Fall days

It's been a long time since our last post (way too long if you're a grandparent). I thought I'd take a few moments on this lazy Sunday afternoon to update any interested parties on just what's going on in our life.

The trees are a brilliant array of fall colors (yes, even in Kansas). The prettiest of the trees, just outside our building, stand bare, having been robbed of their leaves by the constant Kansas winds. Despite their noble attempt, the colors of Kansas cannot rival those of the Ozarks in southern Missouri. Dad and I took a much needed fishing trip two weeks ago to Bennett Springs, Missouri. My uncle Monte joined us too. I love him, and his presence was a huge bonus. Dad, Grampy, and Monte taught me how to fly fish in those waters when I was knee high and I find the waters there deeper in meaning each time I return. I like to watch my father fish there, the sun dancing in the ripples in the water around him. I suppose he liked to watch when his father and his grandfather fished there, too. Each time I return, fishing in the stream in the day and digging through piles of my grandfather's letters and photos, I realized I am returning home and walk away from the trip knowing just a little more about who I am.

After returning from the trip, I did my last week of faculty night call. It's always nice to work with the residents, but it's kind of a bear being up all night and sleeping during the day. The call schedule is set to change next year, with the next class of international fellows taking much, much less faculty night call.

This last week has been fun. With fall here, it's dress up time. We got Abbi to put on her ladybug costume this weekend and she really seemed to enjoy it, despite having pants that are much too big for her. April and I went to a residency haloween party. I've included some less embarassing photos below:

Burnin' down the house

Whilst we were hanging out at the Stephens' house the other night, we found out that we've got a little pianist on our hands. Check out her first recital. She's quite proud of herself, as you can see in the video.

I thought that was really cute, but I'm biased.

I concluded my day on the burn service today by debriding and grafting a man's left arm and neck. He lost most of the skin on that arm in a farming accident last month and he's lucky to be alive, really. I feel privileged to be involved in his care. I got to help out with removing the unhealthy tissue, harvesting the "split thickness" skin graft from elsewhere on his body and then stapling 725cm of it to the skinless area. I knew very little about burn medicine prior to going into this month. I did take the Advanced Burn Life Support course previously, which is a great course for all interested. All good info and little fluff. Interested parties can find information on that course at http://www.ameriburn.org/ABLS/ABLSCourseDescriptions.htm .

This week has been interesting. I recently started a rotation in Burn Surgery. It's been good in terms of learning principles of skin grafting, Ketamine use, wound care, wound debridement, and hunting for more opportunities for "extra curricular" medical education. Overall, the presence of an international fellow on the burn service is new and just needs some sorting out. I guess that's all part of being on the front end of a new fellowship, figuring out curriculum and everything. I'll try to post more on the development of this month as it goes along.

Last week April and Abbi spent time in Kansas City with my in laws, as you can see in the previous posts. At the end of the weekend, the girls spent the night at my parents house. You can see in the photos the everybody enjoyed our little girl!

I recently heard from Jack and Rick, my colleagues currently working in Zimbabwe. Not only are they having an excellent medical and surgical experience, but they also seem to be thriving in Zimbabwe. This all makes me smile. Here are a few photos of Jack and Rick that I stole from Facebook (If somebody would just update their blog, I'd quit stealing your stuff!).

Since Thursday, I've been putting in a (relative) lot of hours in the hospital. I rounded early in the morning both days this weekend. However, after a nap on Saturday I took the girls to a local wildlife park and today we wound up at the local Zoo. We spent a lot of time this weekend as a family, looking at exotic animals, petting goats, turtles, and bunnies and going through copious amounts of hand sanitizer. It was pretty fun. To top the weekend off, we went over to the Stephen's house for dinner and conversation. Dr. Stephens is our fellowship program director. He and his family are truly delightful people and have served as a source of inspiration, wisdom, and joy to us since we have known them. We will truly miss them when our time here comes to a close.