O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree

Hard to believe it is already almost Christmastime!!!! A couple weekends ago we got to have some holiday season fun and help the family find the perfect Christmas Tree!

We've been going to the same Christmas Tree Farm for years and each year is a different experience. Some years it's snowing, some years it is muddy, some years it is bitter bitter cold with intense winds, and occasionally- there is some sun.

This year there was not a cloud in the sky and the sun was shining the entire time! I honestly do not remember ever going with so much sun and glare out! Despite the deceiving sun however, it was quite chilly and when the wind blew... it was brutal. However, there was NO snow. Not a single flake.

In typical fashion we ran around the lot each trying to find the best tree until (drumroll please) I found the winner! Go me!

I love this holiday tradition and it was so fun having Nick there to join us this year! He has not cut down a Christmas Tree in YEARS so he was so excited about the whole process and got to do the honors of the first cut :)

Christmas is going to be here before we know it and I can't even believe it! Next year we will have a little babe in tow- which is so exciting to think about!

Family minus Mags :( So sad she wasn't able to come this year but she is in the midst of a super ridiculous finals week! I definitely DO NOT miss those days.

So many choices!

Taking turns helping to cut down our perfect tree!!

A few cute randoms from the day

Santa was there!!! Of course we had to stop for a picture.... this is our last year before Baby Leo steals the limelight and looks far more cute sitting on Santa's lap!

You know you're married to a med student when...

....you spend your Saturday night watching a holiday trauma in the ER show for hours. And not just watching... also listening to your husband yell out diagnosis, procedures, etc the entire time.

Nerd alert? Yes.

The man loves the ER. Even on a show that re-enacts ER traumas with the worst actors ever.

4th year rotations

In typical medschool fashion the schedule and list of things to do continues to move full speed ahead. Nick is currently 1 1/2 rotations into his 3rd year (aka about a little under halfway through with his 3rd year) and already it is time to submit his choices for 4th year rotation electives. Crazy!

There are a couple mandatory rotations each student must take but for the most part students have a lot more freedom to "choose" their 4th year rotations.  However, there are only a limited number of slots available per rotation (with SGU students being offered the fewest number of spots compared to other schools in the area) so as per the usual- it's competitive and a bit stressful trying to lock down the electives that will best help him be successful later with matching a Residency.

Basically right now Nick needs to pick his first part of 4th year rotations now and then will place the second part of the year very early in January. It's more or less first come first serve, so there is no guarentee they get each elective they want, but the hope is they will get as many as possible.

Residency applications/interviews begin fairly early into 4th year so the biggest scramble is trying to get the most imporant ones done in the first 2 rotations or so of 4th year so they can be part of his Residency application packet. No pressure or stress right? Wouldn't be medschool (esp as an SGU student) if they didn't make you fight tooth and nail for every inch!

Nick's ideal schedule that he is requesting is more or less this:

• EM at St John's (September)
• EM at Genysis (October)
• Medicine sub at St. John's (November)
• Cardiology at St. John's (December)
• Infectious Disease at St. John's (January)
• Pediatric Cardiology at St. John's (February)
• Critical care at St. John's (March)
• Trauma Surgery at St. John's (April)

Fingers crossed his final schedule looks SOMETHING like this (esp on the EM rotation front) but stay tuned to hear how all this ends up turning out ;)

Surgery Adventures of Student Doctor Nick

To the surprise of no one, Nick is mostly diggin' his surgery rotation so far. The days are long (approximately 5:30AM- 6-8PM) with a lot standing through surgeries and very little time to eat, but since his first real day he has been in the OR assisting with surgeries! So far I don't think he's stayed awake past 8:30PM and it's been a struggle to get there... man, is he beat by the end of the day!!  Some of his rotations have been busier/more hands on than others, with some of the teams being more accommodating to students/teaching than others, but all in all things are going well for him and he has survived his first month of surgery! 

Obviously most of his jobs are on the smaller end but still he is right there in the thick of things helping out which is really cool! Here are just a few of the experiences I remember hearing Student Doctor Nick (as he is often called in the hospital these days) talk about over the past couple of weeks! Ha... Student Doctor Nick... that  sounds like a step up from Doctor-In-Training doesn't it?! Baby steps.

