Mr. & Mrs. Link

It has been many a year since I graced this site with a post of my own. This is my way of being held accountable, even if it is only by Jed.

During my pregnancy, I gained about 32lbs (including the kid+components: placenta, fluid, ect.), which is within the recommended 25-35lbs range of pregnancy weight gain. Honestly, I did not watch what I ate very closely (unless you include me watching the Haagen Dazs as it entered my mouth), but I worked until the day I went in to labor, keeping me on my feet anywhere from 10-16hrs a day working as an intern in the hospital, which isn’t exactly kick your feet up kind of work. Safe to say, I was at least modestly active, but still, here I stand, 6 mo after Ryder’s arrival, and I am barely able to squeeze in to my pre-pregnancy pants, still 10 lbs heavier than my pre-pregnancy weight. I’ve began to run for the last month or so, trying to train my way up to the Cherry Blossom 10 mile race, but alas, it was not meant to be. Between my month of nights on night float, my week of nights in the ICU, and general lack of sleep from the last 4 months spent doing the worst, most time-consuming rotations intern year has to offer-68-80 hrs/ 6 days/wk- ( I know, insert worlds smallest violin here), I wasn’t able to stick with a running regimen. I did go from not even being able to run 15mins to running 6miles in 60mins and was able to run my first race, the St. Patricks Day 8K in a not-too-shabby 49:30. Go me.

However, I needed something that would only take less than 30 min a day, that I could do everyday, and could do no matter the weather. After a long search, I decided to try the Jillian Michaels 30day shred. I heard good things online. I started on level 1, because I had heard from other reviews that even if you are in decent shape, it still kicks your butt. Boy was that an understatement. I did it for the first time two days ago before  I knew how the system worked. I completed the whole work out, but had to flip in and out of doing the “easy” with the “advanced” moves (advanced with sit ups and cardio, easy with strength/upper arms), and I literally couldn’t even walk down the stairs or hold my son in my arms, I was that spent. I spent most of yesterday with Jed and Ryder roaming around Philadelphia, in some good pain. However, today, I start the regimen in earnest.

The shred works as follows: 10 consecutive days on level 1, 10 days on level 2, and 10 days on level 3. No rest. Ever. Since I’m a scientist, I want to measure specific end points. I realize that I may or may not lose a single pound this month as I expect to be gaining a good amount of muscle. However, if the system really does work, I should at least lose some size off my measurements. Today, I stand at 5’6″, 160lbs. I took various measurements so that if I am toning up, I should be able to notice it somewhere. Every week, I will re-post my measurements so you can see my progress or lack of progress. Well, here goes nothing!

Arms (widest diameter): R- 13″, L- 13″

Thighs(widest diameter): R-25″, L-25″

Chest (under bra line): 36″

Waist: 35″

Belly (largest diameter-under bellybutton): 39″

Baby got back: 43″

During my dermatology rotation, I rotated through a variety of areas including pediatric dermatology, general adult clinics at downtown JHH and Bayview, inpatient dermatology, with splashes of cosmetic dermatology and dermatopathology. I felt like a kid in a candy store. Each experience was so rich and gave me another reason to love derm.

Pediatric dermatology was awesome because I love kids. I think they are some of the coolest people on earth. I saw a baby with a disfiguring hemangioma receive one treatment with propranolol and we noticed an improvement the very next day. I saw kids with port wine stains receive laser treatments to lighten and eventually eradicate for some, so they weren’t teased at school anymore or weren’t so embarrassed of what they looked like. Coming from the research, and particularly the basic science world, immediate gratification was not something I was used to, but man, I could really get used to that. The doctors that I worked with on Peds Derm were some of the smartest and most caring physicians I have had the pleasure to work with. Their passion for the science of dermatology and compassion for their patients showed me the kind of doctor I want to be.

During outpatient clinic at JHH, I got to see the residents shine. They saw about 80 patients a day (the attending saw each and every one of those 80 patients) and still had great rapport with the patients even though their interaction was time-limited. I was able to help their since as a medical student, you are not pressured to see X number of patients. I made some great connections with patients, so much so that several actually asked me to be their dermatologist. Needless to say, this was incredibly flattering, but I had to inform them that it would be a great many years till I could legally (if ever-come on derm residency) practice dermatology. I was also able to see various tests and biopsies the residents performed (punch, shave, KOH preps for fungal infections, ect.). I even got to participate in a couple of treatments, like liquid nitrogen freezing of precancerous actinic keratosis, electrocauttery or cutting of skin tags, suturing biopsies, ect.

Outpatient clinic at Bayview was very similar except the patient populations were slightly different. More bread and butter dermatology at Bayview, whereas JHH had some pretty rare disorders. Bayview was different in the fact that in addition to outpatient clinic, you are also inpatient consult. During my time we had some very interesting inpatient consults as well, diagnosing several drug-induced rashes, a couple of vasculitides, and a lady with cutaneous B-cell lymphoma.

