Family vaction and new things

So here are our latest photos documenting some landmark events for the Green's

We just started Joshua on solids. A little later than we had anticipated. But with spring break and Challene's trip to Utah, this is how it ended up. Don't let the picture full you he really does not like it all that much. It really depends on his mood. He's much more into the oatmeal.

Joshua sat up for the first time on his own April 20, 2007. "He's more leaning on his hands than sitting up," you may say. Well, he posed that way for the picture. He was sittin' baby! See below

Granted he is still unsteady, but he does really well.

I caught Joshua sucking on his toes March 30, 2007

I liked this photo he seems to be saying "You are going to show this to my girlfriend one day, aren't you Daddy? Cuz if you do..."

I wonder wich side of the family he got this habit from? Looks familiar doesn't it Michael and Maddy?

Vaction Pictures

We decided to go to the coast for a few days during spring break. We reserved a hotel room, but were disappointed that the cheaper ones didn't offer an ocean view. Well, we got the cheap one figuring that since the ocean was a quick "90 stair" walk away anyways we would be fine. Turns out that we ended up in a room with an amazing view of the beach and ocean.

Ethan really enjoyed it too. Here he is with some binocculars looking for whales out our hotel room window. Which reminds me: While unloading our luggage we marvelled at the beauty of the ocean. Suddenly, Challene screamed, "I see one!" She grabbed the binocculars, shoved me out of the way and ran to an appropriate spot to get a better view of the "whale". Turns out it was just a boat... that or an air-breathing, constant speed going, bow bearing whale. I still give her a hard time. Especially since she physically shoved me out of the way.

We decided to buy some tickets for a boat charter and go do some actual whale watching. Right now is the time they migrate up toward Alaska so we thought it would be a good opportunity.

This is a picture from our boat just as we were leaving the dock. The boat we were in was more similar to the blue and white one on the far right. The seas were calm that day (so I was told) and everyone thought it would be an excellent day for watching whales. As some of you may know I have an intrepid ability to fall ill when in nearly any moving object. I have been in boats before and so figured I'd be safe. We even went out on a boat in Hawaii. I did get sick on the Ferry from Dover, England to France, but I figured that was an isolated event. At any event, I didn't want to take chances so I figure that my best bet was to remain in the front of the boat at all times and to watch the horizon. All was well on the trip out. Our camera, however, must not have liked the seas because it decided to be very temperamental. As it is, the only shot I got that wasn't of just water and horizon is the one below.

If you look carefully, you'll notice that there are some sea lions on that buoy. That's about the best I could do. Anyways, we got about 4 miles out and finally spotted a small pod of grey whales. The come to the surface, spout a couple of times, then arch their backs and dive down again flapping their tails in the air. It was amazing. The sad part is that we had to stop the boat in order to see them. That's when all heck broke loose. I had Joshua strapped to me in a body pack. Challene and Ethan were standing in the front of the boat with me watching the whales. For some reason, my vestibular system (inner ear) didn't take a liking to being stopped 4 miles out into the ocean. "Fire in the hole," it said to my brain! I ran (as best I could with a 6 month old strapped to me and somewhat choppy seas -- they still maintained that it was calm) to the side of the boat opposite the whales. Why? Because no one was on that side to see me hurl. As I hung my head out as far as I was willing (again, Joshua was with me) I immediately recalled the opening scenes of The Little Mermaid where Grimly stood at the side of the boat retching, is face as green as an olive (the green ones). I remember when I first saw that movie thinking, why would he go in a boat if he gets sea sick? The irony struck me as I myself release my morning breakfast banana into the grey Pacific, and, between the gut wrenching contractures of my stomach and the expectoration of the vomitous remains in my mouth, I actually chuckled softly to myself. Content that I would be fine, I joined the others back up front. Challene was anxious to get some footage of the mammoth mammals and asked me to hold onto Ethan as she worked the camera. Just as she pressed the record button in anticipation of the whales returning, round two began. You can actually hear me asking Challene to take Ethan on the video. "Challene, please take Ethan. Challene, would you please take Ethan. Challene, I need you to take Ethan." Just as the camera was put up and Ethan was safely in Challene's arms the whales emerged again. I was back in my safe spot on the other side of the boat. Well, the day went on and we followed that pod of whales, drifting with them, for over a mile. I had employed the sympathy of the cap'n, who brought me out a paper towel to wipe the emetis from my nose and mouth. All in all, it was an hour and a half of "gut-wrenching fun". I really enjoyed it. The whales were beautiful and majestic. I believe we actually got about 50 feet from one when he spouted. It was amazing. A wonderful experience that I choose never to do again. Fortunately, I took some dramamine after the excursion and it relieved my symptoms completely. That stuff is great! As it is, we never got any footage of the whales and the best picture is the one above. Looks like we'll have to rely on memories for this one.

Okay I have to put my comments in here too (this is Challene by the way). I actually think Will enjoyed the Whale watching more than I did even with him hurling over the side of the boat. I assume he enjoyed it more than I because he was not concerend with anything other than hurling. Where as I was concerned with Ethan flying over board, Will being sick, and Joshua, who was in the body pack on Will in the freezing wind, hopefully not getting hit by hurl . Let me explain further: 2year olds do not have the steadiest of feet and you add that to a boat that is going up and down like a roller coaster with me trying to steady us both... Lets just say next time I am definately going by myself.

This was taken at the Newport Aqurium. It was a really cool aquarium. They were having a special exhibit on crabs. Crabs are neat. They also have the walk through aquariums where it's like you're underwater with the fishies and sharkies. Incidentally, while walking through the tube through the shark tank, I flashed back to the Jaws (II or III I think) movie where good ol' Jaws rams into those tubes and breaks the glass and makes many people drown. I think I watched to many movies when I was young. Right, when I was young.

