Guest Post: First Semester finished

Guest blog post by Jason Anderson the missing in action husband.

Well I made it through the semester. Ross does some odd things with grades. In order to create a spirit of cooperation and to help students figure out how to study, Ross does a pass fail first semester. So with a pass/fail semester, your letter grade won't matter as much just as long as you are above the minimum passing score (MPS). I have heard that this set, based on a bell curve of sorts and will effectively drop about 10-15% of the people in the class. So yes grades matter to pass the semester but they don't carry over to contribute to your overall GPA. I hope that makes sense. Saying this, however, I was able to scrape by with an overall score just around the class average and I hope I can use the skills that I learned to be in a better spot next semester and to get a good letter grade. I think next semester will be a bit better for me since it is mainly based on physiology and that stuff is more conceptual in nature so life so be easier to figure out. We will be going over the physiology of the different organ systems this coming semester and we will be getting into more clinical practice. Michelle, William, and Savannah are about to become my test prep dummies for my exams that I will have in my clinical class.

Hopefully I made the right choice taking on the fast track of life. At Ross you have the choice between the accelerated 4 semester track or the curriculum 5 semester track. Each track teaches the same material but they are spaced out differently. So for example in the 4 semester track I'll get all the organ systems to learn and study where in the 5 semester track they will get all of them except for 2 or 3 systems which they will learn in their last semester along with other material they have skipped from 3rd and 4th. So during the semseter the students on 5 semester track will have week long breaks that are there to help them study. The jury is still out on whether or not this extra time helps the students prepare for their exams or in preparation for STEP 1. So fast track is related to the normal speed you would see at an MD program in the States. And if I can't cut it then I can always drop to the slow track while adding an extra semester to my stay here at Ross and an extra $30,000 in debt. Pray that I can cut it. :-)

So as Michelle has mentioned I have been called as the Branch President here in Dominica. We have a good sized branch in Portsmouth and a very strong group that is down in Roseau (about an hour away in a car). For those of you that are unfamiliar with these terms, a branch is a small congregation and a group is a smaller congregation that is technically part of the branch, but just meets elsewhere. When we visited the group two Sundays ago, they started the meeting with 6 people and church ended with about 16 people there. The branch, on the other hand, has about 45 adults and a whole lot of little kids running around. Now, a Branch President is a non-paid, leadership role, that oversees the church; pretty much like a Pastor except I don't give sermons each week, but get to delegate that responsibility to the members most weeks. A branch president is like a normal Mormon Bishop, but he doesn't hold the same priesthood authority.  It's not the easiest calling/assignment in the church, but it will be good for me to grow from it. It will be quite the challenge to balance church duties, family duties, and school work. But I'm hopeful that it will all work out for my good.

So yeah, my time is taken up with that now. My study buddy and I will start reviewing some 2nd semester ideas here soon during the break. We want to get a head start so we can get a better hold on the concepts and we hope that doing this will help us have some more time with our families during the first part of the semester. We are getting a lot of good help from other students who have taken the classes before. It is a little hard to get motivated to study inside on a computer when you have free time and when it is so beautiful outside.

I hope you enjoyed this blog. Happy New Year.

My first centipede

Since we got here, everyone has been asking me if I had found any centipedes. I had seen pictures, but hadn't seen one in person until this week. It was pretty creepy. They are super fast (maybe it is all those legs?) and much too big for comfort. Anyway, I was sitting on our couch watching some White Collar which is what I do for some of my alone time at night during the hours after the kids get to sleep and before Jason gets home. I finished my episode and was getting up to go get ready for bed and I see it scurrying across our ugly linoleum floor. I pulled off my flip flop and whacked it as hard as I could. My neighbor probably wondered what was going on. That didn't even kill it, but a few more hits and it stopped wiggling. So, yeah, it was pretty gross. Sort of an initiation to living in Dominica though, I guess. Here is a picture.

Oh yes, update on the washer. I know everyone was concerned for me. :) We did buy a new hose and were able to hook the hose right up to the back of the washer. Our previous hose was a cut off one, so it didn't have the right end. So, now I just have to go downstairs to the backyard once to turn on the water after I have pulled the hose up from below and hooked it up. Our neighbors use the same hose for their washing machine, so I can't leave it hooked up and on. But yes, it has saved me a lot of time and hassle, so life is good. 