• Hernia repair- a 5 hour surgery he was able to be scrub in on in which he got to hold back fat flaps and cut the sutures.
• Perforated stomach ulcer- 4 hour surgery where there was basically a hole in a woman's stomach that needed to be repaired and re-attached to a new part of the colon (or maybe I am wrong... I try and keep up but don't always succeed.) 
• LOTS of gun shot wounds (Oh Detroit)
• A sad case of an attempted suicide that resulted in someone's face being split in half and needing reconstruction. He says it is crazy the things they can do to repair damage.
• Breast clinic where he learned all the ins and outs of breast cancer and got to spend 2 days  hands on with patients of all stages of breast cancer.
• He has been able to close up a few surgeries! AKA he is quickly becoming the suture king!! 
• A number of really interesting orthopedic cases- broken wrists, broken knee caps... all sorts of hammering, sawing, and crazy stuff on people's bones. Seriously, it sounds brutal and from the sound of it looks like a tool shed in that OR!

 He also consulted on an older man who was riding his bike and was hit by a car and broke his collar bone and fractured his vertebra. We just so happen to have an older man who rides his bike by our house every day so now I am very worried it could be the same guy!!! Hopefully not, I feel like we are friends since I literally see him go by everyday!! But the weather is now really, really cold so I am thinking he may just not be down with biking in the freezing cold and that is why he has not been by lately rather than jumping to the conclusion that MY biker guy is the same as the injured one!

The good thing about surgery is that when he isn't consulting on patients/in clinic/in surgery he gets to study until his pager goes off or he is needed for something. Depending on the surgery rotation he gets more of this "study time" than others, but when he does get it, it's awesome because then he doesn't have to do much extra studying when he gets home!!!

One more week before a couple weeks off for Christmas! Then we hit the ground running after break with 2 out of his first 3 weeks or so being on the night shift! Wooo.... not. However, crazy things happen in the D at night, so I'm sure it will be anything but boring for him! :) 

Surgery Scramble

Nick's first day of his surgery rotation began MUCH differently than he would have liked.

At 9:00AM he received a text from a fellow student saying "we're waiting on you, in the professional building." Well... Nick was still laying in bed with the belief that he didn't have anything until his scrub-in clinic at 1:00PM. Yep, apparently he had missed an email saying that there was an orientation starting at 9:00AM. Oops.

He was up, dressed, and out the door in under 5 minutes. I felt so bad for him. Surgery is an intimidating rotation WITHOUT being "that guy" on the first day. Luckily we live super close and he was there shortly after, but still nothing like starting out behind the 8 ball.

He said when he entered the room everyone just stopped and stared at him and shortly after the resident leading the orientation made a comment like "and be sure to be on time." Wonder who that was aimed at? Poor guy! After that the students were supposed to go meet up with different teams to follow and get a feel for the rotation- Nick didn't have his white coat as he didn't have any idea what to expect so before he could join the team he had to RUN all the out to his car, grab his coat and doctor stuff and RUN all the way back. He said by the time he reached the team he was a sweaty, flustered mess.

Anyone who knows Nick knows he HATES being late and HATES being unprepared. So that whole day from start to finish was his absolute worst nightmare!

Sooo... basically the good news is that it can only go up from there right?


Nick's surgery rotation goes from mid November-mid February. As part of the general surgery rotation it sounds like Nick will be jumping around through all different units, spending a week or so at a time with each group.

My current understanding of his schedule is roughly:

• Day starts early- he's out the door by 5:15AM to report in with his team at 5:30AM
• Tuesday mornings he has surgery clinic
• Days seem to vary a little on length but for the most part he won't be home until 6:00PM or so.
• He has a pager that goes off whenever someone comes in/something big happens (yay...) 
• It doesn't seem like he will work too many weekends- so that's a nice surprise! 

** We also know he will have 1-2 weeks spent on the night shift. This means he will report in around 6-7PM and stay until around 7AM.  And that he may have a handful of on-call shifts as well (still waiting on clarification of this one!)

His attire for the next few months!!! Much preferred to the dress clothes he wore last rotation! AND there is a scrub machine... so less clothes for me to clean... double win! Maybe the one perk to the Surgery rotation!

Internal Medicine Shelf

Wooo Wooo! Nick has officially written his first shelf exam of clinicals! IM was a great rotation to start with because it covers SO many bases and allowed him to dibble dabble in a lot of different issues. However, that made studying for the Shelf a lot more broad and a little less fun!

Monday Nick had his oral exam in which he sat down with one of his Attendings and was asked questions regarding a couple of the case reports he had written based on patients he had worked with over the past 12 weeks. This was pretty quick and Nick felt really good about it and got good reviews/a good grade! Woo!

The second part was the written portion which took place on Friday.  It was extra helpful because his last day working in IM was Tuesday- giving him all day Wednesday and Thursday to prepare. Nothing like a couple of good 10 hour days in the library to remind you that although you are in the hospital and seeing patients... you are still a student! haha.

The overall consensus from Nick and other students was that the IM shelf exam was EXTREMELY general and broad. They felt that on many of the questions they didn't really have enough information to answer the question (a sign that they are getting so super smart?!) But Nick feels like he did well and passed. From what I've heard it can take FOREVER to get grades back... so it may be awhile before we officially know how he did! 

