Estoy regresando a la escuela.

 Back to school! Jake and I have enrolled in a couple of different courses... well technically Jake has enrolled in the courses, but we sit for hours reading every evening together. I hadn't really thought what would happen once real life started again. Work I assumed yes. DART deployment I thought possibly. But return to school, though we had talked about the need, I hadn't honestly realized what that would mean. 

I completed the Perspectives course my last semester of undergrad... way back in the day. But Jake had never taken the course. As an alum, I am able to audit the course for free, hence why Jake enrolled in the course but we work through the readings and the reviews together.

Jake has also enrolled in an online Spanish class at IvyTech. Talk about a crash course in Spanish!! It's honestly pretty intense trying to keep up from the perspective of someone with no Spanish foundation. But Jake's a rockstar and we put in the time he needs. We'll be heading to Nicaragua in a couple of weeks and Mexico in a couple of months, so the real life experience beyond what I quiz him on will be beneficial. 

Then we are also participating in a couples Bible study. An opportunity for us to become involved in our community as a couple instead of individuals, to interact with a new potential peer group, and of course to learn as we do so. 

Hence why any given night of the week you'll probably find us reading. Making our way through the next assignments and preparing for the next quizzes and discussions. Officially back in school!

On the work side of things, call is standard, no more or less than before. My clinic is getting busier again which results in an increase on the elective surgery side of the practice. In addition, one of the partners is going to be leaving in a few months (moving back to Ohio); so things are gearing up for adjustments on the horizon. Thankfully those major work changes will most likely coincide in the Spring with the finishing of our three classes/studies that is requiring our time right now. Jake is juggling work changes as well. Always exciting for me to prayerfully watch what God builds Jake up to be. 

This weekend, Lord Willing, we will be traveling to Connecticut to present on Togo as well as Honduras for our sending church there.

Much Love.

Estoy casada.

 When 2024 rolled around dictating it was time for Jake and I to return to work, we went albeit begrudgingly. I sent him a text that first day back in reality, in a way I had said, it felt like we were finally starting the rest of our lives. December had been a bubble, very nice and very needed in many different ways, but a lovely little bubble nonetheless. 

It again amazes me at how easy the transition has been. Even living in a house, let alone actually owning that house, something I never thought I would do; an easy and happy transition. Returning to work after a month of no call and no operating is easy to pick up again. Kind of like how they say... riding a bike; easy to pick it up and get moving again. I can't really use that phase for married life as it's a first time living such a life. Yet it feels natural and normal as if I've always loved Jake.

As natural as work can be to pick up again, "like riding a bike" I said above. I am finally experiencing how my work effects my life outside of work in a new way. Spending your entire day post call wondering if you had made the right decision for a patient, worry planted firmly in the back of your mind, is not so easy to hide anymore and affects more than just me. Same way as post call tiredness, is no longer just something I have to ignore. 

I also was experiencing a slight emotional crisis from work the past few days. Second guessing a decision I had made, had me undermining if I could even trust my "gut" anymore. At least half of my post-call exhaustion came from the mental merry-go-round that one patient had caused me. In the end, my "gut" had been correct. Patient still needed surgery, but I at least had reasoned correctly in my decision. I can therefore still rely on my years of past experiences to bring expertise or "gut" into my decision making going forward. Granted, I know that wrong decisions lay ahead of me, as few as I pray those may be, but even so, I should be able to bring my past experiences from which I've learned to help decision-making going forward. One incorrect decision will not change that, as long as I own the decision I've made. (lesson learned from 4th year residency). So the crisis of the past few days could be viewed as overly dramatic and unnecessary, but nevertheless it was felt. Thankfully all's well that ends well. 

Stay warm!

Much Love.