Merry Christmas!!!

(Pictured above are our Canine Babies--left to right are Emma, Scooter-looking mighty enthused, and Katie. This was one decent photo out of about 30...someone was either moving so much that they looked like a blur, or somebody would be looking the wrong way. Scooter was definitely ready for picture-time to be over and get back to playing!)

I'd like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas. We may not all be under one roof today, but we are not far from each others thoughts and hearts. Family is so important, and I'm grateful to be a part of this one! As crazy as it is. Ha-Ha! :)

We'll be spending the day here at home. Buster had chemo on Tuesday and isn't feeling well, but hopefully he'll feel a little better in a few hours when everyone wakes up. Lexi is typically the first one up and ready to open presents and I'm not too far behind her. :)

Please be safe, and have a wonderful day. Let's take time to count all of our blessings...we're all very fortunate. I've come to think that if things aren't going exactly as we've planned, but we're all still alive, then it's nothing more than a bad day.

I love you all,

Liz

P.S. Ugh!!! For some reason I'm having trouble with adding a space in between my paragraphs and I'm just anal enough for it to drive me crazy! It's late--or early, and I'm tired so I'm just going to leave it alone and get some sleep.

Thanks Givin'

Hey Everyone - hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving with full bellies. Same place same chef next year. Love - becky and david

I should be given demerits or something...

I can't believe that my last post was in July! There's really no good excuse, so I'll take the demerits coming to me. :)

So, here's an update on the Hewitt Happenings over the last four months...Hmmm, where should I start? The easiest place for me to start is Lexi. I can ramble on and on about my sweet girl for hours on end. How much time do you have? Just kidding, I'll try to keep it fairly brief.

Well, Lexi's almost halfway through her 10th grade year. I can't belive my baby is getting so big! She's doing well in school. She says that this year is more demanding than the previous years, but she still has all A's and B's. She wasn't able to get her braces off in July afterall, but they're scheduled to come off tomorrow--finally! She's had them on for 27 months, she can probably tell you exactly how long she's had them down to the exact hour and minute. For the last week she's had "finishing eleastics" on and her teeth are basically wired (with the rubberbands) shut. Her mouth is sore, but amazingly enough, she's still managed to talk with her teeth clamped together! Here Buster and I thought we'd have a quiet week, but there's no stopping her from talking! :) It's been quite an ordeal, but she'll have a beautiful smile to show for it.

Lexi and I have been getting allergy shots for nearly a year, and it's been wonderful! We haven't had any sinus infections, bronchitis, etc... and her asthma has really been under control as well. I wish we had done this a long time ago.

In August after Buster had a CT scan the doctors told us that the 2nd line of chemotherapy had also failed because the cancer was still growing. They put him on the 3rd and final chemo drug that's available for colon cancer. It was difficult news to hear, and to make matters worse, the doctor was a real piece of work. I would like to use a colorful adjective to describe her, but I'll behave myself. She was rude, talked down to us, and was overall very insensitive. My husband is a human being as deserves to be treated well, not to mention that he fought for this country and it's because of the sacrifices he made that she was able to move here from Pakistan or wherever the heck she's from, and enjoy the freedom that the United States has to offer! It's also because of his service to our country that he ended up with this cancer in the first place. I'll get off my soap box now...sorry for ranting...

With this new chemo we're now going to the VA for treatment every week instead of every other. He's managing pretty well, and is still fighting like crazy. He has good days and bad days, and still amazes me with how much he does despite his illness. He pushes himself like no other person I've ever known.

Buster's brother, Don, and his wife came to see us earlier this month. They live in Alabama and Buster and Don hadn't seen each other in about 10 years. It was nice to finally meet them in person. It was a really nice visit. His sister, Charlie, has been coming over just about every other weekend for a little over a year. She's truly been a blessing during all of this.

I was taking 2 classes, but with everything going on it was too much, and I had to drop my classes this semester. I hated to do that, but it was for the best. In September I had two tumors removed - one from my forearm, and one from my thigh, two days later Buster had to have a blood transfusion AND he had a pretty bad infection in his colon (Beck, it was C-Dif). Anyway, for the next 12 days he was in pretty bad shape, and I just couldn't keep up with everything. There's always next semester, right? There's a billboard in our area, maybe it's in SA too, it has an elderly lady on it dressed in a cap and gown and it says that she's the oldest graduate at 92 years old. I'm begining to feel like I'm going to be their next "oldest graduate"!

I miss all of you, and will try to be better about posting updates.

Love,

Lizard

baby pics!

My belly at 15 weeks

my sonogram pics at 12 weeks

ahh! alien baby!

New exhibits!

Hey familia,

There are 3 new exhibits at the Southwest School of Art & Crafts that feature the work of Latina artists.

Here's the hyperlink http://www.swschool.org/index_flash.php. The opening is this Thursday from 5:30-7:30pm maybe we can all have dinner before or afterwards somewhere downtown.

It's been a while since we've gotten together...so join Becky and I at the new exhibit viewing!

Love ya'll,

Dave

The Whiskey Rebels

Hey all.....I know I haven't posted on here are much as I should. I've been super busy with school, but while working on my papers I've been sitting next to my friend David Liss at Olmos Perk. Anyway I thought, why not post about his new book? It's called Whiskey Rebels, that will be released in September! So here's a description of the book....love ya'll- Dave





Description

David Liss’s bestselling historical thrillers, including A Conspiracy of Paper and The Coffee Trader, have been called remarkable and rousing: the perfect combination of scrupulous research and breathless excitement. Now Liss delivers his best novel yet in an entirely new setting–America in the years after the Revolution, an unstable nation where desperate schemers vie for wealth, power, and a chance to shape a country’s destiny.Ethan Saunders, once among General Washington’s most valued spies, now lives in disgrace, haunting the taverns of Philadelphia.



