The Peds Resident Christmas Party

Friday, December 22nd we had our annual holiday party. All the residents go up to the lounge (instead of noon conference) for lunch and holiday cheer. Secret Santas reveal themselves and give their last present. I had Jen Schrieber... I think she was suprised. Sheena had me and I am so thankful for my Target gift card, boy do I love that store! Jackie, Tara, Sarah, and I also exchanged gifts. I got a Cardinals welcome mat, a Tshirt, and a cookbook; all very useful items! Then some very creative residents entertained us by singing their version of "The 12 Days of Christmas" in this case "The 12 Days of Wards." These words are similar but may be out of order:
On the 12th day of Wards my senior gave to me:
12 directs coming
11 trachs a plugging
10 Crohn's a bleeding
9 nurses paging
8 fevers spiking
7 kids a puking
6 hyper bilis
5 RSVs
4 seizing kids
3 transfers
2 spinal taps
and a pager for the ward team.

Unfortunately, after the festivities I had a ROUGH night of call in the NICU. ***Note that when you click on the title above it will link to other pictures, I hope! I will add others to the previous posts if they are available. Best wishes!

Jen and Jenn

Wednesday we were lucky enought to get another visitor... Jenn Rigg came to town! Besides the fact that Jenn is one of my nearest and dearest friends, it is super special to see her because she is a traveling NICU nurse and you never know where she is going to be. Lucky for us, she had taken time off for the holidays between assignments and fit in a visit on the way to pick up her Grandma for the holidays. When she got into town she got to have lunch with Ari and I before he headed off to work. I took her to Children's to drop off my secret santa gift and then show her our NICU, which she really liked. Unfortunately, CHW doesn't hire traveling nurses... that would be too much fun! That night she got to join us for resident happy hour which was at the Milwaukee Ale House. John Trost, one of my classmates friends, was singing/playing the guitar and he was so talented. Finally, we decided to take off and rent a chick flick... The Devil Wears Prada (a movie I am quite sure Ari has no interest in seeing). Poor Jenn was exhausted from traveling and fell asleep on the couch. The next day we had planned to do some shopping in the Third Ward but the weather just did not cooperate. We ended up eating sandwiches and watching You, Me, and Dupree which was hysterical. I then took off for a meeting and Jenn went down to Chicago. Thanks for coming up Jenn!!

Ari's Mom Comes To Visit

Last Friday night, Ari's mom flew in to visit from Oregon. Her trip was unfortunately a little eventful with one of her planes being late causing her to almost miss a connecting flight. For those of you who fly Northwest Airlines, beware that there are no snacks! His poor mom flew all day and didn't even get a pretzel. When she arrived, I took her to one of our favorite local restaurants to get a bite to eat and Ari came to join us after work.

Saturday, I took Ari and his mom to an Indian restaurant I discovered a couple of months ago. Lunch was delicious! We then walked it off at the Milwaukee art museum, which had more art than I suspected. There was also this creepy display with a talking baby doll... wierd. Tom, Sarah Beth, and Conner came over for dinner and I made home-made pizzas which were accompanied by Tom's famous salad. Dinner was great but the company was better. Tom and Sarah also brought us a Christmas gift - a card shuffler. Get ready poker fans, we are now planning the next party!!

Sunday we slept in and then did a little holiday shopping. We then got ready for a night out. Dennis and Davette, a classmate of Ari's and his wife, came over and we headed off to see the Nutcracker. I was the only one who had seen a ballet before. Everyone enjoyed the show. We then went for Tapas at a restaurant down the street called Swig (that's where the picture was taken). It was delicious for the carnivores and the vegetarians.

Monday was back to work for me. Marshan and Ari actually came to visit me while I was on call in the NICU since things were quiet. Then Marshan flew back home EARLY Tuesday. We are so glad that she got to visit!

Our New Hang Out

After a few weeks at Leff's Lucky Town (home of the world's largest urinal... boy am I sorry I missed that one!), Wednesday night resident happy hour has moved to Mo's Pub conveniently about a mile from the hospital. This Wednesday residents from all classes and most of the PICU nurse practitioners met to celebrate our move. Let me tell you, the place was hoppin'. The service left something to be desired (and was probably related to my prior comment) but the food was good and the beer was cold! They also had a live band as an added bonus... unfortunately their song list did not include Polka!

