Lessons My Kids Teach Me. Part 712

I wanted to make a pit stop at the grocery store but, as is common among those in my age group, I forgot. I remembered just as I passed the road that that led to the store. " $%#&*@!"  I mumbled under my breath (or so I thought)

Rileigh: What, dad?
Me: Nothing honey.
Rileigh: What wrong daddy?
Me: Nothing's wrong baby.
Rileigh: Oh. [pause] Then why you say that: sonofabitch?
Me:  Uh, what?
Rileigh: You say sonofabitch.
Me:  [removing one hand from the wheel to slap self in forehead] Oh, I forgot to turn back there so we can go to the food store. 
Rileigh: [in her patronizing, conciliatory tone- that sounds remarkably like what you would hear when someone is talking to a 5 year old who has just spilled his milk] It's okay daddy, we can go an "utter" way.
Me: Yes honey, we sure can go another way. 
Rileigh: [giggling now] You're silly, daddy!

Yes, indeed I am silly.

It's That Time of Year Again...

Time for my annual Bleg (blog+beg)


Meagan is, once again, captaining a team for American Cancer Society's Relay for Life; and like last year, has recruited us to be team members.  In the previous 2 years we have raised almost $4000. Thanks, in part, to the generosity of readers of this blog. This year our team has set a lofty goal of trying to raise $3500. With your help I know we will do it!


To make a donation click here.


For those of you who do not know- Relay is a 14 hour event where one member of our team will be walking around a 1/4 mile track at all times. To learn more about Relay for Life you can click the above link and read previous posts about it here and here.

Thanks in advance for your generosity!

Watch Porn

I'm sure the title of this post will result in a few disappointed teenagers with unrestricted access to Google but this is what turns me on!

WANT!

If any of you happen to have an extra $4K lying around burning a hole in your pocket, and you want to turn a middle aged man into a giggling, happy little girl....I'm just saying.

MATCH DAY 2010

I found out today that I am a member of Drexel University College of Medicine's Emergency Medicine resident class of 2013!

I am thrilled!

I have something in common with the program it seems, we both began in 1971! It is one of the oldest Emergency Medicine residency programs around- and while possibly not the oldest resident to come through I'll wager I am certainly to the far right of that curve.

Matchmaker, Matchmaker, Make Me A Match

It is official! After quite an anxious morning of watching the minutes tick by....

I MATCHED!

Now some more waiting until Thursday at 1pm to find out where I will be going.

One thing is certain- Come July, I will begin training as an Emergency Physician.

Confessions of a Geeky Dad

I am stuck inside on a rainy Sunday on this Match Eve trying not to think too much about the 24 1/2 hours that remain until I find out if I matched into a residency program. Fortunately I have Chemistry to keep me company.

No not drugs. Chemistry- as in High School Chemistry.

Kaitlyn was having a little trouble with some chemistry homework and came to yours truly looking for help. Poor her. I have a reputation for handing out the "bonus plan" when I help with homework. Today's Bonus Lecture was about Avagadro's number but more on that later.
Invariably, I go off on some topical tangent until they get that glazed-over look in their eyes. utter, "Thanks, Dad", quickly gather their books, and dart out of the room like they stole something.
I admit it. I can be a bit of a geek and I still get excited about some concepts that I think are pretty cool and it truly is a thrill for me to see the look in their eyes when they finally understand something for the first time or look at something in a new way. Anyway...

Her class is working on determining empirical formulas given percent composition.

An example:
Calculate the empirical formula of a compound composed of 38.67 % Carbon, 16.22 % Hydrogen, and 45.11 %Nitogen  (For those that are interested a brief explanation follows the break.)


During my explanation I asked if she was familiar with Avagadro's Number and I was happy that she was. Of course I felt the need to fill in some of the blanks and connect a few dots. I found a paper I wrote on the subject from back in my undergraduate chemistry class and read some of it to her. The little kid in me loves the visualizations and examples used when trying to understand the enormity of scale that 6.02 X10²³ represents. Here are some of my favorites:

• A mole of beer cans would cover the surface of the earth to a depth of 200 miles!
• A mole of un-popped popcorn kernels would cover the suface to a depth of 9 miles!
• If you covered the entire state of Texas (roughly 260,000 sq mi.) with fine sand- there would be 1 mole of sand grains.
• Counting at 10 million per second...it would take 2 Billion years to count up to 1 mole

and my favorite:

• In a 8oz cup of water, there are more molecules of water present than there are cups of water in the entire Atlantic Ocean. (roughly 5000 times more)

Click to expand solution

He'll Roundhouse Kick his Candles out!

