MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

I hope yours was as wonderful as ours! We took a fantastic trip up to Utah, where we spent a week with my family and a day with Spencer's. I was determined to take adorable pictures of the whole week for a nice blog post (to compensate for 6 months of silence from me!). However, we forgot about our camera completely, until we were on our way home. As for the pictures we took then (after ten hours of driving), you don't want to see them anyway :) So instead of darling pictures, here is a list of highlights from our trip:

-Jill Omerza taking a bite out of every cookie at Spencer's high school friends' party in Mesa on the way down (I guess I should add she's only 4 or 5...and adorable enough that no one cared)
-The Obama Chia-pet from the Halls
-Laughing ourselves sick reading "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" on the drive up
-Reuniting with my family under the lights of temple square. It takes a lot to cause a scene with all the hustle-and-bustle there, but I think we managed to with 5 of the 8 kids all meeting up there with spouses and kids, exclaiming "You've gotten so tall!" "It's been so long!" and "I can't believe we're all here!"
-Meeting B-Rad, our newest (Boyer) nephew and one of the greatest blessings our family has ever received
-Finding that although Spencer's knee was broken, he didn't need surgery (thank you to the generosity of Dr. Vern Cooley--aka Tiger Woods' doctor)...what a blessing!
-Seeing a live octopus and touching a live sting ray at the Aquarium with all our nieces and nephews...I think Spencer and I were even more excited than the kids!
-Meeting up with friends I hadn't seen in years and getting to introduce them to Spencer
-Making Gingerbread-cookies and watching the "true" Grinch
-Enjoying things that don't exist in Tucson like fires in the fireplace, snow storms, frost, throwing snow-balls, splashing slush, hot chocolate that really warms you up, etc, etc
-The nativity put on by our nieces and nephews, replete with bath robes, tinsel, old night-gowns, stuffed sheep, and, of course, ADORABLE faces
-Watching the kids Christmas morning...my favorite is the age when they are way more fascinated with eating the wrapping paper than seeing the actual gifts
-Watching my parents Christmas morning...you'll never find people more excited to give presents!
-Battling each other in Pirates' Cove, Settlers of Catan, Apples-to-Apples or "It Came To Pass"
-Boxing Day: pajamas, games, a service project, soup and chocolate all day!
-Hearing my mom and Joe speak in church
-And the icing on the cake: a temple session with my family

Thanks to all who made time to hang out with us and made it such a great week for us! We couldn't have asked for a more perfect trip!

Just when you thought millionaire senators and athletes were all headed down the drain...

Check out this great blog:

http://marriedtoaballer.com

Time Out

It's standard practice before a surgical procedure in US operating rooms for the charge nurse to call a "time-out" in order to check one last time that the right patient is indeed lying on that bed next to all the knives and that the right place for incision is marked. After a hefty "Hooaaa" from the staff (Army Ranger style) the operation begins. Right now I'm taking a "time-out" to offer a Hooaa of praise to the wonderful nurse, the lifeblood of any hospital or clinic. Were it not for the Women's Instructive Association in Boston at the beginning of the 20th century, there might not have been the OB physician. These nurses banded together and began to treat women in the prenatal period and soon noticed healthy improvements for mom and baby. Thus was born (this pun's for you Bird) the OB's role, conceived in the brains of the great nurses.

Utah...here we come!!

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/14/us/14utah.html

Surgery Quote of the Day

Came across this quote studying about gall bladder removal:

CO2 is the preferred insufflating gas for laparoscopic procedures because it is highly soluble in water and does not support combustion when electrocautery is used.

hate to think of the victim when the combustible gas was used :)(

I agree with this solution

Doctors as the Key to Health Care Reform

Posted using ShareThis

Hansen/Boyer family reunion in 2016?

Rio\'s Olympics Quest: Can It Handle the 2016 Games?

Cienega Creek

After a ride through the high desert this morning, we reached this oasis in the sun. By far this place ranks in the top 5 "hidden gems" of Arizona. It's about 45 miles Southwest of Tucson and worth every mile. The BLM has set aside thousands of acres here with the purpose of maintaining a wildlife preserve in its natural state. No trails, just roaming with the mule deer. Anna and I LOVE when we both have a day off together. Morning hikes and afternoon football!