Friday Night Fish Fry

In Milwaukee, you can hardly go anywhere that doesn't serve fish fry on friday, even the hospital does! So the interns requested that our weekend outing include fish fry at the Lakefront Brewery... the added bonus being that the Polka Kings play live every friday. So you can imagine the fun we had after a few beers and a couple of sets of polka music. Most of the interns got up to try their hands (well, actually feet) at polka. It was a riot! Here I am with a couple of stars of the intern class Aaron Weiss and Melissa Turner. Ari actually did eventually join us after his Flight for Life shift. I promise we do spend time together, I just don't have the pictures to prove it!!

Mother Daughter Bonding

As I alluded to in my previous blog, my mom braved the weather to come visit last weekend. Normally, the trip takes about 6 1/2 hours... as she painfully found out, in a blizzard of snow and ice it takes 12! For the couple of hours we had left of Friday, we took her out to dinner with our friends Andy and Tara and had a few laughs.

Saturday, Ari was feeling under the weather so after a quick breakfast with him we dropped him off at home to recuperate. In our usual style, mom and I then went shopping!! We bought some Christmas decorations and presents. That night, mom totally spoiled us by making dinner... when will she just move in?! Then mom and I played games while poor Ari dozed on the sofa.

Sunday morning Kristen came in by train. She was looking a little rough around the edges but perked up after a bloody mary at brunch. I then took them on a mini tour of Milwaukee and showed them all the beautiful houses by the lake. They were decorated for Christmas and snow covered... Gorgeous! We did more shopping... I am sure you are shocked!... and then came home to get cleaned up for dinner. I took them to Carini's (most out of town guests end up there so come visit!!) and we had such a wonderful girly dinner. The wine was fabulous, the dinner specials succulent, and the chocolate cannolis are still the best I have ever eaten. We then headed to the Martina McBride Christmas concert. It was really entertaining, she has one of the most amazing voices I have ever heard. Mom and Kristen spent the night and left early as I went to work Monday morning. Luckily, mom's drive was a bit smoother!

A New Addition

Meet the new addition to our family, Eckstein the cat. Eckstein actually started out in St. Louis and was found by John. He went to live at mom's house which is where Ari and I met him. He was so friendly and sweet that I wanted to take him home, but decided not to because I was not sure Sassy would take it well. She has been an only cat for 4 years. We parted ways after the Thanksgiving holiday but I knew in my heart he would find a good home. This past weekend, mom came up for a visit, braving Blizzard '06. Guess who was with her? Eckstein!! He turned out to be an early Christmas present from my wonderful husband. He made himself right at home; Sassy did not take that well at all. She hissed, attacked, and made some of the most horrific noises I have ever heard come out of an animal. Eckstein was just upset that she wouldn't play with him. Finally, tired of her antics he took a swat at her and she has a scratch on her nose to prove it! Believe it or not, now they are pals. They like to be in the same room together and have even been caught giving each other Eskimo kisses! Welcome home Eckstein!!

Our Whirlwind Thanksgiving Break

I think you better sit down for this... for a week over Thanksgiving, Ari and I were actually on vacation together! The stars must have aligned when our chiefs wrote our schedules this year!! We were delighted to take the time to catch up with our friends and loved ones. Here is a synopsis of the insane itinerary:

We left Tuesday morning and headed to Peoria to see Tim, Michelle, and their beautiful daughters. They are old friends from medical school and we were glad to catch up and see how big their girls have gotten. Elizabeth, who was born during medical school, is now almost 3 and Lauren just turned one. While I sat and cuddled with Lauren and read a book, Ari and Elizabeth ran around in circles until he almost passed out. When Tim got home from the hospital we went out to dinner and Dave, one of Ari's med school roommates, got to join us. Unfortunately his wife Amanda was on call. As luck would have it, Aja and Jill, friends from my class, were there too! Finally, stuffed full of pasta, we rolled into the car and down to St. Louis.

Wednesday, Ari went to play golf while mom and I shopped in historic St. Charles. I found a couple of ornaments for our tree and some Christmas presents. That night mom cooked an awesome meal - steak for the carnivores and pasta for the vegetarian! We finished off the night with an exciting game of Mexican train.

Thursday, which some people call Thanksgiving and I fondly refer to the festival of food, we ate all day! My mom cooked a delicious meal for me, Ari, Tracy, Mike, Tina, Don, John, and Holly. She even made sweet potatoes (which she hates) because she knows we love 'em. We were so glad that Holly could join us after her crazy night in the Cardinal Glennon PICU. Believe it or not, I was so full from the wonderful dinner that I couldn't eat the obligatory turkey sandwhich later that night!