70 years ago today, the world's baddest badass was born.

Chuck Norris.

Photo Credit

If you haven't been living under a rock, I am sure you have come across the internet phenomenon known as Chuck Norris Facts. I have listed a few below:

• Guns don't kill people. Chuck Norris Kills people.
• Chuck Norris once kicked a horse in the chin. Its descendants are known today as giraffes.
• Chuck Norris destroyed the Periodic Table of Elements because he only recognizes the element of Surprise. 
• Chuck Norris doesn't read books. He stares them down until he gets the information that he wants.
• Chuck Norris has 2 speeds: Walk and Kill.

and possibly my favorite:

• There is no such thing as Evolution; just a list of creatures that Chuck Norris has allowed to live.

For more fun filled facts check out this site.

The Final Countdown / Mysteries of the Match Revealed

In a shade over 169 hours I will be frantically logging on to a website to find out if I "Matched"*

It feels surreal that all of the work and sacrifice leads to this one moment next week that will determine the rest of my career. But, I suppose that life is just a series of these moments. I am strangely calm at the moment but my serenity is occasionally punctuated by brief moments of sheer terror. Stiff upper lip and all that..


* I have received a bunch of questions about the whole match process so I have decided to include a overview on how this whole thing works. I hope this helps.

Every year medical students graduate from medical school and subsequently begin their Residency training. 

Residency is where physicians complete several years of training in their chosen specialty. This training, is for instance, where family doctors become family doctors, surgeons become surgeons, and psychiatrists become weird. (I kid because I love!) Prior to residency, we are all pretty much the quintessential lump of clay which requires a great deal of molding (preferably by a scantily clad Demi Moore while Unchained Melody plays in the background...but I digress...)....where was I ?  Oh, yes- molding- right. In order to become anything resembling useful physicians we need residency training.

So how is it decided who will become surgeons and who will become OB/Gyn etc. ? (fighting the urge to do a 'head-injury' joke here) Well, we get to choose. 
Sort. Of. 
After doing some soul-searching (no offense meant, surgeons) each one of us decides which area of medicine we would like to pursue and then we apply to residency programs in said specialty. For some, deciding on a specialty is one of the hardest steps in this whole process-  lifestyle, salary, work environment, patient population, competitiveness of the applicant, and about a million other factors must be carefully weighed so each student can figure out which specialty suits their preferences best.


The Process
Step 1 : Drowning in a sea of paperwork (July-Sept)
The July of medical student's 3rd year they begin working on their applications to residency programs. Transcripts, Letters of Recommendation, personal statements etc. are all gathered and submitted to ERAS  a central web-based application service. Beginning in September, applicants choose which programs to submit their applications to. This is a fairly simple matter of selecting programs from a list within your specialty and clicking on a box. ERAS takes care of the rest (transmitting all of your application info to each program). 


Step 2: Waiting is the hardest part
After an applicant's applications are sent out, begins the waiting phase. Each program has its own unique timetable to do things so this is an anxious period. Programs review applications and based on what they are looking for choose which applicants to invite for interviews. 

Much angst surrounds exactly how programs choose which applicants to interview. Is it test scores- is there a cut-off number? What about personal statements? What about my letter of recommendation from my High school guidance counselor/ Psychic/ Oral Hygienist? If you are looking for a great source of entertainment hang out in the cafeteria in September and sit at a table full of Medical students. You will learn that, "according to my friend's girlfriend's roommate's uncle- who is the program director's gardener...." that the actual process used by programs to select applicants to interview is a proprietary blend of alchemy, remote viewing, dark magic and the use of a random number generator. Good Luck!


Step 3: 12 cities in 9 days? Sure I can do that! (Sept-Jan Interview Season)
Once applications are submitted, slowly but surely (hopefully) invitations for interviews will start rolling in. This is an exciting time- you have at least  "made the cut" and the program has an actual interest in meeting with you. Applicants will begin traversing the country in a whirlwind manner and doing their best to make great impressions with each of the programs they interview at. This is the opportunity for each applicant to see the program up close and personal, kick the tires, talk to the current residents, and see if they would like to spend the next several years there. The flip side of this, of course, is that from the program's point of view it is a chance to discover the hidden sociopathic pathology that your personal statement glossed over. I was actually told on an interview, "We just want to make sure you're not a douche."


