Schroeder Family Update

I haven't been doing a very good job of keeping everyone updated with our summer adventures, so I'll try to do a quick summary. 

Tayscen had his first birthday in June, and we had a fun little party for him with family and some of our neighbors! We went swimming in the community pool, and had a dinner/cake back at the house! We had a lot of fun! Meghan made organic low-fat chocolate cupcake and we iced the tops to make them look like baseballs! Believe it or not, those cupcakes were awesome! 

On another day following my board exams, we took the kids, plus our nephew, Kameron, niece, Kelsey, and little brother, Jon to BounceU, a huge bouncing facility filled with inflatable equipment from giant slides, obstacle courses, castles and other fun things! It was a blast! And a good workout! It definitely made my foot sore, as I was still rehabbing from my surgery at the time, but it was worth it!

Throughout the summer, both Braylei and Tayscen were in swim lessons run by the city of Surprise. We took them 4 days a week in 30 minute classes until the beginning of August. Braylei was in the preschool class, and she learned so much! It was really nice to see her grow more and more comfortable with the water. Most of it was water exploration, playing games in the zero depth area, being able to reach for things underwater, and work on basic swim stroke elements. Tayscen was in the parent-tot class. Meghan took him most of the time, at least through June, as I still had my stitches in my foot and couldn't get them wet. But I did take him alot in July, although it showed the he preferred his mommy over me.

We won 4 free ticket to the City of Surprise 4th of July Bash. There were tons of things to do there. There were bouncy castles, baseball pitch/football toss, and for the kids, Home Depot had a design a tile where she used an assortment of markers on the tile. She really like it! She also got her face painted. The downside of the night was that it got really stormy and windy. There was a big dust storm and the fireworks show was delayed for like 2 1/2 hours! But the kids really wanted to see the fireworks, so they got to stay up really late and they ended up having the fireworks after all!

 

We also ventured a couple times to the Peoria Splashpark. It is a really cool place for the kids to have fun! We went with some neighbors and had a blast! Tayscen was having fun walking around and Braylei was splashing through all the sprinklers and fountains! 

Rotation Block 1: Cardiology

Life is good now. Boards are finally over, though I am still awaiting results, and I have no more didactic training for medical school! I just finished my second week of my first third year medical rotation, and it is awesome! This first rotation is cardiology, and I have great preceptor, Dr. Fred Cucher at Phoenix Heart. It's been really challenging jumping right into a sub-specialty like cardiology because I have no other clinical background yet. So basically I've felt like an idiot that doesn't know anything. It's frustrating that I spent the past two years reading and learning about all aspects of medicine, and often, the patient presentations are not classic like in the textbook. But on the bright side, I have learned a ton! First, I have become extremely proficient at the basics, like blood pressure and heart sounds. I also have heard many abnormalities, which makes the process much easier to know what's normal and what isn't. Also, I have seen the pharmacological side of cardiology, and I am picking up patterns of what to do in different situations. It is a relief to see just how subjective medicine is. Everyone has their own way of approaching a given scenario, there's not typically a stringent black and white answer like we were trained with countless multiple choice tests.

Another thing about a cardiology specialty I learned is that the elderly population loves me! True, some thought and asked if I was indeed as young as I looked. But overall, they trust you and have been very nice to me during my time at Phoenix Heart! Although I don't have too many inklings to specialize in cardiology at this time, it has been a very good experience for me to gain so many skills that I can apply to every facet of medicine.

The biggest thing I gleaned from Dr. Cucher was just how special the humanistic component of medicine truly is. In many cases, he has long term doctor-patient relationships and has known his patients for a long time. I see how big of a role that plays in the medical care they receive. They trust him and respect everything he has to say. The reason that he has such good relationships with his patients is that he really cares for them. He takes the extra time to talk to them and listen to them. He asks them about how aspects of their loves are going and takes a vested interest in them as a person, not just a patient. I liked how he did all the blood pressure measurements himself, something I have never seen a doctor do. On my last day of the rotation, he wrote on his prescription pad to me "primum non nocere," and gave it to me. He told me to never forget it, and to always remember the patient first. I later translated the phrase as, "First, do no harm." I am truly grateful for the opportunity I have had to learn from Dr. Cucher.

