The stone is out! My kidney stone just came out about 5 minutes ago! It is about 3 millimeters. I'm just glad that is over for a while and it did not take a month this time.

Here are some pictures of my actual stone.

Yet Another Stone

Yes, that is right. I have past another kidney stone. It was weird how this one started. Most of the day I had this feeling of having to go to the bathroom, but could not go. Then Jon and I went grocery shopping. I started to feel tired and sick.

By the time we got home, I was hurting a little, but it seemed to be a somewhat normal pushing on various organs by the baby. I laid down to see if that would help. It just got worse, and I thought, "I think this is a kidney stone." But it was on the wrong side. All of my most current stones have been on the right side. This was the left. I waited a few more minutes and thought about it. I was then sure it was a stone.

I took some pain medicine and tried to eat something so I could keep it down. It is really hard to eat when you are in pain. I also started drinking lots of water. I probably drank 45 fl. oz. in an hour. I started feeling better, so Jon and I went to a Ward Labor Day Social. We stopped and got KFC for dinner, since it was a bring your own dinner. We were not there very long, when the pain started coming back. We ended up leaving not long after we got there. I rode home in the back seat laying down, because it felt better.

At home, I tried to let it move through by itself. Jon gave me a priesthood blessing and rubbed my left flank forever. When I still was not able to go to the bathroom and was still in too much pain, I decided I should go into the ER, where they could give me some better pain killers and lots of fluid.

At about 8:00, Jon took me to UTCOM since it is closest and covered by our insurance. Even though they took me straight back, it felt forever before they were able to get a IV going and something for the pain. After that, I mostly slept and Jon studies for a quiz. They were able to confirm that it was indeed a kidney stone, and I also have a UTI, so I get to take an antibiotic for a week. It was the shortest time I have ever been in the ER, only about 3 hours, and I slept great last night.

Happy Labor Day everyone! I hope you had a better one then us!

Michigan and Other Saturday Activities

Jon and I made our monthly trip to Michigan. We had company this month. Steve and Jenni Toller came with us. It was a fun trip, but a little rushed. We were trying to get back to Toledo in time for a 1:00 baptism. We were late for the baptism, but enjoyed the Detroit Temple.

On the drive back to Toledo, we saw tons of Michigan fans headed to the Michigan vs. Utah game. It was really fun to see all the Michigan flags flying on the cars, the face paint, and the various Michigan attire, which fans were decked out in. We also saw something we thought looked a little funny and I was able to get a picture through the front windshield.

This is a picture of a Michigan State Police Car. Check out the light on top.

Sorry for the quality, but we were driving and it is through the window as he flew by us.

YEAH FOR COLLEGE FOOTBALL!!

It was great to see the first football games for the season last night! I can't wait for the season to unfold and see how the teams are going to do this year. It's so exciting!

Happenings in the Felt Home

Jon went back to school this week. He was really enjoying being lazy the last few weeks, and was not really ready to hit the books again. He will have to tell you more about school later when he feels like posting.

College football starts tomorrow! There really are not too many exciting games until Saturday, but Jon and I both are excited. It should be a fun season!

We have also found something new we enjoy. We tried some Jambalaya and love it. Some time I might make it from scratch, but we really like the Zatarain box mix, where you just add the meat. We have been putting in white brats. Yum! If you like Cajun spice, you will like this. It is really spicy and that is why we like it so much.

22 Weeks

Here is a little update. At my last doctor's appointment, I had gained 13 pounds total. For comparison, I had gained 7 pounds total a month ago, and only 2 pounds total 2 months ago. The baby is still doing good. His heart beat is still 150 beats per minute. Also he seems to not like things pushed up against him. He kicked the Doppler thing the doctor had, and a little while ago Jon was trying to see if he could hear the heart beat with a stethoscope, and it was kicked too. He also likes to push on my ribs all night long so by morning it hurts like a broken rib when I move.

I get to have a glucose test next month, and I am really not looking forward to it. Since I am hypoglycemic, the last three I have had all made me sick. At least this time, they did not say I had to fast for 8-12 hours before it. I can eat all the protein I want right before. Just no sugars. Maybe it will not be as bad. Also this test is only an hour long. The first one I had was four hours long. No fun!

Here is a picture of my growing middle. You might notice I am wearing the same thing in all the pictures. This is because Jon and I are scientists and need to keep as many variables the same so a proper comparison can be made. To see the previous two months click here.

Olympics

Since the Olympics has started, it has been on the TV almost 24-7. Jon and I have loved watching sports all day long. Jon says it is a good way to make the wait for College Football go by faster. By the way, College Football starts next week!

Anyway, I woke up Thursday morning at 6:30 so I could watch the Gold Medal Softball Game. It was a pretty good game, except Japan beat the U.S. 3-1. I am hoping that this will bring Softball back to the Olympics in 2016. There is still no reason given for getting rid of Softball in the 2012 games, but rumor is that Softball isn't enough of a world sport. I think others were just tired of the U.S. getting gold the first three Olympics where Softball was played. Now Japan has a gold medal in Softball, and the 2016 games are either going to be in Tokyo or Chicago, so I guess it is a good chance it will be back. If you want to know a sport that is not a world sport, did anyone catch any badminton or table tennis games? No matter what country was playing, all the participants we Asian, and most were Chinese. The U.S. table tennis (which let's face it is ping-pong) team were Chinese.