An accusation of treason has long since cost him his reputation and his beloved fiancée, Cynthia Pearson, but at his most desperate moment he is recruited for an unlikely task–finding Cynthia’s missing husband. To help her, Saunders must serve his old enemy, Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton, who is engaged in a bitter power struggle with political rival Thomas Jefferson over the fragile young nation’s first real financial institution: the Bank of the United States.Meanwhile, Joan Maycott is a young woman married to another Revolutionary War veteran. With the new states unable to support their ex-soldiers, the Maycotts make a desperate gamble: trade the chance of future payment for the hope of a better life on the western Pennsylvania frontier.



There, amid hardship and deprivation, they find unlikely friendship and a chance for prosperity with a new method of distilling whiskey. But on an isolated frontier, whiskey is more than a drink; it is currency and power, and the Maycotts’ success attracts the brutal attention of men in Hamilton’s orbit, men who threaten to destroy all Joan holds dear.As their causes intertwine, Joan and Saunders–both patriots in their own way–find themselves on opposing sides of a daring scheme that will forever change their lives and their new country. The Whiskey Rebels is a superb rendering of a perilous age and a nation nearly torn apart–and David Liss’s most powerful novel yet.

-Source Amazon.com

Tough Days

**Warning: morbid, do not read**

Hey all-Just finished a 33 hour shift at the hospital, it was my most challenging yet. From the moment I walked in the door we had one patient actively dying and two more heading that direction. My pager would not stop, and family was gathering for our patient "in extremis". I managed to get the paperwork in order, including request for autopsy, between all the wailing and crying. He was a beloved patient over the last several weeks, not sure what happened exactly, so I called the medical examiner myself to make him aware of our concerns. Starting the day this way I knew it was going to be rough!

Just a few hours later another patient rapidly decompensated, troubling EKG findings and rapidly rising enzymes indicative of a massive heart attack. Unfortunately, family had only been recently notified that he was in the hospital because he was found in a ditch having massive head injuries from an apparent assault and it took several hours to find out who he was. So, they arrive to find him "in extremis" as well. Since I was the oncall, I took the lead on explaining his poor prognosis (mostly related to the massive head injury, then the heart attack), and managed to get a DNR order. Autopsy is automatic since this was quickly becoming a murder case. I waited for family to arrive, about thirty of them, and turned off all the drips while started a steady infusion of pain medicine, that is when it got awkward.....

So yea, he didn't die right away like we all predicted, and the family gathering stood anxiously for about an hour - then started leaving, and leaving more, as he lasted late into the night. So, I guess we don't know everything. I kept monitoring him from a remote system, and his heart just hung in there - not enough to sustain life but just enough to make this even more painful for the intern on call. Everytime I walked by they thought I was coming to pronounce him. It wasn't until about 3am that his heart gave out and I pronounced death on my first patient. For the first time, I found myself actually smelling like death, it is very distinct. Pleasant, huh?

All in all, I arrived at 5am that morning and did not eat/drink anything until 11:45pm that night. Though the conditons are extreme, I am learning so much, and my confidence is increasing. I wouldn't trade it for anything, and I am glad I am forced to do it because nobody would choose to be in this horrific situation. As a physician, it is an experience worth having though it is painful at the present.In addition to the awkwardness of my patient sort of "hanging in there", I had several admissions and various mundane issues with the other patients. I was able to start an arterial line and assist with a chest tube placement - pretty good for a rehab doctor. I am not sure how it happened, but the morning came quickly. One of our nurse pracitioner helpers took the day off, so we were severly short handed with more than our normal number of patients. I ended up having twice the number I usually take, which made the morning even more busy. My fellow interns are just not able to help very much, but they are nice people. What a perfect storm!

After all this cr*p going on, working way beyond my hours, and dealing with the aforementioned surgery types, they have the nerve to begin recruiting me into surgery!!! That is like some bully that beats up on you for three weeks turning around and asking you on a date. I just laughed and told them I was not nearly sadistic enough to be a surgeon, which is the truth. I love rehab, and this makes those pastures even greener. I enjoy the compliments and that always makes me feel better, but it doesn't change the circumstances.

Sorry for being so negative, I am actually doing well, I just wanted to share the events of the last few days to keep you up to date. I don't think the shows on tv acurately portray what residency is really like, the pressures, the sounds of the alarms/venilators, the crying families, the distinct odors - it all gets smushed up together in the ICU, which is why I mostly stay in the musky call room with a tv from 1981.

It has been standard for me to miss David while I am at work, but I am really surprised at how much I miss my three dogs. If I randomly think of them I get a little choked up, and I had not considered myself one of those crazy dog people either. If you don't already know, Boston sleeps right next to me every night and even when I am post-call during the day. It made me think that there are some people in my position who have kids, notably the other intern (male) who has a 4 month old, I just don't understand how they do it!! For the last four years I knew internship would be tough and that is why I always decided to hold off on starting a family - and now that decision is proving to be extremely accurate. I don't know how I would do this if I had kids, which is why it is not uncommon for people to leave residency altogether as a result of this particular rotation.

So anyway, the prognosis of this rotation is improving. It appears that three of the four interns during August are American, which is a good start. I think things will improve - if nothing else it is getting closer to being over!Love you guys, back to sleep for me! Becky