Stephen's first post - Think I didn't know what a Eu- googaly was?

This is my first official post, and I know that it has been a long time coming, so let me start off by saying go tigers!  But seriously, I’m  going to get started with the post now… no more distractions!  

Em was able to come for the first two weeks, and as you can read from her post, we had a lot of good times.  The day that Em had to leave was very sad, but it was really cool though what happened that day.  I was supposed to do my saturday morning to sunday morning shift but the resident told me to go and spend the rest of saturday morning with Em and take her to the airport, and to just come back after that. He said that family was important to the program. 

Backtracking a little bit to the first day of the rotation, I would have to admit, I was a little nervous starting out again at a new place.  Being around a bunch of new faces, 100% new faces, and having to make all new first impressions was a little overwhelming.  I mean, I was a little nervous about finding my way anywhere around the place, this hospital is Gi-normous!  However, it all worked out just fine because everyone was so helpful.  Everywhere I turned someone was willing to help me on my first day. 

The first two weeks, I was on the foot and ankle service where at this program they have four attendings (that is a lot for this specialty…most programs only have one).  I clearly had no idea the variety of things that are being done and can be done in this subspecialty of orthopaedics.  It was pretty cool because some of the procedures were done right in the clinic, such as simple tenotomies for contractures.  

During the last two weeks, I have been on the sports service.  It has been a really good time, as well.  On this rotation, I really have got to learn a good deal of the physical exam in orthopaedics.  Prior to this rotation, I had not had much exposure to patients with meniscus tears and the like, so it was really neat being able to see these patients in clinic and then seeing them in the operating room to literally see what the condition of the cartilage inside their knee was like.  Dr. Maloney is one of the sports attending here at Rochester, and he is a Machine!  This man had 16 cases scheduled on Wednesday, and got through every single one of them by 5:15 pm.  

In addition to my duties at the hospital, I have gotten to enjoy a few extracurricular activities while here in Rochester.  I have found a very competitive group of ultimate Frisbee players who play pickup within walking distance of the hospital.  This has been fantastic!  It’s been really fun getting back out there and playing some competitive ultimate again.  Apparently there is also a very competitive bowling league here as well as a paddle ball league.  One of the patients I was seeing was delaying his surgery until the spring that way he did not have to sit out for too much of paddle ball season.  I still have no idea what paddle ball is… I thought he was referring to ping pong, but apparently it is not that!  

 I was also able to check out a local church in the area.  It was really nice, and I really enjoyed the worship time there.  They had a huge crowd on stage playing tons of instruments, but it worked really well, people were really having a good time praising Jesus which really is a cool sight to see.  The pastor there was very very enthusiastic and walked about the crowd interacting with those who dared sit in the aisle near the front.  I am sooo glad that I chose to sit near the back!  He came within two rows of me during the service, but did not quite make it to me!  While there, they were on the series called, “the Jesus Life: Part 6” from Luke 6.  It was a good message.

 I just want to say thanks to all those who prayed for us while we were up here, it really has been an amazing time, and it really is awesome to have such awesome friends and family who support us.  Thanks for taking the time to read this ridiculously long post, and I will sign out at this point!  

I want to end by letting you guess the movie quote(this is an easy one):  “What is this?? A CENTER FOR ANTS!?  It needs to be at least……three times bigger than this!”

Race for The Cure

Last Saturday I ran in the Susan G Komen Race for the Cure 5k on Daniel Island. It was the first time I had ran a race without Stephen. I almost opted out because I didn't want to do it by myself, but I am glad I didn't. It was incredible to see so many people (around 9,500 I think) out to support this cause. Since I have started working at Roper, I am often scanning women in the breast center. I have seen some nasty cancers and and met some really incredible women. It was certainly a privilege to participate in this event.

Wineries

On one of our Saturday's off in NY, we went to tour some of the wineries in the upstate. The wine country there is so beautiful. It is right along the finger lakes. We toured two of the five. The way it works is you pay two dollars and get to pick eight wines that you want to try. We had a blast. We tasted some great wine, toured the wineries, and met some very nice New Yorkers. We met a group who all had son's on the same hockey team. After one of the tastings, they invited us to drink some wine, eat some cheese and other snacks, and hang out with them outside by one of the lakes.  They were from Rochester and we ended up talking with them for hours. They were fascinated that we were from SC. One of them even asked "Is it true they have those 'buffet restaurants' down there?" 

We didn't know this guy. He just wanted to take a picture with us...

