A (school) update for the New Year

Well, I haven't posted here for awhile... oops! Guess its time for an update?

We've been "home" (Fresno) now for 6 months and it has been wonderful. I love being back in our house, having friends to hang out with, being involved in our little church and being close to family again. I'm currently working part time for my parents company (my old job, kinda) doing accounts payable. Overall, I'm just really thrilled to be back home:)

Alex is doing great in his core rotations. He is half way through the year and has finished 8 weeks of family medicine, 8 weeks of internal medicine and 6 weeks of pediatrics. He's currently finishing up Ob/Gyn (his least fave, but its almost over). By far his favorite has been pediatrics which has cemented his plan to pursue pediatric oncology as his speciality. That means after he graduates next year he will do a 3 year residency in pediatrics then apply for a 3 year fellowship in pediatric oncology. Lots of training ahead but it will be worth it in the long run, as we continue to pursue where God is leading us.

So the rest of this (school) year is going to look something like this: he finished his Ob/Gyn rotation in two weeks, then he gets two weeks of vacation (woo hoo!) followed by 4 weeks of pediatric oncology elective here in Fresno at Children's Hospital. Then he will do 8 weeks of surgery in Hanford, followed by 4 weeks of psych in Benicia, and 4 weeks of Adult Oncology in Sacramento. I feel so blessed that the Lord has opened up so many rotations here that he only has to leave for 8 weeks. We are still trying to work out the details of living arrangements when he's up north again, but we have a little while to figure it all out still.

That's enough news for one post. I'll post more later:)

A Perfect Ending

This week Alex has been busy getting ready for the ever stressful USMLE Step 1. This test is a big one, and his score will effect his choices of residency in the future. And the USMLE tests everything he has learned over the last two years. Just a little stressful!!!

Today was exam day, and I had agreed to take him to the testing center in Alameda, a town about 30 minutes away from us. We woke up early, make a quick stop at McDonald's for some coffee and McMuffins and we make it there with time to spare. Good thing too, because Alex, with all his nerves shot, had forgotten to bring a print out that he needed to get into the exam. A quick call to my parents fixed that (thanks for saving the day, mom and dad!) as they were able to print out the paper for him and then fax it into the testing center. It made for a very eventful morning to say the least!

I drove back to Martinez to get some packing done while he faced the grueling 8 hour test. I'm glad to say that at 4pm when I picked him up, my exhausted hubbs was feeling confident that he did well. Praise the Lord! Now we just have to wait two months to get the score.....

As we started heading back to Martinez, a thought occured to me: since we were really close to San Francisco (literally 3 miles away from the Bay Bridge), it was a beautiful day, and neither of us was in a hurry to face the traffic going home, why not stop for some clam chowder and ice cream on the Pier? It sounded great to us both!

So we had a nice dinner at the Boudin Restaurant overlooking the bay, and walked along the pier hand in hand eating Ben & Jerry's for dessert. It was the perfect ending to a stressful day. It was the perfect ending to the last two years that we've been here in the bay area. It was just perfect.

Exhausted but Happy

Almost Home... (updated with pictures)

Things have been busy here with preparation for moving home! After over two months of not blogging I figured I would try to give an update for those who have been emailing me and asking "is everything OK? Why aren't you blogging?" I didn't realize that people actually still read my blog!

Alex finished his second year of Med school at the end of May and has been preparing for the first tests for the Medical Board Exams (called Step 1). He took the COMLEX (the Osteopathic Board Exam) last week and is taking the USMLE (Allelopathic Board Exam) this Friday. He feels confident that he did well on the COMLEX  and is ready for what the USMLE has to dish out! Please keep him in your prayers! We are moving just three days after the USMLE and he starts his 3rd year rotations on June 21st, so he will really only get one week off! His first rotation is 8 weeks of Family Medicine, so at least he will have normal hours for the next 8 weeks.

