Bienvenidos a Mexico!

Just a sneak peak to our first day in paradise!

First Day was a success!  

275 pound Marlin caught by yours truly (and Jake!)

Body Worlds and Decorating the Christmas Tree!

Aside from feeling shards of glass in my throat every time I swallow and facial pressure that makes me feel like a balloon, I am feeling slightly better!  I think medical providers are the worst patient because I absolutely hate taking any sore of medicine, but for the first time in my life... I can't get enough of nyquil, dayquil, and chloreseptic cough drops!

My friend.

Jake and I went to the BodyWorlds exhibit yesterday at the Anchorage Museum with his parents. VERY cool!  It was like a tasteful version of cadaver lab that we did in my first quarter of PA school.  

From the BODY WORLDS website:

Gunther von Hagens' Body Worlds is the original anatomical exhibition series. It displays authentic human bodies, willed by donors and preserved through plastination. The series is designed to educate the public about the human body and increase health awareness.

I think Jake was initially a little freaked out, but by the end, he got into it and really enjoyed the experience!  If the exhibit ever comes to your hometown, I highly recommend it.

The rest of the day was spent doing very important things.  And by important of course I mean: watching Elf & Home Alone, snuggling with Jake, drinking hot cocoa, and decorating the Christmas tree.  Followed by a delicious dinner  of steaming hot Pho with Jake's parents.  Just what the doctor ordered :)  

Most wonderful time of the year

Jake and I have a busy agenda today that includes: Christmas shopping, lunch date with friends, haircuts, and dinner date with friends! There really is no place like home!

Cold, Dark and Snowy Alaska!

Has it really been two weeks since I've written?  It feels like just yesterday!  So much to update.

1.) Finals week - In two words? No fun. The week started off with a BANG with a wonderful 4 hour practice board exam. It made me realize just how much more I need to learn before taking the real thing in 5 months.  Luckily I didn't do too horribly, so in 5 months I should be ready to ROCK!

Aside from the classes and testing, I had a great time with my classmates.  It is so nice to be able to vent talk about all of the good, bad, and ugly that make going to PA school such a wild ride.  No one will ever understand it quite like my fellow PCAP'ers!  After our last final on Thursday, we had our second annual (and final :( ) Christmas Party.  Last year was "Ugly Christmas Sweater" theme, and this year was "Your Favorite Holiday" theme.  Unless there is a nation jeans & sweater day, I didn't quite get as creative this year.  But regardless, a great time (with Champagne!) was had by all :)

Cheers to officially being in our LAST quarter of PA School! 

Love my class!

Costume Contest Winners

Early morning hike in the San Carlos Hills!

Deer!

2.) HOME - I arrived home on Friday night into a cold, dark wintery wonderland.  12 days of negative degree weather, 4 hours of daylight, frosty trees, snowy roads, down coats, big fluffy scarves, and excuses to have hot cocoa every day. What's not to look forward to!!  Well... the negative degree weather and lack of daylight I could do without, but it truly does feel like Christmas now. As much as I love Palm Trees, they were not made to be decorated with Christmas lights.  :)

Baby, it's FREEZING outside.

Jake and I have been busy since the second I got home, but you'll be happy to know that I haven't opened a single textbook in 4 days.  Probably a record.  Instead, it's been Kaladi Brothers coffee stops 4x daily, dinner and drinks with friends, awesome workouts at the Alaska Club (local Gym), Christmas shopping, and doing my best to stay as warm as possible (although I feel like an Ice Cube all day every day).  Oh Alaska, how you never fail to freeze me. Jake had to work Saturday and yesterday, and will have to work quite a bit while I'm home, but it has given me time to catch up on girlfriend time and somehow finding Christmas presents for the man who is impossible to buy for. (Unless it's a lifetime supply of Tacos, guns, or fancy tools. All of which are not in a Grad Students budget.) Luckily in 9 days from now, Jake and I will be sitting on a plane heading to Mexico for a much needed vacation together!  Cannot wait.

Christmas Concert!

 Jake must like me or something. I think I have my work cut out for me.  

