Hi Family! Hope all is well!! We sure have a lot of celebrating to do!! Little Mary Kathleen, Baby boy Burns and all of the rest of you! You all are the greatest, we are so thankful that you are our family!! Keep posting, hope that I do this right, I have attempted to post in the past had problems and never made it to blog. We love you Mom and Dad

The Big Day is Coming!

Our big ultrasound is this coming Wednesday! Woohoo! We'll keep you posted. We went to the Dr. on Thursday and listened to the heart beat. I've been feeling some movement the last few days especially late at night. Mike hasn't felt it yet but we'll keep trying!

My mom was introduced to blogs by some teachers at school and wanted us to start one so she can stay updated. If you're interested here it is:

burnsfamily05@blogspot.com

Love you all!

AF Academy

Hellooo Famm.... I thought that I would make a post describing my short lived life as a cadet. So here it goes: Day 1- We boarded a bus that took us from doolittle hall to the academic grounds. As we rounded the first turn, we were 'encouraged' by a huge man with a broad rimmed hat and clickers on his shoes. He told us we were going to die, and that if we didn't want to die, we should stay on the bus and let it take us back to our parents. Personally, I was in the mood for a little death, but apparently eight people didn't get off the bus, sparing their own lives. The first thing that we did was get issued clothes, toiletries, and everything else that you could possibly carry. We were then led to our dorms where we were told to put everything away and then wait. As I stood in the doorway, waiting as I was told, a cadre member walked by and saw me. He immediately started yelling at me, telling me that I wasn't supposed to be there. Then he mocked my standard of attention. He said that I looked like a cheerleader because my toes were together. I didn't have that problem again. We were then taught how to march, which was my favorite thing to do because you didn't have to think... you just 'walked' in step. After marching, we went to different briefings until appx. midnight. We finally got to bed around 1:00, ending the first day. Day 2- We were woken up at 4:00 in the morning to the song 'Welcome to the jungle' blaring on the pa system. Along with the music, the cadre were also beating on the door, telling us that we were late. We went down to the recreation field for our early morning physical fitness. After that, we showered, went to another briefing, and then ate breakfast. Following breakfast was more marching and more briefings. At about 11:30 that night, after not being allowed to go to the bathroom all day, we were given a drug test. I passed! While we were waiting in line to be tested, people were hurting because they had to go so bad. Earlier that day, my next door neighbor(who was a stud athlete from georgia) told me to watch the hallway while he pee'd in my sink. I agreed only because I thought that I would see him playing in the NFL one day, and say, 'hey, he used my sink.' His name was Asher Clark, and he held the record for pull-ups out of the entire academy with 57. The second best was 21. I had 9. He weighed 195 lbs, and could run a 40 in 4.3 seconds. By the end of Day 2, I finally started to get used to the intensity of it all. I started to realize that the cadre were merely acting, and the entire process was meant to make me stronger. That night, we got to our rooms around 10:30 or 11:00. We then had to figure out how to make our beds to their specifications that were told to us in a flash. That was the worst part of it all; not knowing anything. Everything was told to us very quickly, and if you didn't catch it, the cadre were not going to be very happy. After making our beds to the best of our ability, we turned our flashlights on the list of 130 names of the people on our hallway; first name, middle initial, last name, and rank. It was really hard when you couldn't put a name with a face. I couldn't believe it, but we got it all down that night. Day 3- Once again, we were woken up to that crazy music, but this time they threw an air horn into the mix. We finally knew what to do, and got out into the hallway relatively quickly. This day was almost the exact same as the day before, but this time we were doing our pft test to see how fast we could run 1.5 miles. I ran it in 9.45. This wasn't a very good time, but it was refreshing to take my mind off of everything and just run. When we got to breakfast, I completely lost it. One of the tactics that the cadre use is trying to get you to laugh. It was the worst torture ever. A guy from Brunei was what ignited my laughter. Another guy named 'Kressy' asked for something from the table. The eating was all done at attention, so the guy from Brunei, who couldn't speak very good english, said,'please pass the food to 'Cadet Crazy.' I couldn't handle it, and the cadre started yelling at me. The rest of the day consisted of more briefings, more marching, and more 'beatings'(sessions of push ups and sit ups) Day 4- This was sunday, and we were allowed to go to the chapel service. It felt like we were going to church at noon because we had been awake for nearly 5 hours. It was led by this canadian woman who could have broken me over her knee if she wanted to. After chapel, we went back to the same thing as before. That night, as we were running back to our dorms, I stepped off of the stairwell, and as I took another step, I felt a pop. I blacked out, and the next thing that I knew, they were carrying me to an ambulance. The doctor said that it was only a partial tear, and that the recovery time would be six weeks. He told me to fill out a form 341, stating my request to leave the academy. So, not realizing that anyone would have a problem with it, I filled it out. The next night, a crazy woman named Msgt. Johnson gave me a good talking to about leaving early. I then asked her if there was any possibility of me staying, and she said no. It made no sense to me, but I heard later that the cadre didn't like her because she talked mean to them too. She wasn't canadian though. For the next 11 days, I layed in my bed in my room. There were probably two or three days that the cadre remembered to bring me food more than once. I learned a lot about being thankful for what I have during this time, because when I started getting tired of the pb&j sandwhiches, they started giving me tuna. I started praying that God would give me the old lunches instead. It didn't happen until the last day, but the pb&j sandwhiches never tasted so good. On the last day, one of the cadre members took me to the gate so that I could be picked up by Mike and Stef. We started talking about different things, and I asked him what he did as a sport in high school. I could tell that he immediately got embarassed as he answered my question. He said that he was a state champion cheerleader. This was the same guy that told me that I looked like a cheerleader on the first day. I wanted to laugh, but I held it in. He said that his dad was in the navy, and wasn't too happy when he found out that his son had made the cheer squad. Anyway, as we speak, I am completely healed and ready to move on to the next thing in life. I found out yesterday that I got in to the honors college at OSU, so that is what I will be doing this fall. I am fairly certain that I will not return to the academy next year, but it is always an option. I am, however, going to try out for the cheer squad at OSU, based on a recommendation from a friend.haha