Overall IM was a great success and Nick left with several letters of recommendation and many more great connections made!

Now for the next 12 weeks it's goodbye dress clothes- hello scrubs!

Happy Halloween 2013!

This was our first Halloween in our new house and first Halloween in a house period which means that we got to hand out candy to the super cute trick-or-treaters! Nick was able to break away from the hospital and put off studying for the night and so it was super fun quality time! During shelf exam study time any extra hang out time is such a great surprise!

Nick was the best candy hander-outter ever and sported my old cookie monster costume and used a hilarious cookie monster voice which the kids and parents got a huge kick out of! I was cracking up the whole time! My dad hooked us up with some candy and chips to hand out and probably partially thanks to the rain- we lasted a full hour and a half before we ran out! Go us! No hiding in the bathroom after 15 minutes for me :)

Although we didn't get to buy fun costumes this year or go out to the bar or any halloween parties it was still super fun and we loved seeing all the littles! Next year we will be toting around an adorable 6 month old- crazy! We've already begun the costume search... and let me just say... this baby is so lucky we are his/her parents... we won't produce any embarrassing high school graduation slideshow photos at all... ;)

Family Fall Fun

With Halloween this coming Thursday- fall fun is in full effect! Over the weekend Nick was able to take Sunday off from studying to partake in a Phelps family tradition- pumpkin carving. I think last year in Grenada was the only year I have not participated in pumpkin carving in my entire life. Nick on the other hand had not carved a pumpkin in 10-15 years! WHOA!

Pumpkin carving with my little brothers is usually pretty classic. Every year Joey creates his own design for his pumpkin and they are never disappointing! Alex on the other hand likes to go through the stencil book and find one that is elaborate and cool. Over the years a system has somewhat developed where Maggie helps assist Alex in the carving of his pumpkin and my dad helps makes whatever Joey has created come to life on his pumpkin. I'm usually pretty tradition and just do a face or whatever the family pumpkin is or just bounce around and help, but this year Nick and I had our own!

All in all, another successful year of carving in the books!

Later in the afternoon we also got together to celebrate Nick's mom's birthday! Lots of family gathered together at the Leo house and it was a fun filled afternoon of just hanging, watching football, and catching up with everyone! The food was SO good and I definitely ate enough for both me AND baby!! I think this child is growing a lot lately because after a few weeks of eating like a normal human I am back to being starving every couple of hours (or 10 minutes after just eating a full meal.. but i digress!) I've heard this is normal in the 2nd trimester but I ate this way in the 1st trimester so I was hoping maybe I just went in reverse order... nope, looks like it may be a full 9 month thing, if we end up with a super chub on our hands we will know why!!! And at least eating is more fun during the holidays and the food is extra, extra delicious!! :)

It sure was a fun filled family day and it was super nice to see Nick relaxing and having fun since he's been mostly locked away studying for his first shelf exam on Nov 8th!

Internal Med/Life Update

Nick is still chugging along through his Internal Medicine rotation. He only hasa week or so left before he takes his 1st Shelf Exam and moves onto his next rotation (surgery.)  He continues to love IM and has learned SO much! Most days he has 2-3 of his own patients and so far all of his evaluations from the Doctors and Residents he has worked with have all been GREAT and rave about how well he is doing on the floor/in the clinic. YAY! Not that I am at all surprised, but definitely proud wifey over here.

He has now switched from working on the floor to working in the clinic. Clinic hours are definitely pretty awesome- he goes in at 8AM and is home around 4:30PM every day. He's super busy studying and completing case reports so he usually only spends an hour at home before heading off to the library for a couple hours. Still... much shorter days, and especially now that he has a 5 minute commute rather than a 40 minute commute... he's a much happier boy!  I know he misses some of the floor stuff, but I think it has been a nice change of pace and change of scenery to be in the clinic for a couple weeks! He has definitely loved internal medicine and I think he is surprised by how much he has enjoyed it. As of right now I believe Emergency Medicine is still his #1 but I know that the past 10 weeks have definitely opened his eyes to life as an IM doctor and he is definitely not crossing it off his list as a potential career!

I can't believe he almost has one full and long rotation under his belt! Time is flying! Surgery is next up, and while I know he will like it, I am definitely not very excited for the crazy hours it entails. However, I AM HAPPY to have it over with BEFORE baby arrives AND he has 2 weeks or so off for Christmas break- so I guess I can't complain too much about the timing :) Plus, I'm sure surgery will bring some good stories from his experiences... we already have a suture kit in our kitchen at almost all times so God only knows what else is to follow... ;)

In other news:  we are almost completely settled into our new house!! Wooo hoo! We've been living here for a full week or so now and really only have some small things left to do/some organizing, but all in all it's quite homey and we are loving it! Pictures and more updates on that another time.

