Recovery!

Well my last week of recovering from surgery has been interesting!

Lucas has taken extremely good care of me and is so precious! My mom came up and dolled up my front porch with Christmas Joy and I've been spending so much quality time with my little bears!

I haven't recovered near as quickly as I thought I would, which is kind of sad... But I've been able to rest up and I'm looking at the plus side of having to be down for a while!

Elly is our precious little morkie bear and she never plays with toys, it's very rare! If she does play with a toy it's like the little torn off pieces of something like a little ear that's been ripped off or this scarf that fell off a penguin toy we had! But anyways... My mom brought up these two new Christmas themed toys for the girls and one is a moose! Well it has become Elly's new favorite thing! She's played with it everyday since my mom brought it up and it's so funny!

Thanksgiving Adventure

Well this last section of med school before the end of the semester is seeming to be a little bit easier... Luke is really only in the class for about 3 1/2 weeks which is crazy and it's coming around the corner here really quickly!

A little game changer that got thrown in the mix of thanksgiving festivities this year was my surgery... The day before thanksgiving! I had a spur on the inside of my right foot up by my big toe, this caused a neuroma which became very painful! So Wednesday morning my sweet husband took me in for surgery where we were met by my parents and the best father-in-law I could have ever hoped for!

I had to arrive at 7:30 and they didn't get me in to surgery for four hours.. Needless to say they pumped me with so much fluid so quickly I had to go to the bathroom a million times! Sweet Lucas took me home to recover and take care of me! Some of my family came to see us the next morning as we watched the thanksgiving parade and then we soon headed out to Chandler, Ok to see Luke's incredible family! We had an amazing thanksgiving, I did a little too much and my foot was really swollen by the time we left ... But it was well worth it!

However, before we all ate dinner Luke's sweet Grandmother suggested we go around the table and say what we were thankful for and Lucas made me tear up when he unexpectedly said he was most thankful for me!! I felt so special, it was one of the sweetest and kindest things I've ever witnessed!

So now today we've had a lazy recovery day together... This surgery couldn't have come at a better time so I can spend it all with my hubby on his break!

Anatomy Complete

It's overrrrrrrrrrrr.... Thank goodness! Lucas rounded the bases with a home run and I couldn't be happier! He did so good on his last test, I'm so proud! So no summer school anatomy for him, and hopefully we will be able to book that cruise we've been talking about!

He's had some friends over this weekend, we've grill brauts and made margaritas... They got in the hot tub for a while and I think Lucas deserved every second of fun and relaxation!!

I've been keeping myself busy by making lovely Christmas wreaths! I think I found my new niche! It all started when we had a wreath making party on one of our girls nights! It was so fun, I think crafting relaxes me... Wish I could do it for a living!! But I went home the next day an made two more wreaths!

I've been wanting a hobby, something else I can do when I get home besides watch TV or bake while Luke is busy! It's been a heck of a ride with this anatomy section, but I'm sure glad it's over!!

Trick-or-Treat... Don't smell my feet :)

What an adventure this past month has been! We have done so much and it's been crazy... Anatomy is ALMOST over, thank goodness! I think the both of us couldn't be more ready! Luke asked me if I wanted him to throw his scrubs away when he was done with anatomy and I replied with a big NO WAY! He looks so handsome in his scrubs, that's my man in uniform preference :)

Soooo I've also had an issue with my big toe... It hurts! Just sore ate the joint and Luke has been putting his skills to the test to research what's wrong! Needless to say its fun for both of us because I get some special attention and he gets to play pretend a bit! However, this issue leaves me with very few shoes I can wear (hince the "don't smell my feet" in the title cause I wear mainly one pair all the time)! I m ready to get new shoes :) and more ready to fix my toe, so we will see what happens with that!

The Monday before Halloween we went and ate chili at Luke's dad's house where we were with a whole crowd of family carving pumpkins! It was a blast, it's been a few years since either of us carved pumpkins so our skills were a little rusty but I think we did really good!

Our pumpkin along with our other fall decor set out on our porch last night where we proceeded to hand out Candy to the kids, but we had very few come by :(! The most successful part of the evening was finally getting to grill! For the first time ever like grilled hamburgers and they were absolutely delicious! I was so proud! My brother-in-law and his fiancé came over to enjoy the festivities as well! It was a great time! Even the bears participated by sporting their Shark and Piggy costume!!