I have been working with our missions team at church to prepare for our mission trip to Albania this summer. I leave for Albania on June 26th and we will be returning to the States on my birthday, July 11th. We will be hosting a summer camp for street kids and teenagers and I'm excited to see how God is going to use me there. (More on that to come in a future post..)

 I forgot how much I miss being home and have really enjoyed my trips back to Fresno the last few months to get the house ready. With the help of my Dad, my brother and my sis-in-"love", we have replaced all the carpet in the living room and hallway with dark laminate wood floors and also repainted all the main rooms of the house. We also had the backyard done (which was previously all dirt) so now we actually have a patio and sidewalk and soon will have grass and sprinklers (which I know Audrey will appreciate!).

Pictures of my our house "in progress"

(My brother and sis-in-"love")

The floors are all in now, but there is still a lot to do: painting all the trim white, installing the baseboards, painting the doors, etc. I'm in Fresno now and am praying I can get it all done tomorrow so it will all be done before we move in.

Oh and the cement in my back yard which I'm so very happy about!!!

The grass will come next week but my flowerbeds and trees will have to wait for fall since Fresno's 110 degree summers aren't conducive to planting.
I'd better get packing.... only 8 days left...

My husband's going to be a doctor

Yes I know, most of you are saying "Duh, Janna, he's in med school!"

But until yesterday it hadn't really sank in.

I took a friend of mine to UCSF for a doctors appointment yesterday. As we were walking through the hospital, I kept seeing all the doctors in their long white coats, carrying paperwork and coffee, scurrying through the halls. Some would walk together talking in low tones to one another. And all of a sudden I realise that my husband was going to be one of them someday. After years of waiting he is finally a med school student. In 3 1/2 years, he will be running through the hospital, with his white coat, probably getting coffee for an attending because he will be a resident. In 8 1/2 years he will be doing his fellowship. And in 12 years, when he is finally done with all his training (yes its forever away), he will likely have interns getting his coffee.

I think the strange realization that dates in the hospital cafeteria are not that far away. Right now are the "easy years", or so I've been told. He is memorizing more information than he has had to in his entire life. But he has classes from 8-5, Monday through Friday. At least he's home for dinner, even if he studies while we are eating! When his clinicals start in a year and a half, he will be learning at the hospitals, and the hours can be crazy. That keeps going through residency, when he will be making very little money and working 60-80 hrs a week. And even working as an attending, he's likely to be working more than 40 hrs a week with the speciality he's interested in.

I think I've been so focused on the school part of medicine that I hadn't really thought about what we have waiting for us at the end!

Proverbs 13:12 "Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life."

The grades are in...

Alex got his grades for his first semester of Med School...

Drumroll please...



STRAIGHT A'S!!!!! WOOOHOOOOOO!!!!



And that includes his MPH class! I'm so proud of my Hus!!!!

5 Things I Don't Like

Here's the oh-so-obvious follow up to my last post!

1) I've gained weight. In the last 6 months I've gained a total of 20 lbs.Holy Crap Batman! The stress of moving and changing job (heck changing everything) has effected my waistline because I'm a certifiable STRESS EATER! We started eating health er last month and I've dropped 3 lbs, so I'm 17 lbs away from goal again. Still my suits I bought for work in April still don't fit, so I have a ways to go.

2) I miss EVERYONE! I call my mom almost every day on my way home from work. Some days are harder than others and its getting better, but I still wish I could just call someone to run to Target with me.

3) My job doesn't stimulate my brain. 'Nuff said.

4) I'm working so many hours that I have no motivation to do anything on my days off. Which means the dishes and laundry either don't get done or only get half done (if you ever come to visit you've heard the phrase "ignore the pile of clean clothes on the couch.)

5) There's no place like home. Have you ever tried to live in a 1000sq foot apartment after living in a 1700 sq ft house? I miss my house! I'm counting down the days until clinicals start, even though we may not be back in Fresno for clinicals, I can still hold out hope!

5 Things I Like

I've compiled a list of the 5 things I like about Alex being in med school. Here they are for your reading enjoyment.

