50 days

That's what it comes down to at this point......50 days (well i was fifty days when I started this post anyway. Unfortunately, I have been too busy to finish it until today. Might be 47 days give or take now. A shame really, 50 seemed much more imposing). Not all of them are class days, but that is the sum total that stands between this moment and the day I walk out of my last clinical experience for this semester. Fifty days isn't much, but lately I feel every one of them. I have heard, though who knows if it remains true since this program goes through more changes than an adolescent during puberty, that the next term is somewhat less taxing. I hope so at this point......or at the very least that the break provides/restores some semblance of balance and sanity. In the meantime, I am just trying to make it to the next holiday (16 days for those who are counting).

A lot has gone on since my last post, foremost amongst the group is my recent engagement to Tia. I ended up carving it into a pumpkin, which she thankfully deemed creative enough to acquiesce to my proposal. I am pretty excited about it....or at least I will be pretty excited about it as soon as I have the time to be. Seems like we are both on board for an inexpensive wedding and an eventual more lavish honeymoon. Assuming I ever make an income again that is.

Tia's parents came to visit for a brief, but enjoyable, weekend. Had an opportunity to go out to see the museum of glass which was far more interesting than I thought it would prove to be. I would recommend anyone who ends up in the frigid climes of western NY to visit it. We had intended to go to the Bodies exhibit as well, but her parents ended up helping tie up a few house projects and I ended up typing a single study review and carving the aforementioned pumpkin.

I finally got to visit the OR on Thursday. The procedure I witnessed didn't lend itself overmuch to ogling and there were more people in the surgical room than there were F-bombs in Scarface, but it was fascinating nonetheless. The procedure was a Laproscopic Cholectystectomy & Laproscopic Myotomy with partial fundiplication. It was done to repair a motility problem in the esophagus (severe GERD and swallowing problems) and to remove the gall bladder. They essentially punched 4 holes in the patient's belly (which they filled with a gas to distend), put plastic reservoirs in the holes to keep them open, and then stuck an endless stream of cameras, clamps, harmonic blades, flushes, and suction tubes through the holes. It was beyond interesting. I have no idea how the surgeons master these tools and the extremely fine motor control required to use them to cut through layers of adipose tissue, connective fibers, and arteries to remove the gall bladder and then stitch up wounds inside the body with use of cameras, the aforementioned clamps, and a small curved needle and thread which they have to be meticulously careful with to avoid puncturing anything else. Just prior to stitching up the patient, they yanked his gall bladder through one of the small holes, like a macabre magic trick with human organs. Very cool.

Tia's house is through most of the required processes for sale. The last issue is approval from the govt for the house loan for the buyer. Tia's parents, Tia and I cleared up what issues we could including fixing some windows to slide easier, removing the pool (done by someone who got a free pool out of it), and locating and removing two dead birds from the attic (I swear this was a request). The next step will be finding a new place to live and then relocating our belongings to it in the middle of winter. The party doesn't stop up here.

I need to get back to writing up a care plan and doing innumerable other school related tasks.
16 days until Thanksgiving!
16 days!
16 days!