Disconnected

I lost my phone today! Wow, I never thought I would misplace something that is generally in my hand about 70% of the time. I sleep with it inches from my head. I check it obsessively to see what time it is or if I have any messages/e-mails/missed calls/facebook updates.

This is absolutely ridiculous. Remember when people didn't have cell phones or e-mail or access to their e-mail 24/7. It wasn't that long ago. How the heck did we function like that?

I was almost positive that one of my friends had picked my phone up from the table where I left it, but I panicked. How would I contact her? How would I get a hold of Reid to let him know that I didn't have my phone in case he tried to call or text? What if my mom calls and I don't answer? Will she freak out? That was a rough hour and a half - mostly because I don't know how to live without being connected. Sad.

On a brighter note: Reid and I are volunteering at a kids health fair at the Science Center in Coralville. The pediatric dentistry department was generous enough to donate toothbrushes, toothpaste, and floss as well as let me borrow some teaching tools. Should be an interesting Friday night!

Food For Thought

When I started this blog, I thought it would be neat to post some of my favorite recipes every once and awhile. On our schedule and budget, it's often very difficult to keep things interesting (and healthy) in the kitchen. Here are a few of my super easy stand-by meal ideas. Warning: I use lots of "pre-mades"!

Salmon and Veggies

The frozen "Mediterranean" encrusted salmon from Hy-Vee is wonderful. I served it tonight with a potato & snap pea mix and garlic toast. (side note: Reid is still hungry and wants ice cream...)

Chicken Caesar Pasta Salad

I buy the Betty Crocker "Suddenly Caesar Salad." All you do is boil the noodles and add the seasoning mixed with vegetable oil. I add cut up chicken and tomatoes.

French Dip & Chips

Oscar Mayer makes "French Dip" flavored roast beef (amazing!). I buy a loaf of French bread, slice it in half, then layer roast beef and provolone cheese. I wrap the loaf in tin foil and toss it in the oven when the french fries are about 10 minutes from being done. For the fries: cut up 3 medium potatoes into wedges, toss with vegetable oil and Concord Foods bacon & chive seasoning mix, spread evenly on foil lined baking sheet, back at 400 for about 30 minutes. As far as the "dip" goes, they sell a concentrated au-jus sauce at the grocery store.

Cheesy Chicken and Salsa

This recipe is from Kraft.com. When I made it and brought it to school as left-overs, everyone (ok just Julie and Chandni) wanted the recipe!

2 cups multi-grain penne pasta, uncooked

1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces

1-1/4 cups TACO BELL® HOME ORIGINALS® Thick 'N Chunky Salsa

1 cup frozen corn, thawed

1 large green pepper, cut into short thin strips

1 cup KRAFT Mexican Style 2% Milk Finely Shredded Four Cheese

Cook pasta as directed on package. Heat large nonstick skillet sprayed with cooking spray on medium-high heat. Add chicken; cook and stir 2 min. Stir in salsa, corn and peppers. Bring to boil. Simmer on medium-low heat 10 min. or until chicken is done, stirring occasionally. Drain pasta. Add to chicken mixture; mix lightly. Top with cheese. Remove from heat; cover. Let stand 1 min. or until cheese is melted.

Horoscopes

Last week I was having all kinds of weird emotions (I can now blame PMS), so I decided that I should look up my horoscope to gain some insight. Reid scolded me for believing in such nonsense. I wouldn't necessarily say that I do believe in them, but I find it rather interesting when they hit the nail on the head perfectly. On that note, I'm more interested in what they say about my personality than my future. The future, in my opinion, is better left unknown.

Which brings me to the true purpose of this entry: where will I end up practicing someday? Once or twice a week I am asked where I think Reid and I will end up someday. My answer: I have no clue. Our wonderful medical education system has devised the ultimate game which they call "The Match." This is where students rank programs and programs rank students, and on one magical day (aka "Match Day"), students find out where they will be living/working for at least the next 3-6 years. At this point, we can only dream of knowing where this place will be. And, we do a lot of dreaming. Here are our top choices! Keep in mind, we've never even visited most of these places.

