Weekend in Tucson

Hi everyone. I spent last weekend in Tucson visiting a couple friends (Kera and Katherine, who are PT students from St. Kates). Krisanne was hard at work at the hospital in PHX area. Despite the weather, we had a great time! I met up with Kera on Saturday and we hiked Sabino Canyon in the Santa Catalina Mountains for about 4 hours (about 9 mile hike) while Katherine worked. Kera was an excellent tour guide and showed me around Univ of Arizona's campus, and other parts of Tucson. While we were touring around, we made the mistake of getting Jamba Juice...I know...yummy! This beverage made us even colder than we were, and we paid for it!! It took us both most of the night to warm up!! We went out to eat on campus at Gentle Ben's...good stuff!!

On Sunday, the three of us wanted to see and hike Mt. Lemmon. When we woke up we thought we would be able to since the sky was bright blue and sunny. We turned the TV on before we left, luckily, and the weather people said the mountains were in a winter weather advisory. Well...being from MN, and not sure if we should rely on the weather people, we decided we better not take our chances on the mountain road we didn't know, just in case the weather turned. So, we decided to hike Saguaro National Park (the East side). After about an hour into our ~6 mile hike, we looked toward Mt. Lemmon (which had been beautiful to look at). It was gone! The clouds had moved in, and it was no longer visible. We were very glad at this point we decided against it. We finished our hike and about a half hour later, it started raining...it didn't stop until I got back to Phoenix. We got pretty lucky we weren't caught in the rain and/or snow. It was a great weekend of great hiking, and seeing different parts of AZ!!

Pictures:
1: Jenny at Sabino Canyon. The wall was absolutely amazing, if only the picture could do it justice

2: Jenny's "senior picture" at the end of the 7 Falls trail we did.

3: Jenny tries to plank between two giant rocks!

4: Jenny and Kera at the "big" waterfall of 7 falls! Keep in mind it had been raining a lot in Tucson so this was a lot of water to them.

5: Katherine, Kera, and Jenny posing at the peak of the Saguaro National Park trail we did.

This week at the clinic has been an interesting one...one I won't forget for a while!!

I hope you are all doing well! Keep in touch!!

Jenny

I Wonder If I Would Survive another $100,000 and Medical School...hmmm

OK...kidding. I did see the most amazing thing today. At least, amazing to this point. I had the opportunity to observe a total knee replacement. Seriously. I was completely enthralled.

What I didn't know before surgery today:

1. The surgeon and his/her assistants dress up as "bee keepers/spacemen" to reduce infection
2. They replace only the articulating surfaces
3. The cement they use to hold the new pieces has fumes that are toxic to fetuses...not that there would be any reason to care.
4. The cement is way cool. Starts as a foam (I made a snowman..the rules were "no dice and no balls") and heats up to over 200 degrees (had to quick put it down after the chemical reaction began), and hardens super HARD
5. Anesthesiologists can be very funny people
6. I don't look good in shower caps...but the scrubs...I looked hot.
7. Shoe covers save you from sticky spots on the floor
8. They make face masks with plastic eye shields (I looked like Tron)
9. What Jen Yeaton's husband does...the sales rep for Stryker was fascinating...and cute.
10. Most knee studies are done on knees that are varus and most surgeries done where I am are on older females who have valgus knees
11. That watching surgeries is down right fascinating.

Not for the Weak at Heart

Be ready for a lengthy run...This is The Full Monty, Our Picture Stash

Roadtrip to Arizona 2007
El Encanto, Cave Creek, AZ 2007
Camelback 2007
Thunderbird Paseo Bike Ride
PF Chang's RocknRoll Marathon 2007
Squaw Peak 2007
Girls Just Wanna Have Fun
San Diego 2007
Tijuana! 2007
Tackle Camelback II
Las Vegas...Baby
The Grand Canyon-yon-yon
Night as Locals with Mike at His Corner Bar
South Mtns 2007
Jenny's Fam and the Cubbies Game
St. Patty's Day 2007
Jenny's Leaving Phoenix
Los Angeles 2007
Mom and Dad's Pickmeup Phoenix Spring Break

Squaw Peak

"Umph....I'm OK! It's a little dark out here to see where I'm stepping! I love it!"









Good evening from AZ! Today after work, Krisanne and I decided to tackle Squaw Peak, which is about 1.2 miles to the top. We weren't sure if we would make it all the way to the top, since we didn't get out there until 5, and sundown is at 6. But, we kept on climbing (and taking tons of pictures), and we eventually made it to the top as the sun was going behind the mountains. It was quite a sight, and I wish the pictures could do it justice! It is a shorter/quicker hike than Camelback, but just as scenic. On the way down, it got pretty dark. Krisanne liked hiking in the dark better, but for me, I prefer to see which rocks to step on.