Anatomy Stinks... Literally

Well... Here we are after Luke's first anatomy test, we both learned some good lessons!

1) When you leave lab you should proceed to ...A) remove scrubs and put them in the wash immediately when you get home! B) quickly get in the shower and begin applying as much soap as possible meanwhile wife must be lighting a candle in the house! And then C) finally kiss your wife after a long day away from her!!

2) When your precious mother in law suggests to the boys that there must be a fuse out on the heater when they are trying to fix it, you may want to take her seriously... Thanks for the amazing space heater you guys :))

3) Don't try to clean your toaster over with windex... Your first few toastings will taste slightly like household cleaner! However I still don't think my husband noticed and I wasn't about to mention it!

4) Make note that when you're hair has grown quite a bit since you've curled it and you're trying to reach the ends of your hair by lifting your arms as fat as you can above your head... You may just drop the curling iron on your face and burn you chin!

5) More seriously make sure to let your husband study... I learn more and more not to tempt him with watching a TV show or something like that because he really does need to focus and a successful med school student = a very happy hubby (p.s. bringing home a "chubby hubby" flavored cupcake does bring a good smile to a frustrated face)

6) Make sure to always have some extra savings... We never expected Luke's lap top to crash which was very sad, luckily we were able to retrieve his data from his old lap top but we ended up having to spend a pretty penny for a new Mac!

7) And lucky number seven... Let him have his things!! (Please note the picture I attached to this post, Lucas is hooking up new speakers for our living room, lets just hope I learn how to use them) Luke's release from school seems to be finding new lovely technological toys and I don't mind... I don't exactly understand what he's talking about all the time, but I love him for it! When he's spitting off all this funny terminology to me I tell him "baby, this is like me trying to tell you about patent leather pumps verse suede wedges ... All you really get out of it is that I want a tall shoe" so the moral of the story is just let him be him :) it's fun seeing him in his element!

Soooo... Anatomy is rough and laughter is going to help get you through it! Being a patient and participating in study time is normally fun unless you get creeped out easily! But doing this is just one more way to spend quality time with your hubby and come away with either a relaxing massage as he's trying to find certain muscles in your arm or learn some fun facts you never knew!

Everyday is a new day and by God's grace and mercy we are thankfully getting through this together :)

Getting in the Groove!

So lately life has been lovely, went through the first round of major tests together and came out better than ever! It's frustrating being in the next room knowing Luke is studying and he can't come out and play :( but let me tell you it was all worth it when his tests were done because he had the whole weekend and Monday and mostly Tuesday that he didn't have to study and it felt like a special vacation!

Now he's on to his Anatomy course... Meaning cadaver! I'm not excited about it, nor do I wanna hear anything about it because I'm so squeamish... But he said it is really interesting! However, we have made a game plan that when he gets home from his lab days he goes straight inside to the shower and washes his scrubs so he doesn't smell like formaldehyde ...
We will see today when I get home how we'll that works!!

We've been up to no good lately eating just about any and everything in sight, it's soooo easy to get caught up in "oh let's just order something to go" because he's busy, I'm busy, we are both tired and no one wants to think about cooking by the end of the day! But, we made it a goal that this entire week we cannot order out or get junk food we MUST eat from home and use what we have! We went to the grocery store and got stocked up.. And of course out plan we're already thrown off for my lovely meals I was prepping to cook cause I felt horrible and Luke was making dinner so we did something a little easier, unfortunately he had to go back to the store to get some items for his meal he made!

I feel so lucky to have a husband that would do that for me! Even though he's busy and this anatomy course has been the main one he's worried about he still took the time to grab groceries and make me dinner! He's quite the cute and excellent chef!

Round one Ding Ding Ding!!

Well... So now we (meaning Luke) are in big time study mode, his first midterm/first med school test is tomorrow morning and I feel like I've barely seen him! Even though he's studying in his office which is basically in the middle of our house he's still got his nose buried deep in his studies! I try to be quite as a mouse but it's all I can do to not go sit on his lap and give him a big kiss every few hours!