Step 4: I like you...as a friend
After all of the interviews, each applicant has an idea of which of the programs they liked the best and begins to formulate a list of their top choice, second choice etc etc. Using another web based computer system, the National Resident Matching Program, NRMP, each applicant actually submits their Rank Order List, ROL. In turn, each program will similarly rank each of the applicants it has interviewed. Yes, they actually rank in order the applicants they have interviews in order of preference. This year's deadline for submitting your ROL was February 24th. 


Step 5: THE MATCH.....The answer is: ...... 42
The last step is the most exciting. Armed with each applicant's ROL, and each program's ROL the NRMP computers follow an algorithm  to "match-up" applicants with programs, hence the name. For those who will be applying next year, do yourself a favor and check out the link explaining how the algorithm works- this is another one of those pet topics that medical students seem to have nothing but  misconceptions about. (For the last time, spelling out obscene words using the fist letter of each program on your ROL will NOT GUARANTEE YOU A SPOT at John Hopkins Dermatology!)
This year on March 15th at 12:00 noon EST the results of this Matching algorithm will be made known!
Sort. Of.
March 15th each applicant will find out IF they have matched with a program or NOT. Applicants will not find out WHERE they have matched until March 18th.
Why the built-in days of agony? The interim period is known affectionately as The Scramble- this is an opportunity for those applicants who have not matched to a program to have access to the still-unfilled spots at various programs and serves as a last ditch effort to secure a residency spot. 

I hope this helps to clear up some of the questions regarding this whole process, like: 
"Have you mathced yet, Vince?"
"Where are you going to be working, Vince?"
"Why are you curled up in the fetal position, Vince?"

It's Good to be Back

So, I had the best of intentions for migrating this blog over to a new server and giving the whole thing an overhaul. I also had hopes of posting on a regular basis.  Well, you know what they say about the road to hell and all of that. This blog began almost 3 years ago as a means to keep family and friends informed about my journey through medical school. Now that I have completed medical school I have been busy with my new job as stay-at-home dad, and frankly writing blog posts got pushed to the way-back burner.

But fret not gentle reader, I realized that I miss scribbling some of my vacuous thoughts here on the intertubes for both of you guys to read. So... to steal from the great bard, L.L. Cool J,
"Don't call it a comeback, I've been here for years!"

What have I been up to you ask?

Well- as I said I have been up to my newly graduated physician elbows in Carpet Shark taming. This full-time, stay at home dad thing is no joke- I officially bow my head in reverence to those of you who have been doing it for years- I always understood it was a tough job- don't get me wrong. It is just one of those things in life that you just have to learn for yourself to truly understand. 

Meanwhile there are only 9 days left until Match Day- where yours truly finds out if he was fortunate enough to secure a residency- or if it is time to dust off those Welding School applications I have hidden in my sock drawer!

This Blog will be MOVING

If there are any of you out there who still read this please stay tuned for an update. I will be migrating this blog onto a different server. I am in the process of setting up the new blog and will post the new address soon.

Moving Right Along

As promised, albeit a little later than I planned, another post this millennium from yours truly.

Where to begin, I suppose an update of sorts is in order. I have just under 2 weeks left of medical school. My official last day of this rotation is December 25th but with the holiday, and missing a day for an interview- I have only 8 more days at the hospital until I am finished with the whole ball of wax. It still doesn't feel completely real just yet.

I are gonna be a doktor soon!

The interview season is in full swing and I have just returned from a trip down to Florida for an interview. The weather was amazing, the city was very cool, and the program was pretty impressive. The interviews there went well and I received a great deal of positive feedback, for what that is worth. A few more of these interviews and I can put this whole process behind me.

We are going to be moving back to the Philadelphia / So. Jersey area at the end of the month since there is no longer any reason to stay in New York and we want to be close to family for a while until I find out where I will be doing my residency in March. New York is a great place to visit and I suppose it is not too horrible to live here for a while, but I am ready to leave.

All that remains is finding a job for Kathy and a place to live.........details!

Until next time

Uno Mas!

Earlier this week I began what will be my final rotation of medical school.

It sounds weird. My LAST rotation! Yes, in just a few short weeks I will finish medical school. The reality hasn't fully set in yet.

For those who are following along at home, when last we left our hero he was up to his pons in reflex hammers and MRI scans during the Neurology rotation. After 4 weeks of diseases of the brain and nervous system, I began Hematology/Oncology.

