6 Months

I know you've all been at the edge of your seats since my last post dying to know what my job is...:)

I work as an outpatient dietitian counseling clients for a number of reasons.  Most patients are looking for weight loss and diabetes control which I really enjoy, but I've also had some other different cases such as gastritis, cachexia, food allergies, and the occasional patient who has no idea why they've been told to come.  Those are fun!  I also get to do community presentations for corporations and health fairs. Not quite as many crafts as my time at WIC, but I do draw blood sugar curves A LOT! 

Here's a quick look at some of my favorite patients so far:

*20 minutes of explaining diabetes and how food affects it...

Me: So after hearing all this, what do you think you're going to have for lunch today?

BML: Big Macs are a dollar all week!

Me: Ok, but what are YOU going to have for lunch today?

BML: uh, if I get a diet soda and no fries, can I take the middle bread out and be under my carbs?

Me: Actually yes...

Needless to say, I didn't have high hopes for Big Mac Lady but she's proven me wrong and has been really successful!

* About to introduce myself...

Pt: I'm gonna just tell you right now, I don't eat any fruits or vegetables. Never have, never will.

There was the "vegetarian" who has a chicken Caesar salad for lunch every day. I didn't break the bad news to her...

Oh, and my lovely lady who dropped her drawers on our first visit so she could grab and jiggle just exactly what she's trying to get rid of! I got to skip that whole "build rapport with your client" step of the counseling process- she was already there!  I've always loved talking with people to hear their stories, and this job allows me to do that and get some pretty decent entertainment as well!

As much as I love it, it is only part time.  After Hank came home and was healing, I began another part time position at a research clinic studying a weight loss medication. Coming out of school I was 100% against any sort of pharmaceutical intervention. Everyone should just eat less and exercise, right? We all know that's easier said than done, and very few insurance plans will cover visits with a dietitian unless you already have one of the diseases you're probably trying to prevent.  This experience has opened my mind to the possibility that medication can play a role, albeit a temporary one, in getting someone started on the right track IF there is real behavior change happening with it. I like this particular plan because it's only 12 weeks long and incorporates general healthy behaviors like logging your foods, controlling portions and planning ahead.  And, of course, seeing me!

An if two jobs wasn't filling my time quite enough, I've taken over as coordinator of our soup kitchen,  had some company, a month of dog-sitting, been sick a few times, and trying to work around my impressively handy husband redo our kitchen and laundry room! Thankfully, the housework is mostly done, soup kitchen is getting back into a routine, I haven't had a sore throat in a whole week *knock knock*, and things feel much more manageable than they did a month ago.  Here are some pictures of the kitchen! There are still some doors and decorations missing, but you get the idea-

And after all of Chris's hard work...

What do you think? I love it!!!

What a Ride

Whew!  August has been quite a doozy.  I won't hash out the whole saga, because y'all know it all already I'm sure.  The whole thin was draining on so many levels, but glass-half-full-Alex was trying to figure out some positive side too almost losing our little boy.  Here's what I came up with:

-We are so blessed to have been able to get Hank the care he needed.  The fact that I'm an RD and have knowledge of nutrition support was what pushed us to transfer him to the Emergency facility, and  Chris has a great job which allowed us be in a position to pay for his care.  The staff at the clinic was incredible and it's amazing to have these doctors (that people come from North Carolina to see) only 5 minutes away.

-We have the best support system anyone could ask for.  The outpouring of love and support from all over the country meant the world to us.  Friends took us out to dinner, spent time keeping me busy or letting me sit and cry, and stopped by the house to give Hank his medicine when I couldn't miss any more work (Oh yeah, I got a job the day before this all happened! It's fabulous, I'll talk about it another time:).  My mom flew up the day after I called in tears during Hank's third surgery.  I love you all:)

-Chris and I both have a new appreciation for Betty.  Of course we loved her, but having her as the only dog for a couple of weeks and realizing she may have become the only Kenefic dog gave us an opportunity to love her even more.  Her previous owner had told me how intuitive and loving she was, and she was so right!  She let me suffocate her with hugs and cuddles (which she normally wouldn't do), and didn't mind if I just wanted to be a sobbing mess on the couch for a few hours when we probably should've gone for a walk or played in the yard.  