Friday, mom and I treated ourselved to manicures and pedicures. Then, Ari wanted to go shopping... I swear it was his idea!! Miraculously, we found parking easily. We got what we were looking for and headed to Aunt Camille's for a visit. It was wonderful to see Dad, Lily, Kelsey, Aunt Camille, Uncle Orville, Uncle Brucey, Aunt Kathy, my cousin Adam and his fiancee Katie. We then went to have Japanese with mom and were off to the boat... casino, that is. If you have been reading our blog at all, you probably get the impression that we like to gamble... you are probably right! Ari had terrific luck at Harrah's, though I kept trying to give back our winnings!

Saturday we went to visit Laura, Tim, and Audrey. Laura, Tim and I went to the U of I together where Laura was my pledge mom. Ari and I were so excited to meet their new daughter. She is so beautiful... and such a good sleeper! That night was my 10 year high school reunion. The picture above is me and Sara who has tolerated being my friend longer than anyone else... now about 15 years! I had a great time catching up with everyone and seeing what they were up to. It was fun to meet the spouses, too!

Sunday we slept in and regretfully made our way home back to the real world.

Ladies' Night

Before we all scattered to celebrate Turkey Day, a few of girls got together for Ladies' Night. Tara, Jackie, Sarah and I started out at the Melting Pot for dinner, where they actually have a "Girls Night Out" menu. I had never been so it was a new experience. The food was good but my favorite part was dessert. After dinner we headed to the casino, Jackie had never been so it was fun to show her around. Tara and I were clearly casino veterans and headed toward our favorite games... craps for me, blackjack for Tara. Tara won a big hand on Let it Ride and came to see what I was up to. I taught her some craps basics and she did great! She was an awesome shooter and made both of us some money. Before leaving, I decided to give the casino back my winnings on Roulette. Oops! Overall, it was a great time!

Pediatrics in Action!!

For the last month I have been on a rotation called MDEP (multi-disciplinary educational project) with the goal being that a group of residents develops a project for kids in the community. It has been a nice four weeks away from the hospital! Our group has been working with Head Start to develop healthy snacks parents and kids can do together as well as encouraging physical activity. So far we made vegetable roll-ups, dynamite sticks (fruit kabobs), and yogurt parfaits. The kids have LOVED it. It has been fun trying to make sure they don't poke their eyes out with skewers! We have also made obstacle courses, taught them tae kwon do, and yoga. Here Ebe and I are playing a rousing game of Duck Duck Goose when it was 72 degrees outside... in November... in Milwaukee... amazing!! I am not quite sure we have achieved life-changing health for the kids but we sure have had fun trying!!

The Q4 Kickers

For the first time in Children's Hospital of Wisconsin history, the residents formed a kickball team. Believe it or not, the game we all grew up playing a recess is a VERY popular Milwaukee past-time. We joined a league through MUSA (the Milwaukee unconventional sports association) that also sponsors dodgeball leagues and putt-putt tournaments. You know it is going to be a fun time when we play rock/paper/scissors to decide who will be the home team!! Our team of 20 residents and spouses had a challenging season. We didn't realize how seriously some teams take the sport! Needlesstosay, we ended the year with a losing record but a winning attitude. We look forward to next season when we will focus on the fundamentals - catching, kicking, and aggressive base running! The picture above is two of my classmates Jackie (star right fielder) and Sarah (star catcher and team cheerleader). We were out celebrating an end to the season and planning the rest of the winter social calendar.

Ari's Birthday Surprise!

The weekend before Ari's birthday, I surprised him by inviting all of his college friends to Milwaukee. Those of you who know him best will realize what a feat that is... he is NEVER surprised. So you can imagine how exciting it was to get 7 of his friends together without him suspecting. We started off with a tour of Miller Brewing Company (no worries, I am still a tried and true Budweiser fan). Andi never quite made it there but instead got a self-guided tour of Milwaukee. After sampling the stock and writing a few postcards to our loved ones, we headed back to our house. My friend Sarah was gracious enough to be my sous chef as I made dinner for Ari, Tom, Jason, Jenny, Karen, Grant, Andi, Dan, and ourselves. We had all of Ari's favorites including artichoke lasagna and Moscato di Asti. We then ended the evening in college form with a lot of beer and a game of a-hole (sorry, I am a pediatrician now). We crashed a lot earlier than we used to in the old days except for Tom who decided to run home... good thing he only lives a couple of miles away. The next morning I cooked brunch and our friends had to say goodbye. Thanks everyone for coming, we hope to see you again soon!!