Anyway, that is my opinion. I also watched the Women's Beach Volleyball Gold Medal game six hours before the softball game. It was awesome!

King of the "Luv Sac"?

Jon and I went to Steve and Jenni Toller's house to make pizzas. It was really fun! The pizzas turned out good with no big spills on the pizza stone. After we were just sitting around talking, playing a little "Trivia Machine," when Jenni decided to take the "Luv Sac" from Jon. "Luv Sacs" are big and heavy, but some how Jenni got it turned over on top of Jon. Poor Jon was pinned underneath. He did survive and regained his comfortable position. Here are a few pictures for your enjoyment.

This is Jon after one attempt to dump him out. If you look close, you can see Jenni is about to try again. She was successful this time. Again look close, you will see Jon's legs hanging out under the "Luv Sac."

Is It Time For A Change?

Jon and I have been discussing changing Grocery stores. With high gas prices and the gas station, which we normally go to (because it is the lease expensive), changing to their low price being cash only and you have to pay $0.10 more a gallon to pay at the pump, we have been looking into fuel perks. Is is worth it?

We went to Giant Eagle in Perrysburg this week. We really were not impressed. We feel Meijer is better, but I wonder what others think. I thought I would make a Pro and Con List and see what others thought was better.

Giant Eagle:

Pros:

*Fuel Perks

*A Nicer Walmart Almost Next Door

*Ziemer Family Likes It

*Has Michigan and Ohio State Merchandise

*Meijer is On the Way Home

Cons:

-Less Variety

-A Bit of A Drive

-When We Left the Store, We Felt Depressed


Meijer:

Pros:

*More Selection and Variety

*Better Foreign Foods Aisle

*Better Quality

*Closer Drive

*Occasionally has Rachlette Cheese

*Always Excited to Go to Meijer

Cons:

-No Fuel Perks

-Scary Walmart, Farther Away

-Only has Ohio State Merchandise


So what do you think? Jon and I have decided to at least give Giant Eagle one more chance, and use our fuel perks, but I am not convinced the change will be permanent.

New Table

Jon thought this was pretty funny and had to take pictures. I was using my rounding belly for a table. Here are some pictures of me eating french fries, and using my new shelf to hold the fry sauce. You also might be interested to know, I am wearing Jon's shorts, since my own do not fit any more.

It is Finally Finished!

I have been working on this cross-stitch for over a year and I am finally done. Some of you have seen me working on it, at College Football games, at 24 marathons, etc. Here is the finished product. I do not know if it is too girly for our future son. Is Disney just a girl thing? I don't.

Allergies

I just read about this cookbook put together by a mother whose daughter has 7 of the 8 most common food allergies. I thought it was awesome. Click here to check out the website. Sadly, only one of my food allergies is the most common ones. In case you are wondering what are the most common, they are milk, eggs, wheat, peanuts, tree nuts, fish, shellfish, and soy. About 11 million people in the U.S. have food allergies!

Busy, Busy, Busy

That is the best way to describe the last week or so here at the Felt's in Toledo. Here are a few things that have happened recently.

* I had a Young Men/Young Women Committee Meeting in Findlay that had been reschedule from previously this month. It took place right before the Stake Priesthood Meeting. Boy, talk about feeling out of place when you are one of two women seeing all (well, not all but a lot) of the Men and Young Men file into the chapel, and everyone asking what you are doing there. After the meeting I hung out at my friend's, Julia, house until Priesthood Meeting was over.

* A friend from high school came over from Cleveland. We went to lunch and then watched the movie that was put together for our ten year high school reunion (it was this summer). We also watched Juno. It was a fun time! She will be moving in a week or so. Sad that she will not live so close anymore.

* Jon and I fed the missionaries. The Elders challenged us to make a family mission plan. We have been discussing it and trying to come up with something ever since.

* We went to a barbecue with some of Jon's classmates. We also played badminton and wiffle ball. The food and the company was great! Some of us were talking and decided that next year we were going to form a city coed softball team. That would be awesome!

* Sunday, the time change for church. We now go 1-4. I really don't like it, but Jon is looking forward to being able to watch the Washington Football games late Saturday night and not having to get up early for church.

* We had Steve Toller over for dinner and games. His wife has been out of town, but she comes home sometime today! The missionaries also stopped by while Steve was here and we found out one of the Elders is going to be transferred on Wednesday. Sad!

* I put up our crib in our spare bedroom, and started making some little boy clothes.

*We got a new radiator and the hood release fixed. No more leaks or going through the grill to open the hood!

* Free soda and pizza, plus an interesting lecture about Procedural Sedation on campus.

That is all the exciting stuff that has happen recently. There are other moments of non noteworthy things too. Hopefully things will slow down a little one of these days.