So far this experience has been great! Luke is now a little more use to getting up earlier and the long lecture hours, I'm use to him studying and take the time to relax for myself for a few hours after work... Or in the last few days type case MANY hours! Yesterday he studied for nearly 10 hours, how crazy is that!

I've already practiced being the patient once and it was quite enjoyable! He was feeling my neck and under my arms for lymph nodes and it felt like a little massage... I didn't mind!!! He's had a few clinical courses where they talk to "actor" patients to learn about how to formally go about working with patients and the structure inside a doctors exam room! He's really enjoyed doing those more hands on interactive activities!!

We finally after 2 months of living in our new house have things decorated and put away, it feels great! We are also beginning to make some med school friends! Well Luke knows lots of guys but I wanna know more of the wives, so tomorrow we are gonna go on a cupcake double date with another med school couple! Can't wait!!

This has been great, I'm so proud of Luke for his hard work... I am just starting to get a little taste of loneliness right now but it's ok cause he always makes up for it!!

Week One Down!

It's been an interesting few days, but I think it will take more time to adjust! I guess one thing I never understood about med school is the scheduling! Luke literally has a different schedule everyday and every week it changes... So what I'm saying is there is no routine!!

I'm a planner so it seems kind of nuts, I have asked him probably close to 20 times now what his schedule is by habit and I feel bad but I just want to know! Finally after probably being tired of me asking so much he just emailed me all the info he had about classes so I have no excuse to ask anymore!

The first day he came home exhausted... 8 hours of pure lecture can really wear on someone, but the moment he got home the studying began! Which I'm really proud I have to say, I've never met someone more motivated and driven! It was nice though because when I got home and we got to spend a few hours together to eat dinner and relax before his studying began... All I could think was "alrighty, here we go!"

Surprisingly it's actually been ok so far, I get jealous really easily when he's spending time with his books and not me, but it gives me time to do my things I need to get done too and he's done a great job of trying to study before he even comes home which is so nice! All in all it's been off to a good start!

He has also come home with some excellent stories! He learned how to greet patients and was "luckily" volunteered by his buddy to practice first in front of everyone but he said it went well! Another piece of information he learned was finding lymph nodes, so I have already gotten to practice being a patient and hopefully I was a good one... I said "so did I do ok?" and his response was "well I don't really know what good or bad feels like yet so I'm not sure" ha ha! He went to a surgery seminar for lunch one day, primarily for free pizza but also out of some interest in the topic as well... He made sure that I knew he was glad he finished his pizza before the surgeon began showing images of previous patients because he had some gruesome ones! Among some there was a story that was more odd than the rest, apparently one of the trauma Surgeons patients was a "regular" he would stab himself on occasions and come in the get fixed up...

Well one time he stabbed himself deeper than normal and it was quite an ordeal, but ironically the only thing keeping him from bleeding to death was the scar tissue supporting the knife in him from all his previous stabbing incidents! Crazy huh?

I love hearing the stories, it can make light of a heavy situation and makes it fun for me because I don't always understand the technical side to things!

This is for sure an adjustment period for us, but we are so motivated to try to do our best for one another... So even though he's been busy I still came home from work on this Friday evening to a home cooked Mexican style meal and red roses on the table! He just is such an amazing husband and I feel so blessed, I only hope I can make him feel as special as I do!

Donor Luncheon and White Coat Ceremony

Well.... Like I said previously Lucas met with his cadaver's family on the last day of their orientation week just a few hours before the white coat ceremony!

Even though I personally think I would feel very uncomfortable, Luke made it clear to me that it was just fine! He will be studying with the gracious donation of an older man's body! Wow that sounded weird... But truly this man I think was happy to help "the new generation learn"! Luke said he was happy to meet this man's caretaker/love of his life and she had some interesting things to say about this mans life! The donor thought he would be an interesting subject to study because he has had something like 37 surgeries in his lifetime!

So with all this, at first yes, it made me uncomfortable thinking about this stuff but Luke said it was so easy to gain respect for this man and what he is doing for the Medical Students!