Baby is continuing to grow big and strong and my glorified beer gut baby belly is gradually turning into a full on baby bump! Every day I see obvious changes, which is weird, but fun! Still waiting to feel the little nugget move!

He's dressed so doctor-y and cute every day that I couldn't resist snapping a quick picture! The cutest IM student ever!!!

16 weeks pregnant and enjoying having some energy back and the fall weather/wardrobe!

Coming soon...

Well, I guess I fell off the wagon a bit on the blog-front the past month here.. oops.

In some aspects of our lives A TON has happened. In other areas of my life- (ie: battling the fun that is the job market in Michigan) not much has changed.

But no point spending time on the not so fun news- lets move onto the exciting stuff!!

We are thrilled to say that we're having a baby!! Baby Leo is due in early April and we are on cloud 9 and could not be more excited to meet this little babe!

Of course, like all news these days, most people waited and wondered how we would go about announcing the news not only to our families and close friends, but also to the entire Facebooking world.

In terms of the Facebook announcement, we knew we wanted to use a picture but really had no set idea or plans. Nick was released from the hospital early one Friday and so we decided to take advantage and although we had no method to our madness set off to the park with my camera, a camera tripod, and the baby MD outfit I used to break the news to Nick months before.

Needless to say, when you set loose 2 first time parents-to-be at the park with the cutest baby scrubs outfit EVER, you end up with not 1 picture- but about 15 pictures in random places around the park in all different poses. And so our announcement was created as a silly collage of pictures with a cute poem. The whole thing was perfect and so very "us."  In all honesty, telling Facebook land wasn't THAT important to me, but being silly with my husband and daddy-to-be and getting adorable pictures that we love... priceless.

"Soon our house will be growing by 10 little fingers and 10 little toes, boy or girl nobody knows, but either way this April there will be... a new little Pierogi in our family tree!!"

This little baby is already so very loved and we are so blessed to be surrounded by family and friends who not only share in all our excitement, but also provide us with tons of support and love! Oh, and my parents are first-time grandparents to be.... they're slowly getting used to the terms "Grandma" and "Grandpa" as the entire family is enjoying throwing the terms around. And at the same time, all 4 of my grandparents will be first-time great grandparents! Lots of fun firsts around here. I was the first grandchild and now can pass that torch onto this little growing baby orange (no, that's not our nickname, it's simply the size of the baby currently. Nick hates that I constantly refer to the baby as fruit... probably because my timing of telling his usually coincides with him eating said fruit. "Oh hey you're eating blueberries, that's our baby!" "Can you believe that lemon you just put in your water is our baby?!" "Whoa before you eat that orange lets compare how big it is on my tummy!"... oops timing is everything!)

Internal Medicine

We officially have a 3rd year Internal Medicine Half-Doctor in the house!!! Nick's orientation was on Wednesday August 14th and his first official day on the job was Monday, August 19th! He came home from his orientation SO EXCITED about his very doctor-esque beeper that he was given. AKA the hospital version of a handcuff to ensure students/employees are never too far out of reach! While it's exciting today... I say give it about a month and that thing will be his enemy (or maybe mostly mine)- when it goes off around 2am!

Nick has successfully completed his first full week of Internal Medicine rotations, and so far, so good! His first day he dove right in offering to take the less ideal jobs that the higher up residents did not want to do. This doesn't surprise me at all. Unlike some medical students, Nick worked in the hospital for 2 years before attending SGU. He is used to getting his hands dirty and being the low guy on the totem poll. There are very few tasks that phase him- and actually, he is eager and willing to do all and any that get thrown his way!

An added perk so far has been that Nick has a "noon conference" every day which includes a catered lunch! Some days it is better than others but either way, this wifey (and our bank account) enjoy not having to make to lunches every day!  

The first week involved a little bit of everything- from having his own patients to check in with/report on during rounds, attending lectures, shadowing on exciting cases, and overall just getting oriented to St. John's Hospital. Some days he comes home feeling like he is on top of his game and other days he comes home and quickly sticks his head in a medical book- eager to learn more to have a better understanding the next day.

His schedule for Internal Med has been pretty good with his hospital day starting roughly around 7:00AM and ending anywhere between 3:00- 6:00PM and he works some weekends, but not all. His day rarely is over when he walks in the door however, because there is usually something he wants to learn up on before bed... but all in all not a terrible schedule for his first rotation!

