The OR

This week I had my clinicals in the operating room (OR) at IMC in Murray. It was quite the experience! I really thought I'd be nauseous and maybe even pass out because normally I can't even stand to watch gruesome stuff like on TV, but it wasn't bad at all. I saw a laparoscopic cholecystectomy (gallbladder removal), internal fixation of an ankle, irrigation and debridement of an infected shoulder (even the surgeon was saying that it was disgusting as he was pulling out clumps of pus, haha!), a carotid endarterectomy (removing plaque from one of the neck arteries), and a spinal fusion. Unfortunately, I didn't get to scrub in BUT I did get to intubate a patient which means I stuck a breathing tube down someone's trachea. So cool!

During this experience, I thought about how fun it would be to be a scrub nurse and help surgeons with surgery. But then I kept thinking about how badly I want to work in the mother/baby unit. And then I thought about how great it'd be to be a school nurse and get teacher's vacation with a nurse's wage. But that's the great thing about becoming a nurse: I can easily change the field that I work in with just one degree. So I'm pretty thankful to be in the BYU nursing program!

New Apartment

Well this is a bit late seeing as how we moved at the end of August, but we thought we'd still post the pics anyway. We moved out to south Orem 'cause a steal-of-a-deal fell into our hands and we couldn't resist. We love the area and the family that lives above us is great. By the way, I have no idea why the picture above won't come below this text. I've tried for a while and now I'm giving up. Sometimes blogger can be so annoying!

Our poor little table looks so teeny in our enormous dining room. But at least we have a dining room now...

These babies are my pride and joy! We are forever done with the laundromat. Hallelujah!

Our apartment is super long and skinny as demonstrated by our super long and skinny hall.

We have an extra bedroom that we use as a study room. It's quite nice to have since we're so far away from the library. By the way, that's the bookshelf that I built. I know, I'm talented.

I know, I know. We probably shouldn't have a TV in our bedroom but we hardly use it since the TiVo only works in the living room. But it's nice to have from time to time.

So, if anyone ever wants to come stay, we actually have room for you now! Having a couple extra people over doesn't feel claustrophobic anymore. We love it here and are so lucky to have found such a good place in a town with two big Universities and tons of young married people.

Hydrocephalus

This picture might be a little more clarifying. The image on the left has hydrocephalus--this is similar to how Jeff's brain looked prior to the surgery. The image on the right is a normal brain with a functional draining system. The ventriculoperitoneal (VP) shunt was placed in the third ventricle which is the area where the white arrow is pointing to. Pretty soon--if the shunt works correctly--Jeff's brain will look like the normal one. I also thought I might add that when Jeff and I were in the ER Friday night, Dr. Gaufin, the wonderful neurosurgeon, said that he had performed 300-400 of these procedures and that there was a 95% chance of everything going as planned. So we are thankful that everything did!

A Weekend To Remember

This past weekend has been one that I will never forget. Hopefully I can tell you the story of my brain surgery experience. On Thursday I went in for an eye appointment to update my prescription and buy another year's worth of contacts. My eye doctor saw something on the photos of the inside of my eye where the optic nerve is. He noticed a change from last year that he thought might be something significant, but I felt completely normal and had none of the symptoms that he mentioned. He wanted me to go to the BYU health center within the next couple of weeks just to make sure and mentioned he would call them and explain the situation. That night, when I was in class, I received a call from the health center telling me I needed an MRI ASAP. Friday during my lunch break, I went and got an MRI of my brain to confirm that it was nothing. The doctor there told me they would have the results back by Mon or Tuesday. Friday evening at 6:00 PM I received a call with the results back from my MRI. The doctor explained to me that I had spinal fluid blockage in my brain and the pressure was building up in my ventricles. He continued to tell me to go to the ER immediately and see a neurosurgeon about having surgery. Saturday Morning at 11:00 am I went in for brain surgery to correct the hydrocephalus and I had a shunt placed in my brain to help the fluid drain. The shunt goes from inside my brain all the way down into my abdominal cavity where the spinal fluid will now drain when the pressure gets too high. I feel really grateful for my eye doctor who saw something different and had the courage to act and make sure it got taken care of. The surgery went as planned and I was able to come home Sunday evening with some painkillers and an amazing wife to help take care of me. As long as a painkiller enters my body every four hours I am doing okay for having brain surgery two days ago. To think that if the doctors hadn't corrected the problem, serious issues would have risen such as a coma or even death. I feel eternally grateful for all those involved and for all those that helped with me. Life can be short and we need to always be prepared for anything that comes are way. The Lord cares about us and loves us so much. I felt his love through him and all his children that helped me.

Had to make due with the haircut. Ranked #7 in the country how can you not put it on your head.
This is where the tube ends in my stomach.

Here's the scar from the hole they drilled in my skull (dime size) Going for a Walk, I literally felt like a Old Man who was 80 yrs old.

It's Been an Interesting Morning

So far today I have:

1. Built a bookshelf
2. Broken out in hives all over my body. I have never had hives before so it's quite strange.
3. Killed the LARGEST spider I have EVER seen with a hammer.

Kind of a weird start to my day...

-Brianne