Aunt Ellen and Uncle Kenny Visit

Yesterday, we were delighted to have Aunt Ellen and Uncle Kenny come up to Milwaukee for a visit! We met at the Potowatomi Casino (pictured here) for a little gambling fun. Aunt Ellen surprised me with a hand stitched little purse to keep my casino cards in... how did she know I have more than one?! Then we were off to the tables. Ari and I played some craps, not a good day for that! I don't think any shooter rolled more than 4 times. Disheartened we went to find Aunt Ellen winning big, I mean having fun on the slots. Ari and I tried to get a seat at the poker tables, my personal favorite, but there were 39 people waiting!! So we headed back for some roullette were we started out pretty hot but ended up even. After all that excitement, we were starving.

We took our guests to Carini's, a superb Sicilian restaurant. We had a wonderful time catching up and filling up on wonderful bread. Our main dishes were delicious but the dessert was my favorite. Aunt Ellen and I split a chocolate cannoli... it may very well have been the best cannoli I have ever tasted (and I have tasted my fair share). We then took Aunt Ellen and Uncle Kenny back to our house to show them our updates. I didn't realize that they hadn't seen our house since it was a bachelor pad when I was still in Springfield. I think they liked what a woman's touch had done. We watched a few innings of the World Series and then they had to leave us to return to Highland Park.

And the Cardinals won game 1... Go Cards!!

PICU Madness

Long time, no blog! I am sorry for the long delay, but I have a good excuse. For the last three weeks I have been working harder than ever in the pediatric ICU. I thought I worked hard before, but taking care of the sickest babies in the hospital has been the most challenging experience of my young career. I have only had 1 day off in the last three weeks and every fourth night on call I am lucky if I get to blink let alone lay down. I used to think that I may want to be a critical care doc but now I am quite sure that I don't. Things change rapidly in the ICU and I personally do not require an adrenaline rush as part of my day. What I do find that I require is a pumpkin spice latte from Starbucks on my way in to the hospital at 5 am. Mmmm... Thank goodness I have the most supportive husband a girl could ask for. It helps tremendously to come home and vent for a bit. Ari is starting to feel a little neglected, though with me on call and then going to bed at 8:30pm because I am so exhausted. He has been busy too interviewing for jobs for July when he will be an attending! In the midst of this I am applying for my fellowship in hematology-oncology and promise to keep you posted on how that goes. The choices are Milwaukee, Children's Hospital of Denver, St. Jude in Memphis, Vanderbilt Children's and Duke. Ari and I wax and wane about where we would like to end up but I am sure it will all become much clearer after interviews. Also looming in the future is Step 3... last test to pass before I can become a fully licensed physician. I would appreciate everyone thinking happy thoughts on November 13-14 for me. The test covers all of medicine so I am going to have to review adult medicine, yuck! So I am off to enjoy my first weekend off, just one more week of stress until two call free months. Until then...

Reunited!!

Believe it or not, a couple of weekends ago 4 resident's schedules actually coincided for a reunion. Sarah (my med school roomie), her hubby Steve (a roomie for a short time), and Jolly... I mean Holly, one of my best friends and I all met in Chicago for a quick reunion. I couldn't swing getting the whole weekend off so I hopped a train on Saturday after my call to meet them downtown. It was fabulous to catch up on their lives. Steve and Sarah are doing great down in Lexington, Kentucky but have yet to develop a drawl. Holly is chillin' at Cardinal Glennon in my hometown of St. Louis where she is quickly becoming a snake bite expert... you'll have to ask her for details! We had a great dinner at Weber Grill, where my sister took great care of us at the bar and then went for some laughs at the Second City. The Second City was as wildly inappropriate as I remember and the show had the best improv session I have ever seen. We all had a great time. We then crashed back at the Hilton where it was like old times waiting to use the bathroom!! There is no sleep for the weary so we were up early the next day to get in a few more quality hours and share a tasty breakfast at Toast. Then it was time for us to leave by trains, planes, and automobiles or rather Amtrak for me, Metra for Holly, and a Mazda for Steve and Sarah. The only thing missing was Ari who was stuck working overnights back at home. We just thought of him as safely tucked in a crisper (sorry to those of you who don't get that one!)

Camp Rainbow

Today I got to escape the confines of the hospital and spend the day at Camp Rainbow. For most of the summer this camp is a JCC day camp but for one week of the year they cater to special groups of children each day and today it was time for all the cancer patients and their sibling to have their turn. I got to come along as a camper/counselor/extra set of hands. I rode the bus with the kids and sang along to a bunch of new camp songs... they have definitely gotten more PC then the ones we used to sing! Once we got to camp, I helped with the 5-7 year-old boys and the little peanut pictured here with me since she is four and her brother was in my group. Before lunch there was scooter hockey and boating, which were both a hit. They even had itty bitty paddleboats that the kids could do all by themselves. After some hot dogs and more singing it was on to the pool. Kaycee (she's the peanut) and I had a great time floating and splashing. We finished off with a hike. On the way home our bus overheated so we had to join the other bus which made for a tight squeeze but definitely more fun. Some of you will appreciate that I wore my "Teen Girl Squad" tshirt and one of the counselors started singing the Tragdor song!! Overall, it was great to see all of the kids just playing like they are supposed to... trading IV poles for Noodles and sterile playrooms for muddy frog hunts. Every once in a while it is great to have a day that reaffirms everything you want to do with your life and today was certainly one of those for me.