Celebration- Let the Cheesiness Begin: A Tucson Dating Scene

The Bear

Today I performed a psychiatric history on a patient who was recently arrested for domestic violence. He is a big, bear-looking rancher from Yuma, who suffers from PTSD. This big bear of a man was in tears by the end of our interview as he thought of how his wife struck a deal with the county judge to let him out of prison over the weekend if he agreed to seek treatment at the VA. He loves his family. He is genuine, I could tell. After the interview I warned him he was going to be the patient my classmates would "round" on this afternoon. This basically means we sit in as the psychiatrist interviews him. I told him he should play a joke on my classmates and pretend to act weird during the interview. So, rounds comes, and we are sitting in a circle surrounding our patient and the psychiatrist. A half-hour into the interview, with a few of us already dozing off, the bear of a man is calmly explaining his PTSD and then suddenly yells in a loud voice "because I'm violent!!." If you thought jumping out of your chair one foot into the air was a lot for us students, you should have seen how high the psychiatrist jumped. The bear quickly laughed and gave me a wink and assured us he has a sense of humor like the rest of us. I'm lovin' psych!! We'll see what Anna has to say about my affinity for the mentally affected.

What about Bob?

Now into my second week of the psychiatry clerkship, I'm afraid I've worried Anna I might pursue a new-found interest in this branch of medicine. It's such a different style than any other specialty. Take, for instance, the office layout of an outpatient psychiatrist. You walk into a neat, comfortable room, probably a lot like your home living room. Comfy couches surround an expensive carpet. A gorgeous, oakwood bookshelf lined from toe to head with hardbacks inclduding "Robinson Crusoe," "Anthropologist from Mars," and the psyche bible, DSM-IV. A pair of palladian windows let in sun-light in a way that makes you feel trapped inside a Martha Stewart magazine. The fake plants in the corner don't help with that image. I'll be sure to stock up my side tables with enough Sports Illustrated to counter the Martha effect. Nothing like the fresh words of Rick Reilly to ease the troubled mind. In fact, the only evidence in the room betraying the doctor's profession is an electronic scale off to the side. No stethoscope. No reflex hammer. No white coat. Yes, there are patient charts on the doctor's desk, but that is all. This morning I watched a psychiatrist at work in this environment. The only physical contact with the patients involved hand-shaking. One of the things I love about medicine is the hands-on approach to care. I would be surprised if I ended up in this specialty. But who knows, with all the bananas laying around out there, I just might have a Freudian slip someday.

Medical Discovery

This, hot off the press!!! Whenbrunetteswanttosoundlikeblondes.com reporter Anna Hansen (formerly Boyer) has just reported that statues, yes statues, suffer from frostbite. If you don't believe this, walk through BYU campus on the weekend of home football games to see for yourself. The statues will be wrapped in saran-wrap! The fact that it's the weekend of home football games has no correlation, according to the latest research. It's the cold! Access to this and much, much more at 4225 N First Ave, Apt 1016 Tucson, AZ, the home of medical and nursing superstar students.

An Update...

At work, when someone is asked how they are doing, the response is often "Just living the dream, baby!" The response is usually sarcastic as alarms and bells and the phone ring, noxious smells fly by, etc etc. But it's actually very true for me right now: I have always always wanted to go to nursing school and now I'm doing it!
Last semester was pretty cushioned as I cut down my work hours and had very easy classes. This semester my hours at work doubled and class is much harder. I'm actually acting like a nurse--giving medications, starting IVs, doing assessments. (That's right, you should all stay out of the Tucson hospitals for a while!) I feel like I did when I was 4 years old tromping around in my mom's high-heels. But I love it! I learn so much each day and feel my goal becoming a reality.
As for the rest of my life, it really doesn't exist, so that's that. Just kidding--I am having a blast with my new baby (my road bike), my beehives, and occasional visits from Spencer :) He is studying really hard right now, but we have a great time making the most of his/my breaks.
In a nutshell, we are living the dream! And blessing the person who invented air conditioning...

Boards studies...

I laughed out loud while coming across this fact from the great Wikipedia. I am studying the central nervous system, just to put it in context.

"There are many ways to acquire radial neuropathy.
The term Saturday Night Palsy refers to nerve damage that can occur if a drunk person falls asleep with the back of their arms compressed by a bar edge, bench back, or like object. Radial neuropathy is also called honeymooners palsy, since it can be acquired by sitting with an arm draped over the back of a neighboring chair (or movie-theater seat) for a long time, or when somebody sleeps with his/her head rested on another persons arm, as for instance in a newly married couple where the partner doesn't yet want to tell his or her partner to use a pillow instead.
Both Saturday night palsy and honeymooners palsy refer to the fact that the nerve damage is generally forewarned by arm pain to a degree that only excessive love or liquor would drive a person to keep their arm in such an uncomfortable position."


I think Anna and I might still be on honeymoon because she complains of wrist-drop. What a sign of love for the hubby :)

Here's 150,000...and signing off for a while.