He is learning so much and comes home with interesting/exciting stories every day and it's crazy how much he has learned already in such a short period of time! They sure do work these med students hard! :)

3rd Year Clinical Schedule

It's been a couple of weeks since we got the official word that Nick would be remaining in Detroit at St. John's Hospital and since then we have been hard on the house hunt and preparing to move into our new (although still unknown) home.

Life post STEP continues to be awesome, but ONE week from today the hubs is back in medstudent mode- this time ready to conquer his 3rd year of medical school and the 6 hospital rotations that come with it!

We got his schedule today which was really exciting! In short, the overview of his year looks like this:

1. Internal Medicine (a 12 week rotation)
2. General Surgery  (a 12 weeks rotation)
3. Family Medicine (a 6 week rotation)
4. Pediatrics (a 6 week rotation)
5. OB/GYN (a 5 week rotation)
6. Psychiatry (and as of right now his schedule says this is a super short 2 week rotation- so we'll see if that is correct or changes.) 

3rd year is filled with all mandatory rotations that every medstudent must take, but in 4th year he will have a little flexibility to pick a few rotations that he is especially interested in (ie: Emergency Medicine)- so that will be fun! This schedule takes him from August 19, 2013 - June 30, 2014! As 3rd year comes to an end in June, Nick will then need to be preparing for his STEP 2 exams and getting ready to begin the residency application process (which from what we've read, heard, and been told- is rather lengthy.)

 His breaks in between each rotation are pretty short, but his schedule within each rotation will definitely vary dramatically- with some being more intense than others. We've heard a little of what to expect from those who have completed 3rd year ahead of us, but we'll see what our own personal impression of each one is!

Nick's definitely not ready to give up the relaxed life yet, but he loves (and thrives) in the hospital setting so I think once he's back in his scrubs and white coat he'll be lovin' all the hands on experience that comes with each clinical rotation!

Handy Home-RENTERS: Adirondack Chair Project

Now that we know we are staying in Michigan- life gets a lot easier AND a lot more fun! Instead of packing our bags to move half way across the country, we are packing up our belongings to move 30 minutes. Instead of cramming our lives into a 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom apartment- we will be moving into a house... with a yard, and a garage, and SPACE.

Glorious!

While our first official home together was in Grenada- that was a bit of a unique situation where we had limited supplies and mostly created make-shift decorations and things to get us by- so really, as far as getting down with our DIY wild sides, it doesn't exactly count. Don't be mistaken- we got SUPER creative and the majority of our house WAS as "Do It Yourself" as you could get- but this time around we are going to be able to make the house much more "homey" and OURS- even if it is just a rental!

SO here begins our HomeRENTERS adventures- where I will document all the projects, mishaps, and fun that goes into our adorable East-Side Michigan rental home :) Someday, we will finally be homeOWNERS, but until then there is no doubt we will be able to keep ourselves busy renter-style!

We have a house that we will most likely be renting but need to dot our "I's" and cross our "T's" before anything becomes official. We are so excited  (and to be honest, Nick has been stir crazy with so much time on his hands and maybe   totally, driving me nuts) so we I, had to find him a project. Nick loves "man things and projects" as he calls them, so we researched a few things and decided on Anirondack chairs. Ya know, those cool, wood, chairs that can be painted pretty colors?!

This project took several days, which was great for filling time, but also was a lot of fun! Nick hit the hardware store and bought all the supplies and a few new toys that he "needed" and then the next couple of days were filled with sawing, sanding, measuring, gluing, and drilling. We had SO much fun. Nick's incredibly handy and for a girl, I consider myself a very helpful and handy side-kick so the project overall went very smoothly and the chairs turned out AWESOME!

We still need to stain or paint them but we haven't really decided on a color or theme yet and at this point may wait until we get settled into our new place to do that since there will be more room for them to dry outside or in a garage- rather than pulling them into our current living room and possibly killing us all with the paint fumes!

YAY powertools!!!!!!

Putting together the base of the chairs and the back :)

ALL DONE!!! Still need to be painted or stained and we are going to round out the top a bit in some way, but mostly COMPLETED! And sooooooo comfy!

Relaxing after a job well done!

Next stop- St. John's Clinical Center!!!!

The verdict is in and we finally have the official word from SGU that we WILL be stayin' in the D! WOO- WOO!!! 

After originally being told we would hear on July 15th, it was bumped back to the week of the 15th, and then in true SGU style, the news came on the last possible day of the week- on Friday, around 2pm- FINALLY.


I was home but Nick was out running errands when I saw the email pop up, so I quickly called him to tell him the email had arrived and to see if he wanted me to open it or wait and open it together. He had NO intention of waiting any longer- so I was given the green light and my heart was instantly happy upon seeing the words- St. John's Clinical Center Detroit. YES.

