Pee Pee in the Potty Conga

They say it is the little things in life that are to be treasured. I suppose that is true.

Lately we have been encouraging Rileigh to sit on her potty everyday once or twice, in an effort to transition her into some serious potty training down the road. Well, tonight during such an attempt she sat on the potty and made her customary "psssssss" sound to signify her peeing (this is ALL she usually does- is make the sound) and then demanded toilet paper and washed her hands- I suppose, at least, we are ingraining hygienic habits.

Anyway after this little mock micturition she gathered herself and made her way back to playing with her 7,149 toys that lay strewn about the living room. Several minutes later I was in the bedroom when I heard my wife shreik er...mention that there was indeed some of the golden fruits of our little darling's hard working nephrons sparkling at the bottom of the pint sized potty. She had somehow managed to run back into the bathroom and conduct a covert urination operation while Kathy was preparing dinner.

As is the custom in my household, whenever one of our clan overcomes the genetic boundaries, acheives expert marksmanship, and actually deposits urine in the receptacle designed with the expressed purpose of containing it- it is cause for much celebration. I for one like to celebrate our successes and not dwell on any of the shortfalls (unlike my wife and her inability to forget the infamous 3am drunken livingroom accident or the dreaded toilet seat faux paus of 2006) Anyway, this was clearly a time to rejoice.

I took the lead during an un-precedented rendition of the "Pee Pee in the Potty Conga" song complete with rolling hand motions and gesticulating dance moves. I would love to post a video of the aformentioned spectacle, but we were so caught up in the peeing pandemonium that it slipped my mind to capture the event on film. Trust me when I tell you it was quite the sight to behold!

I smiled broad and long.

Who knew urine could bring such happiness?

It really is the little things.

So much to say..so little energy...

I had intended on posting a pretty long narrative about my ordeal taking Step 2 CS - but I am dog-tired. My flight got in rather late last night and after an awful night sleep I was scheduled for 12 hours in the Peds ER today. Thankfully I was in a familiar and comfortable environment and was able to get through the day while still appearing to have my head in the game. The reality is Vince is just about approching the red line on the old stress-o-meter.

There has been a perfect storm of circumstances conspiring to have me loose my shit in an epic way.

Perhaps I'll feel better after a couple hours of sleep.

Relay for Life Pictures

Better late than never I suppose; here are some pictures from last week's Relay for Life Event.

Soon after setting up our tents and getting our gear unpacked it poured off-and-on for a few hours but it didn't seem to dampen anyone's fun. Relay was a good time despite the rain and it raises a bunch of money for a good cause. Thanks again to everyone who donated to our team!

Meagan even convinced me to sign up for the CP3 Cancer prevention study and have some blood drawn. CP3 hopes to enroll 1/2 a million people from ages 30-65 and follow them for 20 years (Nothing like a 20 year commitment!) looking for incidences of cancer and associated blood markers, lifestyle and dietary habits, and other factors to establish links and subsequently prevention of cancer. Previous CP studies, for instance, were responsible for linking smoking to cancer. It is supposed to take only about 45 mins every 2 years to fill out a mailed survey so we will see how it goes.

Meagan and Autumn:




Susie and Bruce:




Kaitlyn and her old man:



Silly Face Brigade:




Rileigh doing her first of many laps:




Rileigh getting a ride around the track:



Fashion provided courtesy of Megg and Kait:



Meagan and her aunt Michele, a cancer survivor:



Bruce manning the (unforgiving) cotton candy machine:




Selling cotton candy - we raised over $220.00 $248.00- not bad at only $2 each (the ADA was protesting outside of the event !)




Middle of the night shots:





Waking up isn't so pleasant for everyone:



Made it to the morning:

Freaky....

I was taking a break from studying, sitting at my computer and listening to Pandora Radio (which is cooler than a box of frozen cucumbers) and enjoying my custom radio station- featuring various Blues greats.

Anyway, I was checking my news feeds on Thunderbird and read this story : Koko Taylor died today at age 80. I was about 2 paragraphs into the story, when I realized that at that very moment, Koko was playing over my computer speakers wailing out one of her hits, Evil:

"Long way from home
Can't sleep at all
'Cause there's another
Mule kickin' in your stall" (they don't write 'em like this any more!)

Weird coincidence.

Meanwhile, back in the land of the living, I am doing a fair bit of studying lately for my upcoming test in Chicago next Wednesday. Posting will be a bit light but I am working on putting up some pictures and a video or two from last weekends Relay for Life event.

