2009 Recap

Time is the most undefinable yet paradoxical of things; the past is gone, the future is not come, and the present becomes the past even while we attempt to define it, and, like the flash of lightning, at once exists and expires. ~Charles Caleb Colton

Another year, another post?? Well, hopefully in 2010 I will average more posts than one per year, but no promises!! In the past 14 months (gasp!) since I last updated, time in Team Williams land has continued to march on. Here's a recap (which will be exceedingly boring to most people, though I'm sure the only one still checking for posts is my mother- Hi Mom!!):

December 2008- Ron and I took a long weekend trip to New York City.

Ron and I at the Westin

It was my first time to NYC, and I vowed it wouldn't be my last! We survived a blizzard, saw the Rockettes, hung out with one of Ron's besties Kenny, and took a helicopter ride over Manhattan!

I was dazzled by the Rockettes

Kenny and Ron in Grand Central, the first & last time Kenny has ever been there...

Our helicopter ride

The view from the sky

Made it home just in time to take a Christmas tour of the southeast... stopped in Atlanta, Guntersville, Birmingham, and Montgomery to spend the holidays with our families.

The Sisters and Their Men

Aren't these treats supposed to be for Santa?

January-February 2009-I learned that real life pediatrics in the winter is no joke!! Working through lunch routinely during flu season wasn't much fun, but I was still loving my patients and my job. I started working with my new nurse, Candice, who replaced Shay (my original nurse) when Shay went back to nursing school... Loved Shay, and loved Candice too... unfortunately for me, but happily for her, Candice and I only ended up working together for 6 months because she had a sweet little baby!!! Also sometime in winter I found out that I PASSED MY BOARDS!!!!!!!! YAY!! After all the stressful studying that I did for this test, I am so relieved to not have to take it again. I am still shocked that I didn't fail! :)



March 21, 2009- In the first bike race of the season (regular racing, not paralympic), Ron gets taken down in a crash. I had decided I didn't feel like going, so he had driven over to Atlanta early that Saturday morning. Not long after I knew the race was to have begun, he calls me... not good. He was on his way home, saying that he crashed, and that he thought he needed stitches in his elbow and that his wrist was broken. I met him at my office, thinking I'd be scrubbing down his road rash and maybe stitching up some skin, but oh. my. gosh... His arm had "obvious deformity"... (Warning- there are graphic pictures below that even make me squimish!)



...and after washing out a few of the more minor wounds, I started unwrapping the bandage on his elbow... when flesh gaped open revealing the bones beneath, I paled, wrapped it back up, and took him straight to the ER.

The Elbow

There he was X-rayed, rinsed out, and stitched... and shot up with pain meds, antibiotics, and a tetanus booster.

Poor thing...

His distal radius was in several pieces, and after visiting the local arm specialist ortho surgeon, we were sent to Dr. Gary Lorie in Atlanta.

See the pieces of the radius (the big arm bone)?

A pretty major surgery followed, and six weeks in an external fixator that looked straight out of "Hellraiser."

Post Op Films

Poor Ron. His racing season lasted less than 15 minutes. I learned that I am not a very good nurse.

Checkup to tighten the screws!

So excited for surgery to finally get the pins out (which was in May...)

April 2009- Though the arm thing stunk, Ron and I enjoy this spring (and summer!) spending more time together than we ever had before. Between crazy residency schedules and bike racing every weekend, we didn't realize how much fun spring is without all that stuff. We were missing out! We enjoyed spending time not only with each other, but also with our new Auburn friends- Scott, Dave, the Clark's, and the Worthy's. A highlight was 280 Boogie...also it was fun attending Athens Twilight without the stress of Ron racing.

Ron, Bud, and Scott at 280 Boogie


Eddie, Ginger, me, and Rob at Twilight

May 2009- I turned 30!!


We spent the weekend at Lake Martin with all my girlfriends from residency, their husbands, and their babies!!


This wasn't planned for my birthday, but it worked out nicely! Our group had had quite a little baby boom over the previous year... in 2008, our beach trip was 7 girls, 7 husbands, 1 baby, and one baby in utero... this time, it was 7 girls, 7 husbands, 5 babies, and one in utero!! You-know-who was the only one without a baby... But I had fun playing with them all...and Ron even held some, even with the scary arm pins that were still in place at the time! I'm breaking him in, little by little...