The process is extremely frustrating though and as everyone's placements come to be known, it's clear we are one of the fortunate ones to have gotten our first choice- as many did not, and some got placements not even in their top 3 choices! =/

Detroit may be a strugglin' city. But it's OUR city. We're proud of it and think that good things are comin'. We couldn't be more excited or more thankful to get to stay here!

Cheers to movin' to the East-side! :)

Tick-Tock-Tick-Tock

Nick's exam started at 8:00am and at this time he should be close to rounding out his 3rd section and 1 section away from a lunch break- which is more or the less the middle/ a little over half way point of his exam day! Whew!

I am SURE it is going well and that he crushin' it! However, this whole sitting and waiting to hear about it thing is less than fun. Is it 4pm yet?!

What have I done so far to pass the time?!

• Forced myself to keep sleeping until well after I, or my body, wanted to be asleep.
• Did some online prep for upcoming things this week
• Read some of a book
• Checked the time a billion times
• Checked Facebook more than necessary
• Played several games of Candy crush

Still on the agenda to pass time until 4pm:

• Go for a run/work out
• Shower
• Maybe clean-ish 
• Candy Crush
• Read book
•  Pace around the house until Nick calls

All in all a productive day around here... at least for one of us! Let him be free STEP 1- Let.him.be.FREE!!!!!  Excited for the fun and relaxation to begin :) 

The STEP is going down :)

TOMORROW is the day we have been waiting for- STEP 1 exam day!! WOWZA!

The nerves and tension were running a bit high around here over the past couple of days as Nick continued to study day after day, hour after hour, trying to take advantage of every last minute possible to cram more knowledge into his head. Honestly, I don't know how his head hasn't just exploded at this point... there's so much in there! However, while he's starting to feel the pre-exam jitters, I personally know he's going to rock it out and am mostly just getting antsy to have my husband back in my life!

What? I'll see him more than a half hour in the mornings and evenings?!
What? He might actually talk about things unrelated to the STEP and medical diagnoses and jargon?! (okay, let's not get carried away here, but maybe not AS much!)
What? He'll actually get to participate in the fun and not have to miss out?!
What? The overtired, stressed guy will be replaced with a well rested, easy going hubby I know and love?!

Yes. I like the sound of ALL of that! Although, I must say that while I of course can't wait to have him back- at this point I am definitely MORE excited for HIM to finally be free, get to relax, and be able to get out and have fun! To be cooped up for as long as he has... I can't imagine. And he's been a great sport about it for the entire 7 weeks since we got home and his life has been consumed by studying. He deserves some fun in his life!

Today however, the nerves seem to be diminishing and he's ready to kick some major STEP booty! This morning we went to church, stopped by the Grotto, enjoyed a nice lunch, and now Nick is putting in a few hours studying and reviewing a few last minute crunch time details. Already in the oven is the lasagna he requested for dinner in order to carb load for the big battle tomorrow :)

Today he also bid goodbye to both his study spaces- both of which he won't mind NOT seeing for quite a loooooonggg time! Here's his jail cell in the library that he's been camping out in for the past 7 weeks- looks really comfortable, cozy, and just missing the padded walls... 

The exam takes about 8 hours and to help him ace his test he will take:

• his jam-packed knowledge filled brain
• water
• a pb&j sandwich
• a couple chewy granola bars
• a banana
• applesauce
• HALF a roll of toilet paper- very important it isn't a full roll also (neurotic much?!)

To unwind after his exam, I have an assortment of obviously necessary goodies:

• Budlight
• Blue Moon
• Patronnnn on iceeee
• Car filled with gas to take him wherever his free heart desires!

Life back in Michigan :)

We moved back from Grenada over a month ago already and it is hard to believe how quickly and at the same time, how slowly, life is going these days!! We've adjusted to life back in the States and I haven't driven on the wrong side of the road since the first week we got home (although divided entrances can still confuse me- do I enter on the right or the left?!)

Less than 2 days after we got back Nick hit the books hard, following a strict study schedule that basically has him out the door between 7:30-8:00am and home between 9:30-10:30pm. Talk about LOOONG days! He chose to studying via an online course and has been mostly using DIT (Doctor's in Training) videos and supplementing with Kaplan courses as well. In addition to continuously reviewing the medschool Bible (aka First Aid) and taking thousands of studying question blocks and 4 practice tests.

It's been a lot of hard work and his ability to sequester himself in the library for 15 hours at a time and still remain focused and coherent amazes me! He's been working so hard and it will be so nice when he can finally put his feet up and relax! Speaking of which- it's hard to believe that he writes his USMLE STEP 1 in just ONE WEEK! July 8th is D-day and as of right now, he is feeling prepared and happy with where he is at in terms of his practice tests so that's all very good news! He honestly could not have worked ANY harder or put in any more time than he has, so  I am glad the big day is almost here. Despite feeling confident, he definitely still gets nervous thinking about writing the exam- because ya know- it's just 8 hours long, ridiculously hard, and what will more or less define the remainder of his career. No pressure. He'll do great though and is going to rock it out! I am definitely looking forward to having him around for a couple of weeks to enjoy the remainder of summer and celebrate all his hard work and dedication over these past 2 years!

In other news: SGU still has not given us our placement yet, so our lives in terms of where we will live for the next 2 years continues to be a mystery. It's one of the bigger annoyances in life. There is pretty much NO reason for SGU to wait till the absolute last minute to tell us, but welcome to life at SGU where the goal is rarely to make life easier and more convenient for their students/families. We should find out around July 15th though so it's finally within reach and we are very excited! Say some prayers for a Detroit placement for us!

IF we get Detroit we are already underway with a house we hope to rent nearby the hospital which we absolutely LOVE! I am really, really excited about it and it's been killing me not to already be working toward making the house a HOME. Unfortunately however I am already so attached to it, that if we don't get placed in Detroit I am going to be really, REALLY sad. I've also been job searching pretty intensely in the area and although I haven't nailed an ideal position- I have temporary possibilities and some leads in the area and am hoping that a social work job falls into place in the next month. If anyone knows anyone in the social work field that is hiring- keep this gal in mind!

That's about all that's going on here. Applications for me. Studying for Nick. But hopefully, in the next 2 weeks we will have much more exciting news about where we are living and just maybe, I'll get a job (pleeeeeaase!) I'm looking forward to having my husband back to enjoy a little free-time before the craziness that is the 3rd year of medical school takes over!

Our current home. I promise it is "organized chaos." We don't want to unpack all of our AWESOME wedding gifts just to re-pack them when we finally know where we will be living so in the meantime... we live surrounded by clutter. Jealous?

Transferred the Grenada years from this blog over into book form- It turned out SO GREAT! I absolutely LOVE it and it is such an amazing keepsake of our Grenada adventures and the first 2 years of medical school!

Michigan weather has been crazy bipolar since we got home which has resulted in some really awesome storms! Might not be great for the tan, but sure has been a fun weather change of pace for us! Who doesn't love thunderstorms!?

First Tiger's baseball game in 2 years!!! It was SO FUN!!! Sadly the rally cap did not work and they lost, but nevertheless, we had a super fun time cheerin' on our favorite baseball team :) It's good to be back in the D!!!!!

See ya later, Grenada!

We have officially packed up our Grenada home, loaded it into 4-5 bags (depending on the airline), boarded 3 different planes, spent over 12 hours traveling, slept on numerous airport benches, and had our first American food in 6 months! Each and every one of our bags successfully made it on board each of the 3 planes and we honestly could NOT have had a more smooth travel day. We were extremely fortunate! We even got to sit in first class for the most wonderful 29 minutes of our lives where we were treated like royalty before being sent back to coach on our next flight to sit with the common folk ;)

Yep, we are officially back in Michigan!!

Leaving Grenada was extremely surreal and SUPER sad! It was unbelievably weird to be leaving with a one way ticket and no plans to return in the super near future. We love that little island we have called home for the past 2 years! We will greatly miss our friends we've made there, miss the crazy stories that accompany each day there, and of course, I will miss my Limes babies more than I can put into words. It has been an incredible 2 years of which we have been so extremely blessed!

It's not goodbye, Grenada. We KNOW we will be back. It's see ya later- and hopefully sooner, rather than later! Thanks for an absolutely wonderful couple of years!

Final Cliff Jump... In Style.

Ever since Nick started at SGU and started jumping off the cliff on the backside of campus at the start of 1st term he has joked that at the end of his last term he was jumping off the cliff in his white coat.... ONLY his white coat.

Now anyone who knows Nick knows it really wasn't much of a joke and will not be surprised to hear that when that day came- that is exactly what he did. Nick, his white coat, and white fanny lepts off the cliff in pure joy and... freedom. What a character this guy is! It was pretty hilarious to watch and honestly really hard to take a picture of the moment because I was cracking up so hard!

Here's his status update that accompanied the picture on that wonderful last day of 5th term exams:

"Basic Sciences can Kiss these sweet cheeks Goodbye!!! Officially DONE with my LAST Medschool final here in Grenada and a half-doctor! What an amazing two years this has been, filled with tears, laughs, dirty mnemonics, and shared with some of the most amazing people I've ever had the pleasure of knowing. Off for one more night out and our final farewells and then homebound tomorrow!!! Can't believe this day is finally here!!"

Gonna miss my babies!

The beginning of  many hard "goodbyes" is here for those of us nearing the end of our 2 years of basic sciences in Grenada. For Nick, this island has been his home for nearly 2 full years and for me, nearly a year and a half. Over the past month there have been so many moments where both Nick and I have found ourselves being extra quiet and simply taking in every single moment- the good and the bad, taking extra time to stop and enjoy the sunsets, bounce around on the bumpy bus rides, and just enjoy all aspects of the life we have enjoyed for the past couple of years. For me, I mostly cherished my time at Limes extra. I squeezed the kids a little tighter, held the little ones a little longer, embraced their sweaty hugs a little more, endured extra "platting" of my hair, and cherished the ever resounding "miss" "miss" calls and the constant tug on my arms, legs, or really any body part they can reach, in an attempt to get attention, a little more patiently.  I will miss all of it.

Last week marked the end of Limes this term and thus for several of us, the last Limes class for us during our time here in Grenada. As our final week approached I found myself thinking about it more and more, and then the more I would think about it- the more I would try not to think about it- so the more I would think about not thinking about it. Ugh.

I don't like good-byes, but I especially wasn't looking forward to saying good-bye to so many sweet children who have touched my lives in so many ways. My life will never be the same due to each and every one of them.

 

Our last day was chaotic and crazy, but even with all of that, it was clear that several of the children- our littles included, knew what the day meant. There were a lot of extra hugs, kisses, and snuggles. My heart broke a little extra each time one of the kids approached me and asked "miss, you comin' back?" There were countless special moments over the last several days at Limes, but 2 moments that I will never forget came from sweet moments with Jivvy and Jada.

JIVVY moment <3

On Wednesday when the talk of who is returning and who isn't really picked up, Jivvy  grabbed my face in her little hands and said:   

"Miss Lindsey, you can go home for the summah... but you have

to come back."
I about died. And that alone pretty much had me convinced I would just stay in Grenada and live in a tent on the Limes field. She is such a sweet girl, who has gives the best hugs, has the most precious giggle, can sulk and pout like no one else in the entire world, and has each one of us completely wrapped her precious little finger! 

 

JADA moment <3

My moment with Jada came on Thursday. I wore the locket that I often wear and that Jada loves to open and play with. As soon as I got there she ran to give me a hug and immediately demanded  "miss open dis." I did as I was told and then the sweetest thing in the entire world happened. Jada took my locket and kissed the inside a couple times then quickly closed it before looking at me and saying "you have my kisses forever."

I die.  Seriously, I'm not sure I've ever heard something so precious in my entire life. She did this multiple more times throughout the day and each time I had to fight back the tears because it was just far too incredibly sweet. I'll still see this sweet girl one more time on Tuesday, but I still haven't quite figured out how I am going to say goodbye for good yet. She's my baby!!!! 

SGU SOM' 15 last lecture/class picture!

SGU differs from other medical schools (in my opinion) because it isn't just a school- but rather it's a small community. The students and their significant others/family, all arrive here to this tiny island alone, away from family and friends, to begin the hardest education of their lives. They spend more time with their peers than they do anyone else.  They go to lectures, labs, hospital rotations, and study together. Outside of school, everyone celebrates, relaxes, and lets loose- together.  

This past week Nick's class had their official LAST LECTURE. That is crazy! 2 years of hard work and overcoming the many obstacles that are present with island living and attending medical school at SGU are complete in just one more week! While this is obviously an exciting time and huge milestone, it is also a bit bittersweet. It's going to be sad to leave so many wonderful classmates and friends that we've grown accustomed to seeing everywhere, everyday. 

To celebrate their accomplishments, everyone came together on campus for a group picture and I think the pictures show how excited and proud each and every student is. What I love is that it isn't a strict picture with everyone standing tall in line, in their white coats. Rather it clearly shows all the different personalities and fun that is the class of '15. SO PROUD! :)

Sunset Crew

Nick and a few of our good friends who also study on campus started a daily routine of taking a break around dinner time to mingle, eat, and watch the sunset. It didn't take long before this became known as the 1st and 3rd floor library "mingle" and while there was the core group who was always there, as time passed it wasn't uncommon for many others to come and join in. It was a super fun tradition and a bright spot in their mundane study lives.

As the end of the term approached, Nick and the other "core sunset group members" decided it was necessary to have a photoshoot in order to commemorate their tradition. They took SO MANY PICTURES! They're awesome and super hilarious and define those 5 doctors-to-be incredibly well!

At what other medical school would you create friendships like this?

PS- They took over 100 pictures during their photoshoot! So this is just a sample. And the bottom picture is the extended crew in the final days of term 5!!