1) We see more of each other now than we did when Alex was working EMS! Alex and I have pretty much the same schedule, so, for the first time in our 6 years of marriage, we are waking up and going to bed together at the same time.

2) Home cooked meals. Yes I'm cooking more because, if you read above, Alex is home more. It was kinda pointless before to cook every night for 1, so I use to just cook on nights he's home. Now I "get" to cook everyday!(lets see how long I stay excited about that)

3) The weather up here is gorgous! Its nice and cool in the mornings and warm in the afternoons. I definatly didn't miss Fresno's famous 113 degree July's.

4) I married to a man who LOVES to read. This may not seem a big deal, but in med school it has proved to be a HUGE advantage for him. He just reads the textbooks and somehow just absorbs the information. Which means he doesnt spend all night studying and cramming. Which means that we actually go on dates, and walks, and spend time together. And he studys while I blog :)

5) We are eating healthier. Now that Alex is learning about things like, for example, fatty liver, we are eating food that are better for us! We've both cut out liquor and coffee, and are trying to stay away from high fat foods. We're even working out together in the mornings.

White Coat Ceremony

So last weekend was the official "White Coat Ceremony" at Touro where all the new students get their white lab coats and the official title of "student-doctor". It was a nice ceremony very similar to a graduation.

Alex's parents and grandma came up to be at the ceremony and we had a really nice time! We all had dinner at our apartment on Saturday night, than went out to ice cream for desert! Sunday was the white coat ceremony and afterward we went to Alex's favorite restaurant "Dead Fish" for and early dinner. His grandma was very generous and invited Alex's close friend from school, Max, and his sister Monica.

I'll post more when life becomes more interesting! So far life's consisted of studying (Alex) and working (Me).

Books and Scrubs

I went to the rental office ot pick up a package they had for us - turned out to be 3 packages - all of Alex's books! I got my strength training in today just walking back to our apartment. Turns our those 3 package held 6 textbooks!

Today was my day off and it was so nice to be able to get stuff done! I was able to run all my errands, clean the house, do the laundry, play with the dogs, and even finally put pictures in the frames that I’ve been meaning to hang up ever since we move here. Yey for productivity! Seriously though, Alex was gone from 8am to 9pm – what else was I to do?!?

Last night was our first shopping trip for scrubs.
We went to the Walmart next to our apartments but they didn’t have the light blue color that one of his classmates said they had to get (the color the residence in Grey’s Anatomy wear). So we drove to Vallejo to Costco to see if they carried scrubs still – no such luck – they discontinued selling them a few months ago. So we decided to drive out to Walmart in Fairfield and -ta da! – we found them in his size and the right color. I just had to do a little hemming to get the leangth right and they are perfect. (Found out today that he could wear any color blue so I’m going to get him the navy pair so that my “McDreamy” nickname for him really fits J)

Anatomy lab starts Friday! Its still hard to believe that after all this time, he is halfway thru his first week of MEDICAL SCHOOL!!!!

Back to School!!!

Alex started med school orientation today, and so far so good. His actually classes start on Thursday. He also has two more weeks of the summer MPH classes, so that means he's at Touro from 8am -9pm until his summer classes are out. I should become very familiar with the term "med-school widow" this week!

So July flew by for us, as I had stated in my previous post, but I'm looking forward for what August has in store. Alex's sister and her husband are visiting this weekend so we are excited about being able to spend some time with them.


The bank is finally fully staffed so I'm working between 35-40 hrs a week now, much better than the 45hr a week I was working in May and June. The even gave me all labor day weekend off so that's something I'm looking forward to.

I've also decided to finish my bachelor's degree. I've currently applied at Life Bible College's Degree Completion Program. They are located in Southern Cal but they have a program where I can complete my degree (AS to BA) in Ministry and Leadership from online one night a week. I've had an itch to finish my Bachelor's for a few years now and I think I've finally found the one major that I can't say "but what if I never use it?". For several years now I've felt a burden for women who struggle with infertility like I do. I've spoken with friends who have the same struggle and I'm amazed at how hard it is for women with this burden to find support at church - mainly because no one (especially women going through infertility) wants to talk about it. So I'm following where I feel God is leading me. And for right now that means a degree in Ministry and Leadership. I 'm really looking forward to what God has in store for us as I continue to pursue my education.

