Saturday, February 21, 2015

A Tisket, A Tasket, An Appendix in a Basket...

I am in full swing with clinicals at the hospital, having just completed my second clinical day.  I absolutely love it.  I was 100% born to interact with patients.  At my clinical this week, I was assigned to one patient to complete a full health history.  That was really a lot of fun, but mainly because my patient was super friendly and really enjoyed talking to me.

The patient I was assigned to was in the hospital for an appendectomy and once he told my clinical instructor how much he liked me and how helpful I was, she asked me if I would be interested in going into the OR with him.  Of course I was!!!  She made a call and got approval (which was surprising because I was only on my second clinical and they usually do not allow such early students into the OR), and I had to ask my patient if he was okay with me watching the removal of his appendix.  He told me yes on one condition, that there would be no peaking while he was under!  I thought that was too funny.

I ended up spending a lot of time with his family in the pre-op area and they were all so excited for me to get to see my very first surgery.  I kept apologizing to the patient for being so excited that he was losing an organ, but I kept telling him if he was going to be down an organ, the appendix is the way to go.

His parents treated me as if I was their own daughter getting ready to go into the OR for the first time.  They took pictures of me after I changed into the OR scrubs, because they wanted me to show them to Ken.  There is no way I could have had a better family to be with for so long.  Soon enough, it was time to head off to the OR.

So excited to go into the OR for the first time!  Never mind that the scrubs I am wearing are four sizes too big!  I could have fit into one leg of those pants.


Watching the surgery was indescribable.  I did not get grossed out at all and never felt like I was going to pass out like a lot of people do in the OR.  I am sure that a heart surgery or even something on the stomach will be a different story.  I kind of thought that it would be like Grey's Anatomy and I would be watching from a window, but I was literally right there in the operating room where I could watch everything.

After the appendix was taken out and placed in a small bag and sucked out, I asked the surgical tech a question and he cut the bag open and pulled the appendix out for me to see.  He placed it in a basin and one of the nurses brought me some gloves and told me to touch it.  I picked the appendix up and held it in my hand and could see the staples from the area where the blood supply was cut off.  It was really cool.  

I went with the patient back to the recovery room and his first question after waking up was to me and he was wondering how I did during his surgery.  

After I made it back to the floor with my classmates, we were in a meeting and the nurse I was assigned with all day came in to get me because the patient's family wanted to see me.  They were so sweet and asked me all about the surgery and how I did.  I feel so fortunate that I got to spend so much of my day with wonderful people and that the patient was going to leave the hospital pain free. 

I went home so excited to tell Ken about my day and me getting to hold an appendix.  

I look forward to many more experiences at the hospital!

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Happy Birthday Ken!

To most people, February 14th is Valentines' Day.  Well, not at our house.  At our house, February 14th is Ken's birthday!  This year he wanted to get up early and go on a hike with his girls and then go around Kansas City to all the different craft breweries.  Done and done.

We hiked 10 miles around Clinton Lake.  It was a great morning, except it ended up not being as cold as it was supposed to be and the ground ended up being muddy.  It was super muddy.  Oh well, we still had a lot of fun!

Kya tried so hard to stay awake on the ride home, but she was so tired from our adventure.


After a shower, we picked up Mike and Katie to make our way to our first stop of the day, Cinder Block Brewery.  We knew we were instantly in for a fun day when all of the fun stories began.  Everyone enjoyed a beer and then we made our way to The Big Rip Brewery, a mile or so down the road.  When Ken and I visited this place shortly after Christmas, we were the only people in there.  This place was completely packed this time!  Ken and Katie both really liked the milk stout that they served and I cannot remember the kind of beer that Mike ordered.  

The Birthday Boy!

Our next stop was KC Bier Company, which is a place the four of us frequent.  It was at this stop that I learned that Katie thought that instead of visiting each brewery for tasting, that we were going on behind the scenes tours of each brewery.  It was pretty funny!

Mike and Ken enjoying their dunkels!

Katie and me at KC Bier Co, dreaming of a beer garden in Munich.

Happy Birthday to my guy!


We left KC Bier Co and made our way to our stomping grounds at Martin City Brewing Company, where you can find us on most Wednesday nights.  I am not sure that I have ever laughed as hard as I did while we were sitting there.  We had so much fun laughing and telling stories.  

Mike and Katie at MCB

Ken and me having fun at MCB

Our birthday tradition is always dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings.  We have been doing this for Ken's birthday since 2008, when he was living in Nashville and I visited him on his birthday.  The best part is, there is never any waiting!

We left Martin City and made our way to BWW, where we continued to laugh even more about Katie thinking we were going to tour the breweries.  Mike, Katie, and Ken all consumed more dunkel, and I stuck with my water since I was driving us around.  Ken said that this was his favorite birthday ever, so I am glad we showed him a great time!

Celebrating 8 years of birthdays at Buffalo Wild Wings!


Happy Birthday Ken!  I am so glad you had so much fun on Saturday!  We always have fun with Mike and Katie and cannot wait for our next adventure with them.  

Thursday, February 12, 2015

The Best of 2014...

I am obviously way late to the party regarding a summary of 2014.  I enjoyed 2014 so much, that I could not miss an opportunity to relive the many memories.  Without further ado, I present the best of 2014.




We had an amazing vacation in Germany and Switzerland!  After visiting these two countries, I can honestly say that I cannot wait to go back again. 



In July, my office transitioned and I started working from home.  This is me getting Starbucks one final time during my Oakwood office life.


With me transitioning to work from home, I was able to enjoy many moments with my hooligans.





Obviously it was rough on the hooligans with me being at home all day!



On August 24, I became a two time Ironman finisher, completing Ironman Louisville on the hottest day of the year.


Ken and I went to a playoff game in St. Louis


We spent a week in Mexico with Mike and Katie


One other huge highlight of the year was me getting accepted into nursing school!  It was a long two years taking all of the general course requirements, but it was all worth it when I got accepted to the BSN program!

Happy 2015!