We had 5 kids there already so next sabbath we are going to have two children's sabbath school classes. I am leading the tween group. We have two tweens so far. It should be fun and a challenge. I think I'm going to lead indefinitely as long as everything meshes okay. We don't officially start church until May 2nd so off to a great start! Need lots of prayer... our little group has already been through a ton. Our leader Jim had neck surgery last Tuesday- it went awesome... but there is so much to do right now and to work full time and start something like this... craziness. We just finished putting toegether business cards and invites from the 2nd so we can start inviting people officially to the big kickoff!!!

Okay gotta go- Blazers are on in 10 minutes!!

April Showers bring May Flowers

Actually in true Oregon fashion it rained today. But a lot of our flowers are out already. We have tree full of pink flowers in our back yard and daffodils and other blooming bulbs in our front and back yard. Beautiful! It would be nice to put pics of this on here but alas... it's dark outside already...

I had April Fools day off today and got tons done. I actually cooked- broccoli rice casserole. I was again reminded that it seems to take me such an effort to cook. I had to go to the store and then run home and start rice cooking and then I ran to my friend Judy's house and bought some Fri-Chik from her. Do they sell Fri-chik in stores around here??? I guess there is one store in town. Then I came home and cooked broccoli and was frying the fri chick when Brian called me reminding me that I had to come pick him up at work in 2 minutes. So I finished the fri-chick and ran and picked him up (I had taken his car to the shop). I came home 45 minutes later (had to pick up the car, go tanning, and get chai tea). Finished mixing up the casserole and stuck in the oven. Then I'm like oh... I forgot to go get bread to go with this. Oh well. Then I realize that something dripped on the bottom of the oven the last time I cooked that I forgot to clean... cleaned that up. stick the food in the oven. Ahh... dinner was finally done at 7. I think I started around 3. Now that everthing is done and our bellies are full. I'm like wow- it turned out pretty delicious but was it really worth all that effort??

I did also make it to the gym today. My favorite instructor lead Zumba. (it's a latin dance workout) It made me miss Ecuador.

Happy April to you all!

Work and Play

Wow. Lots to blog about. Exhausted today- life is so full and busy. I love being busy. Sometimes I commit to too many things. I find it hard to give up an opportunity to spend time with friends and family. So have been presented with lots of these opportunities lately- thus have been doing lots of things!!!

Last week I started Tanning. I know we aren't going on the cruise for six weeks but I am so excited. I figure I always burn first anyways so it may take me 6 weeks to perfect. I don't know if I've ever felt like tanning has gone perfectly for me and my red hair. There's a new tanning place in town so I got a month's pass and went 4 days in a row last week. Then I noted that I just was mildly red and itchy in some parts (where I forgot to put tanning oil) and have taken 4 days off. Will restart tomorrow. But overall... I think the best tanning experience so far... a mostly brown. Just so exciting to feel like spring is here and winter is passing! just would like to have a nice base tan so I don't burn on the trip!

My mom came this weekend!!! we packed it with plans and fun things to do. My mom is always up for adventure!
Sabbath we went to church (got to hold a baby for a while during the service) and then had a church plant potluck.
Our group went and toured the church we are planning on renting (just gotta sign the contract) and everyone was excited about starting services there May 2!!! We spent some time in prayer at the church.
Then my mom and I took a photo shoot in my backyard:



The next day we got up early and went to the crescent cafe for breakfast. Then we were off to Portland for a day at the Spa! We got massages, facials, and foot soaks. And hung out in the sauna between sessions. It was wonderful!!! Then we headed over to the Rose Quarter for the rock and worship road show. It was a 10 dollar concert with Mercy Me, Jeremy Camp, and Hawk Nelson. Unfortunately after only arriving 30 minutes early in the concert we were turned away along with about 500 other people since the place had reached capacity. So we went to see SlumDog Millionaire instead. Totally recommend SlumDog.