1. Birmingham, AL
2. "The Carolinas"
3. Mmm...somewhere in Texas, maybe?
4. Pheonix, AZ
5. Home! = Des Moines, IA
6. Colorado possibly
7. Anyplace where Reid can golf year round
8. Anyplace where I never have to see snow again

Relief

It feels so good to sit here without anything to do. We had a pharmacology exam this afternoon. Needless to say, I am completely exhausted. Reid has been tutoring me, and I am very thankful for his efforts! It has been rough. Only one more test to go.

Yesterday I saw a patient who was treatment planned for a composite restoration on #18 (lower left 2nd molar). Because I am in the D2 Operative clinic, all of the patients I see need only minor work done. To make a long story short, she left with an appointment for a foundation for a crown. Not my fault. Turns out there was a large horizontal crack running through the lingual cusps. I felt kind of bad about the situation, because I am sure she was disappointed.

This weekend is Drake Relays! I am staying in Iowa City tonight because I am too tired to drive home at this point. Reid and I just bought a bottle of wine, a couple of bacon wrapped fillets, and some twice baked potatoes. I'll head to Des Moines tomorrow, and then come back Sunday after Jenny's bridal shower. Should be a fun weekend! And fun weekends must start...with a nap :)

Globus

Just got back from the doc with a good bill of health. A few weeks ago I was suffering from miserable stomach/throat symptoms which were keeping me up at night. After much frustration with me trying to figure out how to describe what I was feeling, Reid finally came up with the symptom of "globus" or "lump in my throat." Yep, that described things pretty accurately. Blood work showed that I was H. Pylori positive (the bug that causes stomach ulcers). The only way to eradicate it is the dreaded metronidazole treatment. Two weeks of complete sobriety (with not a single minute passing by in which I did not have that disgusting metallic taste in my mouth) later, I am cured. Thanks modern medicine!

You're so vein

Today we started IV's on each other for the first time! Wow. The exciting life of a dental student [sarcasm]. I gave Chandni a hematoma, and I inserted the catheter somewhere lateral to my target vein in Jared's forarm (after going straight through the vessel with the needle).

In other news, I pushed off studying for tomorrow's Orthodontics final until today after class. Not one of my best decisions. I'm taking a break to update the ol' blog after getting a call from Reid who is tired and going to bed.

I thought I would post a pic of the pups kissing to cheer me up :) Apparently the cops showed up at the house because Tini was "disturbing the peace." Why am I not surprised?

Discardia

Love this

http://www.metagrrrl.com/discardia/


I am moving this summer and making this my new way of life! More later :)

Herbal Medicine

A few facts on Herbal Medicine that I learned from Dr. Baker today:

1. Vitamin A - little evidence for prevention of cancer
2. Vitamin D - 400-800 IU daily helps prevent chronic disease
3. Lutein - proven to help prevent macular degeneration
4. Calcium supplements - don't take more than 600 mg at one time because of absorption limitations
5. Glucosamine sulfate +/- Chondroitin - may raise glucose in diabetics, chondroitin takes months to show effectiveness
6. SamE - likely effective to treat depression and osteoarthritis
7. Coenzyme Q10 - may enhance therapeutic effects of other heart failure drugs but doesn't improve CHF itself, does NOT treat periodontal disease
8. Fish oils - at least 1000 mg of total EPA/DHA is needed for therapeutic effects - reduces triglycerides!!
9. Melatonin - may modestly improve jet lag, but may disturb sleep cycle
10. Probiotics - lactobacillus and bifidobacteria are the only ones that aren't destroyed by stomach acid (ie Activia Yogurt), likely effective for rotaviral diarrhea, antibiotic-associated diarrhea, and may reduce vaginal candidosis
11. Ginkgo - NOT effective for improving memory, may delay progression of dementia slightly
12. Echinacea - doesn't prevent the common cold and triggers ragweed allergy
13. Ginseng - may help reduce blood glucose in type 2 diabetics
14. Saw palmetto - improves BPH symptoms same as Proscar, but no additional benefit when added to drug therapy
15. St. John's Wort - works as well as tricyclic anti-depressants for mild-moderate depression

Most importantly: Just because an "herbal supplement" is "natural" doesn't necessarily mean that it's safe. If it is effective enough to have positive benefits, it likely has side effects as well. So, make sure to tell your physician/dentist all medications and supplements that you take!