Stay Tuned.

Friday Randomosity

Today is the end of my 3rd week of my Pediatrics rotation- halfway done! So far it is very laid-back and pretty enjoyable. My first 2 weeks I have been on the pediatric in-patient unit doing pretty much the same thing that is done on the adult medicine floors. Seeing patients, writing notes, following up labs etc. This week I was in the Neonatal intensive care nursery as well as the regular newborn nursery. We practice doing a complete examination on the babies which is markedly different from how we examine adults. Some of the babies are so small, that with my adult-sized stethoscope I can almost simultaneously auscultate heart sounds, lung sounds, bowel sounds, and listen for renal and carotid bruits all from the same position. Most of the babies are pretty cute and even the ones that are pretty sick are still kind of enjoyable. There was one baby in the NICU who was wearing the staff out- He was born to a mother who was on horse dosages of Methadone during her pregnancy and so the baby was born addicted to opiates and was pretty much inconsolably crying aorund the clock while his medication dosages were being adjusted. Kind of sad.

I got to witness a circumcision. This was the first one I had ever seen. Um......OUCH! This practice seems just a tad on the brutal side. I know the babies don't "remember" the pain, but I imagine it isn'tmuch of a consolation at the time to the little fellas.

Tonight we are headed to the Relay for Life event at Meagan and Kaitlyn's high school and hopefully the weather will hold off or else I will be sleepy, grumpy, and wet come tomorrow morning. Thank you to everyone who has donated. You guys rock!

One last thing I have been driving by this barber shop every day for a while now and finally took the time to pull over and snap a quick picture. The sign cracks me up!



"We Specialize In All Cuts"

"What kind of haircut do you want sir, because whatever style you want- it happens to be our speacialty"

To steal from a great movie, "You keep using that word, I do not think it means what you think it means"

Weekend Roundup (Late Edition)

John Lennon wrote the lyric, "Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans." Lately I feel like I truly understand what he meant.

Much has happened since my last post, I'll try to recap the highlights.

My daughter Kaitlyn turned 15 Friday and to celebrate, Kathy, Rileigh, Dylan and I drove down and spent a very nice extended weekend at Susie and Bruce's. For those who don't know, Susie is my ex-wife and the mother of my 3 oldest children and Bruce is her husband. We wind up spending many weekends at their house where all the kids are together and we have a great time. I suppose it seems weird to most people, but I am really glad we all get along and get to spend so much time together with the kids. So, anyway, Friday we all went out to a pretty good cheeseburger place and followed it up with a barbecue and swimming in their pool. Here are some pictures from this weekend:

Cheeburger-Cheeburger is over-run by our not so little clan:



Johnny STUNS us all by whipping out his card and offering to pay:



Kaitlyn opening presents:



The birthday girl and her mommy. (mommy is the shorter one..hehehehe)



Kaitlyn and Meagan



Kathy and Dylan enjoying the weather



Our little camera-shy monster



One of my favorite pics: Rileigh donning protective glasses to counteract the glare bouncing off the top of my bald head!





Meanwhile, I have scheduled both of the next "big" exams for finishing medical school. I was originally slotted for mid-September, but got lucky and was able to switch to a spot in Chicago on June 10th for my USMLE Step 2 CS exam. This is a practical exam that consists of 12 patient encounters with professional actor patients where we are graded on things like communication skills, clinical examination skills, our ability to formulate a differential diagnosis, and writing a note documenting our findings and ordering the next set of labwork/imaging studies/diagnositic studies etc.. (and yes, there is a whole module dedicated to making patients wait 45 minutes in an uncomfortable paper gown while we sit in an office and surf the internet- in case you were wondering) I finalized my travel and hotel arrangements just a few minutes ago , so we are all set.

Also scheduled is the "written" part of my Step 2 board exam. It is actually computer based, consists of 400 questions, and takes about 9 hours. D-Day is August 10th. Yay!


Peds is going along okay and I will save some material for an upcoming post.... stay tuned.

Dog-gone Stupid

I am convinced that I am in the wrong business.

I took this picture while in a book store last week:




I apologize for the crappy picture, in case you can't read what it says,

Zen Dog

Music and Massage for a Stress-Free Pet

Enlightened Advice for Nurturing a Happy, Healthy Dog

The kit consists of a music CD , a plastic little palm-brush (to facilitate the Massage) and of course a book chock-full of 'Enlightened' advice. All for $12.95 What a bargain!