This is where they process the grapes.

Stephen was fascinated by this thing, something about the chemical process of something...

The view from the porch we sat on outside the winery with our new friends

JK, I didn't really eat it : )

One of our new friends is demonstrating how to do an Irish Jig : )

Our Time in Rochester

These past two weeks Stephen and I have been living in Rochester, NY. Even though he has some long day, we still spent a good bit of time together in the evenings.

Rochester is a big city, but it is surrounded by tons of parks, rivers, pastures, farms, woods, etc. We really didn't do too much in the city. Parts of it were kind of scary looking. The big thing in Rochester is the Museum of Play. It is a giant children's museum and since we are currently childless, it really wasn't relevant to us. What we did do was explore a lot outside of the downtown area. Here are just a couple of the highlights. Sorry it is so long!

1. We touched lake Ontario!

Our first Monday in town we walked around one of the parks and then drove out to Lake Ontario. It was huge and it looked more like an ocean than a lake. Even though it was freezing, we both stuck our fingers in just to say we touched Lake Ontario.

2. We tried some local cuisine!

Since the kitchen had absolutely nothing to cook with, our dinners consisted of either frozen healthy choice meals, sandwiches, cereal, ready to serve frozen lasagnas, or eating out. We ate at a Vietnamese restaurant first. They are all over the place. I didn't care for it much but Stephen loved their Pho soup. We also tried a little local place that was #1 on trip adviser. It was called Open Face. It is a sandwich shop that makes these ridiculously elaborate sandwiches. They serve them opened and pour the soup of the day on them like a gravy. They don't have any Mexican restaurants here. The only thing they have is Chipotle which is kind of similar to a Moe's, only way better. It was very delicious. My favorite place we ate was the Cheesecake factory. Wow. For desert Stephen got a chocolate Godiva cheesecake and I got a cheesecake that had layers of red velvet cake in it and white chocolate shavings in the icing. Best dessert I have ever had, hands down. I try not to think about the fact that it was 1200 calories. Oh but it was delightful.

This is from Open Face:

3. We played Frisbee at the University of Rochester : )

Oh the good old days of undergrad. We walked all around the college campus and even ate lunch at their cafeteria. The campus was built in the 1920's and it was so gorgeous. It was one of the prettiest campuses I have seen. The best part was when we saw a strange looking boy run very quickly by us with a broom between his legs. ??? We figured it must be some fraternity thing. Then we figured it out when we stumbled onto a Quidditch match. Yes, the fictional game from Harry Potter. University of Rochester was playing against Rochester Institute of Technology. Lots of people were on the field running around with broomsticks. If you would like a visual of how muggles play quidditch, check out this YouTube video:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UfPij5ABdo

4. We ran!

I have never really enjoyed running, until now. It is so much different when you are running next to beautiful lakes and rivers, over old bridges, with gorgeous yellow and red leaves all around, and the love of your life next to you. It was probably my favorite part. Several times Stephen and I found some beautiful parks with tons of trails to run through. You just wouldn't believe how much of the city is covered in parks, and the trees here are amazing. One time we ended up running over an hour, probably for about six miles. It is just so much easier to run with someone you love and in such a beautiful setting. Although I will say, I did run some by myself while Stephen worked ( I miss Tae Bo). One time, this older man that I passed on the sidewalk yelled "Keep going! You are almost there! Great job!" When I looked up at him he was smiling and pumping his fist in the air. It was very sincere and encouraging. It kind of made my day: )

5. We had dinner with one of the residents!

One of the third year residents, Chris invited us over for dinner. We went to his home and ate with him, his wife, and their four children. They were so nice. They moved to Rochester for his residency all the way from California. They talked a lot with us about life in NY, adjusting to a new place, raising a family here, finances in residency, family life, enduring the long hours, the interview process, and anything else we had questions about. It was so helpful to get that information from someone going through it. It was so generous of them to have us over and to be so open and helpful. His wife even gave me her email in case I thought of any questions later on. How sweet! At the end of the night they showed us all the tricks their dog can do. It made me miss my Bella and my Marky-boo.


Well I guess that is it for now. I wish we had taken more pictures of the trees and the parks, but it is hard to carry a camera when you run. I am headed back to Chuck Town in the morning. I am going to miss Stephen so much! This will be the longest we have been apart since we were married. We decided tonight that we are going to have to figure out this skype thing : ) Also, Stephen has agreed to do a "guest post" soon to talk about his experience on the rotation, so be on the look out!