So, here's a fun thing about living here. The produce here is very interesting sizes. We have huge avocados, some tiny bananas, skinny carrots, and small potatoes. 

The avocados and bananas are local, but the carrots and potatoes were from the States. Jason had the idea that maybe they were the rejects from the States, so they send them to us. Kind of a pain to peel though. I'm not looking forward to peeling a bunch for Thanksgiving. Maybe I won't sign up for mashed potatoes. The Ross Spouses Organization is putting on a Thanksgiving dinner here on campus, so that should be fun. Jason still has classes that day though which is a bummer. He will probably just come eat the dinner and leave. One of the cons of studying outside of the US is that you don't get American holidays off.

One of the annoying things about our apartment is living by the noisy street. Not only the sound of the cars and trucks and motorcycles that drive by, but they are often playing such loud music! It is seriously ridiculous. It is the worst on the weekends. It is also worse these days because it is election time here. I think the election is on Dec 8th, but every weekend there are people who drive down to Roseau (another city about an hour away) to campaign, I think. They drive by honking and playing music really loud. And they go in caravans, so there are like 15 cars/buses that drive by for a few minutes honking all the way. William is going to learn to sleep through anything since his bedroom is on that side of the apartment.

We were so happy to get a visit from Jason's parents last week. It was fun to spend some time with them and be able to show them a little of this beautiful island we live on. It felt like Christmas when they came because they spoiled us by bringing a bunch of fun stuff. We were sad to see them go. William still asks to go see them. He says, "Papa. Go." It's pretty cute. He loves his Annie and Papa.

Visiting Trafalgar Falls with Annie & Papa.
William really liked Peter, our driver/guide.

The beach by Fort Shirley. Our last activity before they left
and the one thing Jason got to do with us. 

The kids are doing well. William continually amazes us with how smart he is. He learns new words all the time and has started combining words like banana and please together. It's fun. Savannah is growing well and loves smiling at everyone. I will see her smiling in church and look over to see someone several feet away smiling at her. She must have good vision. :) She loves to watch William do stuff. He is a sweet older brother, but still is getting used to her. When she touches him or his trucks he isn't too happy, but he will kiss her and laugh with her and share his trucks occasionally. 

Or help bathe her

She likes her fingers

My sweet happy girl

Jason and I are doing well. I see Jason for a quick lunch and dinner most days and then it is back to studying for him. He does take Sundays off from studying, so that has been nice to have him home. However, he just got called as Branch President here, so he will be even busier and probably gone a lot on Sundays. The mission president extended the call yesterday. He and his wife were very kind and encouraging. They emphasized that the call was from God and not just because it was "our turn" to serve. I know that is true and that Jason will be able to handle the extra demands on his time and will do a wonderful job. 

Well, that's all for now, folks! Here are some pictures from my phone.

William got tired of waiting for the missionaries
to come over for dinner and decided to serve himself.

I find him like this pretty frequently.
He likes to watch tractor videos on youtube
and tries to find them by himself sometimes.
Then he gets distracted and starts picking
the keys off the laptop keyboard.

Enjoying some pool time

She slides down in her stroller a lot.
She's a squirmer.

This was a very rainy day at Mero Beach.
William didn't mind a bit though and
had fun playing with his friends.

Life in Dominica

Well, after a month of being here in Dominica, we are gradually getting used to everything: the bugs, the heat, the humidity, the lack of AC, the scarcity of dairy products, the shortage of grocery items in general, etc.

We live on the main road in Picard, right across the street from the school. It is nice because Jason can come home easily for lunch and dinner sometimes and I can also go hang out in the air-conditioned buildings on campus when I can't handle the heat of our apartment anymore. The downsides are that it is a little noisy here and the apartment is a little older than others in Picard.