Then I hit the week running! Monday and Tuesday were awful days at work for me. I just had hard patients that I didn't know what to do with. I was behind and I kept having to grab my supervisor and get his help. It was awful. Even the ones I didn't ask him about were patients with lots of psychosocial issues and issues that I didn't have easy answers. Diagnosed a GI bleed on Coumadin yesterday. Stopped the coumadin. Had someone with gout. Had someone with MRSA infection that was worsening. Multiple patients with Back Pain. Prepatellar Bursitis. I think that was just yesterday. Umm... can I get some URI's?? Even a UTI. Ahh... Internal Medicine at it's finest.
I chucked it all and left my charting last night. I just had to get out of there. Walked across the parking lot to the movie theater. Yes... I work 100 feet from a movie theater.... Met Brian there and friends and had a slurpee for dinner. The slurpee was delicious and the movie was was more hilarious than I thought it would be. We saw I Love you Man. Totally recommend that one too.

So... then today, on my day off, of course I had to go back to work and finish the charting. Finished that quickly. I like being at work when I'm not behind and don't have patients waiting for me. :) Less pressure.

Then went shopping with the girls today! Went to Target and the Mall with Kylie, Hannah, and Katie. I am in love with my niece and it was fun to have some girlie company. Hannah was playing peek-a-boo with me. It was so precious. She was lifting up her blanket and hiding from me and then coming out with a big grin. ooh... she is getting bigger.

Tomorrow.... back to the grindstone.... and then off early to see a Blazer Sun's game. oh... I can't complain. I am blessed. God is good.

Still Marching

Brian has been sick all this week. Poor guy has missed most of the work week. He made it in a few days but it just made him sicker and he went home. He's sleeping right now. I was hoping if he rested immediately upon getting it that we would see improvement by now but he's still miserable. I think overall he's kicking it though and should get better as long as he doesn't get something on top of it.

I've been seeing a patient for 6 weeks with pneumonia. Last week he was on my schedule again and I'm like what!! Isn't the poor guy better yet?? He looked sicker than I've seen him yet and the poor guy was positive for Influenza A on top of everything. Viruses on top of Viruses. anyways I used Relenza since he had only been getting sicker for the past 24 hours. Maybe we can stop that virus from replicating. and the flu is 20% resistant to Tamiflu.

So everyone around me is sick

my patients, my family, my friends have all gotten it. I have felt a little run down but haven't gotten anything yet!!! I just keep remembering the 6 weeks last year where I was so sick on my peds rotation and I think I got a lot of the bugs the adults are seeing this year last year. My theory- hopefully it's true.

So this week was mostly taking care of Brian and going to work!

Wednesday I went to a Blazer's game with Matt, Judy, and Laura. It was great fun but we lost. I got Brian a Pryzbila Jersey since he was too sick to go to the game. I so appreciate having great friends like Matt and Judy they are just some of the most fun loving, caring, listening people.

Sunday Judy and I are going to Portland. She's going to a wedding and dropping me off at the mall! I'm going sunglass shopping. I've got to get out of this sick house. Plus it's getting nicer and I broke my favorite sunglasses.

I'm thinking about tanning for the cruise. I have fair skin and don't tan easily. I figure if I start tanning 2 months before and go really slowly then I should have a nice tan by the time I get on the boat. it's so nice to have a vacation to look forward to. I'm so excited!!!!

Other than that I'm looking forward to my mom visiting next week. Her Brithday is on Wednesday and she is coming next weekend. We are planning a trip to the spa. If anyone knows any good spas in portland that are open on Sundays. I am all ears!!!

March of the Johns

This week has had lots of fun filled things but also trying times at work-

Highlights...

We started our small group on Tuesday night.

I got to go shopping for cruise clothes with Nikki and Quentin. We danced around the new J Crew outlet store where I bought lots of fun clothes for the cruise and a few tops for work. Dined on soft pretzels for lunch... yummy. Quentin is 10 months old and he was such a good shopper!

Thursday night we ended up at Jason, Kylie, and Hannah's for a fun mexican feast. Kylie is such a great homemaker. Unfortunately I was little burned from the day at work... I think my insight that day what that people actually grill chicken in pans. I know all of you reading this blog are going to be like.... yeah Sunshine that's the only way to grill chicken. I have only ever baked chicken. I didn't know that you can just stick a raw chicken breast in a paw in some oil and it would cook a lot faster. I was just sitting there so tired from work listening to Katie tell me there is a whole other way to cook chicken that I have been missing out on!. So I haven't tried it yet. maybe I'll take a picture for you all when I do.

Work.... work... work. Same old same old. I know some things but there is so so much to learn. I think the funniest and saddest story of the week happened yesterday.

I was cruising along. Saw 9 patients in the morning and actually stayed on time... didn't get behind and on top of that charted on my patients. Was all caught up by 12:30 and went to lunch. I was like wow... this is what every day should be like.

My 1:30 patient... Was an 89 year old female who had called that day stating that her wrist hurt but she didn't know what happened to it. As I'm talking to her I realize she is confused. She can tell me where she is and the date but she just wasn't all there. What is up with confused people on Friday afternoons?? I go ask someone who knows her better if she normally is like this... and no. she is altered today. I'm like she's gotta have an infection. So I x-ray the wrist, also get Chest xray, the get lab work checking for infection. I wanted to check her for a urinary tract infection but she couldn't give me a urine sample.

So I'm trying to figure out what is going on with her and I walk past her room and realize she is trying to wheel herself out the door in her wheelchair. I'm like what is going on? She says I have to pee!!! So I wheel her over the bathroom and help her up and say oh... give me a sample while you are at it... and she pees on me, and all over the floor, all over her clothes.
so here I am- in the bathroom with this confused, elderly lady, who just peed on me!!!

I'm like... okay the day has gone downhill from lunch.
In the end- it turned out she didn't have pneumonia, and she didn't have a UTI. I still didn't know what was wrong with her wrist. But she did have a white count of 12,700. So- I gave her Rocephin and Zithromax, splinted her wrist in a thumb spica splint (covering for occult scaphoid fracture) and she is seeing her own doctor on Monday.
I just wanted to sit at my desk and cry... she peed on me and I can't fix her!!! but I think that's much of what internal medicine is... people aren't always fixable.
But alas I had to go see my other patients... who were waiting patiently for me. But at least the morning was awesome!

Beach Trip!

Here are some pics from our beach trip a couple weeks ago:

Tillamook Cheese Factory!

The Guys- somehow they color coordinated

Singing worship

Kylie and Hannah

Brian and I

My Niece and I

Ricky

The beach trip was a lots of fun family time!

Ode to the last day of February

February is a short month. I am ready for it to be over. It's been a good month and full of awesome things but with a cruise to look forward to in May... Lets move on to March!!!

I think the best part of the month is the new friendships we've made and the old friendships that we've celebrated. Brian and I have been hanging out with lots of couple friends. I am very much an extrovert so have just been soaking up the opportunities to eat out, hang out, go to movies, go walking, go out for chai tea.

I haven't been blogging because when I'm at home I've been playing this game called Hammerfall on Facebook. I am such a dork for playing an RPG game but I am so addicted. It is consuming my hours.

Other than that work has been busy. I saw my record of 17 patients the other day. I was a little frazzled by the end. And I'm supposed to do this every day. The job is still awesome though. I get to see a variety of things every day. My last patient on Friday I'm pretty sure had sepsis. She had a fever of 103.1, altered mental status, labored respirations and by report she was in to see me for a swollen leg. I'm thinking cellulitis that turned into sepsis but could not get her pants off to examine the leg. I turfed her to the ER before she crumped in my office. Freaked me out... Rightly so. I called her actual doc (he was just a hallway over) that knew her over to make sure she wasn't in her normal state and then to the ER she went.

Oh Happy Day

well... lazy day. I convinced Brian to stay home sick on my day off today. Good thing I did because he was pretty sick. Lots of clutching the stomach. I tried to feed him what I tell all my patients to eat with stomach viruses: Banana, Rice, Applesauce, Toast, and Yogurt. But he doesn't like Yogurt and Bananas. Applesauce and Toast made him sicker. So I just kept feeding him toast, water, and propel. We shall get through this.

I had gotten the bright idea to make freezer meals on Sunday. I ran out and got all the ingredients to make freezable chicken pot pie. So I ended up making it from scratch tonight. It tasted awesome. and Brian got to enjoy it and not get sick. And then I had another one to stick in the freezer. We shall see. I figure Brian will be able to pop it in when I'm working till 7.

I am toying the with idea of meal planning. People say once you do it you save money and life is easier. Just seems like a lot of energy to change habits.

I got a new dell computer yesterday. My other one was taken over by a virus and is pretty much toast. This one is pink!!! It is awesome. and No viruses. shall purchase virus protection from here on out. I am just spoiled rotten- iphones and laptops.

God is good.

A brief pause

Finally getting some down time! This week has been busy. I am getting busier at clinic but having easier patients which is nicer. Cold season has hit. Bring on the bronchitis. I can do this.

I just worked Saturday clinic today and I was reminded what true internal medicine is all about. Wow... hyponatremia, CHF, and possible CVA. One whirlwind day. I have to much to learn. But luckily lots of great docs to learn from.

Brian got me roses for V day. They are very pretty.

I think the fun part of the week was... I got an iphone. I've been waiting until I was upgrade eligible to get one and the day finally came. I got money for it for Christmas. Did have problems with AT and T and had to pester them for a couple weeks. But being persistent paid off and now I am a proud owner of this amazing device. What fun. Already downloaded epocrates and facebook and having loads of fun with it.

Anyways. I have nothing interesting to say except:

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!!!!!!!

Do not drink Chai Tea at 9 PM

So... I drank Chai TEa tonight. because it is so yummy and have been awake for hours. I tried to go to bed at 10:30 but here I am still awake at 1:30 AM and my alarm is set for 6! Hmm... note to self... drink Chai Tea in AM. Or maybe just avoid the calories all together.
I was being so good. I had an apple for breakfast, lean quisine for lunch, and salad for dinner. Thus why I was craving Chai Tea at 9 PM. Now I'm just going to be exhausted in the AM.

I thought I would get on here and rant about my computer. I has been taken over by spyware and some kind of nasty spamming virus. I get pop ups every 10 seconds. and my browser keeps shutting down. This computer is 3 years old and I was planning on getting a new computer anyways. So I have a new pink Dell coming!!! So tonight... I'm leading this small group leaders meeting and using Brian's new, month old computer, of course... since mine isn't working. And what do I do? I had a pen sitting on the keyboard and I half shut the cover of the lap top. Next thing I know I open up and I've destroyed the beautiful screen!! Well. I'm going to try to take it back but that one is toast as well. The screen is completely destroyed. Brian took it pretty well. I feel awful. Basically. I should not be let near a computer. Both our computers are broken at the same time!!
I prayed about it and I think God is trying to say Sunshine.... you need to spend more time with me instead of your computer.

Small groupS! I love small group Bible studies. Part of the church plant is that we are launching small groups prior to launch date! We've got 7 willing leaders who are going to start groups in the next 2 weeks. Tonight we had a meeting of the leaders just to get topics and finalize the membership drive we are having this weekend! We have 30 people committed to this Church plant from the mother church and we are going to organize those 30 people into the 7 small groups. The goal of these 7 groups is to grow to 15 or so members in the next 2 months and to have sweet Bible study and fellowship amongst themselves. Leaders invite friends and coworkers and neightbors and then encourage other members to invite friends. Then on our church launch date we invite all the people attending our group to the church launch!!
WE need lots of prayer! But so far God has been just moving in awesome ways.
Take my small group right now... we just happen to be at a great stopping point and tomorrow I'm going to suggest we transition as a group into this group. I think it will shake the group a bit and I want to be loyal to the members. But we don't just want to stay where we are at... we want to learn and grow and reach out! So I am excited and in prayer!