Board Time

Wow. It's been forever since updating my blog. Things have been so crazy over the past couple months with the end of the school year, preparing for boards, and of course, dealing with my foot surgery. Needless to say, the past couple months have been a huge flurry! First, there was Easter. It was fun to watch Braylei go on her first easter egg hunts (she ended up going on 3!) One of them was at my school, and another was out at the Surprise Stadium (there were tons of eggs, literally!) Tayscen was very content just being able to be outside so much over the Easter weekend! It was tough, though, as I still had a test that Monday morning! But it was worth it, and I had a blast!

Oh, I guess my little basketball injury was more serious than I thought. I ended up with 4 fractures (1st and 2nd cuneiform, 3rd and 4th metatarsals, along with the lisfranc ligaments)! I had surgery, getting a screw through my cuneiforms. I was casted for 6 weeks, then I was in a boot for a couple weeks before starting physical therapy. I got pretty good on my crutches, and provided a good workout going across campus. The hard part was not being able to do the little things, like going up the stairs with kids in tow, not being able to sneak up on people, and stuff like that. This injury has truly affected our whole family. This has been a huge burden on Meghan, as she has had to pick up even more of the already endless slack that I create. But she has taken it in stride, and hasn't even complained. She just makes fun of me! I've been able to adapt, though, as I still attended the American Academy of Osteopathy convocation held in Dallas back in March, and I attended the Association of Military Osteopathic Physcians and Surgeons national conference in New Jersey at the beginning of May! I also volunteered to help with the medical tent at Ironman Arizona! I volunteered last year too, and had a great time. I didn't get to do a ton of hands on stuff because of my foot, but I ran a pretty smooth medical info tent! I also volunteered for a program called TOPS, where we gave hundreds of high school sports physicals in Phoenix, which is always great clinical exam practice!

Finals were rough as usual, but I got through it, and it was a good feeling to be pretty much done with my classroom education forever! The next two years are all clinical rotations. The only thing left standing in the way is my step 1 board exam, which I take on June 12. I've been studying pretty hard for it, but it's such a ridiculously hard test that I'll never be prepared enough for it! I just want to do the best I can. Once that's over, I will feel a huge burden lifted off of me! I look forward to starting my rotations, even if it will be very hard and strenuous. At least I'll be interacting with people rather than staring at books all day!

been doing well in PT and I have regained a lot of my strength. The removal didn't go as smooth as planned. I was scheduled to have it removed right in the clinic, but apparently, I had some bone growth over the screw and they doctor. Yesterday, I finally had my screw removed from my foot. I've couldn't visualize it, and had no imaging in the office, so they ad to sew me up and take me to a surgery center, where the had more equipment for my doctor to see where the screw was under the bone and scrape away enough to unscrew it from my foot. I'd have to say that it was much more painful than I expected, partially due to the complications that occurred. But it should be on the mend now.

So now that the craziness is mostly behind me, I should be updating more often! That's what I always say though!

Oh, where to start??

Well I would have to say that this past quarter caused me the most pain--both mentally and physically! I struggled though most of the quarter, and I don't exactly know why. Things were okay after the Thanksgiving break, but we were only back for a couple weeks before Christmas break. Having that much time off really can affect a study groove. It was tough coming back. Granted, Winter quarter of the 2nd year is notoriously the toughest in medical school, but this was no joke! But I made it through okay and now I get a week off to rejuvenate before going into the final quarter of didactics. Our course load will ease up over the next quarter so that we can turn our focus to board exam prep. I have my test scheduled for June 12th. After that, I have a week of clinical prep classes, and then I start my first rotation at the beginning of July.

made me a little flower heart bouquet out of straws, paper, and a cardboard dowel for a vase. On the vase says "I love Daddy because..." then each heart-flower has a little way she loves me. Of course Meghan helped her, but Braylei came up with them all on her own! I didn't really get to celebrate my 25th birthday too much, which was on the 21st of February because I was in the midst of finals! But ITo backtrack a bit, I wanted to note that for Valentine's Day, Braylei did get a great birthday present. I mentioned in my last post, that my old brick iPod kicked the bucket, but I now have a sweet new replacement... a 32GB iPod touch! It is incredible! Once all the 3rd party applications come out in June, it will be not only an awesome iPod, but a totally rad PDA as well! I'm so stoked about it!