It is quite the adventure doing laundry here. Luckily I have a washing machine; lots of people don't. However, it is a long process to do a load of laundry. The washing machine is on our back balcony since we don't have washer hookups. So, first I load the washer with the clothes, put the soap in and all that. Sounds normal right? Then it gets exciting. I pull the hose up from where it is hanging on a looped shoelace down below and put it in the top of the washer. Then I run outside and down the stairs to the backyard to turn on the water. I wait down there and listen until I hear the washer start because that's when I know it has enough water. I go back upstairs and pull the hose out of the top of the washer and hang it over the side of the balcony again. I go do something else for about 10 minutes until I hear the water drain out of the washer and the washer stop moving. Then it's time for the rinse cycle. I go put the hose in the top of the washer again, run downstairs, turn on the water, wait until I hear it start, run back upstairs, and take the hose out. Then I wait until I hear the water drain out again and do the whole process again for the second rinse cycle. I never knew a washer had two rinse cycles until I had to fill it up by hand. :) Once the washer is done, I have to hang the wash on the lines on our balcony to dry hoping that it doesn't rain too hard that day. Anyway, that's the process. I have a new appreciation for clothes pins and washer hookups among other things. Hopefully I can get a new hose soon that will hook to the back of the washer and I just have to turn on the water once.

Anyway, I don't mean to complain. We really are doing well and enjoying our time here. Some days are definitely overwhelming and make me miss the conveniences we have in the States, but I have decided that I need to be more positive about our time here. The island is beautiful and it definitely has its perks. We have beautiful sunsets over the Caribbean Sea, beautiful views, etc. This very morning, our little family walked down to the beach for an early morning swim. The water felt so nice; it wasn't even cold. That's my kind of ocean swimming. :)

The kids are both doing well. They are both FINALLY getting over their coughs. Savannah is growing like crazy and becoming quite a cute chubby baby. She loves smiling when people smile at her and she likes to be on her tummy. William is doing well too. He is learning new words every day. It's fun to hear him talk. His favorite word is still "tractor," but he also says, "apple," "bowl," "bread," "cracker," "wawa," "bed," "truck," "car," "McQueen," "Nana" (Savannah), "baby," "ball," "cow," "dog," "hat," "toes," "eyes," "nose," "ears" and others I'm sure I'm forgetting. He also does the animal sounds for cows, horses, sheep, dogs, cats, chickens, ducks, elephants, and lions. His Aunt Camilla taught him most of those before we left Utah. He will still surprise me with new animal sounds that I didn't know that he knew. :) We'll be reading a book and he'll see the animal and start making its noise. It's pretty cute. Oh, like monkey. He does a good monkey sound too.

Well, I'm going to try to be more consistent about updating this blog to record and share our adventures here on the island of Dominica, but that's all for now, folks.

William won't go to sleep unless I lie down with him,
 so sometimes Savannah falls asleep there too cuddling with me.
You can see the empty space where I was before I got up to take the picture.

She loves kicking her legs. Sorry, I can't figure out how to rotate this video.

William threw diapers all over Savannah one day while she was napping.

He loves his Mater truck from Grandma Annie

Skipping rocks on the Caribbean Sea

Special Guest Post: Medical School

             Sometimes one of our guest writers will appear on this blog to write about his experiences in medical school. This is the first installment of many future posts (we can only hope there are many but we will see what happens when clinical rotations and residency start).

First two weeks are in the books here at Ross University School of Medicine (RUSM) in Dominica (Not to be confused with the Dominican Republic) and I can’t tell if it has been fast or slow. All I know is that tomorrow at 8am I have my first exam, or as they call it at RUSM “Mini 1,” and I feel okay about it. They weight the first mini less for the first semester students so that mistakes can be made and it won’t count too much against your grade, as this one will only be 10% of it. So 50 questions stand between me and a day off. I won’t get my score till Thursday so I can enjoy the rest of the day tomorrow no matter what happens on the mini.

This first mini is based on biochemistry, microbiology, anatomy and some behavioral science material. If it seems like a lot, that is because it is. I’ve heard two analogies about the amount of material that you have to intake while in medical school. One is the the idea of drinking from a fire hose. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXc5ltzKq3Y I think you get the picture. Four hours of lecture everyday with an expectation to learn and know it all before your mini. I felt like I have been drinking from it at an okay rate but there is a lot that gets past me (maybe not what you want to hear about your budding physician).