This was not a very enjoyable rotation for a few reasons, not least among these was the rather depressing nature of seeing patient after patient in the throes of their terminal illness. It becomes almost surreal after a while. It was interesting to observe how different physicians interacted with the patients. Styles varied but most seemed to deal with the death issue very well. One can learn a great deal just being around people I suppose. From a medical student perspective, the rotation was fairly educational and the attendings were laid-back and focused on teaching. The schedule was rather long and most nights I was there way longer than any self-respecting 4th year with senioritis should have been.

Anyway, that is all behind us now and this week I began ...I'll say it again...my final rotation of medical school- Endocrinology.

So far it is completely enjoyable. There are only a few disorders that make up the lion's share of the patients we see- Diabetes, Thyroid derangements, the occasional pituitary abnormality nothing too exotic so far. The management is pretty straight forward and not too mentally exhausting, even for a medical student. Our attending is quite personable and has an excellent rapport with both his patients and his students. He seems never to be at a loss for a story, ready at a moment's notice, to illustrate a point, or teach a lesson. Most are pretty amusing . Tuesdays are spent at his private office in the heart of Brooklyn- quite an interesting experience.

Each of his patients seemed to come straight out of Central Casting. More caricatures than actual people, I half expected to hear a laugh track begin playing after each question and answer exchange, or perhaps a rimshot.

Some of the actual exchanges between our attending and his patients :

So what brought you in today?
"The bus"

And how do you take your metformin? ( a diabetes pill)
"Orally"

You have diabetes, high cholesterol and high blood pressure; is that right?
"No I don't HAVE high blood pressure- I GIVE high blood pressure, I'm a carrier [points to his wife]

...and so it went.

Each patient seemingly trying to outdo the last in this Vaudevillian banter. I'm not sure if it was just the patient's personalities, or the fact that they had an audience in us [the medical students], but I suspect that this was part of the normal relationship our attending has with his patients. It was nice to see. Quite a refreshing change compared to my last rotation.

I realize I haven't posted in a while and have yet to mention anything about the whole applications/interview process- stay tuned. I apologize to the 3 of you who actually read this and may be interested in such things.

More posts are coming soon. Really. I mean it this time.

Trust me, I'm almost a doctor!

Halloween Pics

As requested, some Halloween pictures:

One Cute Little Pirate

One Not-So-Amused Elephant

In Search of: Candy

This year: (click the play button to see video)

Quite a difference from last year:

Okay..New Plan

I'll stop promising to blog more frequently and you'll stop pretending to believe me.

John Lennon said, "Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans."

I truly understand what he meant.

On the medical school front, I have just started my antepenultimate rotation: Neurology. ( ok fine- look it up, ye non Lovers-of-Latin)
Ailments of the brain and nervous system are what my world will be about for the next 4 weeks. So far the rotation started out very disorganized but when we finally got around to rounding it was rather good. My only complaint would be the hours, since I barely made it home in time for Kathy to hand-off the kids to me and head to work.

I finally completed the application process for residency and currently I am in sit-around-and-wait-mode. I have heard from only one of the programs that I applied to with a nice little email letting me know they are reviewing all the applications and will not be offering interview invitations until the first week of November. From what I hear this seems to be the modus operandi of many of the programs in Emergency Medicine, so I have not begun to worry yet.

The family is doing great and I am enjoying all the extra time being with them since my schedule has been a little easier (up until today anyway).

Kids update:

• After quite possibly the longest ping pong losing streak in history (151 games- just ask him) Johnny's systematic trouncing of the old man came to an end! I was finally able to beat him. I promptly decided to retire from play and go out on top;-) [update: My retirement was short-lived and a week later I was back to "coming in second" ]
  
• Meagan is being inducted into the National Honor Society this Wednesday, we are all very proud of her. As several people were quick to point out, she must get her brains from her mother.
  
• Kaitlyn is also doing very well in school, this is no small feat- considering that she spends almost every waking moment trying to become the world's greatest Flyers fan. Apparently she is in "Daddy, you just don't understand" kind of LOVE with several of the players and has even roped me into taking her to a Flyers practice. Not sure how I should feel that my daughter is all starry-eyed smitten with someone who is missing his front teeth.... I suppose it could be worse.
  
• Rileigh is doing quite well with the potty-training and aside from the occasional mishap, I believe that we are just about home-free. From the most recent entry in her Toddler Tricks to Horrify, Frighten, and Annoy your Parents playbook, our little darling painted her face with White-out (don't ask) and then got a hold of Dylan's tub of formula powder and decided to eat some with the convenient little scoop provided and as I was running from the other side of the room screaming attempting to redirect her, it must have sounded to her like "dump all the powder on the floor just before Daddy gets there, sweetie!" because ...yeah that is just what she did.
  