My Spring break of course just flew on by! I had to finish putting in my requests for my clinical rotations. AZCOM has a lottery system where we select our top 3 choices for each of our core rotations, and then the computer figures out where we will go and when. We should find out the results in a week or so. We also did some final touches on our side yard, including some rock, putting in a bench, and cleaning our grill. I also got a chance to visit with a mentor of mine, Dr. Mitch Kasovac, who is now the director of Family Medicine at AT Still University in Mesa. He showed me the new medical program out there and the innovative curriculum that they have. While out in the east valley, I was also able to swing by my old work at Mezona Orthopaedics. They have a brand new facility where the docs and the physical therapy are together, which makes it really nice for the patients. Then I was able to stop by and see my dad for a few minutes before heading to my old high school, Tempe High, where I helped out an old friend, Eric Greenhalgh, who is now one of the softball coaches there. I went out do do some strength and conditioning drills for the team, which centered around core stability. Most of all, I really enjoyed spending more time at home with Meghan and the kids! During this time, Braylei got her first haircut! It was just a trim, but we took her to Cool Cuts for Kids, where she got to sit in a car and watch the movie Cars while she got her hair cut!

We also made a return trip to McCormick Ranch's Railroad Park in Scottsdale. We had some leftover tickets to use from Christmas break, and they were having Kid Appreciation Day, which was way cool! They had carnival booths, face painting, jumpy castle things, and some craft centers. Braylei got to make her own choo-choo whistle, and colored some blocks which will be put into a big mosaic at the Children's Art Museum. Braylei of course loved riding the carousel!

The kids are doing great. Tayscen continues to grow by the day. He is becoming a connoisseur of fine foods, developing his favorite baby foods, as Meghan makes all sorts of fun combinations for him to eat. He is rolling around all over just has a permanent smile on his face! My favorite thing that he does, is that every night when we put him down for bed, he will always end up in the top left corner of the bed, regardless of where we lay him down! It's hilarious! Braylei is of course my little princess. She is so smart. I've noticed her speech continues to improve even more that sometimes I forget that she's still just two! She can look at almost any word and spell it now, and I have the feeling that pretty soon she'll be helping me with my board review studies!

Oh, and then Wednesday night, when I was playing basketball at the church, I ended up injuring my foot pretty bad! Early in the game, one of the guys on the other team had a fastbreak, but I caught up to him and got an amazing blocked shot, but I must have got too much hang time, because I had a bad landing on my left foot. At first I thought it was just a little sprain, so I just loosened it up a bit, changed up my running pattern so I wasn't running on the ball of my foot as much, and it seemed fine. But the pan kept worsening throughout the game, and by the time I got home, it was hard to move and was pretty swollen. The pain was exponentially worse the next day. I couldn't put any weight on it, and I couldn't get into the doctor until Friday, forcing me to hobble around everywhere. I still thought it would resolve in a few days, but I was starting to get worried. It hurt a lot worse than any sprain I've ever had. So Friday morning I went into the Podiatry clinic at my school, and it didn't take me too long to figure out something was up> Whenever a doctor asks for more X-rays numerous times and then returns to have more physicians and podiatrists exam your foot, chances are good that you have something wrong. Turns out that I most likely have a Lisfranc dislocation, which is a rupture of the ligament between my 1st and 2nd metatarsal in my midfoot, and there was a separation between the medial and 2nd cuneiform, which are other small bones in my foot. Chances are excellent that surgery will be required, but the decision will be made tomorrow when the results of the MRI come back. If I do, the return to activity timetable is 6 months to a year, with me being completely non-weightbearing for 6 weeks. In the meantime, I've been crutching around with this giant immobilizer boot feeling completely useless. I've also realized how rough it is to live in a 2-story house! But I will be sure to update everyone when I find out more info!

That that didn't stop the fact that on the 8th, Meghan and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary! It's crazy to think we've been married 5 years already! And then add in the fact that we've known each other for almost 11 years now and it's like we're an old married couple! We obviously couldn't do a lot given that we have two small kids, one of whom is still nursing, I'm in school, and I have a gimpy foot! We did go to dinner and a movie, and it was nice to get away for just a few hours, if nothing else!

January Recap

What the scrud? It's February already? Where has the time gone? Oh, yeah, I just got through "Black January" at school, which is probably the worst stretch of my medical school career. It is called this because of the ridiculous slew of tests, quizzes, and other requirements that preclude you from seeing the light of day! It has been very draining on me physically and mentally. But I only have 1 more test before finals! It really has been a pretty solid butt-kicking for me this quarter. Yeah, it's busy, but it seems more like I've been in a funk since returning from Christmas break and I haven't been able to get into my groove. But I've squeaked by okay. It's also been busy trying to figure out what I am going to do for my 3rd year clinical rotations. We have to try to schedule where you want your cores, what elective you want to take, not to mention trying to set up military rotations. I'm also applying for a predoctoral fellowship program in osteopathic medicine. In this program, I would be helping teach the 1st and 2nd year OMM labs at school, as well as spend every other month working in the school's osteopathic specialty clinic, where I would be seeing my own patients! It's a totally awesome experience, and would be a huge asset to my clinician skills! But, as a tradeoff, my clincal rotation period that normally lasts 2 years (the 3rd and 4th years of med school,) would be extended an extra year so that I would be able to alternate working in the clinic as well as completing all my normal rotations. I would be receiving excellent training, but even if I am selected, I am not sure if I will be able to do it due to my obligations with the Army. They are paying for 4 years of medical school and want me in one of their residency programs as soon as I graduate. I am trying to convince them that by giving me an extra year, I will be able to be an even better Army doc. My request is currently going up the chain of command, which is no speedy process, unfortunately. I guess I'll just have to wait and see what happens.

One of our school requirements is to do a rural rotation, and I have decided to return to Cedar City, one of my favorite places on earth, and the home of my undergrad, Southern Utah University! I love that place and it will be fun for us to go up there for a month and see everyone again! I tentatively have it set up for March 2009 (a peak time to see some gymnastics meets), but that might change depending on the outcome of the fellowship position.

I have also completed my solo OSCE's (orientation to student clinical experience), which was very nerve wreaking. It was like being in a real doctor setting and we had to apply all the information we've gathered over the last year and a half to patient scenarios. We are in a real exam room and are monitored and evaluated by a facilitator behind a 1 way window. There is a simulated patient in the room and we complete an exam based on our findings, then write up a SOAP note, which documents our findings, our diagnosis, and our treatment goals. It was a really good experience for me to see where my strengths an weaknesses lie, and try to improve upon them.

On the home front, Tayscen is now 7 months old! Isn't that crazy? He has truly discovered the joy of food and eats a ton! Meghan has been making his babyfood, but he is eating a lot more than we expected him to! He just loves to eat! He also loves the biter biscuits and Zwiback toast! Braylei never liked the babyfood that much! He is also finally rolling over a lot more now and is growing more aware of his surroundings by the day! Braylei has loved being potty-trained and is doing so well with it! She has a little sticker chart where she gets a sticker and a little treat each time she goes. She is also making leaps and bounds with her alphabet. She knows all her letters and what sounds they make, and can spell her own name! Meghan has been working with her every day, as she focuses on a letter each week and does numerous activities that go with that letter. At the end of the week, Braylei has a little letter book that she made and she even traced the letter B by herself! That was crazy to me!

On a more sober note, Gordon B. Hinckley, prophet and president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, passed away on January 27 at the age of 97. To his last days, he was filled with joviality, kindness, wit and compassion. Through his leadership, the LDS church has grown so much. President Hinckley was the prophet since well before I joined the LDS church in 2002. Even before I joined the church, I had the utmost respect for him. A kinder, more genuine individual I have never known. He was truly a disciple of Christ and a champion of humanity. Regardless of religious affiliation, no one can say a negative thing about Gordon B. Hinckley. He was loved by all, making himself open to the media, and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President George W. Bush, which is the highest award given to a civilian. I know that I am a much better person because of his leadership, counsel and wisdom, and I know that he was a true prophet of God.

On a lesser note, I suffered another loss this month. My 4th generation 60GB iPod Photo, which I have had since 2005, went caput for good after a multiple month battle with freezing. "Old Bricky" was a hard drive based iPod, and was subjected to a lot of jostling, as it was a daily running companion to me. I was deeply saddened by this loss, and neither my workouts or daily commutes have been the same since.

Also this month, one of our good friends, Jill Stevens, competed for Miss America 2008! Jill, who was Miss Utah, was one of Meghan's roommates our freshman year, and was a Presidential Ambassador with me at SUU! Jill is also a medic in the Utah Army National Guard, and had completed a tour of duty to Afghanistan. It was so fun to watch her in both the pagent and on the TLC reality show leading up to the contest. It is always nice to see someone of such genuine character stand so firmly in her morals. She was even voted as America's Choice finalist! Of course we thought she should have won, but she represented not only the state of Utah, but the United States Army as well! Great job, Jill!

Another Break Ending Too Soon!

My Christmas break was far too short. I resume classes tomorrow, with an with a gauntlet of tests ahead of me. I have a big quiz in my clinical correlates class over an entire board review book that we were supposed to read over the break (yeah, right), then a Micro test on Monday, our clinical correlates midterm that Friday, followed by a Path test 3 days later! But, that's my life in med school! Thankfully I only have a little ways to go before my clinicals are through!

This break has been very good for our family. Christmas was so much fun! Braylei was so excited and had so much fun! She wanted to stop and and play with each present and thus she was opening presents forever! Tayscen was just chillin out being the happy little kid he always is. He got a cool little musical book that he likes to play with and has been good for tummy time with him. Braylei has been having a hard time deciding what she wants to play with and runs around from one thing to the next, whether it be playing with her Cinderella doll, pushing her shopping cart or vacuum, playing with her kitchen, coloring or riding her bike. She has had an awesome time.

We also used this break to do our planning for our "side yard." Since we live in an urban housing development, we don't have a back yard and our front yard is maintained for us, so we have a little 10 x 40 side yard which is in between our house and our neighbor, with our neighbor's house acting as the far fence, while their yard is on the opposite side, and so forth. Plus, with all the houses being two story, it doesn't get much sunlight, which adds to the difficulty in planning out our space. We want a fun area where the kids can play, but since our yard gets about an hour of sunlight a day (high noon), grass won't be able to grow. And even if it did, it wouldn't be worth it to install a sprinkler system or get a lawnmower for such a small area. So, we are going to use synthetic grass. At first, I thought this would be like astroturf, but most of the good stuff looks really good and is real soft and durable. There's no watering and no maintenance either! Some of the lower end stuff, though, did look like a flattened Christmas tree! We also are going to have a small area where we will put in mulch and a bench. And we just had some concrete put in for a barbeque area and a little pad by the gate. I'll be very excited to use it!

On the 29th, we took the kids to Railroad Park in Scottsdale! It was a really neat place! Braylei rode the carousel 3 times! I had Tayscen in the Baby Bjorn the whole time and he was as happy as could be! He was just kickin his legs and waving his arms! Of course, there were two train rides that we went on and a huge park! Braylei had a lot of fun going down all the different slides! It was a lot of fun for the kids!

Yesterday was another big day, as Braylei made the leap to "big girl panties!" We had been warming her up to the idea of using the potty to go to the bathroom for awhile now and she had picked out little mermaid, Elmo, and Dora underwear. She loved the potty videos we got from the library (they are weird, let me tell you, but she was mesmerized by them)! But yesterday, she told Meghan that she wanted to wear her mermaid panties and so we went for it. We spent most of the day in the bathroom, but it really paid off! She only had two big accidents, and they were the first two. It didn't take her long to realize the feeling and be able to tell us when she had to go. The following times she just wet her underwear a little bit before pinching it off and holding it. Then she went really well before her nap and stayed dry in her pullups through her whole nap, and went again after she woke up! It's really neat to see how quickly kids catch on and how they can regulate their systems and gain control. She had another good day today and has continued to improve, so we had a potty party at Chuck E Cheese, which was where she wanted to go. The key was to get her excited about it and have her take ownership in it. It started with her picking out her "big girl panties" and have her want to wear them over diapers. Then the potty videos helped a bit warm her up to the idea. Then each time she went on the potty, she would get a little treat that she got to pick out that was special and only used for that purpose. She also got to put a sticker on her potty chart, and when that fills up, she will get a toy (she wants a baby doll). Then we told her that if she went on the potty all day and would tell us when she had to go, she would get a potty party where she wanted to go. It's been a lot of fun!

Tomorrow, Tayscen is getting his 6 month pictures taken! His hair has gotten pretty long already, so today, we trimmed his little hair for the first time. It is way hard cutting a baby's hair! They don't exactly sit straight, you know! But we got it trimmed so we can spike his hair for his pics. He looks so much older, too!

The hard thing about going back to school is with the kids, I love spending time with them and this break especially, I felt like I really bonded with Taysce. I was barely around for his birth, as that was right in the middle of basic training over the summer. Then I missed that whole 1st month of his life. When I got back, we moved into our new house and had to get situated there and everything, and then I started school again. He goes to bed around the time I get home from school and so I really only get to spend time with him on Sundays. But with him older now and interacting more, it was really fun to spend so much time with him. He's still a mama's boy by far, but I feel like he really knows me now. Hopefully I won't ever lose hold of that!

I also posted some more YouTube clips that you can access via the VideoBar to the right or by visiting my YouTube channel http://www.youtube.com/thejschro

From our family to yours, we hope you all had a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and a very Happy New Year! We always love to hear from you by leaving comments, too!