The second analogy that I have heard is about eating two pancakes everyday. Say you are given 2 pancakes to eat and digest each day. For a couple of days you eat all of them, but one day maybe you don’t finish one and leave it for tomorrow, but tomorrow you have to eat the two from the new day and the one from the left over. So you have three pancakes and maybe you get through them all or you don’t. As time goes on you feel a little sick or off your game and you don’t finish one of your pancakes so you save one for the next day. And before you know it you have 10 pancakes to eat and the next day is the pancake championship. You get the picture. http://giphy.com/gifs/hiQndt1hi1Lva  So I have the challenge of eating pancakes everyday and drinking from the fire hose of information to quench my thirst.

The other day was the White Coat Ceremony. It was a nice ceremony; one with some pomp and circumstance. The President of Dominica was there, their PM, and their director of Tourism and Legal Affairs (I don’t know why the director of tourism is also their legal affairs director..oh well), the dean of the campus as well as the dean of the school. So pretty official, except I don’t think the President’s secret service detail got the memo on the dress code for the even since they came in jeans and bright button down shirts. I liked the ceremony once it started but I was really apprehensive about going because I felt like I hadn't achieved anything that merited the honor of wearing the white coat. I also dislike the attention, a little.  I think, or I thought at that time, that it would be  nicer to dawn the coat after the initials MD are attached to my name. Before the ceremony I told Michelle, through texts, about my feelings and she was nice to calm my concerns about the whole day. So before the ceremony I was apprehensive and as the ceremony started I started to feel better about life, thanks to Michelle’s help and realizing that the ceremony was to celebrate the commencement of the journey rather than mark the end of Medical School. When I realized that, I thought about how this related to baptism and how it was in fact a type of baptism. A baptism into a different life and the same way that baptism is the first step in the gospel, it only marks the first step, so now comes the step of enduring to the end.

So now I leave you. Hopefully those that are reading this are doing well. I had a nice day off from studying today, it was good to feel like a dad again instead of a drifter who only came by to eat. It was nice to relax, focus on family, and faith. Not necessarily in that order. I think Michelle appreciated the extra help too. My mission president went through medical school and said that he probably didn't get to be the valedictorian because he didn’t study on Sundays. But, what he lost in study time he gained in strengthening family relationships. I don’t think I am valedictorian material but I hope to emulate that lifestyle and give my family the time they deserve. And although the kids are small now and may not remember me not studying, I will.

“No other success can compensate for failure in the home”- David O. McKay

Jason

P.S. We found out the reason why we had so many ants on our floor. Two dead small lizards under one of our couches. Try to make that a selling point, mister director of tourism.

Savannah's birth story

So, Savannah is almost 3 months old, but I wanted to get this on here. I'm going to change the date on it, so it fits on the blog more chronologically. Anyway, here's the delivery story. I started having contractions around 7 or 8 AM and they were pretty consistent-every 5-8 minutes or so and they lasted about 30 seconds. Well, they kept going like that for a while without getting much closer together or longer. It depended a lot on what I was doing. If I were laying down, they would be less frequent. Anyway, Dan and Lise left around 9 to go to the airport to fly home. Then Jason went to work around 10 and said to call him when I needed to go to the hospital. Well, I did a few things--gave William a bath, took Jennis to get some piano music, packed a hospital bag, called the hospital and pre-registered (I know I'm a procrastinator)--and then around 12:30, I sent Jason a text saying that we should probably head to the hospital around 1. He got home around that time and he packed a bag and we left. But before we went to the hospital we went to Carl's Jr. because I was starving and I knew they wouldn't let me eat once we got there. So, yeah, I was having pretty painful contractions at this point, but we ate our hamburgers and then headed over to the hospital. 