Movie Page

The photography is a bit blurry at times...I like to call it artistic.

CLICK LINK BELOW: (you may have to let the files load for a bit)
Movie Menu

OK...I got a little over zealous and exceeded my transfer limit for the .mac account where the movies are. They will not show up until after Jan 16, I guess. Sorry...learning the mac ropes, I guess.

week 1

Hey everyone. So, I am going to try this blog thing out. ! I hope everyone is doing well (wherever you are)!!!

Last weekend (Sunday), we went hiking on Camelback Mountain, which is in
the East Phoenix valley area. It is a relatively short hike (3 miles round
trip), but it is qualified as a moderate to difficult climb. I can honestly
say I have never climbed a mountain steep enough to the point I needed to
crawl on my toes and my hands. I realized I was not in shape during this
climb...lots of huffing and puffing on my part! The view from the top was
spectacular, and certainly worth the agony to get there. Krisanne and I
have the goal of running up it by the time we leave. I better get myself
moving and in shape if this is truely going to happen! (For those of you
coming down...I would recommend this hike!!!)

I started work on Monday, January 8. Arriving at the clinic at 6:30am is
pretty darn early, but honestly...I LOVE it!! Most of you know I am a
morning person...starting this early gives me time in the afternoon to run,
bike, etc. My CI and I seem to be getting along pretty well. She is
originally from Wisconsin (Milwaukee area) and went to school at UWL. As
any clinician needs to be at 6:30am, she is a little ball of fire, and very
energetic, which helps me get going in the morning. We see on average about
6 patients every hour and a half (way too many in my opinion). In my last
clinical, we saw 1 patient every 45 minutes...so to multiply that by 3 was
a big adjustment for me. From day 1, I have been able to jump right in and
begin treatments with patients. Actually, on Monday, my CI is gone (for MLK
day), and so I have my own patient load of 7 patients! I am really excited
to do things on my own more, and to try different things with them. Of
course, I will have supervision, but the other therapists will also be
treating their own patients at the same time, so they won't be staring at
me all the time.

There are also 3 other students at this site...all from different parts of
the country. It is going to be fun getting to know them. they are all very
nice, and all seem to get along really well already (and it is only week
1).

I am going to be honest and during the week, we don't do a whole lot.
Krisanne gets done with work at about the same time I do, or even a little
earlier. Not sure how she gets away with starting after me, and getting
done before me. Oh, well. It is fun when she is home already by the time I
get home. We have been running or biking each day, which has been great!
The weather has been fantastic most of the week (mid to upper 70s).
Yesterday a cold front came in and the highs were only in the upper 50s.
(True story...I had a pt cancel because it was too cold!!) Today, though
the highs are only in the 40s, so don't be too jealous of our weather...I
know it is still much warmer than your highs in the single digits (for
those of you in Iowa/Minnesota).

I was really looking forward to sleeping in this morning, but...because I
can't sleep in, I was up by 7:30. Krisanne on the other hand didn't get up
until 10:45!!! I may have to learn to sleep in while I am here...something
I have never been good at. This afternoon, we are going to hang out with
Krisanne's friends that are in town, then tomorrow, it is chasing them
around the marathon course. It should be a great way to see Phoenix,
Scottsdale and Tempe.

Attached are a few pictures from our trip so far:

1: Jenny at the Painted Desert. This is a national park in NE Arizona we
stopped at on our way down to AZ. We took about 2 hours to drive 28 miles
and stopped at random places to look at the painted desert and the
petrified forest. The forest...well, it is kind of a few logs laying here
and there that is petrified, so not really a "forest" we are used to back
home.

2: Camelback hiking pictures. This one is the 1st climb we had on our
hands. Made me feel like a mountain/rock climber when I was able to get my
hands dirty!

3: Jenny and Krisanne at the top of Camelback looking toward the west,
which is the direction of downtown Phoenix and Glendale.

4: On the way down, I got a little off the path (following other people),
and Krisanne thought I should kiss the cactus, so I did. Actually I didn't
really touch it...the pokey things are kind of scary up close! They are
really long!!

5: Krisanne took her camera on the bike ride we did (she is my camera
queen!) and she took a picture of the canal which runs through the valley
area (seriously it is the only water I have seen outside the house). The
bike path we were on is on the right side of the canal.

6: The sun began setting at the end of the bike ride, which makes a pretty
good pictures. Beautiful sunsets out here!!

Anyway, sorry for the length of the letter, but I thought you might like to
know what we have been up to. I will try to send an updated letter and
pictures every week. I hope everyone is doing well. Things here are going
well, and looking forward to hearing from you all soon!!

Love to all,
Jenny