Buying an American made car at 97,000 miles can be risky. But in Safford, AZ lives a man named Tigi. He cares for his cars as meticulously as a junior high boy styling his hair with L.A. Looks gel. The oil changes are regular. Every update/fix/alteration on his cars is noted in a booklet located in the glovebox. And the car never sees a dirt road. A little extreme, maybe, but it paid off for me when I bought his Pontiac Grand Am exactly four years ago. And today the Grand Am hit 150,000. Besides minor bleeding of antifreeze out of a leaky hose, the car is running perfectly sound. Oh, and the A/C doesn't work, but you hardly notice that in AZ :) So while GM is taking a bad rap these days, here's a "hip, hip hooray, for the American-made car and the American-mad man who takes care of his car, Tigi. My next ETA on this blog is in two months, so unless you hear from Anna, just assume we're sweating pretty here in Tucson, AZ. Tchau!

One more reason we love...the Phoenix Suns

Ariziona

 
 
 
 

Things You're Not Lucky Enough To Experience

The other night Anna returned home from her 13 hour work-day a little fatigued. I studied late into the evening at our desk, located just a few feet from our bed. The desk faces away from the bed. Anna's calming breathing patterns were beckoning me to bed with more force than the Siren's calls to Odysseus. Then she got up and wandered to the kitchen. She evidently grabbed some bread and went back to bed because I could hear her munching on bread crumbs. Then, she was asleep. I went to bed shortly after. That morning we woke up covered in bread crumbs. Our arms and legs were grating against the dried grain in the sheets like sand on a beach. She fell asleep before she could finish her snack! Anna rocks. She works so hard at her job that it prepares for some of the funniest fatigue moments at home after her shift. I hope someday, when I'm on call, I can work as hard as her. You rock banana!

Road Cycling

Anna and I have found a new hobby we both love to do together. We have fun getting frustrated in tennis, running, canoeing, football, etc, but it's nothing but love in road cycling. Two weeks ago her parents and I teamed up to get her FELT road bike and we have biked almost 150 miles together since. We love planning our day around a sunset ride in Tucson. We are riding for pleasure now, but look forward to training so we can keep up with the Dad, the Kaelbaerers, Rich Boyer, and maybe the Johnsons during El Tour de Tucson this novemeber. One hundred miles around the greatest desert on earth.

Beaches

As a history major, I feel I should be more aware of past and contemporary events. But I am always confusing the Hundred Years War with the War of 1812 with the French and Indian War, etc. However, I have two dates I always remember, without even trying: June 6th and July 3rd. June 6th marks the anniversary of D-day and July 3rd of the final day of the Battle of Gettysburg. But it's to June 6th that I want to blog. One of my favorite quotes by Edmund Burke: "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." I think was Burke means is that ball can and should always be in the court of the good. No movie, narrative or photo can make any of us understand what it feels like to step off the ramp of a boat to plunge into cold water holding a hundred pound of ammunition and gear, only to face a storm of oncoming enemy fire. In those moments, I can only imagine you don't think about anything. You just move. And I guess that's what inspires me about D-day and Gettysburg. These men were so disciplined they turned off all emotion of just moved forward. I remember learning in high school from Mr. Helsel, my history teacher, about a man who wrote in his journal the morning of Gettysburg: "Today, I died." How do you write that, close the book, put a piece of salt pork in your mouth, and then walk out into a field displaying more carnage than any other American war combined? But the men moved, and good, I believed triumphed. D-day and Gettysburg were terrible in the number of casualties, but I believe they saved the lives of countless others because of the objectives accomplished. Can you imagine what it must be like in the next life to sit down and talk with a soldier about his or her experiences in combat? I imagine may of these soldiers are or will become effective missionaries in the spirit world if they accept the Gospel. They, more than anyone, will testify of how the Atonement can redeem man's folly.
The above pic is me and Anna walking the beach at Caesarea. I don't think we'll ever be called to charge Normandy. But in a lot of ways, we can look to those who did charge and remember, sometimes the only good course of action is to keep moving. At the end of the summer, Anna and I will spend a week on the beaches of Balboa with her family. We have a summer of Boards studies and Nursing school before that. To study for the boards requires a 10 hour daily commitment for 6 straight weeks. I have a sweet little cannon that has a place reserved on my study desk to remind myself, in moments of doubt, that I need to keep moving. My good buddy Aaron up at BYU noticed how I barely mention life as a medical student on our blog. Well, I'll mention a little about the transition from second to third year. Each student must take, and pass, a national boards exam. If you don't pass, you can't proceed to your third-year clerkship. At any given moment in May or June, you can walk into a medical school's library and as you pass the study rooms you will find medical students studying flashcard, lectures, notes, and powerpoints from 7 am to 9pm. Each student will usually find his or her niche in the library, and by the end of the six weeks, I suspect there is enough dandruff, pulled-out hair, bitten finger nails, and soiled table tops to build a huge castle stronger than Camelot. So while it is not comparable to D-Day or Gettysburg in any philosophical or realistic view, the concept is the same, just keep moving. I can never complain. I have Balboa at the finish line.