Here's a shot of our private beach. The water was probably near freezing, so we didn't try to swim at all. The beach was pretty facinating in its own right. So many things wash up on the shore.

Take this guy for instance. He's alone here, but about 3.5 million of his brethren were nearby. When we found our first star fish my mind was brought back to the inspirational story of the man walking on the beach throwing starfish into the ocean. When questioned as to his actions the man said that they would die if he didn't throw them back. After scanning the beach the observer mentioned that he couldn't possibly make a difference since there were tons of star fish out. The man picked one up, hurled it into the sea and said, "made a difference to that one." Boy, I'm full of good memories today.

Finally, a picture of two of my most favorite things in the world. Rocks and Sand. Challene and Ethan climbed into the cave made from the wind. We had a lot of fun exploring those beaches. They really are beautiful.

Well, that's about it, I suppose. Don't forget to read the previous update (just below) as it was done just a couple of days ago. We hope all is well with all. Leave comments and stuff.

Lovingly,

Will, Challene, Ethan, and Joshua

7th quarter

Another Spring Break gone! I'm actually already two weeks into my 7th (of twelve) quarter. It's been a raucous two weeks all ready. The schedule is funky-wunky. I suppose the best way to 'splain it is to follow suit and go through my classes one at a time. For those of you not interested....

Physical Therapy I - Just as the name implies we're learning PT modalities. Things as simple as ice and heat to complex things like Ultrasound, Electrical Stimulation, and Cold Laser. It's quite facinating and an area I think many D.C.s overlook. It can be quite powerful for rehabilitation as well as easing acute episodes. It's a lecture and lab class, so we've had some fun.
NeuroMusculoSkeletal II - NMS is a class where we learn all the diseases/disorders/syndromes pertaining to the NMS system. Part I last quarter dealt mainly with the axial skeleton (everything but your arms and legs) and part II is dealing with the lower extremity (legs). We've covered Plantar Fascitis, and Metatarsalgia so far. Those are just in the foot. We'll be moving up the leg as the term progresses. We discuss how the disease occurs, it's signs and symptoms, presentation, diagnosis, prognosis, treatment options, recovery, and residual effects. It's acutally quite complicated. It takes a lot of study time. Also a lab/lecture class. We have a separate two hour block of lab called Cast Lab. Just as you may have surmised this is where we learn how to wrap... everything. From Ace bandage to taping, from splints to plaster casts we're covering it all. It's been pretty fun so far.
Clinical Phase I - The "clin phase" series is designed to assimilate all the material we've learned in the past two years and put it together. It's the mechanics of being a doctor. It's paperwork things like taking a chief complaint history, or a more thorough physical examination history. As well as putting together exam flows for certain examinations. It's fun, but takes a lot of study time and memorization. Not one of my strong suits.
Clinical Pathology - Well, I've had regular pathology before, so what's the difference? This is kind of a continuation of my Clinical Lab class from last quarter. Here we discuss all the diseases/syndromes/conditions diagnosed by lab work. We've begun the Anemias (low blood supply) There's a ton of different anemias and each is brought on a different way. Sickle Cell, Microcytic, Macrocytic, Normocytic Hypochromic, Macrocytic Hyperchromic, Iron Deficient, and on and on. Hard to differentiate them some times. Lots of chemistry. Gosh, I thought I was done with all that!
Radiographic Technique I - Just as the name implies this is the "how to" of x-rays. In addition to positioning, it invlolves a lot of physics. I thought I was done with physics too, but these undergrad courses keep rearing their ugly heads!
Adjustive Technique Vadv - Last quarter we had the beginner portion of this course. Essentially it is extremity adjusting. We learned all the joint plays last quarter (basically assessing each joint based on its movement) and this quarter we're learning the adjustments.
Adjustive Technique VI - This is pretty much a review of all the adjustment classes so far. It's a place to fine tune our skills and learn some alternate techniques. Pretty informative
Bone Pathology I - Diagnosing radiographs. We have to be able to distinguish between trauma (fracture, break, dislocation, etc.), and anomolies (extra bone parts, not enough bone parts, oddly grown bone parts, etc.). Sounds easy enough, but it's not. There's about a bazillion different conditions all named after some crazy glory-seeking european person.
Emergency Care - Just what it says. We get CPR certified, learn first aid and all that jazz. So far, it doesn't compare to the course taken in the cub (boy?) scouts. For one, there's never any Little Debbie brand Oatmeal Creme Pies afterward.
Personal Patient Management I - More of the same, "how to be a doctor" schtick. Apparently not getting sued is a high priority for field docs. Who knew. And apparently documentation is a very important component of not getting sued. Here's where my years of Watson experience come to play. "If it isn't documented, it never happened!" Actually, that way of thinking saved me a few times. Good times.

Well, I suppose that's it. This took me much longer than I wanted, and I think the reader will probably notice my uncaring attitude toward the latter ends of this update. In addition to all the classes I'm taking, I've also started in the Student Health Center. That's right, I'm treating other students. Traditionally, 7th quarter students just treat other 7th quarter students. Seeing as how we've never done anything like that before and seeing as how there are a lot of unknown components to the whole gig they thought it prudent that we treat each other to begin with. Well, apparently (there's that word again) our class is smaller than normal, or something because I ended up with not only a 7th quarter patient but another patient as well! Talk about pressure! Now my lunch times are filled, not with studying as I normally fill them, but with treatments and paperwork. That means that I'm going to have to spend a lot of home time studying.

I'm really going now. There will be an update soon. Challene is gathering photos of our spring break trip and junk.

kay, luv you buh-bye.

Will, Challene, Ethan, and Joshua