Inpatient consults at JHH was what I wrapped up with and that was a really neat experience as well. You essentially are like Batman, sitting at home (in the resident room, finishing any outstanding dictations) until the batsignal (your beeper) goes off, and you speed off with your tool belt (your bag of biopsy supplies, ect), jump in the batmobile (walk across the busy hospital) and go to the rescue (diagnose at the bedside).

The Hopkins dermatology residents deserve their own paragraph. These are some of the smartest most motivated doctors I’ve met. They are incredibly hard working and dedicated, and still find time to help teach a lowly medical student. Their work load is incredible. I will backhand anyone who call dermatologists lazy. You heard it here first, backhand. They were amazing, inspiring people, and certainly the kind of people I would want as colleagues. The field of dermatology is in good hands.

Sorry for the length of this one, but since it is the field that I hope to be in the rest of my life, I thought detail was in order. Until the next rotation: Geriatrics (aka Chronic disease and disability)

Every year, Tiffany’s MD-PhD program at Johns Hopkins holds a 2-day retreat in Hershey, PA.  We were at the original Hershey adventure way back in 2003 – that was intense, with 2 full days of research presentations and almost no time for fun.  In the intervening years the retreat has become fairly routine.

We leave Columbia at 8 am to make the first round of lectures at 9.  They go until lunch.  The students listen to lectures, while the spouses and significant others hand out in the lobby in the uber-comfy chairs waiting for our rooms to become available.  We get lunch.  More lectures, until around 3, which is also when we check into rooms.  A little down time, then bowling!  Then drinks at the Bears Den sports bar while watching college football (USC is almost always playing).

The next morning, the students have more lectures – which Tiffany always wants to sleep through – we get a late checkout and find a place for a late breakfast.

It’s routine, but it’s always fun.

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A conversation about how overpriced The Melting Pot is lead to a loose tradition of fondue dinners at Case de Links.  It started in 2009, but we’ve hosted a few more times since then as well.  We do three courses and everyone brings something along with a bottle or two of wine, and we have a great time.

Tiffany loves fondue, and wants to do it year-round.  However, I veto that idea.  Fondue is not a good choice for a stucky, muggy summer day.  Fondue’s place is in the winter with the bobsled, figure skating and short track, although I’m willing to make exceptions for cool fall and spring days as well.

So when fall finally rolled around, Tiff got her wish and we fired up the fondue dishes and went to down.

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I’m not sure why, but Halloween tends to be cursed for us. First, I missed the Bushey’s really awesome pumpkin carving party because I put down on my calendar that it was on Saturday, when the party was Friday. I’m so bummed! Then tonight, Halloween night, I go and buy a bunch of candy for all the trick or treaters and I’ve had three kids all night. Not three batches of kids. Three kids. This has happened to us the past 4 years! What’s wrong with us? Now I’m sitting here in a fairy costume and a bag of candy (which I’m trying not to eat). Such a dork.

So our most recent vacation to Mexico started out as a potential conference in Bamff, Canada from February 14-20. Unfortunately, I was not able to go to the conference for money reasons, but Jed had already taken the vacation time off. We decided to use that time for a vacation. We were originally limited because we didn’t have passports. (Ours were put through the washer after our Costa Rica trip.) After some debate, we decided that we wanted to try an all-inclusive resort, since we had never done one. The most reasonably priced ones were in Mexico or the Caribbean, so Jed pulled some strings and got us our passports expedited.

We ended up staying on the Mayan Rivera, right outside of Playa del Carmen at the lovely Blue Bay Grand Esmerelda. This was also the first 5 star resort either of us had ever stayed in. We picked up a taxi from the Cancun airport and drove to the resort. It was crazy raining. Large pools of water were all over the sides of the road. I imagine our driver was not used to driving in rain because he did not slow down, even when we were hydroplaning through the pools of water. After a thankfully, uneventful drive we arrived at one of the most beautiful lobbies I’ve ever seen. We were immediately greeted warmly by a woman offering us some type of fruity alcoholic beverage. A good start. We were the escorted by cart to our building (unfortunately farthest from the beach, but closer to the buffet )

Our room was gorgeous. Granite counters, Italian marble floors, fully loaded and re-stocked fridge and mini-bar, towel swan and rose petals on our bed, and double wide shower with two nozzles. Our balcony overlooked a sort of forrest. The first order of business, after we unpacked, was to head to the buffet. I have heard things about all you can eat buffets, but the food was spectacular. It was a mix of Mediterranean, Mexican, American, French, very diverse and very good. I was officially in heaven.

Our days there went generally as follows. Get up around 8-9am, get a reservation at one of the non-buffet restaurants for dinner (still free, but you did need a reservation), go to breakfast buffet, go to beach and lay on the beach and read/play in the water/drink copious amounts of fruity alcoholic beverages, go to lunch buffet, repeat, go to dinner at the non-buffet restaurant. It was so relaxing. We never had to stress about what we were going to do, or not do, how much we were spending, anything. Admittedly, after four days, I was good and relaxed and bordering on bored. It was the perfect amount of time.

