Its been forever

Holy crap how time flies.  I feel like it has been forever since I have posted anything...and in reality it has been virtually forever.  I have had so much happen in the last few months that it makes my last post seem like it was decades ago.  I have continued to tear up dental school like a fat kid tears into a twinkie wrapper.  I had a very successful second quarter, with all A's (although 3 were A-'s).  My performance last quarter was somewhat inspiring when you consider that I completely fractured my collarbone the week after we came back from Christmas break.  Now for typical breaks, they put you in a figure 8 sling or a regular sling, then wait for it to heal.  Well....not for me.  Apparently I need to lose some weight because I not only snapped it in half, but I displaced the distal half so deep into the soft tissue of my shoulder that I needed to have surgery to reset it.  So, February 2nd came around and I was set to go under the knife.  Its funny that I have never really thought of what surgery would be like.  I feel that I was pretty optimistic during the surgery prep, considering I had just got out of a 7AM Respiratory Physiology test (and I know what you're thinking, I wonder how having surgery that day affected his test score?  Well, you'll be happy to know that I slapped that test in the face).  I anxiously sat through the surgery preparation, the entire time trying to entertain the nurse prepping me.  I believe I was asked at least 5 times to verbally describe what the surgery was to achieve, and I even had to write it down.  As I did this, the question of why we don't have tort reform came to mind...but I digress.  I was pretty pumped to talk to the anesthesiologist because we had just learned all about the brachial plexus, which is the bundle of nerves that does motor and sensory innervation to the arm/shoulder/neck.  He was to do a nerve block on the brachial plexus which ended up being the best part of the surgery.  Not too long of a wait and I was being wheeled into the surgery suite with antibiotics and some general anesthetic being introduced into me.  As I started to feel whoozy, I was asked by the doctor where I had gone to school.  I mentioned that I had gone to BSU for both of my degrees, and right when I said that, one of the PA's in the room turned around from what she was doing and said she had gone to BSU! "Really?" I asked.....................which was the last thing I remember.  I awoke later, feeling totally effed up.  I think the worst part of surgery is the tube they so beautifully shove into your trachea.  I felt like I couldn't breathe.  Even after making the trip home and picking up the meds, I was still having trouble breathing.  When we got home and I took my prescribed meds, I started to pass out, but woke up repeatedly as I felt like I had stopped breathing.  Of course this was alarming to me, as I know CNS depressors can depress respiratory function.  However, I pulled through, and felt much better the next day.
Now, of course the doctor told me all about the metal plate, and I realized this would be held in place by a few screws.  But 72 hours after the surgery I was itching to take off my bandages and see what was going on under there.  For some reason, it never occurred to me that my incision would span MY ENTIRE SHOULDER.  I swear the scar runs from the manubrium of my sternum all the way to my AC joint.  So now, I not only have a metal plate and 8 screws, but I have a scar that looks like I got in a knife fight in Brazil...which has become my story because bike wreck is so disappointingly boring.
Bone breaking and surgery aside, I had to finish the quarter strong.  Of course, what would be life without a little animosity?  Saturday morning before finals week, I got up early to walk the dogs and get a jump on studying.  As I walked in from leading Penny around the complex for her morning poo, I found Lauren sitting on the couch...pregnancy test in hand.  While I felt an overwhelmingly intense feeling of joy, I also was stressed by the thought that I would have to be composed enough to make it through finals without telling family or friends before a doctor could make a professional confirmation.
I am glad to say I survived those finals, and the doctor confirmed that we were in fact expecting.  Lauren is now 12 weeks along and we are due 10/21/10, although I think I may have to pay the doc some extra dough to induce Lauren 11 days early because 10/10/10 would be a kick ass birthday.  Of course I am hoping for a boy, but lets face it, I have the worst luck.  I am looking forward to Monday, when we get our first 3D ultrasound to check for down syndrome.  I will be sure to post those pictures.
As for this quarter in dental school, I continue to do really well, and I am hoping to improve upon last semesters scores.  I had the distinct honor of dissecting a chubby cadaver in our head and neck course.  While I thank our lady for being kind enough to donate her body to science, I still had to cringe when we cut into her neck and shoulders to reveal inches of fat.  Its funny how you could walk out of lab everyday saying "well, if that didn't land me in hell, tomorrow's dissection will."  We picked out fat, decapitated (sort of) and sagittally section her face before finishing the lab portion.  As far as the dental lab goes, I started off shaky with a near fail on a mandibular molar wax up, however, I made up for it by acing my maxillary first molar wax up last week.  Hopefully I can continue that success on our next practical, which is our last as D1's.
We have been able to have some fun.  During some of our down time, my buddies and I have been hiking on Camelback mountain twice.  This is quite the climb, even though the trail is only 2 miles each way.  It is pretty much like rock climbing and jumping boulders all the way to the top.  We also had the pleasure of going to a local water park called wet and wild.  It was a little cold the day we went, but the slides there are pretty awesome, and promise to make a great refuge during the long hot summer.