Clockwise from top left-Sarah and Leyton, me, Heather and Maggie, Chrissie and Owens, Mary Halsey (with Alonso on board!), Mindy and Hadley, and Reyna and Natalya.

Leyton, Natalya, Halsey, Owens, Hadley, and Maggie

Ron with Leyton, Owens, and Natalya!!

Later in the month, we really enjoyed a Coldplay concert up in Bham with a couple of my new
partners.

The following weekend, we moved out of the little rental house and into our (hopefully!) Forever Home!!
We love it... it is in a great neighborhood with lots of families...it has the room we need as we (hopefully!) grow as a family over the next years, and it's just cool!!

Screened in Porch

We love that it has a lot of room for entertaining... and a jetted tub just for me!

Kitchen

But our favorite part is the three fireplaces, especially the one on the back patio! Yeah, not moving again for a long time...

Living Room

Back Patio

June 2009- With Candice leaving for baby-preparation, I got another new nurse, Ashley, my third in nine months! We hit it off immediately, and I hope that we will be a team for a while!

Ashley, Candice (and Baby Hudson), me, and Shay

Ron also returned to Camp Sunshine for a week in June... he'd missed a year due to training for China, and he needed this time for his spirit.



He came back refreshed, but with some nagging left sided back pain that I attributed to crazy camp antics and getting back on the bike after all spring off...


July 2009- Ron's back pain worsens, and it becomes clear to me that it is something more than just musculoskeletal pain. After a nightmare trying to get him into a doctors' office here as a new patient, I finally give up and order blood work and an Xray myself, and I don't like what I see. He had a shadow on his left lung... of unknown significance. It looked weird to me... I called the radiologist to see what he thought, and he said it was just a shadow from his chest wall (ok...?), but it didn't turn out that way. Ended up worsening over the next few days, with poor Ron having horrible pain at night accompanied by night sweats... with his past medical history and our recent trip to China, the differential diagnosis was just too broad for comfort. He ended up having a 300ml pleural effusion that had to be drained (thanks Justin!) caused by a pneumonia... but we never did figure out the pathogen or why on earth this happened. Although we were thrilled that it wasn't cancer related, it was a setback superimposed on the setback of his arm... made for an unhappy Ron.





August 2009-Swine flu pandemonium hits the US, and finally, our clinic. I had only taken one vacation day since starting work (to go to NYC in Dec), and had previously planned a long weekend in Destin with Ron when the swine flu fears exploded in Auburn/Opelika. I was laying out at the pool while my poor partners worked though lunch and stayed late. I heard rumors through Facebook of full parking lots with cars lining the street in front of the office too... and felt a lot guilty, but I was glad I was out of there! It was plenty busy enough when I got back to make up for it though... because of H1N1, it was the busiest summer the clinic had had in recent memory. Glad for our newest partner, Brooke Taylor, who had just started in July, bless her heart. She's a trooper!!



September/October/November 2009- Let football season begin!!


We were unsure of what the season would have in store for Auburn with a new coach and everything, but Coach Chizik brought it! It was a STRANGE season weather-wise, with rain during more games than not, including the monsoon that was the West Virginia game, and cold, but not much hot, but we really enjoyed ourselves. Especially Ron.

Ron and the Smoker

Tailgating became his new thing... our friends own a huge meat smoker, and every week, we'd plan a gameday menu... Boston Butts were a favorite, as were wings, beer can chicken, and sausage.

Bud making pancakes at the one Tailgate Brunch (Auburn-Alabama game)

We had quite the setup, week after week, including the smoker, two big flatscreen TVs for watching the early games, a stereo system, and lots of friends and food! We had houseguests most weekends, including Jenn and Fred, Dan and Becca and the kids, Chrissy and Philip, Elizabeth, Shannon and Brian, and mom. Missing this year was my dad, who had to have surgery early in the season, so he sat out this year from buying tickets. He did great though, and I expect him to be a fixture next year! Auburn is fun (though crowded!) during the Fall, and it was really great seeing Ron develop into a football (ok, who am I kidding?) TAILGATING fan!