RTM

I'm studying on the bed. Anna is asleep. She has worked 32 hours in the last 24 hours and is exhausted. As I just glanced at her I noticed that she is in deep REM. But her little toes are twitching up and down just as fast as her eyes are scrolling left to right. Anna has a case of Rapid Toe Movement (RTM).

Am I rubbing off?

I've always been the clutzy one, from awkward injuries to gravity issues, I'm pretty much the epitome of accident prone. I've been pretty good about accepting it--even embracing it. But I have a new struggle: I think it's rubbing off on my husband!
Tuesday I got out of class to a phone call from Spencer, saying, "Hun, I lit the apartment on fire." Turns out he had wanted to make a sheet cake. He thought a "sheet cake" must be baked in a cookie sheet. So he mixed up not one, but TWO boxes of cake batter, dumped them into a cookie sheet and put it in the oven. Of course, as the batter baked, it rose and dripped all over the bottom of the oven, eventually catching fire! With smoke pouring out of the apartment and the alarms going off like crazy, neighbors gathered around to see what the big deal was. I came home to Spencer scraping the bottom of the oven (he offered me the pieces of what he scraped off, sweet thing) and a masses of black strewn through the kitchen (frosted). It was too cute...A for effort/for not burning down the whole apartment/for cleaning it up/and for letting me be the onlooker, rather than victim, for once!

Genius Bar

This morning I noticed a crack on my macbook casing. It was an open wound, awaiting the next spill of diet coke. I told Anna about a protection plan I purchased with the original transaction over a year and a half ago. You know that feeling you get when you want everyone to feel exactly how you feel at that moment? That was the urge I felt, and still feel, when I calmly rode my bike up Campbell Avenue against "red flag" wind (I'm not familiar with this weather term, but the Tucson weathermen use it often) to the Apple Store. I walked in, straight back to the Genius Bar and handed my laptop over with nothing more than my name. No ID required. No proof of purchase required. Just a body, computer, name, and time to pick up. To make a long story short, which is what Apple is so good at in the first place, my laptop is back on my lap. All of this, hassle free, in one afternoon. Actually, I don't want everyone to feel how I feel at this moment, because all the mac users feel this way all the time anyway, but it makes me kind of want to create a home video of the experience and send it to Dell Corporation Customer Service. Why the rage? Just ask Anna how much fun we had setting up her new Dell these past few weeks. Sorry, I have to go now and figure out how to run "Activex" so I can get rid of the nagging fear that Anna's Dell is under constant threat of a virus. If that were a wise virus, however, it would house itself as far away from a Dell as possible because at any given moment that house of a laptop might go flying off a third-story balcony. Happy April Fools!!

Gary Larson in real life

Reported on the NY Times Health section today:

Repercussions for Sleeping Surgeon

A plastic surgeon at Boston's Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center fell asleep during surgery last June, and no senior hospital administrators interfered even though a nurse reported the doctor's erratic behavior, a Massachusetts health department investigation of the case found. The Boston Globe says the hospital has fired the surgeon, Dr. Loren J. Borud, and the state has temporarily suspended his license.

The Chronicles of Sleep

I fell asleep early Sunday night, even before Anna returned home from work. I fell asleep reading, The Magician's Nephew. I finished the chapter following Polly and Digory into the In Between Forest, a place of transition. There was something about the CS Lewis magic of worldy transport that invaded into my personal rest. I fell asleep on the right side of the bed, where the reading lamp is located. I noticed Anna crawl into bed during the night on the left side of the bed. When I woke up, I was on the left side of the bed and she was on the right. She claims I gradually pushed her off the bed with my migratory sleeping habits, but I think Lewis had something to do with this...

We're going on a pigeon hunt...

