First Night

Hey I thought I should chime in.... this is Andersen not AnnMarie I never got a blog invite. I guess Damon is still upset about me not hugging him at the grad. banquet.

I got to say I am lovin my year so far. I am half way done with my first of two months of in house call q6. Tonight is my first night of night call, they told me not te expect any admitts, im bored and need some one to play ping pong or billards with me. Last week I dictated my first ICU admitt I took me 3 hours and than another half hour to correct mistakes the day after before I signed it. Hopefully I'll get faster.

My first pt. was an elderly lady with abd. pain, I am proud to report that I got the "right" hole this time when I did the rectal exam!

P.S. Rhett I laughed, when I read about the corn hole stuff, when Shane and I were in Kentucky last year we noticed every one was throwing bing bags at these holes. We finally found out that it was Corn Hole. It was unbelievable how much people play that game when they are tail-gaiting.

Checking In & Blogger Trouble@#&^$(%!

Hey is anyone having trouble getting on this blogger? I have been trying to log in for the last week and finally I got on today. I had to do it in a round of about way, nonetheless, here I am.

We are here in Columbus, OH. We have been here since June 15th. We moved into an apartment while we're waiting for our house to finish. Emery calls it the Hotel and Addie calls it the Hell-i-tel. She is not far off. We are surrounded by smoke sucking tenents on all four sides so when we walk through our walkway to get to our apt it reeks. Other than that it will be fine for now. Our house has the foundation and footings poured and they are working on the plumbing now.

I just finished my orientation yesterday. Pretty long and boring...reminded my of ICM and Dr. Shulm... I think things are going to get pretty busy/crazy next week. I start out doing pediatric orthopedics at Columbus Children's Hospital. Bring on the both bone forearm fractures! Does anyone know how to cast? My first few are going to be interesting, I'm sure.

Anyway, Shane I am in Buckeye Heaven. Drop in anytime.

See Ya,

DeMillville

To Damon:

Hi! Can you please send an invitation to participate to James' new email address? He's got his own account now. The address is jamesmathews77@gmail.com. Thanks Damon.

Women's Blog and other sundry questions

I, for one, think a women's blog is a great idea. Now I won't feel that bad about cussing on this one. However, their blog picture is sort of creepy, although I can't put my finger on why:



A quick update on my new residency. Things are actually looking pretty good. The hospital is way nicer than I had been told (think Good Sam without the established residencies, trauma, or bums). I'll get lots of OR time, with only a few senior residents in the program (because most of them bailed). It should still be pretty family friendly, with intern call being Q5, daily schedule being about 6am-6pm. The hospital is building us 8 new call rooms, a resident lounge with plasma TV, and a new Med Ed building. There are still a lot of rough spots that need to be worked on, but they've done a really good job for basically starting a brand new surgery residency in 2 months.

I'll be on General Surgery, with IM in August and ICU in September. I'm not on call till next Thursday. I'll be sure to post stories and pictures.

Cornhole

For those non-believers, I will refer you to the following website: http://www.playcornhole.org/

They sure do know how to have fun around here. Actually, our realtor told us about this when we came to buy a house, and the ward bulletin also announced an adult cornhole tournament...you guys have to visit this place! There is also a Big Butter Jesus just off the interstate about 20 miles south of us...these people have their hearts in the right place! (see the following site if you don't believe me about the big butter Jesus)

http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3D_-ksuOaI61g

Hope one or all of you can someday visit...we'll go cornholing.

Rhett

Koth's are here

Dave,

Thanks for checking on us. Our move was uneventful but, it did take a little longer than expected with all the bathroom breaks along the way. We are staying with my program director in his mother-in-law suite. Our accomidations are very good except for the temp. Anyone who has visited our house knows that 80 degrees is much too hot for us. We are making the best of it though.

We are right in the middle of orientation week and it feels good but sometimes I feel like I am an OMS V. I will have to let you guys know more when I get to the floors. Just a quick note I will write more when we get real internet.

Kevin

Cornholin' in Ohio

The Great Cornholio...I need TP for my bunghole

So I was invited to my first cornhole party today...not sure how the wife will react, but sounds like fun to me. I guess that is the great past time in the midwest...you toss bean bags (or in this case, corn bags) through some sort of hole in a big piece of wood...you know, like at the carnival.

Today in Orientation

Today in orientation we got to listen to a bunch of people giving us useful information . My personal favorite was learning how to use this:



So that we could do this:



It was like ICM all over again. And yes, the above lecture took one hour.

this may all be for real afterall

today in orientation i got my DEA number, institutional license, and dictation number. i'm beginning to think this whole residency thingy is going to happen for real here soon. i keep waiting for when i fly back to arizona to have barbeque fest with all you guys. maybe we can invite the wives to this one. has my first day in the SICU gets closer i think more and more of my gastric mucosa is being erode away.

this may be for real afterall

today in orientation i got my institutional license and my DEA number and my dictation number. i am beginning to think that this whole residency thingy is for real afterall. i keep waiting for when we fly back to arizona and get to have barbeque fest with all you guys again. as my first day of SICU gets closer i think more and more of my gastric mucosa is being eroded away.