On a lighter note... The white coat ceremony was so fun to witness! Im not exactly sure what it was exactly that made me so happy because it was just an excellent moment in time to mark my husbands amazing hard work and the beginning of something wonderful! Seeing him in that white coat with a smile ear to eat was so exciting and made me think... Regardless of how many tough times we may come across or bumps in the road we may reach it is all about this smile and this happiness right here!

After hearing several motivating speeches throughout the evening, they brought all the med students up on stage by assigned Mod and told a little about the history of the mod's title that they had been named after! Everyone was named after a particular donor to the University or someone whom had accomplished great medical deeds in their lifetime! Ironically Mr.Smile's mod was named in honor of a great neurologist! Now, my grandfather was the first neurosurgeon in the state of Oklahoma and has been over joyed with Luke during this whole experience of him beginning med school! In his impeccable 92 year old state-of-mind he is ALWAYS the first to tell Luke he will be there to help him whenever he needs! I just think it is so cool that neurology will label and always follow Lucas through his whole medical school experience! It's like my grandfather with really ALWAYS be helping him because his mod is exactly where students go for studying an support! Just seems pretty wonderful to me!!

There's not much more I can say about how proud I am of Lucas... He just always amazes me and I can't wait for him to get started Monday with his classes!! I already miss him and his school work hasn't even begun, but I will support him every step of the way :)

Also just another fun little tidbit... I had a great customer this week who had 3 kids herself, but was telling me stories of her friends who had kids in med school! It just gave me a little more insight about mine and Luke's plans for kids someday, who knows what will happen... We've always said we would wait till he was done with school, but I don't know if I can hold out that long! Regardless of how long it will be I still want time with JUST us, and the bears of course!! But one thing my client said to me that will always stick in my mind is "if you want something bad enough you can make it work, you are different from anyone else and don't let one persons opinions change yours and your husbands" I just thought that was inspiring!

So things coming up...
School starts
I go to my first cosmetic training
... And that's it for now!

It's only just begun!!

So it's official! Med School activities have kicked off and Mr.Smile has been so busy with orientation these past few days I've barely seen him!

The first day he seemed really excited when he got home to tell me about his day! They set up their computers with new software and got placed in their "Mod" groups that they will remain in for the rest of med school! Luke said he was happy with his mod and told me a few cool stories of people he had met! They have their own study room with their own little study areas and a kitchenette and then have a separate conference area where they can all gather... It just seems so cool to me all the amazing resources they have!

He's gone to a few dinners for organizations that support the med school and its given him more time to socialize with all the new students as well as find an organization for me, a wife, to be involved in with other med school wives or significant others!

Yesterday they gathered in their mod groups and were given "case studies" to brainstorm ideas hopefully helping them resolve problems they may come across during their experience! Each mod was assigned a faculty member that would help with their discussions and who else but the Dean of the Med School was assigned to their mod! Not to mention Luke and his friend got called on separately by the Dean asking them their opinion about the topic! Luke's response was "Hey the Dean knows my name!"

Today will be a different experience however, they are having a luncheon with the "Donors" family... Donor meaning cadaver that Luke and 7 other students will be working on this year! I was a little nervous when I heard they meet with the family, but it really does help give the students on who the person was and gain respect for them! I'm eager to hear how it goes and will be writing about that and his white coat ceremony happening this evening as well next!!

It is so cool to see all of this begin to play out! He has been so busy it's just crazy, but the best thing is I can tell he is really enjoying everything!!

Married!!!

So it's official, we have tied the knot a little over a month ago! What an experience!!!

Deciding to have a destination wedding is one choice I would make over and over again! We didn't quite know what to expect since we were getting married on an island we haven't been to in years, but everything exceeded our expectations! It was just incredible, no combination of words could possibly describe how wonderful the occasion was!

We were married in the Virgin Islands and spent a week prior to the wedding on St. John vacationing with Mr. Smile's family! It was so lovely, and very tiring! But I have to say this was such a good idea, although worrying about gaining weight on a wedding wasn't fun... Being busy every moment of the day on a beautiful Island put my wedding worries at ease! We hopped over to St. Thomas to get married On a beautiful beach called Maygens Bay! It ended up being the most perfect day! One of the most mild weather days on the island and a great breeze was helping cool us down as well! There was barely anyone surrounding us which is so rare... Maygens Bay is the most popular beach on the island so we felt so lucky not to be bombarded by a ton of strangers! We had a lovely lunch afterwards at my parents villa which was decorated so adorably! But the end of the evening was finished with a magical sunset sail! I feel so blessed to have had such awesome family surrounding us and for them to have come all that way to be apart of a wonderful memory in our lives!!

Now that we have been home for a little while we have had a reception back home where everyone could get together that wasn't able to come! We have also been moving into our new house which is adorable, but moving and painting and sanding and redoing and redoing again can be quite a stressor! We've said a few times that we will be lucky the Mr. Smiles choice of a career path would hopefully give us the means to have someone help do some of this kind of work for us! It was hard!! We are still working though and that will surely be one of my next posts!

This week Mr. Smile has a basic life support class we has to attend for two hours! This is apparently a CPR certification class that all med school students must do before beginning school! But my husband made a good point by saying "well if we are going to med school I guess we probably need to know how to save someone's life" He makes me laugh, but Im so excited for him to get started and feel like this process is on the move!

We just accepted a loan last night and it was a little nerve racking, but we know literally EVERYONE does it! It will be just fine and we know it will be paid off quickly! There's nothing like starting off your marriage by being in debt... But I wouldn't change a thing and I feel like our journey of being frugal and relying on one another will only make us stronger!!

Graduation Complete... Onto Rentals

It's seems so crazy that the past four years of trying to obtain our undergraduate degree has flown by so quickly! But here we are, done with school and into the real world... for me at least, and Mr. Smile thankfully gets a little break from school this summer before this madness begins. We leave for our wedding in less than a month and the anticipation of beginning this whole new life together is quite thrilling.

We've been moving Luke's big things into a storage unit that unfortunately was located near the house we thought we were going to be able to rent.... But it just became too pricy for us when the rental company decided to increase monthly rent, so the process has only just begun again.

We've decided that probably one of the most frustrating things to do is find a rental house. I can't imagine how it would be if we were trying to find something in a different state, it is a nightmare right now. Once we find a house we like, it's already been snatched up or they actually do allow little dogs but want to wait to see if someone else without any comes along first. Not to mention the market is so scant that it is almost not even worth looking at the moment. The worst part is everyone thinks it should be so easy and asks why haven't we found a place yet... But that's far from the truth.

But regardless of the insanity, somehow trials always bring us closer together. Just like our rental car situation for St.Thomas. For the first week Luke's parents will have a rental car to drive everyone around, but once it comes to our honeymoon it will be left all up to us. If you don't know St.Thomas has teeny tiny winding roads and you have to drive on the opposite side of the car, so obviously neither of us wanted to be responsible for driving. Needless to say it will be Mr. Smile who tootles us around but I've promised I won't let the tension of crazy roads get to me. This seems so funny and I have never experienced it like he has so I'll be anxious to see what really happens. Overall I know we will need to act as a team and even if it stresses us out hopefully we will be glad we did it in the end!

Continuing the Countdown

Today we hit the two month mark till our wonderful St.Thomas wedding! I think if life doesn't bring in one crazy thing to do something else will be passed your way. The both of us are finishing up our undergraduate degrees whitin the next two weeks and it is coming as a relief to the both of us. However just when we think this craziness is about to end... We realize we have so much more coming our way.

We've been looking for rental houses lately, realizing its not the best idea to invest in real estate when we aren't exactly sure where we will be in the next few years. This process has been fun to say the least, but we've had to set it to the side a little lately because eventually it becomes more fun than homework... We find ourselves getting lost in this endless sea of rental houses. I think we love this process so much because it feels as if the closer we get to finding our rental home, the closer we get to being together.


Obviously a new house brings up new expenses, things such as furniture and paint, rugs and decor. This is fun to plan as well, but it is hard to make ourselves hold off a few more weeks till summer hits and we don't have anything else to focus on in the meantime. The worst part about this process is waiting, I am very not very patient, but Mr.Smile on the other hand is. Even though his patience always exceeds mine I think we both have equal feelings about this wedding not coming soon enough. Every time we are together and then have to leave one another the feeling of being alone gets worse... It feels like being only and arms length away but still not being able to reach something you really want. So house hunting has become in a sense thereputic for this grueling feeling we are struggling with.