November 2009- In her quest to get her pre-baby body back, my "old nurse" Candice invites me to come with her to the gym. It was all I needed to get me going... Heavier than I'd ever been before, and angry at my closet for shrinking all my clothes, I needed someone to help me get started. Bless Candice!! I start going to the gym in the mornings before work, and actually enjoy it! Kinda. I do start feeling better though! And I especially fall in love with Zumba class on Saturday mornings. I can't make it to most other classes during the week (they are all at either 5 in the morning- um, no- or 4:30 in the afternoon!), but this one is a never miss if I'm not on call! Anyway, so slowly but surely I am trying to get in shape. Also in November, Ron quietly had a birthday (36!), and we enjoyed Thanksgiving in Prattville with my extended family.

Thanksgiving with all my "little" cousins- Chelsea, Sam, me, Jessica, and Trish

December 2009- It was a short work month for me...another beautiful thing about having a large practice is that we all get to take a week off at the holidays. My week was the week before Christmas, including Christmas itself and even our anniversary (our 6th!! Man, where have those years gone?). Ron and I went back to New York City for a few days again, and had an even better time this year! I studied for this trip, and had dinner reservations all mapped out and everything. I actually think I'll do an entire separate post for our trip soon, so that's all I'll say about it for now. We (barely) made it back in time for Christmas! Speaking of Christmas, I really enjoyed decorating the new house this year! Last Christmas we were in our little rental house in Auburn, and the tree and ornaments and decorations were all in the "Mobile Attic" in the driveway... it was sad. Not this year!! The tree went up, as did some new decorations for the multiple mantels inside and outside the house, and the wreaths and lighted garland for the front too! The poor little inflatable reindeer was cute for a few days before springing a leak and going to reindeer heaven...

We enjoyed Christmas with our multiple family units, and I was thrilled to get a new Kitchen Aid mixer and a new digital SLR camera!

Gary, Connie, Michelle, and Ron


Us at Christmas Eve at Butch's


Ron and Grandaddy on Christmas Morning


The Loot!


Christmas Dinner

My Mixer!


Its first use...making a pumpkin cheesecake!

I put them both to use immediately. Ron is getting a Big Green Egg (surprise!!), but it is on back-order and still hasn't arrived! It was back to work for me on the 28th... and what a busy week it was. Now over H1N1 for the most part, our babies and children have moved on to RSV. Oh joy. I was off for New Year's Eve though, but for the second year in a row, Ron and I were asleep at midnight. Am I that old??


January 2010- Nothing too earth shattering has happened yet this month... mainly I'm just working and trying to keep up my gym habit. So far so good. We did go for a long weekend to Birmingham, and got to hang out with the Tatum's, the Blackman's, the Tracy's, and my dad. I used our time together to get some photography lessons, and got some good pictures of Moss Rock Preserve and my dad's cats.

The new camera at work...

We also visited some of our favorite restaurants that we miss desperately. We love Auburn, but wish we had more culinary variety here... we have a few standouts (um, pasta night at Ariccia anyone?), but mainly there's chicken fingers, pizza, barbeque, and bad mexican. Though no mexican restaurant is good compared to Sol Azteca in Ron's mind!! We've been trying to cook at home more, which I've always wanted to do anyway, so I guess it's a good thing in the end. In other news, Ron is currently attending his first paralympic training camp (in California this time) since his bike wreck and pneumonia... he says it was his fitness wake-up call. Looks like I may have another gym partner when he gets home! I think he's being hard on himself as usual... he's just now starting to get back into the training mode after the badness that was his health this year.



What else can I say? This post was LONG but hit the highlights of 2009. Here's to a healthier 2010, and more exciting adventures!!

A happy New Year! Grant that I
May bring no tear to any eye
When this New Year in time shall end
Let it be said I've played the friend,
Have lived and loved and labored here,
And made of it a happy year.
~Edgar Guest

Catching Up

It's been awhile since I wrote... honestly, I'm having trouble figuring out what to write here anymore. I work, I eat, I sleep, rinse, repeat... which doesn't lend itself too well to regular interesting blogs! BUT.... since it's been so long, I actually do have a few things to write about!