In case you are interested you can pick up your very own Zen Dog kit here.

From the product Synopsis on the Barnes & Noble site:

"De-stress Your Dog with Music and Touch. Tap into the power of music to calm your dog and learn the art of gentle massage to improve your pal’s mental and physical well-being!"

If I sat around the house all day licking my own balls, could be entertained for all of eternity by chasing my own tail, and was perfectly content to drink water directly from a toilet bowl- what kind of stress could I possibly have?

Im just sayin'.

Blogmnesia

I have been so busy lately, that I have forgotten to post any of my inane ramblings for some time now. My apologies to the 2 of you who read this regularly. Anyway...



After doing only a week of GI, I have started my Pediatrics rotation last week. Apparently there was a major scheduling SNAFU between the hospital and the hallowed halls of my school's clinical affairs office.

:-0

See that? That was my shocked face.

Tentatively, I am scheduled to return to the GI Department at the end of these 6 weeks and finish my rotation there.

As for Pediatrics, so far so good. Because of the scheduling, I am the only medical student on the rotation for the next couple of weeks, which has both pluses and minuses. I suppose this arrangement would be ideal for someone with an interest in Peds as a career, given the "spotlight" of being the only student. For me, I never heard the crying calling to become a Pediatrician; although I'm sure that most of what I learn here will be valuable in my upcoming life as an ER doc.

I have only been here just over a week but I have made some observations.

For instance:

• The stereotype seems to be true- Pediatricians really are Shiny Happy People. I guess working with the Cute and Cuddlies attracts happy people to begin with, and the enviornment seems to keep them happy. I wont make any obvious comparisons here because I don't want to get anyone's scrubs panties in a bunch. ;-)
• Perhaps it is because I am a father, or getting older, or perhaps it is just something that we are all evolutionarily predisposed to, but I really do understand the attraction to treating children exclusively. First, they are all so damn, ..well....cute. Aside from this, they are pound-for-pound the most honest, brave, optimistic, and loveable little creatures you'll ever come across. Not to mention entertaining- nothing will snap you from your "rambling attending daze" than watching a 2 year old sneeze into the (open mouthed) face of her examiner.
  
• The flip side of this coin, of course, is the agony that comes with the territory. When all the medicine in the world won't make a difference; and you are forced to helplessly sit by and watch the light fade from the Cute and Cuddlies as they die. There are fewer things that are sadder than to look into the eyes of a suffering child. It must be like falling in love and having your hear broken for the first time- over, and over, and over again. Fortunately, this doesn't occur as often as it does at the other end of the age spectrum, or there would be considerably less Shiny or Happy to go around.
  
• And finally, this is something I learned long ago, but was recently reminded. There are some people who are so shockingly ill-prepared to be human beings themselves, that the idea of their being entrusted with the life of a helpless child is figuratively and literally, criminal.

Relay For Life

It is that time of year again.

My oldest daughter, Meagan is once again captaining a Relay for Life team and this year has recruited her sister Kaitlyn to share the captaining duties.

For those who do not know, the Relay for Life event is a 24hr walking marathon around the high school's track. At all times someone from each team has someone walking around...and around...and around...and.... More info about the event here.

Last year yours truly made it to the event and despite being extremely sleep deprived, I had a great time. This year I look forward to again walking around aimlessly- a skill I have significantly mastered over the last year!

Last year her team raised $2300.00 $2500.00* for the American Cancer Society and this year they are looking to do the same.

This is where you guys come in.

I don't ask for much on this blog, but this is a worthwhile cause; so if you can find it in your hearts to click on their team's page and make a donation, however small, I would be terribly obliged. Thanks.





*which earned the team the Bronze team title. Thanks for correcting me Meg!

Cinco de Hellmann's

Tody is Cinco de mayo, which is of course, Spanish for, "must do Tequila shots!"

To all my liver-exercising brethern..."Uno mas, por favor"

For those that do not know, my Pediatrics rotation has been delayed by a few weeks; so in the meanwhile ,I was able to secure a spot doing a GI elective. The GI stands for Gastro-Intestinal, if you were wondering.

So far it is a very laid-back rotation. I show up in the afternoon! (9 am actually..although it feels like the afternoon after doing Surgery) I am given a few patients to see and write consults on, I meet with the Fellow and discuss the cases, and he signs off on my consult. No muss. No fuss.

These people (if you will excuse the very obvious pun) have their shit together!