The other issue we have come across is one all med students face... Money. Do we rent a house we really want or try and save money to put towards paying back his loan, do we buy the couch we really love or the one that's just ok??? So many money saving issues have made especially me feel guilty for buying the more expensive toilet paper. I think this is something that most people have concerned with when first getting married, med school or not. One really good thing we have done is set down and budgeted out our expected monthly expenses and I think this really helped us. Hopefully it all goes as plan but if we... Meaning I... Are frugal enough my sense of urgency to not spend money feels slightly at ease when reminded of our plan.

So more than anything, these past few months finishing up our undergrad have been an ultimate tug-o-war of trying to balance house hunting and wedding planning with our schoolwork... I have a feeling that this balancing processes, even though we will be graduating in a few weeks, will be endless for the next few years for us.

The Dress

    There is something about knowing that I get to try on my wedding dress today that is suspenseful. I am so excited, but at the same time worry if Lucas will love it as much as I do. This has kind of the same relation to my anticipation for him to start Med School, I am so stinking excited, but will we really end up loving it as much as we hope. My dress is being kept as secret to him as most wedding traditionalist participate in but there is a part of me that can't help but want to share something so special with him. It won't happen till the day of our wedding, but it is kind of funny that this is the ultimate secret I keep. We do share everything and make sure one another always knows our feelings wether scared or extremely happy and I think that is such a huge and wonderful part of having a great relationship as we do.

   It is funny the things we have been going through to get to where we are, including our wedding plans. Lucas reminds me all the time lets soak everything up while we are in the process of planning, but sometimes stress can take over. Then sometime fear knowing that once we are married for the first four years it's all on my shoulders, but like the details of my dress I try to keep the details of my fear to myself and know he will love me no matter what. We have done most of our planning already and it is a giant weight that has lifted from the whole process, since we are having a destination wedding though it's been easy to plan for out there because they do everything for you. But it's our reception here that has been harder, the appointments and decisions are just nuts but it sure is fun. It's great because the feeling I had when I had tried on my dress was instant love, instant relief and happiness. I smile inside every time I dream about it and that's exactly kind if how I felt when we made all of our other decisions together for all of our other wedding details.

    It's been tough, but SO fun! I love making decisions with Lucas, it's like he calms me down and that's one thing that makes me head over heels for him. I'm the luckiest girl in the world to be marrying him and I know he will love my dress just as much as I do, just like I will love Med School just as much as he will because that's what makes him happy and excited... It's about my love for him.

"Me" and my Hubby soon to be!

 
   My name is Kylie and I've started this blog to document all the wonderful and maybe sometimes not so wonderful times of my journey through being a Med School Wife. My soon to be Hubby Lucas is an incredible man and has well earned his dream of going to med school. We are also in the process of finishing our senior year of college and planning a wonderful wedding. What a great year 2012 will bring us; accomplishment & pride, the begging of a love story, saying goodbye to free time and hello to the real world. We are both prepared for Med School to be a challenging process, and I won't say Im not worried about trying to do everything right my first year of marriage and supporting a med student, but it is a path I'm ecstatic to head down. I can't wait to marry the man of my dreams and spend my life with him each day.

    A little about the "Smile's" which is a nickname we have held onto... it's kind of become a way of life for us. We have been together since our senior year of high school and developed an extremely wonderful relationship together. Lucas has known for a long time Med School would probably be a big goal he would like to accomplish someday, and I always knew there was a very large possibility I would be going through this rewarding journey in our lives by his side. We have two dogs commonly referred to as "the bears" and their names are Winnie and Elly. These two little things keep a smile on our faces and as of now primarily live with me until Lucas and I get married. We adopted Winnie our freshman year of college and Elly our junior year... and since they have the same dad they are half sisters and you would never think otherwise because they are best friends! We are getting married this summer and then shortly after I will be starting a full time job at my current employer and he will be starting school within a month or so.

   I hope you enjoy our stories, I will post the good, the bad and the funny which we can hopefully reflect back on one day a get a giggle out of.

With Love,
     Kylie "Smile"