Work is going well. Most days are fun, even though since it's winter we are getting really busy. I knew I'd be seeing a lot of patients, but maaaan.. on a typical "busy" day (usually Mondays and Tuesdays), I see about 18-20 patients in the morning and then 22-25 in the afternoons. Some days I also work through lunch, but usually selfishly, cause if you work through lunch they buy and bring you food, but you have to wolf it down, sometimes sneaking a few bites in between patients. Those days aren't that fun. It's much better when you get to slow down and play and laugh with your patients... Here is one particularly funny encounter that I want to record here primarily so I won't forget it:

I walk into the exam room for a "two-fer" checkup, a 2 month old baby and his 18 month old brother. In the room are the 2 little ones, their mom, and their 5 and 7 year old brothers. Yes, this momma has her hands full! Anyway, I walk in and the hilarity ensued...

Me: Hey ya'll...I'm Dr. Williams. Nice to meet you!
Mom: But you're so young...how old are you?
Me (faking embarassement, cause I get this question so much that it can't truly embarrass me anymore...): Oh, thank you! I'm old enough, I assure you!
Mom: No really...how old are you?
Me: Well, I'm 29...
7yr old: She's older than Daddy!!!
(We all laugh...)

Part two of the funniness of this encounter... I squat down to get the baby out of his carseat. 5 year old brother crouches down with me, watching my every move like a hawk...
Me: Oh, look what big brown eyes he has!
5yr old: Yeah...he also got a big brown belly!
7yr old: He got that from Momma!!
(We all laugh, including the momma, and I try not to choke on the bite of lunch I had before walking in the room....)

That has been my funniest moment so far in the clinic. The next day I had another entertaining moment, also involving a several month old baby... he was all smiles at me, and cuter than cute! I walked my fingers up his pudgy little belly and chest and chin, and then pushed his little nose like a button, saying "boop!" Right at the "boop" moment though, that sweet little baby pooted, right on cue! Hysterical!

That's enough about work... other than that every day brings a new challenge and something new to learn. And I'm having fun! And you know what...I think I'm done writing for now. I've got more to say, but I'm tired! Hopefully, I'll get back to this sooner rather than later...

Life goes on...

Our profession is the only one which works unceasingly to annihilate itself. ~Martin H. Fischer

Well, my race is over, at least for a few months! I took my "American Board of Pediatrics Certifying Examination" yesterday in Atlanta, and it was absolutely miserable. I have studied for months, literally...more than I've ever studied for one test before, and still, it was tough. The test was about 350 questions, broken up into two 3.5 hour testing blocks, and completely overwhelming. The average pass rate for first-time test-takers is only about 75%, and I will just be praying for the next three months that I did enough to get in that top 75%!! I'm afraid it's gonna be close. It is true that all of us felt like a big failure afterwards, and that most of us will pass, but dang, some of us won't. Please God, let me have passed! Ok, enough!!! I'm gonna try very hard to not worry anymore about the outcome, and just enjoy life now!! I've been in study world (and work land) since we moved here, and I am more than looking forward to getting back to some regular fun activities!!

I am glad that I am off work today, cause I have a lot to do!! Here's a small sampling...
Laundry
Getting out cold weather clothes from the basement and somehow getting them into the little bitty closet...
Read a magazine
Blog (check!)
Pack away all board study materials
Unload dishwasher
Rescue the Christmas decorations from the POD (that yes, is still in the driveway!)
Go to Hobby Lobby and peruse the scrapbooking section
Buy a pumpkin and halloween candy (for Ron to hand out to the trick-or-treaters while I'm at work-sad!)
Go on a mini-reward shopping trip to Old Navy and Ann Taylor Loft
Go out to dinner (and have dessert!) with my sweet husband!

That should be enough fun for today anyway, and then tomorrow it's back to work. Speaking of work, I have really loved my job so far, and I am so glad about that! It's gotta even be more enjoyable now that I won't be studying through lunch and at any random free moment... I am building quite a little patient base, which is so great! I love when I get brand new nursery babies... all fresh and sweet and without illegible notes from anyone else in their chart to have to wade through! During residency, I think I only had two babies that I followed from the nursery and beyond, Kendall and Maddox, and it was an absolute joy seeing them over and over during those 2 1/2 years... and now I get to do that a lot! My first patient on my first day was sweet little Leighton, my friend Rebecca's baby... it was her two month check up (yes, she had to have her one month check up with one of my partners while waiting on me to start work- thanks Rebecca!!), and little Leighton was none too happy to see me! That cute little baby screamed the entire visit!! :) Rebecca came prepared with her camera, so we got a commemorative photo of the milestone in my career! Can't wait to frame this picture and hang it in my office (which is a story for another day maybe...).