Canoeing in Baraboo

After the fun at the waterpark, we were ready for dinner. We ate at the Cheese Factory, which was a surprisingly quirky and lucky find. Our dinner was supurb... without any meat!! The next day we made our way to Baraboo for a little canoeing. We took the 4.5 mile trip down a pretty tame but at some points shallow, Baraboo River. It was a beautiful day and wonderful to be in natural sunlight as opposed to the usual florescent glow. We saw some sunbathing turtles and even an egret. Though our coordination at times left something to be desired, I look forward to our next trip on the water!

Our Mini Vacation

A couple of weekends ago, Ari and I were able to sneak away from our respective hospitals for a weekend at the Dells. The Dells is the land of waterparks and we were looking forward to escaping the heat. We spent Saturday at Mount Olympus which is a combined theme park and water park. What a blast. They have go cart tracks, rollercoasters, waterslides, and mini golf courses AND an indoor waterpark and indoor rollercoasters. We started out with the go carts for a warm up and then hit the rollercoasters. They have this awesome rollercoaster that starts 16 stories up and goes underground. I would like to tell you that I was excited about riding it, but I have gone soft in my old age. Ari persuaded me to go on it and I can honestly say it was one of the best rides I have ever been on. So after that we were ready to hit the water! We made it down about 4 or 5 slides when the weather got nasty. We decided to take that opportunity to check in to our bed and breakfast. We then went back to the park for more!! We went to the indoor water park which was fabulous because it was heated!! I have to admit, I think we had more fun inside than out. They had a double tube ride that took my breath away it was so fast! We finally had to drag ourselves away to get ready for dinner. On the way out we were going to play a quick round of putt-putt. Ari got a hole in one on the first hole! Staff then came by to tell us that lightning had been spotted and we had to stop. Needless to say, Ari was disappointed to have is awesome shot wasted!!

My sister is married!!

I apologize for the late update but I am so excited to announce my sister's marriage to Larry Tobis. As I am sure I have told most of you, I picked Larry out many years ago. My sister and I were out eating dinner and he came up to introduce himself. I told my sis that she should date him and a couple of months later they were inseparable! I absolutely love having a brother!! He is so much fun and loves my sister like crazy (which is the most important part). What Kristen and I like the most is how well Ari and Larry get along, which lets us get in tons of girl time.

The wedding itself was beautiful. Kristen was so creative in all of her planning and so bold in having it outside. It turned out to be a beautiful day. Larry actually wrote a song for my sister as his vows and played the guitar... everyone was in tears. Koby of course jumped right in the lake during the middle of the ceremony; bow tie and all.

The post-celebration was also memorable. Shortly after being seated for dinner the sky opened up; we were so lucky to be under a tent! Then of course came the dancing. My cousin Ed Dj'd both of our weddings and everyone had a great time. Then there was a special interlude by Larry's cousin who decided to do a glow stick routine... we were all shocked and will never forget that! If I had only brought my rhythm ribbon...

So if any of you have been wondering where I have been hiding, here it is! Children's Hospital of Wisconsin has become my second home... if you ask Ari, he might say that it is my primary residence. It is a great place to work and gain the valuable knowledge about pediatrics that I desire, but the experience comes at a price: many hours of lost sleep, time away from my incredible husband, and also little time to spend with friends and family. I apologize to all of you for the lack of communication over the past year including forgotten birthdays and holidays. With this new year (our academic calendar begins July1) I promise to change all of that! I am most definitely looking forward to being a second year resident and all its perks: 2 less call months (that is 14 less nights spent out of my bed), more electives, more autonomy (the jury is still out on whether or not I am ready for that!), and more outpatient experience. Can you believe that Ari is going to be a senior resident already? I think he is apprehensive of his increasing duties, but anyone who knows him realizes that he is a fabulous asset to the emergency department at Froedert.

An attempt to keep in touch!

Okay, here is another attempt to keep in touch with everyone! Hopefully, we will be able to keep this blog up to date so if you are wondering what Ari and I are up to and for some strange reason haven't been able to get ahold of us by other means (I don't know anyone who has that problem) then you can check this web site! We'll see how it goes!!