Multimedia message

New necklace! Thanks Coralie!!

Multimedia message

The boys! Sent from mom. 

Prom-tastic

Last night was our "Frolics" aka Dental Prom. A few things that I learned:

1. No matter how comfortable your new shoes seem at first, your feet will be killing you by the end of the night. No exceptions.

2. If you get into a cab in Iowa City, don't be surprised when the "Macarena" suddenly starts blaring and a disco ball pops up out of nowhere.

3. The Sheraton in Iowa City is just incapable of making good food. Even when they try something new that makes you think it will be amazing, it will be bad...so, don't expect much.

4. Hungry Hobo #11 Sub with olive oil, vinegar, and oregano and a large pop cures all. Ok, I already knew this, but it's worth pointing out.

5. Reid + Open Bar = Bad Decisions. I have yet to hear all of the stories from his weekend in West Des Moines with the Iowa Medical Society, but I'm sure it wasn't good.

6. Sometimes girlfriends can be the best dates ever! I had so much fun with Courtney. We chatted until 3 a.m., and she had a bridal shower today in Waverly at 11! Oops!

7. I should not be allowed to buy the "Cheese Fix" mix of Doritos, Sun Chips, pretzels, and Cheetos...because I definitely ate an entire family size bag in 24 hours. Sick.

Quack!

Courtney got two baby ducks!

Dirty laundry

The other day Reid and I picked up some items from the dry cleaners, only to find that they hadn't taken the best care of our stuff. My brand new blue dress, which came straight from Washington DC, was worn ONCE and then taken to the cleaners, had a sadly unraveled strap. Of course, my emotions took over, so I unleashed Reid to take care of the situation. He called the manager, who told us to bring the dress back (which we did), and he would take a look at it. Good news! It can be fixed.

I then got a text from Reid, who is at the IMS conference in Des Moines this weekend, notifying me that a button was hanging on to his suit jacket by a mere one string. I thought the dry cleaners was where you were supposed to take items that were too delicate for other means of laundering??? Doesn't that mean that they should be a little careful!? Curious, I did a little research on the process of dry cleaning, via Wikipedia (or course). I came to find out that the whole procedure is very similar to at home laundering, but the chemicals are more hazardous. And, they do an extra special job of getting the wrinkles out after all is said and done.

So, I can understand how things might get a little jostled during the whole ordeal. I would appreciate, though, that they take 30 seconds to look at my garments before pawning them off to me in such a destructed state. A phone call saying "Hey, we found this, do you want us to fix it?" would have been much appreciated. It also would have saved me two trips to the cleaners, a few tears, and a whole lot of frustration. Ugh. I plan on "suggesting" this amendment to business as usual to the manager when I return. I think I can do it. Maybe.

To the clinics!! Finally!!

Reid just found out his M3 rotations schedule! He didn't get his E.M. rotation that he was hoping for, so this might change.

July: Pediatrics (DSM)
August-Sept: Internal Medicine (DSM)
end of Sept: Urology (UIHC)
October: Otolaryngology, Orthopaedics (UIHC)
November-December: Surgery (DSM)
January: Psychiatry (DSM)
February: Opthalmology (UIHC)
February-March: OBGYN (DSM)
April: Outpatient Med (DSM)
May: Family Med
June: CBPC (DSM)

In the beginning...

I have been thinking about starting a blog for a few days now. The first thing to do was to come up with a name. I tried to be creative, but that wasn't going too well. So, I decided to go with the name of a Tom Petty song. I tried all of my favorites, but of course, they were all taken. Once I found one that was available, I took that as a sign. I think cantstopthesun is pretty fitting, though. Ok, so why did I start a blog. This is going to be an online diary of sorts. This is such a crazy and exciting time in my life, and I want to have some record of it. With that said, I can't promise you will find anything I write interesting. Also, I am not trying to impress anyone. Ok, now that you have read the disclaimer, if you are still curious, read on!