3.) Grandma Update - To fill you in if you weren't aware... My Grandma fell and fractured her hip when she was visiting me in San Diego last month.  She had a hip replacement and is staying in a care facility until she is strong enough to fly to Utah.  She was doing extremely well and progressing each day, but on Friday she was starting to have more pain and difficulty weightbearing. They took an x-ray and discovered she has a stress fracture below the new metal joint.  :(  So... prayers are needed once again! It looks like she probably won't be going home tomorrow, but they are going to see the Ortho Surgeon today so hopefully he will have some good news.  I know both she and my Dad are ready to go back to Utah!  My Mom will be flying back out there if they don't go home tomorrow.  I wish I could be there to relieve my Dad and support my Grandma!  Hopefully she will heal quickly and be back on the road to recovery in no time.

4.) Strep Throat Update - Wait, what?  So one thing you may not know about me is that I never get sick.  It has literally been 4.5 years since the last time I had a sore throat or cough.  I feel lucky that my immune system takes such good care of me. Apparently... I've been a little overworked and under-rested the past few weeks because my body decided to quit on me.  I find it amazing that could see 10+ sick patients a day with the flu, rhinovirus (common cold), strep, mono, scarlet fever, and every other imaginable sickness - all without ever getting sick.  But flying for 6 hours to AK and I come down with the worst case of strep I've ever had.  I can't understand it either.  So my throat feels like it's coated in broken glass, my ears feel as if they are going to explode, and if anyone gets near my lymph nodes in my neck... they will likely get high-fived in the face.  It's pretty awesome.  Hopefully I get better quickly, because every minute of the next 9 days are mapped out with fun Alaskan adventures that do not include lying in a bed and eating jello/ice chips.

Moose and Strep are not related,
except that he made me get off the cozy couch to see who was banging on the house! 

Hope all is well! I promise to not take 2 more weeks to write :)

Look out, she's on the move!

One of my favorite pictures of Grandma and I!
(At the summit of Jungfrau in Switzerland). 

Grandma has an return ticket to UT booked! Yay! She'll be in San Diego until the 19th, so just 11 more days at the residential care facility! She has made so much progress this week; her need for pain meds is getting less and less, which means she'll start feeling better and better! I knew she was doing well, but I had no idea just how well until last night when she said, "Excuse me, I'll be right back." Before I even had a chance to even ask if she wanted me to get the nurse to help her get up, she was off the bed and walking to the bathroom alone. Take THAT, hip fracture! She is now able to get in and out of bed on her own and go to the bathroom without assistance. The care facility is wonderfully equipped with "help buttons and pull cords" just in case she needs help. I can not get over how fluid she is moving and maneuvering with the walker. I guess she's named Ann Walker for a good reason :) (did I ever tell you I make lame jokes? haha) She'll be using a cane in no time. I think she'd be ready to leave as soon as next week, but the extra time will give her the confidence that she's lacking right now. I don't blame her one bit-- what a scary fall!

After being completely amazed by her progress, last night consisted of our usual: Food Network and talking. As always, it ended up being more talking and laughing than anything else. She has the greatest stories and has so much wisdom from her 83 years. She's probably one of the most talented artists I've ever met. She still attends art classes, sells her artwork, volunteers at homeless shelters, has weekly lunches with friends, and is very active in her church. She has many goals and fun adventures waiting in Salt Lake, so I know she will do very well!

It was so hard saying goodbye last night! You have no idea how much I wish I could stay to help and be her cheerleader, but I guess finals are calling me... And I know my dad will do a great job keeping her company!

To give her something to look forward to each day and as a countdown to going home, I made little daily care packages with cards for her to open every day until she goes home! Hopefully it will help her next 11 days fly by :)

Simple, but great way to brighten someone's day!

Now... back to school, back to school... Let's do this!

Haha, so true.  Story of my life right now.

To Stanford, I go!

Me? Busy? Never.

Okay, I've been a slacker.  I didn't even finish my grateful postings last week.  I promise I've been grateful, just slightly busier than normal.  I'll spare you the: "woe is me, I have a to-do list that stretches from here to Tibet" because let's be honest, we all are busy in our own ways and my list doesn't trump yours! That's a crazy little thing called life.  :)

Finals are NEXT week.  You know what that means, cramming. Writing papers.  Creating presentations. It also means that I need to resort to as many motivational techniques as possible.  Like this:

I'm leaving for Stanford this weekend. As much as I'm dreading finals, I am so excited to see all of my classmates that I'm pretty excited to get there! Leaving for Stanford brings me one step closer to a little place called HOME.  If I survive all of my finals, I will be on flight to the cold north next Friday!  "Excited" barely encompasses how I feel about this!

It will be very hard to leave San Diego, of course.  I'll miss my work buddies, my awesome friends and the beautiful "fall colors."

December and it's finally Fall in San Diego. 

I'll miss you Mr. Giraffe (he hangs out in the lobby at our clinic). 

But mostly, it is going to be so hard to leave my Grandma and Dad (my Mom had to leave on Monday for a scheduled trip to AK).  I'm sorry for not doing Grandma updates lately, but you'll be happy to hear she's making great strides - with a few bumps in the road.  She has good days and bad days- as you can imagine.  Monday was probably one of the worst days she has had yet.  The pain medications are making her extremely nauseous and constipated (most common side effects), so it was challenging for her to eat the food that she needs to heal! Without eating, she developed low blood sugar which caused scary side effects, but as soon as she was given sugar, she improved.

After getting some Zofran for nausea, she felt much better and yesterday was a very good day! She was up walking around the building, doing her exercises with the PT, and had a much more positive attitude.  I've been visiting her every day after work- it's about a 30-45 minute drive from my house each way, but completely worth the trip every time.  I love being able to sit and talk, catch up on the past years of being apart, and watch Chopped on the Food Network with someone who appreciates the show as much as I do. :) I'm realizing more and more just how alike we are.  As horrible as the whole situation has been, we have spent more quality time together the past 2 weeks than in my entire life.  My Grandma is one tough lady and such an inspiration!  Please keep her in your prayers- although she's on the mend, she has a long road of recovery ahead.

I got Grandma a Christmas tree to make it feel a little more like home! 

She gets things like Filet Mignon, Prime Rib, and Lobster for dinner ever night! 

It's going to be hard to leave my Dad who has been the ROCK in this whole situation.  He is the most patient and selfless person I know.  He spends 8-10 hours at the care facility with my Grandma; helping ease her fears, adjusting pillows, answering her questions, and helping take care of arrangements for when they go back to SLC- all while I'm sure he is worrying but not showing an ounce of fear.  His faith shines through and it shows me how to "let GO and let GOD." They are not sure when she will be released to fly home, but hopefully before Christmas. I wish I could come back after finals to help, but neither my Grandma nor my parents would let me skip Alaska.  Or Jake.  I think he might miss me just a little bit.  :)

This weekend was my awesommmeeee Christmas work party.  The most beautiful house I've ever seen; delicious food, fabulous company, and so many laughs my jaw still hurts.

My "work" family.  I love seeing their faces every day.  So blessed. 

My parents got to be there!  Love these two!

That's the update for now. There's a big chance I might disappear for the next 10 days, but I'll try to say hello and update how Grandma is doing.  THANK YOU for the texts, emails, and calls to check in on her.  You are all so supportive and my family appreciates it IMMENSELY.  xoxo

#28 - That Alaskan Guy Who Gave Me His Last Name.

Did you actually think I would go through my entire month of gratitude without mentioning this guy??

November 28th: I am grateful, beyond words, to have Jake as my hubby. (Warning: You are about to read some sappiness and bragging... Forgive me. I can't help it.)

A few of the many reasons why I love being married to Jake:

1.) Every night is like having a sleepover with your best friend.  Especially if your best friend snores and pulls the covers onto their side of the bed.  :)  I can't imagine a better way to fall asleep than laughing at Jake's hilariousness nor can I imagine a better face to wake up to.

Way back when. :) 

2.) Sweatpants.  If I could wear one thing for the rest of my life, that would be it.  Not that sweatpants weren't a part of our non-married lives together, but I feel a lot less guilty wearing my super-attractive-high-waisted sweatpants with my husband, than I did my boyfriend.

At a Sweatpants Party.  We have pretty awesome friends to think of such a genius idea.

3.) A built-in running partner for life. We push each other to be better athletes and runners, even if sometimes it is early in the morning because a certain wife decides running is far more important than sleep! (He returns the favor when pushing me to go on a run when it's -20 degrees outside!)

Yeah, we're hardcore. (And also slightly creepy, I know).

4.) It's like living with a comedian.  Jake is probably the funniest person on the planet.  Whether it's his awesome take on a rap song, his sweet dance moves when there's no music playing at all, or his ridiculously funny faces - he always can put a big smile on my face.

No words. 

Almost didn't break that stick. Ha.

5.)  A cheerleading squad of one.  See post here. He comes out to support my "nth" running race, and does it with a big smile on his face.  He says things like "you are my hero" and "you are such a rockstar."  Which... even though I am probably the exact opposite of a rockstar, it does make me feel a little Steven Tyler and Mick Jagger deep down inside.

My biggest supporter!

Why you marry your best friend.

6.) Never having to fold clothes again.  Okay, that's an exaggeration. Truth be told, I absolutely love doing laundry because that means I have clean running clothes.  I just hate folding and putting them away!  Jake is a pro at putting clothes away.  Don't worry, I balance out the laundry duties by carrying around my "Shout" pen when we go out to eat and avoiding potentially catastrophic wine/taco sauce/you-name-it stains on Jake's shirts.

7.) I married Mr. Fix It. Can he build/fix/make it? Yes, he can!  There isn't a project I can think of that Jake wouldn't be able to conquer.  He has done so many amazing things with our house in Anchorage, and he's not even done yet!  As his wife, I get to brag about his handyman skills.  The extent of my handyman skills are probably handing Jake the tools while he slaves away.

New siding, new roof, new ceilings, new walls, & best part... a new walk-in-closet! 

8.) I get an excuse to cook anything and everything!  Jake, aka the Hoover Vacuum, will eat just about anything. I can't wait to spend hours looking at cookbooks instead of hours with my face in a medical textbook. Thanks to his visit to San Diego, we have officially adopted Taco Tuesdays at our house. You are welcome to come and eat Tacos with us in 6 months from now when I am back home.  Jake also would like to propose Taco Thursdays, so I may have my work cut out for me.

Did someone say Tacos?

9.) His Faith. Jake proposed 1 week before I left for Stanford- knowing it would be 2 years before I would be with him. A risk? Maybe. But love takes risks. One year ago, he told me he didn't want to wait any longer to get married, so we got married last December, knowing it would be a year and a half before living with his wife. If that doesn't show you faith in us, I don't know what does.

Happiest day of my life.

Sure, it's been rough for me during the past 18 months: Grad school, getting my masters, clinic rotations, moving to a new place, and being away from the people I love the most. But it's probably 1738x harder for Jake. Not only are we miles apart, but he has to listen to me and reassure me that it will all be okay. (Usually 5-7x per day. Haha.) Jake has shown me how to be a better person, and I feel so lucky that he chose me as his wife. (Even if we have spent only 3 weeks of our first year of marriage together!)

I love you, Jake.  More than you will ever know! 

#27- Baby Steps

November 27- Today I am grateful for small victories in what feels like the longest injury in history.

It has been almost 2 months since St. George Marathon.  Ugh... I don't even want to talk about that because that means it has been almost 2 months since I had a good run.  Saddest statement of the century.  (Did I ever tell you I'm good at being overly dramatic?) The good news is that I have been very compliant with taking time off from running and allowing my body to recover from my silly knee injury.  Speaking of silly knee injury, I don't think I ever told the exact reason I got injured.  It's so embarrassing I don't even want to say it.

Ready? I got it from a blister on my big toe. There! I said it.  After St. George, I had a massive, painless blister on the bottom of my big toe (from a tiny rock in my shoe rubbing for 26.2 miles).  It was gigantic but didn't bother me at all except that it looked ridiculous.  I decided, being the wise PA student I am, to do the one thing I always tell my patients to avoid doing: I popped that son-of-a-gun.  It felt great until I ran the Nike Women's Half the following weekend. Then... it went from healing to infected. The blister re-accumulated; except this time it was with pus.  YUCK & OUCH.

Note to self: Take care of blisters.  You won't regret it.

At that time, I was also in the middle of the hardest and most stressful rotation of my life where I was in closed-toe shoes and on my feet for 15 hours per day.  Needless to say, I had to walk strangely to avoid limping which in turn  ended up pinching the peroneal nerve on the outside of your knee.  Yep.  That's it.  A silly blister.  I wish I had a better story, but if you can learn anything from my story... DO NOT POP YOUR BLISTER.  It is a natural bandaid and will heal if you let it.  If anything, use Epsom Salt and learn from my mistake.

Okay.  Enough venting over my lame injury story.  The fact of the matter is that all of the hard work and ridiculous training flew out the window approximately 5 weeks ago.  At that point, I realized the most important thing is to be 100% healed to avoid a difficult training season for Boston Marathon in April.

The baby steps started on Sunday when I tried my first run/walk.  Started with 1 min run/2 min walk for about 5 minutes... then since I had no pain I increased it to  4 min run/1 min walk until I finished.  I did that for 3 miles and guess what? NO PAIN. Yippee!  And no pain the next day either!  So today continued with the walk/run combo with my awesome running buddy, Carrie.  We did a total of 5 miles; with probably 3 miles of that running.  Felt great- and surprisingly I wasn't as slow as I thought I would be.  I guess that annoying elliptical and my deep-water running have paid off.

I don't know if you can quite grasp the significance this has in my life.  But... if my lack of sanity in the last 2 months is any indicator, you can imagine it's pretty life-altering.

It's a Wonderful Life

_________________________________________________________________________________

Grandma Update:  She had a HUGE day today!  She walked down the hall and was discharged from the hospital!  She'll be staying in San Diego at a Assisted Living Facility for about 2-3 weeks to get stronger before making the trip back to Salt Lake.  My Mom and Dad are also staying, so I feel very lucky to get this extra time with them, even if it is under these circumstances.  Grandma said she's feeling better tonight, but she is still struggling with nausea.  I'm praying she can get off such heavy pain meds soon so that she has more of an appetite.  Each day it's baby steps for her too...!!

Patience & Patients

A couple days late... but better late than never!

November 25 - I am grateful for the gift of PATIENCE.

Grandma had a rough first day after surgery.  Her pain was horrendous and the medications made her feel very groggy, nauseous, and confused.  Luckily I was able to reassure her that the first day is always the worst day.  And it should get easier each day!  She had a knee replacement two years ago and kept saying how much easier and less painful it was than this surgery.  We had to remind her she a) planned that surgery and b) didn't fall off a curb onto pavement. The ortho surgeon came in and also made a good point: one of the most wonderful parts of the human mind is the ability to forget pain.  If we remembered pain, we would all be only children without brothers or sisters.  Ha!  So true.  It made her smile.

Seeing the small victories such as sitting up, lifting her legs, and taking side steps reminded me about the difficult virtue of patience.  It feels like life has become so fast-paced and "in-the-now" that it is easy to expect change and improvement to happen TODAY and to get there with as little work as possible.  Welcome to America, huh?  Grandma is reminding me that good things come to those who wait and put in the time to get there (even if I have to remind her of that myself).

Every one of us is trying to accomplish something; maybe it is walking after a hip surgery, losing that 5-100+ extra pounds, starting a family, running their first marathon (or mile for that matter!), landing that perfect job, getting out of debt, meeting the love of your life, fighting a difficult illness, drowning through never-ending PA school, or something as simple as making it to the weekend. What does it take to get there?  Patience.

 Remember Grandma's wisdom: Good things come to those who wait. 

November 26 - I am grateful for all of my PATIENTS.  

You'll be happy to hear that Grandma had a much better day on Monday!  She made it out of the bed a few times to sit in the chair and walk to the bathroom.  Her mood was much improved and we had a great talk while my parents were at dinner.  Although she is in a great deal of pain, it's slowly becoming more tolerable.

Throughout the past 10 months of clinical rotations, I have seen hundreds of patients.  Although many of the patients have similar diagnoses: High blood pressure, high cholesterol, and diabetes, I learn something new from every patient.  Some days can be hard: patients don't always comply with the treatment you think is best for their health, you have to diagnose someone with a life-changing condition, PA-S somehow translates to therapist, patients self-diagnose and demand medications that aren't indicated and you work at your best for free.

But the good moments far outweigh the bad moments: a smile from a sick child, a hug from a thankful patient, seeing a patient make changes to their life and feel 100% improved, and leaving work each day knowing you helped someone who puts their trust in you.  Scary? Yes.  But worth it?  Even more so. 

To all of my patients out there... Thank you for being my guinea pigs and being patient with me as I learn this crazy world of medicine. 

#24 - Thankful for a Mother's Wisdom

November 24th - I am grateful for heart-to-heart talks with my mom.

How is it that a mother knows just what to say when you need to hear it?  It amazes me.  After a long, emotionally trying day, it was just what I needed!  It seems that in time of stress and high emotions that a persons' true colors shine through. Sometimes the colors you don't like to show, but all it takes is a mother's reassurance and everything seems to turn out okay.  I feel so lucky to have her :)

Yesterday my Grandma had surgery to repair her hip fracture.  She had a partial hip replacement which should heal quickly and has a much better prognosis than if they were to have pinned the fracture.  Her surgeon, Dr. Tonks, was top-rated and very friendly! She couldn't have been in better hands.

Teaching Moment: Femoral neck fracture (the weakest part of the joint) fixed with a new hip! 

It is so humbling to be the one on the other side of the operating room.  As much as I love being in the OR, it is nerve-wracking to watch the clock tick by as your loved one undergoes a major surgery.  Grandma did very well and there were no complications with the repair.  She was extremely groggy last night, but I was so grateful to be there to support her.  After a day in the hospital, my night was filled with airport runs to bring my sister and later my Grandpa (my mom's dad- not married to my Grandma!).  It was SO hard to see them go!  :(  There is no greater support than the ones you love.

My Grandma had a rough night last night as you can imagine.  She has got to be the strongest person I know.  If falling off a step onto pavement wasn't enough, she had a new metal hip put in!  I don't think anyone can anticipate the amount of pain that causes, so she was very distraught over how painful it has been.  I wish there was a magic fix for pain.  It is just so unfair to see her in such pain!  She made great strides this morning with her PT when she stood up and took a few side steps.  She's definitely on the right road to recovery, I just wish it were an easier, less bumpy and twisted road.

Thank you all for your support and prayers.  I am overwhelmed with the love I feel from all of you!

A Split Second

I'm not going to lie.  I don't have an individual "Thankful" post for each day this week.  There was too much to be thankful for!  Mostly involving my wonderful family that came to visit me :) This week has been wonderful - lots of good food, laughs, conversation, and reminiscing with my 86-year-old Grandpa, 83-year-old Grandma, my parents and my sister.  It has been just perfect.

That is... until today.  A split second is all it takes to change a perfect visit into a not-so-perfect stay.  That second, which is still engrained in my mind, was when my Grandma fell and broke her hip this morning.

Today we went to Pacific Beach to walk along the boardwalk. We had just arrived and as we were walking from the car to the boardwalk, my grandma got caught up in the sights around her. As she stepped off the curb, 3 (idiotic) kids on bikes came in her path and to avoid hitting them she fell directly onto her left hip.  The worst part is I was turning to tell yell to be careful and watch her step when the stupid bikers got in her way.  It is in slow motion in my brain... I knew the moment she fell that she had broken her hip.  It was a horrendous fall and I am so grateful that she was okay otherwise.  Luckily her granddaughters are a PA student and a PT, so we were able to stabilize her until the ambulance came... but it is a whole different ball game taking care of those close to you instead of patients you don't know.  It broke my heart into 3,429 little pieces to see my sweet, loving, and strong Grandma crying in pain.

Can you believe that the kids on bikes just rode off?  Horrible.  The guilt settled in quickly, "I should have been there to help her on the step" or "I should have yelled sooner" or "I shouldn't have suggested we go to Pacific Beach" or "Why did I have to choose San Diego for my rotations- they wouldn't have come here if I were somewhere else." Unfortunately, the time machine invention has not been perfected, so I can't change that moment.  But one tiny little second changed both hers, and our lives in a big way.

The ambulance brought us to the hospital and her fracture was confirmed.  She's having surgery tomorrow morning, so PLEASE say prayers for her.  She is one TOUGH cookie and I know she'll do fabulous, but thoughts and prayers are appreciated.  The good news is that I get more time with my family in San Diego, just not in the circumstances I would have asked for.

So on a day of difficulty, I am grateful for this very real wake-up call of what is truly important in my life: The love, support, and health of my family.  

With Grandma after my UAA Graduation.
 Get well soon, Grandma! We love you!!