Baby Burns Photo Shoot

Hello, family! We finally have something interesting to post! We had an ultrasound on Monday July 21st and we got to see our baby! He/she is still very tiny--only about 2 inches long and his little foot is 0.81 cm. But everything is there and where it is supposed to be! We even got to see the heart beating. He was just bouncing around all over the place. Mike liked that part the best. I'll be 13 weeks on Monday. I'm feeling better now and I have much more energy. Now maybe I can actually get something accomplished!

In other news, Mike is finishing up his last weekend of summer classes today and tomorrow. Now he only has 6 hours left. Woo hoo! We decided that he will take one class at UCCS and one class online. This way he only has to go to school one night a week instead of three this fall. Of course he'll still have the work for two classes but it will allow him more time to work on the actual homework part. I think he is ready to be finished. My schools starts on Aug. 20 which means I'll start working here at home the next couple of weeks and then start working in my room around Aug. 11th. I'm ready. It's nice to go back knowing how the school works.

That's all for now. Love you all!

Kim's New Job

Hi Everyone! I accepted a new job yesterday in Gastroenterology (Mike will be happy). It's in Belleville, IL, which is about a 25-30 minute drive and I'll be working 9-5 Mon-Fri with an occasional Sat morning about once per month. I spent Tuesday afternoon following the PA to be sure I wanted the job. She is having a baby October 1st and will be leaving in one month. She'll come back next year two days per week. They want me to continue full-time when she comes back. I'll be seeing more patients than I did in Tulsa. With a specialty, though, it doesn't take as long. In Internal Medicine I always had patients that would say "just one more thing" and show me a callous on their foot or a strange mole on their back. No more! Now I just say, "tell your primary care physician" if it isn't related to GI (gastroenterology). I know that sounds kinda mean, but when you have a long list of patients that start backing up in the waiting room, you have to stick to what is pertinent.
The physician spends every day in the hospital doing colonoscopies and EGD's (where they go into the stomach), so I'll be on my own in the office. That's a little scary, to say the least. The nurses seem to be really helpful, though, and there are a lot of them (I think 4?). In Tulsa, I did a lot of the nurses job like calling in prescriptions, putting a patient in a room, and calling patients back on the phone. I didn't mind it because I didn't have as many patients, but now I'll definately appreciate the help.
So, I start Monday learning from the PA for about 2 weeks and the doctor about 1 week. Pray for me if you think of it! Love you all!!