Who knows if we were supposed to learn anything else.  Maybe God was preparing us for a child with medical issues, or we were just starting to be financially comfortable and He decided to nip that in the bud. Who needs to update the house anyway? We're just thankful that Hanky poo beat the odds and is back home!  His sutures have healed (multiple IV sites, staples to close the central line, two separate abdomen incisions, two drainage sites), his hair is slowly starting to grow back on his belly, legs and neck and his hip bones aren't sticking out quite so much anymore:)  About 10-15 more pounds and we'll be back in business!

                                        

Hank also got to come home to a new deck:)  What a handy husband I have!  And what good friends HE has...;)  Thank you Adam and Brian for all your help with the deck and the lighting- we love it!

10 months

1286.5 hours

94 Assignments

17 sites

12 quizzes

7 ID badges

6 presentations

2 trips

1 dietetic internship- COMPLETE!!

Sister Weekend!!

BIG NEWS- We have a date for Chris' return!  Assuming nothing changes (which is ALWAYS a bad thing to assume)- he'll be back July 14th!  Yippee!

In the meantime, I've been chipping away at the end of my internship hours and having a blast with tons of company.  Mom and Dad came for a few days last month, some family friends came a day after they left, and Blair was just here for my birthday!  Great times were had by all, but Blair's trip is freshest in my mind so here are some pics of an amazing week with the greatest sister:)

She flew in Wednesday night and I just HAD to spend Thursday showing her all around!  She'd never been before so I showed her around base and Ghent.  We went to Central Meats and bought food to cook for dinner that night, and she ended the night with some pretty serious Betty-snuggle time:)  After working a half day Friday, the weather was kinda icky so we painted pottery at Glazenfyre and went to the Khedive Rodeo.  It was such a blast! Sure, Blair may have wanted a Virginia-filled week but we added in a little Texas;)

In the stands waiting for the show to start, Enjoying the barrel racing

We hit the beach on Saturday!  The arts festival was on the boardwalk and we walked around, got some ice cream, and had fun being silly:)

Sandcastles in the saaaaaaaaand!

Our dear friends Adam and Jenny had us over for dinner on Saturday night and grilled a wonderful dinner.  We relaxed on Sunday with church and dogs on the beach to prepare for my birthday yesterday...which was AWESOME!!  Blair and I got up and out to be at Busch Gardens when they opened.  Neither of us had been before and we had SUCH a great time!!!  Because we got there early, we got onto all the good rides with hardly any waiting and still had time to see a show, shop some, AND re-ride the Griffon ride three times! We met Tori for dinner at the Melting Pot, then sweet Haley surprised me with cake and champagne afterwards. What a sugar and fun-filled day!

Haley's delicious, in a photo-booth, crazy fun ride, our scared faces- SO FUN!

Boobs Everywhere!

So...I'm in my lactation rotation:)  It is SO good that Chris is gone right now!  Being around cute babies all day would certainly cause pill-forgetfulness.  It actually DID cause pill-forgetfulness-LOL.  It's been affecting me in other ways too.  I watched The Business of Being Born, and just started the PBS show Call The Midwife- I love Netflix!  Also, everything looks like boobs.  These are legit examples from the past two weeks, despite the fact that the pictures were just downloaded from Google image:

Topography:

My new Pampered Chef egg cooker (upside down)

Water Towers:

I'll keep watching Call the Midwife, but I hope the other side effects fade off when I move onto my community rotation...

173 hours to go in my internship!!!!!  Woo hoo!

Not so Free Days

Well, Foodservice is over.  I was lucky to have such a great facility and staff to work with, but I'm ready to get back into a clinical mindset!  The last day of my time at VWC was Chef's Fare.  Chefs from other Sodexo campuses compete with music genre-themed menus and have the students vote on their favorite.  It was so much fun!  Everyone dressed up, decorated, and danced along with the DJ.  I'm pretty sure I'm the only intern who did the Cupid Shuffle during her Foodservice management rotation:)  I was the official photographer- here are some pictures!