We went up to Labor & Delivery (one of the hospital staff offered to get me a wheelchair on our way in when I stopped walking for a contraction) and got checked in and taken to a room. The nurse got me hooked up to the heartbeat monitor and the contraction monitor and checked me and I was dilated to a 4. She said, "Well, I'll check on you in about a half hour and if you've made progress we can admit you." Well, after a half hour I hadn't made much progress, but she said, "I can tell you are in pain with these contractions, so I hate to send you home. Let me check with the Doctor and I will ask him." About ten minutes later I saw a note pop up on the monitor where they record everything that is going on and it said something about how the Dr. said to admit me. Well, sure enough, the doctor came in a few minutes later and said, "Yeah, we're going to admit you, so you can get an epidural. Then, after that I'll come and break your water and that should help you make progress." So, I got an IV and then about a half hour later, around 5, the anesthesiologist came in and gave me an epidural. It was different this time because he had me sit up on the bed while he gave it to me. With William, I got to lay on my side while I got the epidural. Anyway, about a half hour after I got the epidural (5:30ish), the Dr. came back to break my water and I was already dilated to a 7, so that was good news. The Dr. broke my water and there was a little meconium in the amniotic fluid, so they said they would have a team on hand to make sure the baby hadn't gotten any in her lungs or anything. I was still feeling a little pain from the contractions, but it was so much better than before the epidural. The doctors changed shifts at 6, so the new Dr. came and checked on me around 6:30 and she said I was at a 10 and ready to start pushing. They got everything set up and I started pushing with contractions around 6:45. For some reason it was a little harder for me to tell when I was having a contraction with my legs up ready to push, but I pushed when I wanted and when they told me to andSavannah was born at 7:02 PM. Jason got to cut the cord right after she was born and they took her to the baby bassinet thingy so they could make sure she was doing okay. I didn't get to hold her for a little while because of that and I was a little worried because they weren't saying anything. But she was fine. 

She weighed 8 lbs. 11 oz. and was 21 inches long. Everyone had been telling me that she was going to be smaller than William-probably 6 lbs. Even the doctors said that. But then when the Dr. saw her head, she said, "I think you have an 8 lb baby here!" So, yeah, that was a surprise. But I didn't tear too much. I am healing much faster than I did with William (I had an episiotomy with him). 

It happened...

You know those things that you hope your child never does? Those things you hear other mothers tell you that just make you cringe? Well, one of those happened this morning. I was lying on the floor in William's room while he played with some toys nearby. He gets up before 6 every day, so I try to feed him some food and then take a little nap while he plays until it is a more reasonable hour (like 6:30 :) ). Anyway, in my half-asleep state I hear him start spitting. He has started to spit when he doesn't like something or when I tell him something is yucky. So, I get up and go try to figure out what he is spitting out. No, it wasn't dirt. He has eaten that many times already (including twice yesterday). It had this orange-brown color to it and it didn't take me long to figure out what it was once I smelled it. He had somehow gotten some of his poop from the back of his diaper that he had just filled to overflowing. I said loudly "Oh no!" and that brought Jason from the other room to help clean up the little stinker. We changed the diaper, gave him a bath and got him back to our nice-smelling little boy, but I still just cringe when I think about it. I don't know if I'll feel okay sharing a spoon with him for the next little while. Good thing it was yesterday that he used my toothbrush and not later today!

Christmas-Lots of Pictures to catch up

Sorry for the overload of pictures, but I figured this was the easiest way to do a quick update. 

11 months old!

Christmas Eve!

We got to spend Christmas and New Year's in California with Jason's family. It was lots of fun!

Despite having never opened a present before,
William seemed to know exactly what to do.

Cousins! These boys are just 3 weeks apart.

Best present ever!

Christmas Day!

Cousins waiting on the stairs to go down and see their presents

I have to open more presents?

Enjoying the warm California Christmas

I got to talk to my sister Rebekah who was actually about 45 minutes away from where we were.

William's 1st Birthday!

Poor kid was sick, so he felt pretty miserable all day.

Trying to enjoy the beach, but still feeling sick

I think he just wanted to sleep

Attempt at a family picture. William wasn't happy about stopping.

Happy Birthday song!

He did feel a little better that night after a long afternoon nap

New Year's!

We got to see some of the floats for the Rose Parade

I think this is a funny picture. William was trying to climb up me to look at the float behind us.