Venipuncture

Sorry it's been so long. Meant to write sooner but also trying to keep up with lectures. Had an absolutely wonderful time learning venipuncture on Tuesday. Now, I know that this is not a pleasant experience to get your blood drawn or to stick someone else with a needle, at least not for normal people. But what's normal, really?

I was smart and paired with a girl that has great veins and has also done this before. It still hurt a little but it wasn't bad. The coolest part is knowing that I might now be at drawing blood from someone but if in a pinch, I can get the job done. It is amazingly refreshing to be taught one of our first hands on skills. We've learned some exam skills but most of us feel like we don't know what those findings will tell us, we just know if something is normal or abnormal. Our differentials for abnormalities I am sure are laughable. But then again, I don't know enough to know if they are laughable or not! :)

So, it's a learning process, but I am thrilled to know that I could draw someone's blood if the time came where it was necessary. No, I haven't been told to practice this skill at home and do not have needles and tubes to place the blood in at the house waiting for the next time you visit. So don't worry. I will not be drawing your blood, I promise. Unless your life depended on it and I pray that doesn't happen for both our sakes! :)

Well, I have to get back to studying. It is amazing how much we change from first to second year medical school. Case in point: I don't see anything wrong with me being at the library on a Saturday night studying hard for our Monday exam. I am actually happy and well rested and content. My how things have changed!

I love you all and miss you. Can't wait to see y'all again, although not sure when that will be. On to learning about leukemia and lymphoma and multiple myeloma, oh my!!

Outlive your life by Max Lucado

This is a book I must highly recommend. Roger and I are both reading it right now. Let me know if you want to borrow it after we are done. It is incredible how encouraging it is.

I first heard about the book on KLOVE. They mentioned that they would be reading it the entire month of September. They even provide the first chapter of the book on their website for you to read to see if you'll like it! I read it, then decided to tell Roger about it...I think it would have been faster for him to read it himself then all the talking I did to try and explain what he was saying! :) but I was really excited about it and Roger was too.

The basic premise of the book is to live a life that will continue to impact other after you're gone. Yes, he words it so much better than I just did and it's not morbid at all but very very encouraging. One thing I really liked about it, is that you can impact people long after you are gone by doing things that you already love to do. Most books like this refer solely to evangelism. Whereas, Max Lucado's book refers more to loving people. It's a subtle difference but it takes the focus off: you should, and puts it more on Christ and letting his love for us overflow into others.

We are only on Chapter 3 right now. I'll keep you updated. Would highly recommend that you read it for yourself or get your church library to pick it up! If you start it, let me know what you think!

Beach retreat!

It's been a while since I've been here to let everyone know how the Craig's are doing. As you all know, Micro (or the worst course of medical school) is over!! I am so excited to be in a new section (hematology and lymphatics). From here on out, I believe that the majority of the courses are 4 weeks long with a test every two weeks!! Yea for weekends!!

Roger and I had an absolutely wonderful time at Galveston on Saturday. The people we went with really knew how to set up for a day at the beach. I don't think that there was one thing that wasn't there that I thought should have been. And there were a ton of things there that I would have never thought about! They had a table piled high with food a tent, a dedicated blanket for the floor to store all of the stuff on so it wouldn't be in the sand. I was very impressed. Absolutely loved getting to talk to my sister!!! :) I am actually about to go get some books ready to mail to her. Roger had a lot of fun but ended up looking like a lobster. Bethany was never so happy to give up her throne of lobster queen! He looks a lot better today.

In case you didn't know, I get to learn to stick people tomorrow! There are a lot of people from the hospital going to come in and teach us how to draw blood. It should be a lot of fun. We paired up and we get to draw each others blood. We will even take a smear and look at our own blood under the microscope in order to see what is normal (if we are all normal, that is! :) Then they will do a lipid profile and we will get to see our cholesterol and learn during the next block (Cardio) all about those numbers and what they mean! not really looking forward to learning my cholesterol. I definitely am for the ignorance is bliss part of this argument. But I am going to be good and try to remember to fast tomorrow (our session is from 11:00-12:30) so not sure i'll make it. this girl likes to eat!!

I'll write tomorrow and let you know how that goes. I hope everyone is well. Sorry we didn't get to see everyone when we were down. We had three couples on our list that we didn't get to go see. But we got in from galveston at 2 am and decided to take it easy and sleep in. We look forward to seeing everyone soon! We love you so much.

almost done!!

hey,

it's been awhile. have been pretty busy these past couple of weeks. Trying to study and then trying to also have somewhat of a life during the breaks. So, here's the updates:

Molly: desperately in need of some play time. Her play time lately has been watching daddy sweat over the deck, and watching her mommy watch her daddy and dance around singing "sitting on the dock of the bay" over and over b/c she can't remember the rest of the song.

Feiona: no one really cares about the poor cat. but she's gotten more playful, especially in the morning. I got her a string that she loves to play with and she does this funny thing with her butt (sticks it up in the air and wiggles it back and forth) before she jumps to catch the string. it's really pretty funny. so we've been doing hunting exercises in hopes of building up her kill count.

sidenote: roger saw a mouse come out onto the room yesterday while we were taking a break outside. Molly saw it and really wished she could jump that high (based on the look of her face, no, she didn't "say" anything). and i had feiona turned the other way and was petting her so she missed it. but we're working with her. She's a slow learner (as are all cats).

Roger: is doing amazing work!!! The picture of the new deck are on facebook. He did all that in three days!! how incredible is that?! so incredible proud of him. He was pretty sweaty and nasty though!! Which was yet another inspiration to do that 5 loads of clothes that have been needing to be done. They are still not put up yet but they at least are clean and laid out in piles on the floor. also they are making great barriers for our sneak attack cat to hide behind before she pounces on her unsuspecting prey (mostly my stack of notes/note cares/pens/alarm clock/etc).

Me: I'm boring as always, studying. but had a great time spending time with Roger working on the deck. It was great to be outside and use my muscles a little bit (but just a little, don't want to get too carried away or anything!)

OK, that's it for now. Now it's time to get some hard-core studying done. Look forward to seeing everyone soon!