• Dylan is growing like a weed and at this rate will be as big as Rileigh any day now.

That's it for now.

Tune in soon.

I'm not dead...

Much has happened since my last posting.

I received the results of my USMLE Step 2 exam and I couldn't be happier. All the studying paid off!

I finished my GI rotation and now in the second week of Cardiology.

My oldest daughter, Meagan turned 17, passed her driver's license exam, and bought her first car- all in the same day!

Meanwhile I have been busy working on my application for residency- I am happy to say the process is just about complete and all that is left for me to do is sit around and wait for interview invitations. Hopefully some will come!

That's all for now- I hope to post more frequently now that I have a little more free time.

And When I Get That Feeling....

This week in GI, I am doing consults. It is a nice change of pace from the non-stop onslaught of colonoscopies and esophagogastroduodenoscopies. Basically, whenever one of the managing medical teams decides that their patient has a problem that may benefit from the GI service they request a consult. It is the medical world's equivalent to "Hey take a look at this and tell me what you think". There is a fair amount of consults that come into the GI service everyday so they are only too happy to let the medical students "help them out". Anyway, during a lull in the consult action I was asked to head back to the endoscopy suite to lend a hand. I was soon joined by another medical student and after taking some H&Ps we were observing a fairly routine colonoscopy.

The endoscopy suite resembles a small operating room. There is a large video monitor on the wall, a stretcher in the middle of the room, the endoscopy machine is stacked neatly on the counter, and a full array of tools, wires, hoses, and scopes are hanging neatly on the wall. The thing that makes the endoscopy room a bit different is once the procedure begins the lights are all turned down really low. I made a joke my first day there that at least they provided a little mood lighting before impaling you with large medical instruments.

Having music playing in the operating room is a fairly common thing. Many surgeons have their "pet music" that they need playing in the background while they snip and hack through tissue practice their healing arts. The endo suite is no different. Most of the doctors there are content to leave the radio on; tuned to some "office-appropriate" adult contemporary station.

The low lights, the music playing in the background, and my somewhat twisted sense of humor came together in a perfect storm today that almost had me laughing out loud.

In the middle of a procedure that involves passing anywhere between 4 and 6 feet of unfriendly colonoscope into your "Holyiest of Holyies", I happen to catch the song that was playing on the radio. I tried to stifle a giggle as I looked over at the other student and told her to listen. As luck would have it, Marvin Gaye was crooning on about his need for Sexual Healing.

And then came this lyric:

"You're my medicine. Open up and let me in.
Darling you're so great, I can't wait for you to operate.
I can't wait for you to operate. Baby, I can't wait for you to operate."


I guess you had to be there.....

The Word of the Day

You hear about in throughout medical school: The medical student closet hypochondriac who, upon learning about a disease, is JUST CONVINCED that he has said affliction. I have witnessed this phenomenon to a mild degree with a couple of my classmates. You know what they say, "a little knowledge is a dangerous thing."

But after spending the last week watching enough colonoscopies to last several lifetimes, I got really concerned. Seeing countless diverticula, polyps, hemorrhoids, and abnormal mucosa, well, it was enough to scare the sh...well you get the idea ;-)

Anyway, the word of the day is :



Do you and your colon a favor and jam your face full of oat bran, vegetables, fruits, beans, tree bark- whatever. Just be sure to shoot for 30-40 grams per day.

This Public Service Announcement brought to you by concerned colons everywhere.


Picture Credit

The Weight of the World

I woke up this morning and something was different. I actually got a decent night's rest, something I sorely missed.

After what seems like an eternity of endless studying, I finally have come to the day where I no longer have to worry about the USMLE step 2 exam*. What a relief!

The exam yesterday went pretty much according to plan- after over a thousand practice questions, the test seemed to go by pretty quick. There was however, a series of about 5 questions near the beginning of my first block that felt like a stiff boot to the pills. They asked some off-the-wall curve-ball questions that were more of the Step 1 variety. Aside from that I felt pretty comfortable with the material and I didn't think it was too horrible.

I suppose I will know for sure in about 3 weeks when I get my results.

My son John picked me up after the exam and we met up with Jersey Pete to did a little post-exam celebrating over a few beers and the Yankee game at Brother Jimmy's.

