So much has transpired

So, it's been 5 months since my last update and a TON has happened since then.

I graduated from PA school. (fireworks and happiness!!)

I bought a house and moved in. (more fireworks and happiness!!)

I got a job. (even MORE fireworks and happiness!!!!)

The past few months have been very busy and very exciting, to say the least.

Here are some highlights from all of the awesomeness. Enjoy. :)

 My parents came up to see me walk and get hooded for my Master's degree. The week after this, I presented my Grand Rounds presentation and ROCKED IT!

May 12

 Celebrating at Blue Sky winery

 I absolutely love this photo <3 p="p">

Our offer was accepted!! So exciting!

May 25 

 Natalie's wedding - so much fun

June 2

 Canoeing at Turkey Run in Indiana

June 24

 Move in day in our first home purchase!!!

July 13

 Last day as a student with some AWESOME people. I'll miss all of you guys!

July 27

 Celebrating with classmates after lots of testing

August 3

 I love these people

 White Coat ceremony

August 4

 Roomie love

 Two fo my favorite ladies

Mom and Dad - who celebrated 35 years of marriage this summer!

My happy family :)

August 11

Hanging out back home (Miami) with my favorite munchkin <3 p="p">

August 22

My new buffet

My new dinner table set

 Hiking at Starved Rock State Park in Utica, IL

September 7-8

 Busch Stadium watching the Cards v Reds

October 2

 Fall has come to Illinois - Allerton Park in Monticello

October 9

Well, that's a quick summary of my last 5 months. Things have been very good. We moved about 45 miles north of where we have lived for the past 6 years. This means that my husband is a lot closer to his job. His commute is now 15 minutes instead of an hour.  I'm now officially licensed as a Physician Assistant in the state of Illinois - very exciting. Once I start working, my commute will be 10-15 minutes too! My official start date is November 19, so until then I'll be enjoying my time off and working on a bunch of ideas from Pinterest (I've already finished some and will post pics). I'll also be reading and just relaxing.

I recently fell in love with the HBO series Game of Thrones (EPIC) and am currently reading the second book in the series. I'm also in the midst of planning my annual Halloween party. I realized that I never posted pics from last year's party - maybe I'll do that soon.

I'm trying to get started running again. I've been kind of spotty with it - but I'm just finishing week 2 of a boot camp session. It's going pretty well, so that's good.

Anyway, I hope everyone is well. I promise I'll be posting more often now that school is finished.

Be well,

Damaris :)

PA School funnies

Most of you will probably not find this as funny as I did. We've recently learned about heart rhythms and one of my classmates posted this on facebook. HILARIOUS!

I'm not quite sure how these Med students have time to make all of these videos, but they sure are funny :)

I got to see my boys this weekend and it was glorious. They really are the best! I also tried my camera when I got home (the one I dropped in the lake the last time I was home) and it WORKS!!! I was super happy about that. SO, it's Sunday night and tomorrow is the beginning of another long week full of learning. I can't believe that unit One finals are in 2 weeks - SCARY! Anyway, I hope everyone is doing well.

Till next time, be good!

p.s. Just want to throw a shout-out to Randy for finishing his third sprint triathlon this weekend. And Happy Birthday, too!!! :)

Midterms!

So... today was the first day of our 4th week of PA school. We spent ALLLLL day taking unit one midterms. It was a chance for us to see what the test format is like, and to also see whether our study technique is adequate or lacking.

I have a study group with some AWESOME ladies and let me tell you... we put in close to 30 hours of study time between Saturday and Sunday this past weekend. It was intense. I am soooo glad that I'm part of this little group, because together we were able to cover an incredible amount of material. After just 3 weeks of classes, this is what my LI (learning issue) binder looks like.

I've mentioned before that my program is based on a self-directed learning module. This means that whenever a topic comes up in out tutor group sessions that we're not sure of, it becomes a "learning issue". These learning issues get divvied up between group members. For each topic you write a mini research paper containing all pertinent information regarding diagnosis, lab tests, pathophysiology of the condition, differential diagnoses, treatment, patient education, etc. The blue binder contains the LIs from out first 3 cases. We have 5 units with 7 cases each!!

I'm gonna be filling up binders like CRAZY!

Anyway, midterms were really intense. My brain feels filled to capacity and completely fried. I feel like I did alright on my exams, but who knows. We'll find out our grades on Thursday morning. We're already working on a new case, so I'm ready for more.

Oh, to unwind after exams we spent a few hours just chatting and laughing at a local winery. It was incredible hot, but totally awesome to have a few free hours. I'm realllllly looking forward to heading back home this weekend. YAY for long weekends!!!

Everyone have a GREAT week. :)

I finally have a minute to update!