VBS Week

Last week was VBS at our church. It's our third year to put on a VBS since having our new property and our curriculum uses a different time in Jesus' life each year. We've done Bethlehem, Galilee by the Sea, and now Jerusalem, Jesus' last days. The whole property is transformed with marketplace tents outside, palms and hay strewn everywhere. Everyone is wearing tunics and headscarves and the kids are divided into the 12 tribes of Jacob (actually 20 tribes with several duplicate names). Jack looks forward to it all year. It's very scripture-based and the kids learn a lot. My job this year was in the kitchen. I baked 18 loaves of whole wheat bread (not a big deal with my mixer) that the kids have every day during their lesson and passed out popsicles after their playtime. Almost everyone, including women with kids not even old enough to participate, comes to help out. Dads take off of work to be rabbis or Roman soldiers. Next year Todd plans to take a few days off work and come help out, too. It's so fun to see everyone together every day for a whole week. That being said, I'm glad it's over! It wore me out.

First Two Days

So the first two days of residency have come and gone. I started off not knowing how to use the computer system and where or who to ask for the countless questions I had. By now I'm becoming more and more familiar with how things work, and what exactly is expected of me.

My first rotation is Hematology (blood) and Oncology (cancer). It's a pretty cool rotation and all the PGY-1's (post grad year one, or interns) have to rotate through. Even though there are a lot of sick patients, the nurses are awesome and REALLY helpful and friendly.

I was assigned 4 patients my first day. The first was a 65 year old guy with Hemophilia A. His condition was relatively mild until 2 years ago when he developed antibodies during surgery, now he bleeds with even minor trauma, and requires a $5,000 injection so he will stop bleeding. He went home today (day 2) but will continue his regimen to try and make his disease less severe.
The second is a lady with metastatic breast cancer. She already had a double mastectomy, and had a port catheter placed under her skin so that chemotherapy could be delivered easier over a long period of time. Unfortunately, the port cath became infected with MRSA (methacillin resistant staph auraus - meaning the usual antibiotics are INeffective = BAD). We removed the cath and she is doing much better, unfortunately this doesn't do anything for the cancer. She will probably go home tomorrow.
The third is a guy who was admitted for open heart surgery, a CABG (coronary artery bypass grafting). He also has sickle cell anemia and when he was admitted he started having a sickle cell crisis, which is where you blood cell can't fit through the capillaries and you have lots of severe pain all over your body. By the time I saw him his pain was much better. He went in for surgery this morning and had one-vessel disease. He was transferred off my service and into the ICU.
The fourth is a guy with Hepatitis C who subsequently developed cirrhosis and Hepatocellular carcinoma (liver cancer). He was admitted for a special procedure where they go though your femoral artery (similar to a heart catheterization) and inject chemotherapy agents directly into his liver, followed by a special gel that clots off the artery leading into the liver -effectively removing the blood supply to the tumor. He is doing well after his procedure.

So my day basically consists of: waking up as early as possible, arriving to the hospital and checking new labs, overnight test results, vital signs, nursing reports (all pre-rounding) in order to get ready to round with the attending. Being one of the hospital newbies, I have LOTS of questions of how to do stuff, where stuff is, and also questions about the management of patients (you know, why I'm there in the first place!) There is no senior internal medicine resident, instead we have a Heme/Onc fellow. Our first 1.5 days there was a great fellow named Seth who was nice and knowledgeable - a seasoned doctor. Today we were introduced to the new fellow who will be with us for the rest of the month. She is new to SLU too, so it's kinda like the blind leading the blind, except she had 3 years of experience on the rest of us. (My second day was her first day of her 3-year fellowship in Heme/Onc, so she'll improve - she also went to East Tennessee, in Jackson City, or something). After rounds we grab a bite (after this week it will be during noon conference) and try to catch up on all the work we need to do: discharge summaries, endless orders, checking on patients, and tons of paperwork. While it's intimidating, it fun too.

