Dr. Abbott

This weekend we got a little taste of what it would be like to be a medical doctor or Oral Surgeon. Since Ryan did the OMFS (Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery) rotation this last week, he was on call for the weekend. Sure enough, he got called in at 5:45 Saturday morning. Since we had left the car on base for our family outing the day before, we piled in the car and took off through the fog to drop him off. A drunk had run into a tree, lost a few teeth, and almost lost a lip. All kinds of excitement. The rest of the day was fairly quiet. This morning at 1:45 though, the phone rang for another call. This was a man that just blacked out and fell over. He had some facial wounds that needed stitching. Ryan got home and slept for a few hours before getting called in again at 8:00 for another drunk who got in a fight and got hit over the head with a brick. All kinds of fun. Lots more stitches on the head and in the mouth. Ryan has done more stitches in the last 48 hours than in all four years of dental school put together. After his next rotation with OMFS he will be an expert.

This week has been an interesting one. We have learned some things. 1. Oral surgery is interesting, but time consuming. 2. Drinking doesn't pay. 3. I'm glad my husband is a dentist and not an MD or Oral Surgeon. 4. Sacrament meeting by myself is no fun.

All in all, it has been an interesting week for him, a long one for me and the kids, and I think we are all glad in some ways that this rotation is over for a few months. Hopefully the phone won't ring tonight . . .

A Real Payne

My mom's maiden name is Payne. I have always really enjoyed my Grandma and Grandpa Payne and was blessed to grow up near them. When I traveled to Cleveland for the WREB, I noticed that Payne was quite a prominent name where I was. I intended to research this, but haven't done it yet.

Completion

Well, this has been a good week in our house. Ryan placed his last two crowns, which were also his last two requirements. That was great for him to get done. He also got his WREB scores today and did very well. That means he has basically completed all the tests and requirements to be a dentist. So I guess you can almost call him Dr. Abbott! We are really excited to be finishing up. Just a few loose ends left to tie up and we will be outta here!

We're so proud of you, Ryan! Great job!

WREB Part II

Here's the second part of the WREB post, for those of you who are interested. By the way, Ryan and his friends enjoyed an Indians/Yankees game on Friday night. I've heard he has pictures, but haven't seen any yet.

The test seemed to go pretty well, but I, for one, will probably not be totally comfortable until the results come back. Cross your fingers for us!

I picked up the perio patient and a translator at 9:00 from Pataskala and we took off up to Cleveland. We arrived right on time to get lunch and have the treatment. I crocheted and read while I waited. They finished up the treatment and we took off for home. Not terribly interesting, I guess. The patient has been in the US for a year. She is from China. She is living with her nephew who has lived here for about 15 years, since his late teens. It was very interesting to talk with him about China. I don't know much about that country and it was interesting to learn some things. By the time I got home, I was ready to be done being in the car for sure! Poor patients, the van still wasn't done in the shop and so we had to take the smurf. They were good sports about it. I did feel a little bad that someone had to be left out of the conversation. Either Li, if we spoke English, or me, if they spoke Chinese. Oh well, we survived it.

Ryan and Mike took their time getting home, stopping to get a fun airplanes for the kids and eat out. Ryan said it was great to just take him time after being hurried for 3 days. Kim was really excited about the plane and put it together with Ryan this morning. They flew it off of the balcony and it seemed to work pretty well.



It has been fun to have Mindy here. Unfortunately I haven't had a whole lot of time to visit with her. I wish she could stay a whole week more so we could have sister-bonding time. Oh well (sigh), I suppose her husband misses her too.

I have neglected to take any pictures of Mindy on this trip. You'll have to forgive me. I had great intentions of getting pictures of Mindy with the kids, but it didn't happen. I am still pretty wiped out from the weekend, and it is already late from staying up talking to Mindy, so I better head to bed.

Once again, thank you, thank you to our dear Aunt Mindy for being willing to come and stay with our kids so we could get this done. It was great to know they were in good hands.

WREB Part I

Well, I just got home from Cleveland, where Ryan is taking the WREB. What a stressful few days! It all started early Thursday morning. He and a friend left at 4:30 so they could be sure to get there by 7:30 for orientation. They also had a little written test on treatment plans (I think).

I followed around noon (in the smurf, since the van is being repaired . . . still). It was great fun to spend the afternoon and evening together. We have never left our kids overnight before. We appreciate my sister Mindy coming to help out so we could have a little getaway. Neither one of us slept too well, though. Maybe I need the kids making little noises to help me sleep! I actually think both of us were pretty nervous about the test coming the next day.

Thanks to his friend, Mike again, I didn't have to take Ryan to the school early in the morning again. Instead I had a leisurely morning doing things I never have time for, like plucking my eyebrows. I also listened to an hour of the Worldwide Leadership Training from the church this year. I really enjoyed it and look forward to hearing the rest of it.

What I thought would be a 20 minute drive turned out to take about an hour. The directions I had to the school weren't great and the traffic was pretty bad too. I did make it before Ryan was ready for me though. He took the Endo portion of the test in the morning and was ready to do an amalgam filling on me in the afternoon. We walked over to the hospital cafeteria to get some lunch and then started on the filling. Things seemed to go pretty well, so hopefully all will turn out well.

I dropped Ryan at the hotel and then took off for home and our sweet kids. They were excited to see me and now I get to relax for a few hours, sleep, and get up in the morning and do it all again! I am taking a patient and an interpreter over for a perio treatment in the afternoon. We were hoping the van would be done today, but no luck, so, sorry to the patients who will have to squeeze into our little smurf (which if you don't know, is a little blue, two-door Geo Metro). I am planning to wait for the patient while she is treated and then turn around a bring them home. Hopefully since we don't have the van Ryan will ride with Mike (again) so we won't be totally squished in the smurf.

Thanks Mike!