We had the rockers

The stoners...(their genre was "Pop"- guess they changed it to reggae!)

And finally, VWC with rap

Everyone had such a blast!  It was the perfect last day:)  I don't start my next rotation until Monday so I've had a few "free" days.

~~~~~

A week later..
Those free days were filled with the gym, visiting baby Olivia, breastfeeding class, spouse club meeting, dog groomer's, cleaning the house (minimally...lol) AND... chopping all my hair off!

I'm still getting used to actually having to do something with it after I shower, but honestly, that's part of why it's all gone.  I realized it had been in a ponytail for a month...time to go!

Internship update: I'm loving EVMS!  Although responsibilities from that, and other Sodexo assignments, electronic failures, a tease of Chris coming back early (probably not happening) all had me in a terrible mood yesterday.  Two computers, our TV, and our microwave were pooping out on me and I'd had it!  So, mom and dad saved the day:)  My early birthday present was a new iMac!  I can't believe I've converted but, yes, I'm an Apple person now.  I have my first personal training session set up and everything!  It's so great- it turns on the first time you press the power button and doesn't take 10 minutes to do so, I can FaceTime with Chris, it's quick.  Once I get Office loaded and data transferred, it'll be perfect!  Parents saved the day!!  Even this morning- I had a bad dream, Hank vomited at 5:30am, and I didn't care:)  This computer is worth at least a month of guaranteed happiness from me!  I hate admitting that buying expensive things makes me feel this much better, but what can I say?  It did!

P.S. Oz is great!!  Highly recommended if you haven't seen it yet.

Convincing Methodists to eat Whole Grain

This post isn't about religion at all...  My Foodservice Management rotation began a few weeks ago at Virginia Wesleyan College.  The 5 of you who read this, probably saw my awesome Chef's coat on Facebook and/or Instagram.  I've been reaching out for virtual attention much more than usual since Chris has been gone!  At least I haven't started tweeting...

ANYWAY- I was really sad to finish up with Clinical, but it just means I'm one step closer to being an RD.  My first day, they gave me a tour of the facility (including a great gym which I have access to!), we discussed our goals for the next 5 weeks, and I chopped, washed, and spun dry 48 heads of Romaine lettuce.  I've never seen so much lettuce in my life!  After a week, my experiences had expanded to making sandwiches, smoothies, working the grill, and coming to the conclusion that these kids have no understanding of nutrition whatsoever.  Seriously, I saw one guy with a bowl of pasta, piece of pizza on top of it, then came to the grill asking for a burger- GROSS!  Most of the ones who eat in the dining hall daily are athletes- you'd think they'd care more about what they put in their bodies.  SO, after making entirely too many sandwiches with white bread, I've decided my marketing/education project will be to promote the sale of whole wheat sandwiches.  I'm making table tents, printing flyers, and will set up a poster and pass out stickers one day in March.  If I can get ONE fighting Marlin to choose a wheat sandwich during my time here, I'll feel successful!  

Last week, I surveyed the kids about the Asian promotion the kitchen has been running.  Some of my favorite comments were:

"Stir fry.  That shit's dope.  Dope like crack."

"Variety is the gumbo spice of life"

"I like the Asian food, but not the Asian amounts.  It seems like you're channeling North Korea portions."

When asked "what would you like to see more of?" : "World peace"

AND some other inappropriate/misspelled/rude comments leading me to question how these kids got into college at all...

In the meantime, I've been trying to capture life at home so Chris can see what's going on.  Lots of me and the pups:

 

I'm heading home on Friday for a long weekend visiting cutie pie Grandma, Mom, Dad, Blair and Uncle Rick.  I'm SO excited!  It's been way too long- I'm overdue for some pants-wetting good times and game playing!  And hopefully a little less cold:)