Up next, I am reunited with my friends in GI starting Monday.


* assuming I passed

Is that The Eye of The Tiger playing behind me?

If my life were a movie, this is where the Big Training Montage scene would go.

With only 6 more studying days until my big fight test, the studying has been in high gear for a while.

Actually, it is almost around the clock, literally. Between my usual dose of insomnia and Dylan's 2 middle-of-the-god-damned-night-feedings while Kathy is at work, I find myself watching review videos or reading by computer light while the little guy hungrily chows down a bottle. Afterwards, as I toss and turn, trying to fall asleep, I will inevitably think of something I wanted to look up or a practice question I got wrong. It will fester until I eventually give in to my compulsion and... out come the books.

I have been at this pace for a good while now and I seriously can't wait until this particular test is in my rearview mirror.

You always hear about the Herculean effort and multiple sacrifices that are needed to get through medical school. I wasn't naive. I understood what kind of work it was going to take. I knew what I was getting into. I entered into this journey eager, and with eyes wide open. Don't get me wrong, there have been a bunch of sacrifices and our road was not without its share of bumps, but frankly, I never felt like this whole thing was that bad . I'm not sure if it is because I have a supportive family around, or because I had a good bit of clinical experience before starting, or just that I am too damned old to get flustered about things. Whatever the reason, I had it all under control. Things, they are starting to change.

I am sure this is a very common feeling for most students around this time in their careers. So close to the end (or beginning, actually) and each next step is a bit harder to take. The feeling like it is NEVER going to end, and the mountains of tasks- still left to be done.

Yes, I am so ready to get this test over with and reclaim just a small part of my life.

So, if you are in the neighborhood of the Prometric Testing Center in Manhattan next week, and you spot a man with blood-shot eyes, sporting a "playoff beard", who smells of regurgitant breast milk and baby powder, mumbling to himself manicaly, "Yo, Adrian!", as he walks out of the building- just smile and nod and let me have my moment- I've earned it!

Weekend Update # 716....

This past weekend Kathy, Rileigh, Dylan, and I drove down to spend a few days at Chateau de Exwife . As usual we had a great time. We got to spend some time with the whole family before Susie, Bruce, and the girls head off for their annual vacation- this time it is Mexico for 10 days. Color me jealous.

Friday I spent the day at my mother's house taking care of a list of things she needed me to do: running some new pipes for a water spigot in her garage, repairing her kitchen faucet, replacing a dimmer switch in her dining room, replacing the toilet flange and re-mounting her toilet, and some other manual labor type things. Thankfully Bruce had the day off and offered to come along and help me get things done quicker. Everything got fixed and nary a trip to an ER- it was a good day.


Speaking of my mother... Let this be fair warning to all:

It now may be unsafe to drive (or walk, for that matter) about the streets of Philadelphia.

It seems those wacky, fun-loving pranksters over at the PA Department of Transportation thought it would be a good idea to issue her her first Driver's License! Congratulations, mom!


Because of an upcoming change to the test format, begining on August 10th, people who take Step 2 will experience a significant delay in score reporting. I wanted to avoid this and so I have re-scheduled my Step 2 exam for Thursday, July August 6th. Hopefully the 4 days of forsaken last-minute studying won't have an impact on my score. I can't wait for this to be over!

Lastly, file this under "David Hasselhoff, I ain't!"

While enjoying some barbecue yesterday in the back yard at Chateau de Exwife, Rileigh somehow managed to crawl underneath the ad hoc security gate at the bottom of the steps that lead up to the pool deck. She was up just about at the topmost step when we noticed her. My dad instincts took over and I lept up from the table stepping over a Sleeping Dylan in his carrier seat, and sprinted across the lawn to the steps. I'm not sure what exactly possessed me, but I hurdled over the gate at the bottom of the steps and nearly tackled poor Rileigh up on the deck. She was quite startled because she was only headed up the steps to retrieve a toy and here comes her dad barrling down on her like she stole something. After catching my breath for a second I recieved a strange message from my lower back.

It said, "You idiot! Apparently, you think you are some sort of athlete who can sprint off and go hurdling over things. You are so wrong. You will pay."

Almost immediately, I felt the wonderful searing hot pain of old age and deconditioning racing across the right side of my lower back. So today I am hobbling around half-crippled and hoping this goes away soon.

The safety gate has been repositioned and she can no longer get by it (for now). Sadly, I imagine my lower back will take a bit more effort to get back in shape.

Lessoned learned.