This weekend was insanely busy and packed with awesome dinners and friends and family and meetings. The highlight was we went out with our friends Matt and Nicki and we decided to go on a cruise together! We are going to go to Mexico for 7 nights in May. I think it's all working out. Good deals and new friends. I am so there.

37 things- AKA the facebook virus

1. I have a facebook addiction
2. I miss eating at Zaxby's in Georgia.
3. I am really excited that McDonald's has sweet tea right now.
4. This year will be Brian and my 5 year anniversary
5. We would like to go on a cruise in a couple months.
6. I love concerts
7. I read www.perezhilton.com regularly
8. I watch way more television now that I am older than I did when I was younger.
9. Our church plant is going to be called: Rivers Edge Seventh Day Adventist Church
10. I love the color orange
11. Being a physician assistant is an awesome job... one where I learn new things every day.
12. I love puzzles and collect Ravensberger brand ones.
13. I have written the word Europe nearly every day for the past 10 years because someone once said keep your goals visualized and someday you will accomplish them. Still working on Europe. I am pretty good at this whole delayed gratification thing.
14. I am pretty good at keeping up the laundry
15. I just spent 60 dollars on used jeans at a thrift store. I figured they fit... I would probably spend just as much on a new pair... Wearing them right now.
16. Jesus Christ paid the debt for my sins. I am a sinner and strive to be more like Jesus daily.
17. I spent a year in Russia as a student missionary. It was the most depressing year of my life but I learned so much about myself and my faith. Hope I had an effect on my students.
18. My favorite rotation in PA school was my trauma rotation. I just liked the adrenaline and the hospital atmosphere.
19. Brian and I met in Tennessee.
20. My women's small group just read the "Organic God" by Margaret Feinberg. It is awesome.
21. I really liked the Twilight series.
22. I pierced my ears for the first time over a year ago. The day before I went to Ecuador. They got a little infected in Ecuador but I survived.
23. I have a super nintendo
24. My computer has a virus right now so I am using Brian's new computer. I miss mine but think I'm going to get a pink one next week.
25. I love Dr. Pepper but drink Diet Dr. Pepper because it has less calories. Diet Dr. Pepper is pretty good too.
26. I love fresh cherries. I love cherry flavored candy. I love maraschino cherries. I hate cherry pie.
27. I have veneers. I didn't buy them for myself. They were a gift.
28. Grey's Anatomy is my favorite TV show.
29. I would like to be a beter listener. Especially to my husband.
30. My husband calls me trouble. But I know he thinks I'm pretty cool.
31. I cross-stitch
32. I hate coffee
33. I don't really like getting massages. They seem to be kind of nice at the time and then I usually feel worse afterwards.
34. My first job was as a waitress at a drive-in.
35. I grew up really close to Canada.
36. I have a binder full of coupons. I'm trying to be good at using them. I got salad dressing yesterday on sale for 3 dollars with a one dollar manufacturers coupon then a double coupon coupon... so it was only a dollar.
37. 37 is my favorite number.

A record day!

I have had so much to blog about lately but no motivation to blog...
so this will be a post of random things I have been doing since I last blogged:

1) Saw Katy Perry... 5th row center. There was a really tall 6'2'' girl in front of us but she moved and we actually became concert buddies. Wow... went from staring at her back thinking bad thoughts to laughing... Katy was awesome. Liked the opening band the Daylights--- SVEN...
Also highlight of the night was standing in line outside taking turns ordering to go from the sit down asian place. Nothing like fancy chicken teriyaki while your standing in line freezing to death- waiting for KATY!!

