TGIF!

TG for an incredible week and an especially wonderful Friday!

As promised, here are a few pictures from our fun in the snow last weekend:

Apparently it's tough to be Goliath.

These last 2 shots pretty much explain our individual feelings about Clementine. As of right now she's still living with us, but our neighbors are interested in her and I'm hoping that they'll take her in as part of their pack. I'm going to miss her napping in my lap while I watch Grey's Anatomy in the afternoons... but at least if she's next door, I know she'll be in a great pack...

and I can visit her :)

Saturday morning I went down to Boutwell Auditorium to meet my Mercedes 5K team. My 28-yr-old knees thanked me for not trying to be my 21-year-old running self as Mom and I walked the whole thing (meeting our goal of finishing in under an hour):

But more importantly, we walked to help out this little cutie:

Alyssa is the daughter of Susan Lee, a long-time friend and member of our home church- St. Mark UMC. When she was 6 months old, she began having neuromuscular problems and has been approved for receiving a service dog to help her with daily tasks. The Lees have been fundraising for awhile, including forming "Team Alyssa" for Mercedes weekend, and they recently announced that they have reached their goal and will be enrolled in a training class later this year with the organization "4 Paws for Ability." Alyssa is adorable and we were so happy we could help her! I am a huge animal lover and supporter of service animals- they can truly make a world of difference, from emotional support to life-saving trained behaviors. Alyssa's story can be found here : http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/alyssagracelee

Continuing my "being more active" New Year's Resolution (or something like that), Will and I met up with some cyclers on Sunday afternoon at Liberty Park Middle School. We're complete amateurs, but managed to keep up pretty well for the (unexpected) 16.5 mile ride to Barber Motor Speedway and back. Other than feeling like jello for a few hours afterward, I felt surprisingly good... And completely justified in eating the homemade manicotti we had for Valentine's supper that night. Whit and Jessie came to cook and eat with us and, besides the crappy flower table decorations, we had a great night. (The flowers, btw, were a last minute attempt at a festive display. My wonderful husband, who sends me flowers every year, tried to send me flowers at the hospital in Anniston that Friday but they were unable to deliver before I left and wouldn't bring them all the way to Leeds. The florist in Leeds was out of roses, of course, so Will got refunded. I'll keep the husband over some wilting-in-2-days roses any day).

The week that ensued has been awesome- I worked with some great CRNAs and got really good feedback from all of them. The past 4 days have included a trip to the Vas Lab for a kyphoplasty, 3 cardioversions (soooooo cool), a "Resurrection"/Resuscitation/debridement, a lot more comfort and autonomy- even today, working with the fastest turnover rate I've experienced so far- 3 cases done by 10am- 5 total before my room closed (3/4 intubations). Plus yesterday I had 2 of those I-know-I'm-doing-what-I-love moments. The first was when one of my techs asked me if I was enjoying my clinicals. I was honest and said that some day are better than others. She then made the comment, "It (anesthesia) just looks hard." Again with the honesty, I told her that it IS hard- every day is hard- but that the difficulty is just part of it. In my head, I remembered that I knew it would be hard from the start... but I LOVE that it's hard. It means that I'm always being challenged and always learning. And I don't ever want to be without either of those things. Then, to solidify what I was already thinking, the second moment happened. A nursing student was following my patient from preop to postop (which suuuuuuucks- I totally remember having to do that) and my CRNA asked her in PACU if she intended to go to CRNA school like me. She made a face and said, "Uh, no." It was all I could do to stop myself from saying, "Why the hell not?! This is awesome!"

And I'm excited at the prospect of always feeling that way about my job. The CRNAs that I've worked with have hard days and bad days. But they also have hard days and great days. And I can honestly say that they all love what they do, regardless of the day they had. I hope everyone feels that way about what they do- I'm only 6 weeks in, but I know I do.

Happy Weekend, everyone!