Well, that's enough for now...I'm ready to go "squeeze some fun" out of the first day of the rest of my life!

The doctor of the future will give no medicine but will interest his patients in the care of the human frame, in diet and in the cause and prevention of disease. ~Thomas Edison

I'm alive...and working!

So just a quick update to let everyone know that I'm still around... work is busy, and fun! I like being a real doctor! It's neat to finally be able to say that I'm a pediatrician...

Yesterday when I was seeing my babies in the nursery, I went to examine the one (just one... a miracle!) that had been born on my call night. The babies have a little name tag on their bassinets, saying "I'm a girl/boy" and "Mother's doctor- (name)", and "My doctor- (name)"... well, this little baby's tag said: "My Doctor- Williams"!!! That's me! Williams.... that's me!! Cool!

Anyway, I've been seeing about 24 or 25 patients a day in clinic. That's a far cry from the 4 that would KILL you in Primary Care Clinic!! I've even had a couple I've seen more than once already, and that's really fun... eventually I'll know most of them I guess.

I'll post more later...for now work is all I've been up to.

We're "home"!

Mom and I made it safely back to Birmingham late last night.... it had been a loooong day in the airports of the world, but all went relatively smoothly.

As for our final day in Beijing, we spent it shopping! Of course! We picked up a few last minute souvenirs, and helped Oz and Matt (Ron's teammates) get good deals at the Silk Market for their friends and families. It's really fun haggling with other people's money! :)

That night, we attended the Closing Ceremonies. Show started at 8PM, so we left in "plenty of time" at 5:30. We had the bright idea to go by subway, knowing that we'd have to go that way on the way home since taxis would likely be scarce with 90,000 people pouring out of the Birds' Nest! That idea was a good one logistically, but a nightmare in reality...there were SO MANY PEOPLE trying to get to the stadium that way (at least 85 of the 90K!) and so many security checks (and therefore long lines and x-ray machines and bag-opening and body-wanding) that it took us two hours to get to the stadium. Then we had to climb Mount Everest to find our seats way up in the 3rd tier. By the time we got up there, it was about 7:30 or 7:45, and we had missed the athletes marching in! The whole ceremony was kinda "ehh" to me... the scale was much smaller than the regular Olympics. The 3rd tier thing was disappointing too...it seemed to hold more people than the 1st and 2nd tiers, but we were all under an awning and couldn't see the fireworks or even the flame!! True, we could appreciate the formations of the dancers and stuff way down below, but the precision definitely was not that of the Olympics Ceremonies. It was great to get into the Birds' Nest though... that is one amazing stadium, and you can't get near it without a ticket! The subway trip home was much less hectic than the way there, I guess because there were no security checks to get through...and we didn't have to buy a return ticket, not that they're expensive! The gates were just open for the throngs of people going through!

Speaking of money, visiting China was definitely not bad on the wallet! One dollar is worth 6.8 yuan (or RMB), and things just don't cost that much. For example, in Italy, a can of diet coke would cost us 4 euros (almost $8 I think)... in China, a 20 oz bottle of diet coke cost 3 or 4 yuan (less than 75 cents)! A taxi ride to the airport (about a 45 min. ride from our hotel) cost about 80 yuan, so less than $10. A one way ticket on the subway only cost 2 yuan, so for both of us to get to the stadium and back that night it was like 50 cents total! Oh, I forgot to mention that for lunch while shopping with Ron, Oz, and Matt, we ducked into a little dumpling and noodle restaurant.... this one was seriously local... no English, spoken or written, and no pictures of the food, but Matt had been there the day before and knew what to get. The dumplings were so good... had some filled with vegetables and some with meat (I don't even want to know!), and we ate a lot of them! It was three big hungry athletes plus mom and me...we ate steam-basket after steam-basket of dumplings until we were almost sick, had 4 big bottles of local beer, and a few bottled waters, all for the grand total of 38 yuan. Yes, $8.50! It was amazing!!