Picture Testing

I was just practicing putting pictures on this thing. My brother and I had a two week beard growing content. I think I won.

I especially liked the Pornstar look.
This is a picture of the 50 Mile canoe trip down the Colorado with the scouts, right after graduation.

Me and the boys doing a little home improvement on the house.

Just because the Brizzee's won't write, here is Dave and Amy jumping into the waterfall.
I'm not mentioning any names....., butt I don't think it is to hard to recognize that sexy caboose.

Bringin' the Holy to Toledo

So, once we (and the Webers) moved into the ward, the RS, EQ, and primary doubled in size. Actually, it's not a huge ward, but it's pretty good. We have several residents and medical students in the ward, so transition will be good for Shelly and the kids. Orientation is going okay--PALS, ACLS, Neonatal Resuscitation, ATLS, and learning 3 computer systems. Keeping busy with that. Here's a little about the move.

It was a long drive (and for Shelly and the 3 kids, a long flight), but we made it to Ohio. My parents and I took 3 days to drive our cars out. Shelly took the 3 kids on a 6:00 a.m. flight out of Phoenix to Detroit--the kids loved getting up at 3:30. Shelly said that everything that could have gone wrong, did, but that it still wasn't that bad. The girls both spilled their drinks everywhere, Caden puked, no one took naps, and our new portable DVD player (purchased just for this trip) was a flop. The kids weren't even interested in it. Having said that, the 4-hour direct flight sure beat a 30+ hour drive across country with screaming kids, especially since the tickets were $49.

We were excited for our first home. Just hours before signing, the previous owners told us that "out of nowhere" they started getting some water leaks from a newly-repaired roof and the new tub that they had put in was leaking, causing water stains on the ceiling. I looked at the damage, which wasn't that extensive, so we decided to go ahead and get the home and hold their money in escrow until the problems were fixed. On the day of the signing, our loan dude showed up with a completely different loan than the one he had told us about, the rate was up at 6.75% instead of 6.125% he told us it would be. Between the water damage and the loan issues, we almost dropped out of the deal, but the loan dude promised he would pay the difference until he could refinance for us--no charges this time. We walked into our new home, it reaked of dog, so we have the unexpected expense of new carpet, not to mention the scare that our roof looked like it was collapsing after our first rain storm (it was the lighting, we hope. Sometimes it still looks a little bowed). Meanwhile, the Webers are paying $619/mo for their 3 bedroom 2 bathroom apartment. That may have been a good option.

We have done some painting etc. to make the home more our style. Shelly's been cleaning nonstop, trying to get the house at least presentable. Amazing how dog hair can turn up everywhere, even a few weeks after taking out the carpet and dusting/vacuuming like crazy. Caden always has 3 or 4 dog hairs around his mouth (no idea where he's finding them).

The good news of it all is that we ended up not having to pay for our move at all. We got a $1000 stipend to move, and it covered everything, pretty much. ABF worked great for the Webers and us. Of course, it's still not as good as the military move, but we're not complaining. Here are a few pics.

KSKJC

Checking in for the Koth's

I am just checking in for the Koth family. I am happy to report that they have made it safely to Sandusky, OH. Unfortunately their new digs while their house is being built does not come with internet access. So officer Koth has gone out and bought him a new PDA phone top of the line so he can have internet access. The problem is that in the two days it takes him to type out a message on the key pad the subject has changed on the blog and he has to start all over again. So lets try to stay on subject for at least 48 hours before changing and no pictures because the PDA has some problems with that. Officer Koth has also been to the construction sight and it has been reported that he has issued several citations for disorderly conduct, slow and slothful work, and littering on his property.

I just wanted to make sure that everyone knows Mr. Koth is still alive and well in OH as is his family. Leslie and Kevin will be having another officer koth in a few more weeks!! So Kevin if this comes across the PDA try to check in and let everyone know what's up in Sandusky and when the bar-b-que is!!

Phoenix Baptist Intern Blog

Nicole and Brent created this blog of our intern class--there's already some great pictures, stories, and an ongoing quote list that Jeremy (Rumblestrip/Jeremy the Junkie) is putting together.

http://baptistresidency2010.blogspot.com/

If it's not broken, don't fix it!

We're enjoying our same house, ward, and many of the same friends. We're finally settling back into life after the graduation and vacation bliss. Before graduation, we went to Cabo, Mexico for a week and then after graduation went up to Utah and Idaho for a couple of weeks. And, even though it's 115 degrees here, we couldn't be happier to be home.

Rock Arch at Lover's Beach in Cabo

Dinosaur Park in Ogden

On Temple Square

Hey, Adam, did you ever figure out who this guy was?

Can anyone else's intern class match this one?

The Grigg Moving Story

I don't know if Andersen has gotten the email about this blog so I guess I throw something up to represent. Right after graduation we took off for Spokane. It took us 3 days to get there. The first night we made it to Mesquite, NV. And of course since we were going through Provo we had to stop at BYU. Here we are with the "Y" in the background.

The second night we stayed in Rexburg, ID and visited with my brother John who is going to school there at BYU-Idaho. We got up bright and early Sunday morning to go to his singles ward with him. We provided quite the entertainment since our boys were the only kids in the whole room. Hope we didn't embarrass him too much. Here we are standing in front of the new Rexburg Temple. It should open up sometime this summer.

This is a picture of one of Campbell's many sleeping positions in the van. I don't know how he does it.

They have quite the set up back there.

We made it into Spokane Sunday evening and started unpacking Monday morning. Spokane was having a bit of a heat wave with temperatures up over 90. That made moving a little uncomfortable and our new house didn't have any fans or A/C. It was a long day but we finally got everything in. Here's the house we're renting.

That wednesday we left for Andersen's family reunion in New Mexico. We finally got back this Monday, but Andersen has been in classes all day so the unpacking is going slow.

Homeless but not hurting

Well we finished day one of residency yesterday and it was a barn burner 8:00-11:30am. Time for a nap. So far so good. Jill and I are finally getting settled into our new.............. room at my brother's house in Mesa. Somehow our first house fell through and our house sold before we had our new one lined up so we moved into Uncle Bob's mini storage. I thought briefly about just staying at the storage unit but since none of us are meth users (Austin knows what I'm talking about) we opted for moving in with family. We hope to close in a few weeks.

-Jeremy

Taking a Critical Care class

I'm taking a big critical care class as part of orientation. It's a course taught by the Socoety of Critical Care Medicine, and it's way more in depth than anything we ever did at the school. I would have gotten a lot more out of my ICU rotation if I had taken this beforehand. It's nice actually learning something about vent modes and stuff. On the downside, I have to pass a 50 question test tomorrow. Anyone got a study sheet?

-- Damon

Residency Training Certificates

Need some input. In oreintation we got a paper asking what we would like on our Residency Training certificates when the time comes. I was wondering what others thought. Our diploma says our name but nothing after the name like D.O. and I was thinking of doing the same thing on these certificates or would this be a big mistake. I can't remember what the other doctors certificates say on them.

ACLS

Jason,
I did the CD thing. I actually liked it. I would practice giving my patient all these different drugs and see what happened to him. If you have'nt finished yet. You can go through the whole scenario and then push stop and get a detailed list of things you did right or wrong and then go through it again before you submit it for grading. I had to do a few twice before I figured that one out. The class portion is alot nicer. It only lasted about 2 hours and I didn't have to run a code. My first day on call is Monday. All I have to say is 250 ml bolus of normal saline.

ACLS certified again

Jason,


Just finished with my ACLS. First day was long and same as before but on the second day we took the test together as groups and then for our mock code we sat with one of the intructors and talked about a case. It was painless, much easier than the one at school. Anyway hope your manican can make it out alive.

patients beware

is anybody elses ACLS class consist only of a CD that you have to do on your own and then print out a certificate. the CD is from the american heart association. there is no instruction just patient simulations basicly like on a manican but you do it like a video game. i can get my patient to live but when i get my evaluation i only get about a 5% on it and you have to have a 70% for each patient simulation. there are about 7 i think and then a written test at the end. i can't remember anything about ACLS. oh well, i guess if a patient codes i'll just call a time of death instead of going though the hastle of running a code. the outcome will probably be the same. just wanted to share my ACLS misery and see if anybody else has the same "ACLS class".
still itch'n and scratch'n in geogria,
jason

Checking in with the Mathews!

So excited about this blog! What a great idea Kalcichs!! I hope everyone contributes often ;)

We're here in Oceanside and LOVING it! It's a little hard to believe... we feel spoiled and can't believe the chain of events that have brought us here. We're very happy in our house, although we hardly know what to do with all the extra space!! Our ward is really nice. Last week we finished getting Dillon registered for Kindergarten and this week we're signing him up for basketball and summer soccer camp. James is LOVING all the bike trails, but since his first rotation is ICU at Balboa, he won't be riding them much for a while! Jenny is missing Bell road- everything you could ever need on one road! Getting around here is NUTS! Traffic traffic traffic and the roads are - in the words of E.Fudd- SKWEWY!!! Charlie still asks to go home. He has had a rough time with the changes, but will adjust in time..... we hope!

We live REALLY close to the base which is nice. The gate is only a few blocks away! The best part is that we can smell the ocean as the wind blows through the house. Sniff.... Ahhh.. ;0)

Here's a photo of the boys at the zoo, and James's gourmet Father's day cake. I am freaking amazing in the kitchen..... uh... yeah. At least I had all the ingredients and it tasted just fine! ;)

Burn Baby Burn!