This weekend Anna and I chilled, literally, up in Heber, AZ. We spent a fun weekend with four other couples in the ward playing games, shooting guns, collecting pottery (to Anna's delight) and laughing a lot. We stayed at a nice spread of fifty-five acres with two cabins. Each couple had their own room. On one morning Anna and I awoke to watch a sunrise from a treehouse. We went for a run in the forest after that and came home to make pancakes and omeletes for the crew. I thought the highlight, though, was on Sunday. We attended the Heber Stake Conference and listened to an excellent talk by a Seventy. He is from Japan. His father was killed by U.S. Submarines. When he was nine, missionaries contacted him and bore testimony of the Gospel. Expecting to feel malice for these Americans, he felt nothing but love from the Elders and was converted to the Church and has since been engaged in life-long service. He encouraged the Saints up in Snowflake to serve in the temple so much it would have to remain open 24 hours. I love pine trees...

When we were kings...

We all know sleep is a precious commodity. When inactive, because of sleep, we run around in REM, dreams, and restroom breaks. It's a wonderful rhythm; a dance of serenity. I feel, when you have the power to sleep, you can live the life of royalty. Outside forces no longer determine your mood, activity, or choices. The power now comes from within. Unless, of course, you have yielded this power through the act of marriage :) Please don't misunderstand, I think marriage is a celestial arrangement. But it still comes with sacrifice. Last night, during a peaceful slumber, Anna embarked on a restroom break. Upon her return, she tucked into bed and threw a right with her elbow, landing it directly on the forehead. I could hear the crowd yell outside the rings. Not to be outdone, I went in with MY right to stroke her hair and accidently jabbed her in the eye. With two thuds, we both fell down like potatoes, with the sounds of the crowd giving way eventually to our royal realm of sleep. The experience reminded me of one of the best documentaries ever produced. Entitled, "When we were Kings," it follows the famous Ali/Foreman fight in Africa. It's a story of courage, faith, and brute strength. Just as Foreman is replacing Ali as the world's premier heavyweight, Ali stages one more defiant stance, even though most writers already cast him into the sunset. He trains on a foundation of faith in his God, and faith in the people of Africa. If Field of dreams brought you an inch closer to the tissue box, this will bring you two inches closer. Here's a link to a clip from the documentary:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N44vdCqI7LI

While amazing, the fight is not as intriguing as the story leading up to it in the documentary. It's worth your time, if you have any.

JANUARY HIGHLIGHTS

January has been such a fantastic month for us! Fantastic and busy...hence the lack of blogging. So I thought I'd cover a few highlights:
1-I STARTED NURSING SCHOOL! It's been such a funny roller coaster of plan a, b, c, d, e, f, g...I finally stuck with plan k or so and it is working out beautifully! I love it and I'm actually doing very well. True, our classes consist completely of learning the tasks I've done as a tech for the last year and a half, but I'm not complaining. Not at all.
2-Spencer is still breathing, walking, functioning, even smiling and excelling through one of the hardest blocks in all of medical school. Seriously, he has been incredible balancing all the studying with serving and making me happy. But spring break can't come too soon, that's for sure!
3-I got to go up to Utah to visit my family and meet our newest member, Alex (Carrie's third). It was a dream weekend packed with skiing, sledding, b-ball games, card games, a good movie, fabulous food, and of course LOADS of chatting and laughing. Thanks to all the fam for hanging out and making it so fun!
4-We got $50 of free groceries at our favorite grocery store, Sunflower Market. It just opened across the street from us. I guess it had a little bit of a price--we had to stand in line in the rain at 5am and read numerous Jehovah's Witness pamphlets given us by our neighbors in line for two hour...but who wouldn't for 50 bucks of goodness?
5-We got free Chipotle today for sporting our Cardinals' colors, which leads me to
6-Cardinals being in the superbowl! We are definitely band wagon fans, but how can you not be when a team like the Cardinals actually makes it? Wish them luck tomorrow!
7-Our blinkers work again after a year and a half long tantrum (and some magic mechanical work by Spencer).
8-We're a month strong without air-conditioning.
9-

Artwork

2009 is upon us. New resolutions and goals are made and determination rises like yeasty bread. I have not seen much of Anna lately, nor played with her, despite our holiday break, because I was busy preparing for a test. Two roads diverged, and we both seemingly took separate paths. I wanted you to get a glimpse of what we see on our paths. One path leads to beauty, the other to...I'll let you decide. So Friday night, I'm in the medical school, walking down the hallway. The lights are off, except for a few guide lights which cast a yellow, cadaverish glow on the floor. To compound my loneliness of a night studying hormones and prostate cancer, I looked up on the wall to see the artwork of Andreas Vesalius (this bottom piece on the left). But the grass in always greener on the other side of the hill, and that's where Anna's path has led. She has spent the last couple days painting and I wanted to post her artwork before she could protest. None of this is for sale so don't ask...