Anyway, that was about it for our trip. Travel day yesterday was just that...it took us all morning to stuff all of our stuff into our suitcases! We did A LOT of shopping! I know my bag weighed over 50lbs (it was pushing 40 when we left home!), but they didn't charge me extra... Yay!

Today I'm just in the zone trying to get ready to get down to Auburn...tomorrow! I have done 4 loads of laundry, packed up a bunch of paintings and mirrors and stuff, assembled and packed 2 more wardrobe boxes, and now need to unload my vanity drawers and pack up some of our nicer breakables, and pack Ron some clean clothes for the weekend.... good thing I'm a list maker, and that the movers are gonna pack all the rest of our stuff themselves next week. I'm exhausted...just in time to start my job on Monday! Great.

(Disclaimer.... I am really excited about starting my job! I've worked all my life I guess for this career, and I think/hope I found the perfect job for me! I hate that we're having to move and that we're so rushed and everything, but oh well... we'll get through it somehow... cause we always do. I am a little nervous though! What if I forgot everything I knew over the last 11 days of traveling??)

Low-Key Tuesday

Today was a "rest day" for us.... Mom and I slept in and then headed out to the Hou Hai lake region to meet up with Ron and the group from the Hartford! They were kind enough to have invited us to tag along on their planned day of rickshaw touring and lunch...we had a blast!

Ron and I haggling for a shirt on Opium Street

The outing began as a bit of shopping on Opium Street (and no, no opium was ingested/inhaled/purchased... the street is named after the activities that happened there long long ago!), followed by a fantastic lunch at "No Name Restaurant." There was so much food!!!!! We ate and ate and ate...

After lunch, we all loaded onto rickshaws and took a tour of the hutong in the area. On this tour, we stopped in one of the poorer homes and were served tea by the nice lady who lived there... then for comparison, we stopped in one of the richer homes and were given a tour. It was neat to be able to see the inside of these places... they were both nicer than I expected from the way they look on the outside. Even the poorer home had a big TV!! The richer home had a flatscreen!

On our rickshaw

In the alleys between the poorer hutong homes

The Hartford folks and their IPC contact were able to score us some tickets to watch the bronze medal wheelchair basketball game between the USA and Great Britain. Great Britain won (boo!), but we had a good time watching and cheering for our boys!

Wheelchair Basketball

That was about it for the day... we were too stuffed to have a real dinner, and it was raining and chilly anyway, so Ron went back to the Village and mom and I headed back to the hotel and ordered room service noodles! :) For a rest day, we still managed to wear ourselves out!

Oh, and of course I didn't forget...the cute kids of the day! The little girl in the red was a little diva and was a ham until the camera came out, then she wanted to run away! Her little friend was sweet though and wanted to pose for the pictures!

Another busy day!

I think we have seen just about all there is to see here in Beijing! That's not true I'm sure, but we sure have seen all the major stuff! We're about ready to come home.

Yesterday, we said bye to Butch as he headed back home, and mom and I went out to the Summer Palace. It was beautiful, as all the green spaces seem to be in China! It was hot though (a good excuse to have another one of those delicious peach and honey popsicles!)...and it was a lot of walking. We walked and walked, and then rode a boat from one end to the other before leaving.

We met up with Ron and (coach) Jim and a few others, who had borrowed little touring bikes from the Village and rode them all the way into town! That is a LONG ride on little city streets! I was a bundle of nerves while they made their way into town, cause we have witnessed the craziness that is Beijing traffic, but they somehow made it, and even toured the Forbidden City when they arrived. Ron had brought a little flatbed bike....so that we could hop in the back and tour around. With much hesitation, we went, and it was fun!! They rode us through a hutong, then the boys left and Ron sent his big bike with them (they put a little one in the back). We walked Ron down to the Hou Hai lakes area, where we sat on a rooftop restaurant and had some refreshments! Dinner followed at what must have been the most popular restaurant in the area....it was crowded and good! We had their specialty...mutton stir fried with spring onions, and cashew chicken. Yum!! We were wiped out after dinner, so went our separate ways in taxis. It was another fun night!

Cute kid of the day picture: