Fun Weekend Planned....

After the unexpected stresses of the week, Thomas and I sat down and planned such a fun weekend. We're going back to the pioneer village because they are having a summer celebration where the kids get to make their own lye soap, help weave a blanket, etc, etc....and we are going on our first family hiking expedition! Thomas and I used to do a lot of nature walking, etc and haven't done this since having children! I'm sure that we won't get to walk terribly far, but it will be great fun for everyone, I think! We sure can use this weekend as a family to regroup! Yesterday was Thomas' scheduled 1/2 day for the week (some weeks are full days off and some are 1/2 days..) and he worked until 9.30PM! They are having a meningitis epidemic nearby and 10 cases were transferred to the hospital yesterday! He sees the most fascinating infections...I've heard the most indredible stories in the last few weeks. He wasn't on call yesterday evening, but the calls kept coming after I had picked him up...he was paged all night long!!! I have mixed feelings about it. Of course, I want to have uninterupted family time on the one hand...but I also feel very proud that he is already doing so well that he is being called all of the time. It is the children that I worry about...not seeing him so often last week...and the broken promises to play playmobile So this weekend will be really special for everyone I think!



Kris

sorry I woke you up Kris--if you even knew that was me--obviously the family weekend was to start after 8:30AM--I am still trying to learn to sleep late after the surgery rotation

OMG...I had totally forgotten that you had called this morning...guess that says how sleepy I was!!!!! A golden rule around here....never call before noon on a weekend around here



I'm sorry about that....and about getting together...we really do need to plan a day. I have to take care of the family things going on here on the weekends...but we will be coming to Minneapolis soon....we could all go out to eat or something (you can live the adventure of the Math Family Circus in the restaurant!)...Do you forgive me about the weekend?



Kris

What a great weekend you have planned! And it should be good to reconnect after a hectic week.



It must feel good to Thomas to be called in as the "expert". Quite a different status than what he's been used to as a resident and fellow. That is what I have talked about often: the change from being a "lowly" resident to being a staff doctor. It takes a while (emotional and psychological changes do NOT happen overnight), but the "professional self esteem" can really recover after training. It struck Andrew as very surreal that all of a sudden he was treated with equal respect by his colleagues. It's subtle, but residents and fellows do not get that basic courtesy--even though they deserve it as hard-working, decent human beings.



There has been so much meningitis in Alberta that we had a province-wide free immunization for all two to twenty-four year olds. We had the girls vaccinated in May. While it's only for one strain (the most common), it does go a long way. Kris, do you ever worry about Thomas bringing infectious diseases home? I mean, many of them are not communicable under normal circumstances and with normal precautions (e.g., HIV and Hepatitis). However bugs like meningitis and staphoccocus (sp?) and who knows what else IS contagious. How do you handle that? I remember when Andrew was aiming for IF in early med school. He wanted to travel the third world and work in IF clinics. I worried about that, but never said anything to him. When he decided on radiology, that fear went away. Now I just have to worry about accidental radiation exposure. If he starts glowing in the dark, I'll start to worry.





Janet
Edited by: Janet at: 7/28/01 11:41:29 am

The weekend was nice. Saturday we did the little "cowboy park" thing....it was low key, but a nice outing. Today, we drove about 1.5 hours away and went to an indian museum (it was a big disappointment ) and then to one of the State Parks....which was AWESOME!!! There was a man-made lake for kids that we let the rugrats swim in until they were beat! Then we went on a 1.5 mile hike through the woods...it was really nice and the kids all kept up and had a good time!!! I'm really glad that we did this...we are already planning next weeks adventure and are going to try and book a camping cabin to stay in before winter near one of the trails!!!



As to my worrying about Thomas bringing home diseases...all of the time! He came home after the meningitis thing with a headache, and I worried that he was catching it too...I had a headache the next day and was sure that now I would have it ....He has been sick much more doing ID than he ever was in Internal Med...he goes to work sick, of course...but I think that we all have been sick quite a bit. I don't know if that has more to do with the kids being exposed to stuff at school, Thomas, or a bit of both.....YUCK!!!



Kris