Hello everyone! It's been forever. Sorry about that. I moved down to Carbondale for PA school on June 1st and life has been BANANAS since then. Barely any time to eat or sleep, much less run or write blog posts. Oh, and I'm hardly ever on facebook anymore, so I feel a little out of touch. I do want to say CONGRATS to my friend Tanya and Rey on their newest addition - little Jasper. And also, CONGRATS to Zuri and Bobby on their very recent engagement! I can't wait to see you all dressed up and married. I love you guys!

I just finished my 2nd week of classes and I'm already learning soooo much. It's completely overwhelming. Every time I think of all the information being covered I spaz a bit. Anyway, that's how most of us in the program feel. My roommate is a rockstar, so that makes things a lot better. We're both overachievers, so it works out nicely. We've got a group that stay on campus late (till like midnight and sometimes later) on most night working on our research and stuff. Our program is based on a self-directed learning module, so there's lots of research to be done. Lectures are going pretty well too. We've got our first simulated patient this Monday and I'm pretty freaking nervous about it. It'll be done as a group, so that's nice. I can't believe we already have midterms in 9 days. Aaaahhhhhhh!

Anyways, things are good. So glad I'm part of this program, cause I'm pretty sure I would just be miserable in a didactic program. Sitting through lecture for 8 hours a day would be HORRIBLE! Anyway, this is my first weekend home and it's been awesome seeing my boys. I was pretty wound up on Friday and I just feel much better after getting home to Mattoon last night. I'll be heading back south on the train tomorrow, but that's okay. I can do this. I'll be back home for July 4th weekend. That's only 2 weeks away.

Here are some pics that I've taken since I got to Carbondale. Enjoy and I hope everyone is loving life!! :)

Me getting coated by Dr. Smith

SIUC PA class of 2012!

Me & my awesome roomie, Arielle!

Me & my Mr. :)

Blue Sky winery in Carbondale. This was the weekend before classes started.

Walker's Bluff winery just north of Carbondale. Those are fake sheep... I totally felt cheated when I realized they weren't moving at all.

Big things are on the horizon...

In just 28 days I'll be sitting through my first day of graduate school. That means that in LESS than 4 weeks, I'll be living in Carbondale... away from my husband and my dog. The thought of this makes me sad and anxious.

On top of the emotional difficulty that I'll surely be experiencing in reference to the aforementioned realities, I'll be dealing with the stress of school, and getting used to living with a roommate. After being married for 4 years (this Wednesday is our anniversary!), I'm thinking that this transition is going to take some getting used to. With less than 4 weeks left here in Mattoon, I'm not willing to spend any time apart from Justin & Lucien. Another thing, our administrators keep reminding us that the class schedule is tentative. This is probably fine with some people, but I'm a type A personality. I like to have things planned, set in stone. How can I plan when I will see Justin, knowing that our test dates may shift? Justin's schedule changes today, so going forward he'll have Wednesday, Thursday, & Friday off, which will be a nice change. This means that he'll be able to come see me in Carbondale! This makes me really happy, but then I worry about who will take care of Lucien. My apartment doesn't allow pets on property and it makes me feel guilty that Lucien will be all alone. I know that he gets lonely, and it's really not fair to him either... :(

I'd love to plan some races, but what will my study schedule be like? Will I feasibly be able to fit long runs into an already intense schedule? Who will I run with? Will I be training all by myself? How will I stay motivated without my runner friends there to push me?

Please don't get me wrong - I'm blessed to have been accepted into this program and I'm very excited. I'm just know that some sacrifices are going to have to be made to accomplish this. Reality is that I fear the unknown. I know I'll overcome this fear in time, but right now is not that time.

Leaky Faucet

My nose feels like a leaky faucet. I've got a head cold that is being persistent. Tomorrow is my 27th birthday and I was hoping to feel better by then, but it's looking like a no go. Oh well, what can you do?

It's been a while since I posted. I was out of town in Carbondale, IL last week from Thursday to Sunday. I spent some time with some of the lovely ladies who will be my classmates for the next two years of PA school. We did some running around and got lots of school stuff accomplished. Got my school ID, turned in immunization records, financial aid forms, turned in more health records, etc. Then we played for the rest of the weekend. We went to a "surprise" party. (For those of you who don't know, this is just like a Passion party), hit a Cardinals game in St. Louis (where we were privileged enough to see a grand slam!), went to a class picnic and just hung out. It was a great weekend. I have a feeling I'm going to make some wonderful friendships in the next two years.

Anyway, I've spent most of the last few days on the couch covered in blankets, so I haven't uploaded my pictures yet. But when I do, I'll be sure to post them. :) I hope everyone is having a GREAT week. I'm off to run 7 miles - hopefully my nose doesn't drip the whole time. Ugh.

P.S. This may sound super dorky, but I ordered my stethoscope online yesterday!!! It was so exciting. And for my birthday, my mom sent my white coat and my sphygmomanometer (blood pressure cuff)! I feel like it's all starting to come together. :)