2) Went to my friends funeral and sang Blessed Assurance. It was so good to see old church friends! people have changed.

3) Saw my little brother... he all of a sudden is clean shaven and hair styled. I don't have pics to post but he looks normal... I kind of miss his beard.

4) Drank Bubble Tea on the Ave in Seattle and played Texas Hold EM. I am not very good at Poker but can play... oh and I do love Bubble Tea.

5)... that was all in one day....

6) Had a great day watching the superbowl. Go Arizona!!! ... it was a good game. I am okay that the Steeler's won.

7) Went and watched the Blazer's beat the Utah Jazz. It was kind of a blow out but so much fun. Love all the great food. I decided to take laps of the stadium between courses.

8) Today... saw my record... 15 patients. 2 Migraines... I can do migraines. And lots of other stuff...

9) Battled a virus with my husband. I won!!! I really like my humidifer. Brian hasn't quite conquered yet but I have full faith that he will soon.

10) Got our first request to see our house since we put it up for sale by owner. Tomorrow!! Just spent an hour cleaning the house... It looks awesome! wouldn't it be great if the first people that looked at it wanted it??

11) Held a two week old baby. Changed his diaper, let him suck on my finger. Waited for mom to come home so he could actually eat... so little!

12) Worked on Church planting... we need prayer! This is the time where we are mobilizing people and helping people get into positions of leadership. Except we have never done that before. We've got about 20 people signed up as charter members. I'm working on getting small groups started. We have been attacked of late... out core team members have a had a lot of stress and I really think the timing isn't a coincidence. It will happen. just must persevere.

13) Thought about taking a vacation.... dreamed more than planned. We would like to go with some friends. So far most people are busy and/or don't have the money... which makes sense...

The sheer laziness of it all

I had the day off today and decided to not try to do everything. Normally on my days off I try to get a ton done and then am more worn out than as if I worked all day. I think I went a little too far the other way though today... now I just feel lazy....

I did get up and was at our Adventist school by 8:05 AM.
Judy, who I tend to rope into quite a few things, has roped me into this 6 week commitment where we get to go to the school every Wednesday. The was the 2nd week.
We are leading a MODESTY class. It's actually kind of fun. We have a little book with 6 chapters and we just discuss it with the 6-8th grade girls. I think it's a much needed topic and the girls are all at the age where they are still open to talking about things and the hormones are starting to hit but haven't hit full blast. Today we talked about why you should dress modestly and also how to dress modestly. Mostly we just try to let the girls share their thoughts and then work on guiding those thoughts to spiritual and modesty themes.

By 8:45 I was at the gym. Wow it was packed... New Years Resolutions. Kickboxing... The instructor was a little crazy and it actually ended up being a fun dance class. We were all wiggling our hips and jumping across the room like crazy people. Much better than regular kickboxing.

10: 15 I was at the grocery store..... This is where it fell apart... I ended up wandering around the aisles looking at things I had coupons for- for like an hour.... not really buying that much stuff luckily. I got things like blood oranges and flaky pastry bites... Once I got off track the day kind of fell apart.

By noon I had finally showered and ate lunch with Brian.

I then spent the afternoon reading a book and feeling lazy. Cleaned out the medicine cabinet.... Now that I've started wasting time I can't stop.... I just want to stare blankly in space and play addictive nonsensical games on my computer. All. Day...

The redeeming part of this day is that I made Prime Rib for the first time ever. I found this fun cooking blog that has mouthwatering pictures of everything. It really wasn't as hard to make as I thought it might be and it turned out delicious. I bought a little meat thermometer which took the guessing out of things. Fun fun. We loved it.