Routine

Well, we've pretty much settled into a routine. I go to work Monday through Saturday, with usually a day off during the week as well as Sunday's. Alex has his classes Monday through Thursday from 6-9 which is usually when I am home. We have church on Sunday morning and than we spend the afternoon together before starting a new week. Not the most exciting but I feel good that we have a routine down. And, all of that will change in August when his DO classes start.

I miss having friends around. In Fresno I could call Cass up to run to Target or go get ice cream with me, or see if Beth wanted to come over and make cookies, or meet Lynae for lunch if I had some time off. Its hard meeting new people. We're both trying to get plugged into our new church, EastBay Fellowship (different than the one I had previously listed. One of Alex's classmates goes there and we decided to go and LOVE it. Its a perfect fit for us - even with a 45 min drive). Alex is involved in a Men's group, but the new women's groups don't start until fall, so I'm waiting 'til then. Everyone at work is really nice but - well, its just hard to make friends like the one's I have at home. I'm learning to be more open about myself, which is hard for me, but I think its easier to make friends when I make myself a little vulnerable as well.

Work has gotten easier and they finally filled the last open position so by the end of July we'll be fully staffed again and I'll get to every other Saturday off. Woo Hoo! Alex's classes are going good but he there is a heavy political influence in what he is learning, most of which he doesn't agree with, so that's been a hard hurdle to get over. But the summer session is half way over and time is flying fast!

We are both relying on God more than we have in a long time. Maybe it has to do with being away from everyone else but I feel like I have a better walk with the Lord since we've moved here. I'm also praying about finishing my degree, and getting my BA in Ministry and Leadership. Life Pacific Bible Collage offers a Degree completion program that I am considering enrolling in. It's kinda ironic to me that I feel lead in that direction, because I had wanted to go there right after high school, but they were not fully accredited at the time, and I was giving advice to wait. Now they are fully accredited, and I am hundreds of miles away, but I could still get the degree by completing classes online. I love modern technology!

Anyway, I guess that's all for now. My laundry needs folding and Audrey needs a bath, so I'd better get started on my chores!

Everyday is a winding road...

Okay, so, sorry I haven't blogged for awhile. Its been a hectic week since moving and we finally have connection to the Internet again! We just got back from a funeral for my (Janna) Aunt Sis who passed away on Sunday. It was a time of saying goodbye and grieving but we also got a chance to see dear family who we don't see often. As my cousin Daven put it "She (Aunt Sis) had a way of getting everyone together".

We moved on Sunday May 4th without too may issues. The movers were excellent, exceeding my expectations, and eliminating all doubts I had of movers. The apartment is beautiful! It really does feel like a home. The whole complex is only a year old so we have all new appliances, and new carpet and nice features such as neutral beige paint (instead of boring white) and crown moulding. None of those thing are necessary in a place but it does make it feel more "homey". We we able to get everything unpacked accept my cake decoration supplies (I miss my cabinet space!) by the end of last week. Bogey and Audrey are getting use to the routine and the neighborhood. Things are feeling a little more settled now.

Alex had orientation last Thursday and started classes on Monday. He really likes the classes and has made several friends. I started work on Monday, and, well, I think I'll really like my job once I'm actually fully trained. Training is hard and they are short staffed and the branch manager is on maternity leave so its making training a little more difficult than it probably normally is. But I'll get the hang of it soon and I think I'm going to really like working in banking. The irony of our schedule is that for now I'm working from 10am - 6pm and he has classes through the summer from 6pm - 9pm. At least we have weekends together, which is still more than we had when he was working as a medic!!!

I know there is a lot more to post but its been a long day so I going to spare you all the details that I know you want so that I can rest and maybe write a "part two" later.