The highlights for me were as follows: I found a new drink that I love. They called it a Key Royale. It’s Champagne with Cassis liqueur and a cherry at the bottom. Every time I ordered one, someone asked me what that drink was because it looked so good.

On the beach, by the pools, there was a lady who drew designs on pottery that you could purchase and paint. She detailed the work, fired it, and gave it back to you. We decided to paint a large fruit bowl. Under Jed’s expert directions, we created a masterpiece. I’m very proud of it. It was a great souvenir to bring home. The other souvenirs we got were a leather-type of art with the Mayan calendar, and a beautiful necklace for me.

One night, we saw a Mexican circus which was very cool. Visually interesting. I particularly liked the guy who trained poodles. So cute!

Kayaks were also included with the resort, so one day we took a double out on the ocean. It was fun to do something more active after so much lounging. We paddled to a more isolated stretch of beach and I collected sea shells while Jed took some cool pictures.

On the beach, they had a “swing bar”. I had heard about it before I saw it and I was under the impression that it was a bar that just went from place to place. It turned out to literally be a swing bar. A circular bar with swings instead of bar stools. Genius.

All in all, it was a great vacation. Very relaxing. I got to catch up on my pleasure reading as well, reading The Lovely Bones, Next (Michael Crichton), and Ender in exile (Orson Scott Card). I’m a fast reader. Enjoy our pictures.

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So after many years of hoping and wishing for an animal, after Jed’s two years of immunotherapy for me and at least two to three more years of it to come, we finally have our first animal. An 11 week old kitten Calypso. I started my kitten search in mid January by looking on petfinder.com. It was very important to us to adopt a kitten from a shelter instead of buying one so that not only do we get our kitten, but we also save one from more unpleasant fates. After weeks of searching and not finding any kittens (didn’t realize that there is actually a kitten “season” and that it is, in fact, not in the middle of winter).

We finally heard from a friend who happened to be fostering kittens. She was fostering kittens in Montana as well as Virginia. Jed liked the idea of a kitten from Montana (a little closer to his roots) so we inquired about those kittens. It turns out there were three of them and they were “Torbies” whose mother was a tortiseshell and father was a tabby. They were beautiful kittens and one in particular (named Lyla at the time) fit the peronality profile that we were looking for exactly. I really wanted a kitten who was not timid or shy and wouldn’t go hide under the bed whenever we, or other people came into the room. I also wanted a kitten who was a cuddler/lap cat. Someone who I can study with when I’m back on the wards.

Bingo. We met her for the first time today, and man, she is the world’s most perfect cat. For us. I’m not biased or anything. She is so incredibly sweet. She hates the cat carrier, so on the way home, she slept in my lap and in my arms. Such a purr machine too. I hope that we can have friends over soon to socialize her with other people as well. It is impossible not to love this cat. Beauty, brains, and personality. Our first child for sure!

Meet Calypso Lyla Link!

The gallery: 

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I was raised my whole life around animals. A lot of animals. My mom, in fact, is a bit crazy about them. So it comes about that some of this craziness has rubbed off on me. I absolutely love animals. Unfortunately, as luck would have it, Jed has always been very allergic to animals. Pretty much all animals. I realize that it is probably never in the cards for me to have an animal of my own, and truthfully, this is devastating to me. Unless you too are a bit crazy about animals, it may be hard to understand my level of devastation. I love Jed more than anything, so I accept this fact. However, since I can’t just shut it off, I visit the pet store in the mall whenever I go, even if I’m not on that side of the mall. I stare in the windows and never let myself play with them, as the pet store employees offer, because I know that I can never have them and it would be just too hard to let them go. I know, this sounds really sad (or perhaps, I sound really sad), but fortunately, this story has a happy ending. For Christmas this year, Jed found a way to top every gift he’s ever given me (except the wedding ring, of course). This is the video of that gift, as also seen below.

So for those who don’t know, or didn’t see our 32 other posts about it, we went skydiving New Year’s Eve. After I had my family sufficiently scared for my life, I took the plunge with Jed, my Stepdad, Vanessa, and a couple of new friends (jumping out of a plane really bonds people). I knew about the videographer who jumped out of the plane with us, so that video I was prepared for, but I had no idea that the dude I was strapped to had a wrist camera, which turned out pretty cool because my reactions were all unplanned and authentic. When I say that was “freakin sweet”, I meant it. My favorite part is when I got to pull the rip cord and open the parachute. Here’s a link to my gallery for skydiving. I believe there may be one shot with the look of terror- the only time I was actually scared- when we were hovering at the open door, looking out.

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And here’s the wicked video that Jed spliced together and added a track to.