The nice thing about this laziness is that I know it's going to come to an end soon. I'm actually storing up energy for this weekend!!! Brian is going skiing tomorrow for the day. Friday I'm driving to Seattle to go to a Katy Perry concert with my sister!!!! It's sold out. Luckily I bought tickets like two hours after they went on sale. I've had them for months... So. Excited.

It also turns out to be the same weekend that the 24-7 church is hold this huge outreach on the UW campus this weekend. A great speaker and party afterwards. We are going to go for the morning session.
But then it turns out Tat's funeral at 4 PM. So we are going to drive up north after the session. Pay our respects. Hang with my mom. (I get to sing Blessed Assurance) and then jet back to SEattle.
It will be a packed crazy weekend. Just what I thrive on. We have it all planned out.
My sister is a little stressed because she has two midterms and a paper due next week. She is so busy...
So I will have to leave her to study on Sunday.

I have to get back here for a big church plant meeting Sunday night. Just amazing... so many fun things to be a part of. I don't want to miss anything.

What else to blog about... I love playing games. We stayed up really late playing all sorts of games with Joe and Katie Saturday night. Joe would not leave. Even though he knew the late hour and everyone else was winding down. We wound down around 12:30 AM and they didn't end up leaving until about 1:30. Joe was just like no... I'm staying longer. I'm glad we are getting to be good enough friends that they feel comfortable hanging out till the wee hours of the AM.

Earlier that night I made Brian take me to Bride Wars. He actually kind of enjoyed it and I always love a girlie movie... no matter how predictable it is.

Musings of a well rested woman

This sleep thing is really working for me. I've been sleeping a lot and having great days. I am convinced that I need at least 8 hours of sleep. Last night was 10:20 PM to 6:45 AM.

I got to work Saturday clinic this AM. I have to do it one week a month from 8:30 to 12:00. Which just means I have to get up early and I miss church :(. But very tolerable considering no call! Today I had migraines, depression, rotator cuff injury, and diarrhea.

Really life has been work and sleep. Which is nice because we've been pretty busy.

Brian says to blog that we are friends. And that we cantalope because we are already married. Can you tell we are a little bored? Aww... it's nice to finally have some down time.

My text of the day is Psalm 22:

22 I will declare your name to my brothers;
in the congregation I will praise you.

23 You who fear the LORD, praise him!
All you descendants of Jacob, honor him!
Revere him, all you descendants of Israel!

27 All the ends of the earth
will remember and turn to the LORD,
and all the families of the nations
will bow down before him,

28 for dominion belongs to the LORD
and he rules over the nations.

Work, Work, Work and More Work

So the life of a PA-C I'm discovering is a lot of work. I've been getting busier which is great. I'm realizing I don't want to be too much busier! I've been consistently seeing 11-13 patients per day.
And not a lot of your regular run of the mill colds. I saw a follow up today- urinary tract infection symptoms. I'm like nice... I'll do that fast and catch up.... Nope... urinary frequency- that isn't a UTI, yeast infection, or even bacterial vaginosis. Interstitial cystitis??? What is that? Well I learned about it today. AHH!! But I think we arrived at the right diagnosis.

The cool thing about today was that I got suture things! I hadn't sutured since I started working. I removed a skin lesion this AM and then just when I thought I was done for the day- In walks a forehead laceration. Fun fun. I was just glad that I remembered how to suture after 8 months or so of not suturing. Good old simple interrupted.

Another new thing about this week is that I've decided to go to bed an hour earlier. 10 PM instead of 11 PM. I've been happier in the mornings... I'm usually pretty grumpy. I'm really doing it for Brian because he is such a morning person- my grumpiness and not being able to share it with him puts a damper on his day. So I think the extra sleep this week is the main thing that is getting me through the day!

Yesterday was my day off... I went shopping with Kathy, Kylie and Hannah. Lunch at the Cheesecake factory. I highly recommend the Luau Salad.

Baby steps to a baby church

Life is fun!

