Bugs Bunny Band-Aids and Other Orientation Tidbits

Bugs Bunny band-aids just make life better. All of the new Peds residents had to get their blood drawn this afternoon "to get titers checked" - I'm still not sure exactly what they were checking for, but oh well - and at a children's hospital, the band-aids are fun. (One of my fellow interns even got stickers! He deserved it though..... he had to get stuck twice.)

We started orientation & various types of training last Wednesday (CPR training, pediatric advanced life support training, neonatal resuscitation training, computer training, suturing and splinting and Dermabond training, HIPAA training, paperwork, paperwork, and more paperwork, etc.........), and I think we're all a bit worn out at this point! Thankfully, tomorrow morning we finish the last of the computer training, and then I actually ended up with the weekend off. Returning to a schedule (after being on vacation for so long) has been difficult! I'm glad I start with one of the easier rotations; I think it will help to adjust gradually to a more grueling schedule, rather than getting hit with it all at once.

Speaking of schedule - we did get our schedules for the year; I start with Community Pediatrics (a clinic month - mostly in a general peds clinic somewhere around the city, specific location to be determined, and also some subspecialty clinics at the hospital). I'll do a month of Hematology & Oncology in August, and then a month in the neonatal ICU (when I'll be on call every 4th night) in September. I also got the time off that I had asked for to attend weddings (Ginny's in July, and Eli and Lee's in December), so that was terrific news!!


I promised triathlon pictures, so here they are:

on the bike.....
still happy

crossing the finish line!

life is better with Powerade and water

I did it!

Triathlon....... I Did It!

Hooray... my first triathlon in 4 years is done! My overwhelming thought is - I'm glad I did it, and had fun; but I'm not planning on doing another one anytime soon!

I've been sort-of training for it over the past few months, but I knew that I wasn't doing as much as I should have. I only rode my bike about once a week, and really should have gone at least 2 or 3 times a week; I ran more regularly than that, but still not enough; and I only swam once (though I wasn't at all worried about the swimming part!). So I knew going into Saturday's race that it wasn't going to be comfortable, but I knew I could do it - my goal was just to finish and not worry about racing hard. That turned out to be a good thing.........

This particular triathlon was a 400 yard swim, 13 mile bike, and 3 mile run. The swim went great......... no surprise that was my strongest leg, despite really not training for it at all! (I don't know the breakdown of the other legs, but on the swim leg I placed 72nd overall out of over 400 racers!) It was fun passing a lot of people, too, but that didn't last long.... I started getting passed as I was running out of the water up to the transition area, and that uphill run after the swim was much harder than I had though it would be! I had a hard time getting my shoes clipped into my bike to start off the ride, but after I got that figured out, the bike went fairly well. Of course I got passed a lot, but I passed a few people too, especially going downhill! The 3 mile run was quite a challenge though. I can run that distance just fine ordinarily, but doing it after the swim & bike was a different story. My legs felt like rubber coming out of the transition, but I was determined to keep running & not walk - until I got a terrible stitch in my side that just would not go away. At that point I was really glad I could remind myself that I was doing this to finish, not to win or anything, so I was totally okay with walking when I needed to, simply to keep moving forward! So I did it - in less than two hours, which was one of my goals - it wasn't comfortable, but crossing that finish line was a great feeling!

Matt came with me and was so helpful and encouraging. He was a great cheerleader! I saw him several times over the course of the race - at the beginning & end of the bike, and also at the beginning & end of the run, and of course at the finish. (He took pictures, which I'll add later if anything came out.) I am so thankful to have such a loving husband!!

Next time, I'm going to look for a team that needs a good swimmer, and let some other people train for & do the bike & run!!

Graduation Pictures!

There's really no way a few pictures can do the West Point Graduation weekend justice, but here are a few of my favorites:

Friday's graduation parade

Matt and me, Eli and Lee headed to the formal banquet

Saturday - Marching up to graduate

And of course, what would graduation be without a hat toss?

Esther loved meeting Uncle Eli, but especially those bright buttons

First time in a second lieutenant's uniform - Mark, Dad, and Josh pinning on Eli's bars