Tomorrow is my night on call, which means when my fellow interns are going home at 5:00, I'll be roaming the hospital waiting for nurses to call with any questions they have, or orders I need to write. And if a patient needs to be seen, I'm the one who has to see them. I'll stay at the hospital until we finish rounding the next day (July 4th) at noon, after which I can go home and get some sleep. Fortunately I'm off Saturday, so I think Kim and I will get a chance to hang out with my buddy, Lee and his wife Danielle, who are coming to St. Louis for the downtown arch fireworks and to see one of his other friends and his wife. So after all the work, I think I'll still try to have some fun - I usually do ;)


Someone else needs to post, by the way. It doesn't have to be anything amazing.

The Boys Play Wii Boxing

I added the last few pictures we took with Jack and Hank. They were all taken in the waiting area at the restaraunt we met Jen and Todd at.

Also, we took a couple videos of the boys playing boxing on the Wii. The videos are cute, but the files are pretty big, so I've just added one here. Hope you like it!

Class of 2012 article

Here's a link to an article about inprocessing yesterday. We've been wondering what Matt is doing all day today. I hope they are nice to him!
http://www.gazette.com/articles/cadets_37684___article.html/academy_training.html

Looks like Jack and Hank are having a fun vacation!

Jack and Hank go to Saint Louis!

Alright everybody, we finally have an update for everyone. I don't know if you know this or not, but taking care of two boys is exhausting! By the way, Todd, You were RIGHT! When we're not out having fun, we are all eating or sleeping, which is why we didn't post yesterday.

We are having TONS and TONS of fun though. Yesterday we woke up and played a little guitar hero (Hank was more interested in playing with the music stand). After getting cleaned up we headed straight for the Gateway Arch! It was lots of fun. Then we drove around Busch Stadium and went into the Cardinals Store where both the boys got new St. Louis Cardinals ball caps! After that we grabbed a couple burgers and ate at one of the downtown parks. We took pictures by the water and with the courthouse and the arch in the background (see pictures below). Then we drove over to the Zoo. We went through the snake house, the primate house, and the bird house. Then we walked past the pond and took a ride on the endangered animal carousel. Hank rode on the spotted leopard and Jack rode on the black bear. Afterwards we went Delmar Loop (where Blueberry Hill is) and ate at Fitz's restaurant. At Fitz's they make and bottle their own soda pop, and rootbeer is their speciality - it was delicious! Jack and Hank's meals were served in a cardboard '56 Chevy, which was especially cool. We then came home and watched Revenge of the Sith (Star Wars) before going to sleep.

Today we got up and got ready and make it to the early Sea Lion show back at the Zoo. After that we went to Discoveryland, the children's portion of the zoo. The boys got pretty worn out playing on the playground, which was lots of fun! Then we went by McD's for drinks and headed over to the St. Louis Science Center. It was kind of like the Omniplex in OKC. The was a couple of cool dinosaurs, and a walkway across the big highway. The boys had fun looking down through glass in the floor as cars went by. There were a million different things to do and see and try and we check almost all of them out. I think their favorite part was the human wheel, that powered a large contraption in the main atrium. Now everyone is taking naps and were getting ready to have pizza and veggies for dinner!

We probably took more pictures on two days worth of outings than most people would, there are over 100! (Jack said to Kim, "You take pictures all the time!") Which we do. So instead of posting them all here, I have just uploaded them to my Picasa Web Album. You can click on the link below, or watch the embedded slideshow.
Click THIS LINK or watch this slideshow: (Click to Play)

Introducing Cadet Burns!

Future Olympians!
Matt and Mike rented bikes and rode around Red Rock and Canyon and the Garden of the Gods
Saying good bye
Nothing like cutting your hair at 10:00 the night before! (I made them go outside on the patio.)

Well, Matty is officially an AFA cadet! Jerry, Mary and Mike took him to inprocessing this morning. They got to stay until he got on the bus. We're not sure where he went after that. I think he was ready to get away from all of us asking him a million questions all the time! :) He has 3 weeks of Basic Training and then a day off before the second three weeks starts. So we'll get to pick him up on July 15th for Doolie Day Out. That's not too far away.



We had a good time hiking, watching movies, riding bikes, and of course eating this week. I'm not sure how many gallons of Dr. Pepper we went through but it was a lot! Mary and Jerry headed to the airport about 2:00. I'm sure Grandma Jane will be happy to be rescued from the bulldogs a day early! We can't wait to see them again on Labor Day weekend. Love you all!

Kickin it St. Louis Style

These are the pictures of the fam' riding the zoo train.