Work is work- had 13 patients on Thursday which is my record- Had a ton of charting at the end of the day and lose ends to tie up and what did I do?? Walked out the door at 5:30 with my friend Donna and met the church ladies for food at Kwan's! But only had 7 patients on Friday so got to catch up the charting then.

Friday was migraine day- I have not had any patients with a migraine since I started working and Friday I had 3. Since I worked in Neurology before PA school I like to think that I know a little about Migraines. Fun fun.

Saturday night we had a John family bowling extravaganza. We ended up having 15 people over at our house for pizza and then went over and bowled a few games... We somehow ended up keeping the bumper's up so I actually didn't bowl as bad as I usually do. IT was kind of fun picking up that last pin by banking if off the bumper.

Today I woke up with barely enough time to throw on some clothes and go check out the church we are thinking of renting for the church plant. I snuck in the back and enjoyed the worship service. The service was on setting goals for the new year and sang a few songs. The church was a nice size and the kids wing has river of life flowing through it- it might just be what we are looking for.

Brian and I made some really good pasta from this recipe we found today: Baked penne pasta with mushrooms. Halfway through we realized we didn't have a dutch oven or an immersion blender so we made up our own sauce. It was delicious though and we shared it with our Aunt, Uncle and Cousin. (WE thought since we were cooking we better invite someone over- we don't cook very often...)

Finally- we ate and had worship. Then we headed over to the church for our church business meeting. THE CHURCH VOTED TO APPROVE THE CHURCH PLANT. I am not always politically correct and my comments can be divisive so I got to sit in the pew and watch a few trusted people voice what we've been praying about. It went so well- there were lots of questions but resoundingly people were behind a new church plant. It's going to happen!!

Greater things are still to be done in this city!!!

After the meeting we headed over to get our homemade quilts from Brian's uncle. WE picked out the material and he made us two quilts out of it. We are so blessed to have great family. They turned out excellent as you can see below:

This is the quilt that Brian chose the colors for. I love the paisley and the polka dots and it will go on our bed!

This is my girly one I picked out. It's going to be a lap blanket for me.

They both have flannel backings so are really soft and comfy...

Brian already has a lap blanket that his uncle made for him many years ago. It is our favorite blanket in the house but not big enough for us to sleep comfortably together with which is why we asked him to make a few more!

Partying like it's 2009

Happy New Year everyone!!

Just got back from a church planting meeting! Whoo hoo- we are having a church business meeting this next weekend and this meeting was to prepare for it. If it is approved at this meeting then we have successfully jumped through all the approval hoops! So exciting. Then next step is to start making our group bigger and start planning fun and hard things like ministry and outreach.
It is happening. You think about church planting and pray bout church planting. It's awesome to see so many people excited and praying about the same thing. It is in God's hands.

This weekend I got to hang out with my old roomie from college- Chalaina. It was good to see her again! We spent the afternoon putting puzzles together and listening to adventures in odyssey. Then I went out to Mexican good with her family. Her grandparents are so sweet!

We spent the new years celebrating with our friends Matt and Judy, Clara and Darren. I fell asleep watching Kung Fu Panda and woke up a with just enough time to ring in the new year!

So I got this grand idea after falling asleep this new years. I have always wanted to go see the ball drop in Times Square on New Years and this is the year! Brian said I could go. I called up my mom and told her she was coming with me and she was right there with me. I love that about my mom- she is up for a lot of things. So here is to 2009- ringing in the new year in NYC. I have already been looking into hotel rooms. They sell out early... :)

On a sad note- My friend died today- Wendell Howell. He was a great family friend and the one I mentioned was in the hospital a few blogs ago. He went with my mom, other church members, and family by his side. He owned a junk yard and would call us almost every day in my teenage years- telling me how many cars he hauled that day. I even worked at the junk yard one summer for him. He was a very giving, hard working person. I have many memories of eating with him at Sizzler and the OCB (Old Country Buffet). He was a faithful Adventist and loved JEsus dearly. He will be missed.