The Days (and Nights) of Summer

After a grueling almost 9 hours of sitting through 20+ research presentations, my Summer Research experience came to an official end. It's really not over, because there are still some abstracts to polish, a lot of manuscripts to write and a lot of fingers to cross in hopes that some of my projects will be accepted for presentation at an upcoming regional conference in Iowa, then a national conference in New Orleans, and maybe an international conference in Spain. We'll have to see, but those are the goals.

So, to report on the summer: It was awesome. Pretty much everything I was hoping for. I was able to spend 8 weeks in the ER at UTMC and learned a ton. My research projects were directly linked to the trauma team, so in those 8 weeks, myself and my other two teammates responded to close to 80 trauma cases at all hours of the day and mostly the night. In addition, I got to spend the downtime working in the ER. It became pretty apparent early on that anyone wearing a white coat was fair game to be put to work. Pretty soon, I found myself interviewing and examining patients, presenting their cases to the attending, strategizing on treatment, getting to do some procedures, and overall learning more than I did all year sitting in class. I feel a lot more motivated to pay extra close attention this coming year. Now I have a better understanding of how, why, and where the classroom stuff will fit into the clinical stuff.

There are a lot of stories and experiences I could share, but one stands out that I feel is the most appropriate, and really was pretty life-changing for me. I know this is a long post already, but bear with me as I tell this story. Besides, it's not like I post much anyway. Let this one count for the lack of posts you'll get from me for the next few months.;)

On July 4th, I had volunteered to take a 24 hour shift starting at noon. I figured it should contain a lot of interesting things. Well, by 5 p.m., there were only 3 patients in the ER, and things had been pretty slow. I was pretty bored and decided to slip away and go home to be with Keriann and our friends at a BBQ in our complex. I got home, surprised everyone and was just fixing up my hotdog, when my pager went off. "Level 1 trauma, female, ATV rollover." There was no ETA, so I figured I'd have time to eat my dinner. After a few minutes, I heard the Lifeflight helicopter in the distance. It has a very distinct sound. I choked down my hotdog, kissed Keriann goodbye and hurried to the hospital, hoping I could beat the chopper.

I made it barely in time, but the patient's condition was too critical for my research, so I stood back and watched, helping where I could. The girl was tiny, looked to be only 15 or 16, and was in bad shape. She was completely limp and unconcious. Her eyes were open, with the pupils fixed, and there was blood leaking out of her ears. She had been riding ATV's with her family at a gathering and had flipped hers over. She hadn't been wearing a helmet. In the CT scanner, everyone saw what they had expected. She had several skull fractures, and was bleeding into her brain. Her brain was completely shifted over, and was beginning to push down onto her brainstem.

As we wheeled her out of the CT scanner to the elevators to take her to the OR, her family met us in the hallway. It was probably the most heart-wrenching thing I've ever seen, watching as the parents and her siblings just sobbed uncontrollably, looking anywhere for any sort of comfort or reassurance that no one could really give them. The looks on the trauma teams' faces were pretty clear, no one expected her to make it.

I went with the two ER nurses to help show the family where they could wait during the long surgery ahead, and helped to explain as best I could what the doctors were going to try and do, and that it would be a while before any news would be available. It was hard to swallow the lump in my throat as I watched the mom fall completely apart once more as she remembered that she had forgotten to remind the girls to put on their helmets, and then to see the dad struggle to hold his emotions in check as he tried to be strong for his family.

I had the chance to check on the family later on during the night. She was still in surgery, it had been 3 hours, and still no news. By 11:30 or so, during a lull in the ER, I volunteered to go upstairs and check again. I found a packed waiting room outside of the ICU, and very anxious parents. The surgery was done, she was still alive, and now the waiting began. Again it was hard to choke down the lump that formed as I saw the pleading in everyone's eyes for some sort of hope or comfort that I could give that things were going to be okay. I couldn't give them anything except my assurance that I would continue to keep their daughter in my prayers.

I didn't work again till monday night. I wondered if the girl had made it through the weekend. I found out that she was still alive and in the ICU. I went up to check on her and was met by her mom who gave me a giant hug. She was still in a coma, but was responding to her family's voices, and had even given her dad a hug. It soon became a daily ritual to check up on this girl. Everyday brought news of more miracles, and more hugs from mom. Her breathing tube was coming out, she was awake, she had gotten out of bed and sat in a chair, she was talking, and remembering...

Before I knew it, she was out of the ICU and on the rehab floor. I was able to introduce myself and chat with this young lady who had literally cheated death. During the next week in rehab, the news continued to be positive. She had taken a walk outside, she was taking several walks outside everyday, the weakness in her left hand was completely gone, they were going to put the skull plate they had removed back into her head, they were talking about sending her home on wednesday...

Two and a half weeks after she had come into the ER, I went up to check on "our little girl" (as the nurses in the ER were calling her). When I got there, Catlyn was gone. She had gone home the previous day, fully recovered.

It's the type of story that is my motivation to study medicine in the first place, and is also the type of story that will probably keep me going for 10 more years. I always thought it funny how everytime I visited, her mom thanked me for "all that I had done to save her daughter's life," when in reality I hadn't done anything, and I was the one who needed to thank them for all they had done for me. It was a powerful lesson for me of faith, that Heavenly Father is truly the one in charge, and that Jesus is the Master Healer.