Diabetes Camp

Midnight and 3AM blood sugar checks!

I just completed the most exhausting 7 days of my life!  I signed up to go to Diabetes Camp this year and loved every second of it.  I did a month of Endocrine during my first year of residency and loved it.  I became interested in everything I saw in clinic and wanted to get more exposure - so I left Leisy home alone with sick kids for 7 days to take care of diabetic kids at their camp.  I was in charge of monitoring their blood sugars and dosing insulin and taking care of problems.  That meant I got up at midnight and 3AM to make sure they weren't too low or too high.  I was in charge of the 7-9 year old kids.  Have you ever had to wake up a sleeping 8 year old at 3AM to make them eat??  If their sugar was too low I had to feed them in the middle of the night.  I struggled to keep them awake long enough to chew some food and take a drink of apple juice.  They never remembered eating the next morning and would laugh and giggle when I told them stories of them falling to sleep with food in their mouths.  It was a great learning experience and had some exciting adventures.  

Ladies man

Today was the primary program and I didn't have to work!! I was excited to see Zeb sing all the songs I have been practicing with him. It was really fun to watch him sing his little heart out. Those sunbeams have such a hard time sitting through the entire sacrament meeting up on stage. It is a lot to ask for them to sit up there with no snacks and things to color or play with. They actually set up some risers in front of the podium and put chairs on them for the sunbeams. Zeb was sitting next to his really good friend who has the same last name. They have had a few play dates together and he thinks sharing the same last name is awesome. Half way through the program he reached over and held her hand. They held hands for the rest of the program and Zeb could not stop smiling and giggling. It was so distracting but so funny!! Leisy was trying to get his attention to let go when they started swining their hands up and down. I can't even tell you how many comments we got after the program about Zeb being a little ladies man. It was too funny!!

I love fall!

Fall is the best time of year - I absolutely love it! Pumpkin patches, colored leaves, jacket weather, Halloween, my birthday and so much more to look forward to! Despite my ridiculously crazy schedule we have really taken advantage of everything Ohio has to offer this time of year. It makes me very grateful we are not sweating through 85 degree weather in Texas. I just completed my 4th rotation of residency. I have seen some unique pathology: Lupus cerebritis, pyelonephritis causing fever of 107.2 degrees, Kawasaki disease, Crohn's disease, and Trisomy 18. I am also becoming very comfortable treating asthma, bronchiolitis and constipation. I have seen kids with failure to thrive for a multitude of reasons. I've seen children taken away from their parents and I've counseled a lot of crying parents. Life in residency is nuts but it has been amazing and I'm learning so much.

I'm a Doctor!!

I am now 3 months into my residency program and loving it! It is everything I expected it to be. It is really hard work, I'm learning a ton, and I love what I'm doing. I've spent most of the time thus far either in the peds clinic or at the hospital on general peds hospital admissions. I've worked nights, I've worked days and feel like my internal alarm clock will never be the same. I've seen lots of babies and kids for well checks and I've taken care of some pretty sick kids with crohn's disease and small bowel obstructions. It has been a long road getting here and I'm still not done, but people now call me Dr. Miller. My white coat has been upgraded from a short waist length student coat to the full length Dr. coat. Here's a picture of me in my coat following up with some lab results:

I really think Pediatrics was the best career decision I have ever made, secondary to joining the Air Force. They both fit my personality very well. I am training with some of the best Pediatricians I have ever met. I can't imagine why people go through medical training outside of the military!! Residency is extremely overwhelming, the hours are long, I feel tired and stressed most of the time - but I like it. Leisy is the most supportive wife in the world. I am extremely lucky to have her helping me. She keeps me sane and always finds amazingly fun things to fill my spare time.

Reason #1 I joined the military: Travel!
One of the first times I contemplated the military scholarship for med school was during my first year at BYU. I took a "premed prep" class that basically introduced various aspects of medicine and how to go about preparing for medical school. It was a 7 AM class and I honestly slept through most lectures. They had all kinds of specialists come tell us about their careers. One morning they invited a doctor who spent 20+ years in the military. He had pictures from all over the world, not just traveling but actually practicing medicine! The military offers all kinds of opportunities to practice international medicine and I can't wait to see more of the country and hopefully other countries as well.

The other day Ike would not be consoled. He was trying desperately to get something in the kitchen and Leisy and I had no idea what he wanted. Leisy insists I'm better at translating Ike's jibber-jabber, but together we couldn't make sense of his words. His words quickly melted into frustrated screaming and tears so I picked him up and had him show me what he was after. He opened the freezer and rummaged in the crowded top shelf until he found one of these:I had no idea we even had any of these left - they were from last summer. When I opened it the thing was covered in ice frost and looked disgusting, but he started laughing through tears and declared "popsicle - Yay!" which sounded NOTHING like "popsicle".

The red, white, and blue reminded me about posting the reasons I joined the military. Maybe my desire to serve the country started from a young age when my parents bought me this:
Does anybody else remember this book and tape?!? I thought of this the other day and how much I loved listening to it. I wish I still had it so I could start indoctrinating Zeb and Ike! I really have tried to find some of these songs online but haven't had much success. Anybody out there have access to these songs?

My little helpers

These boys want to help me do everything - especially when I make cookies. They are so interested in what I'm doing from the second I walk in the door. They are so much fun right now. They can be so demanding and so frustrating at times but they really are the best little kids in the world. They are also the best of friends. Tonight Zeb said our family prayer and Ike knelt next to him with his arms folded and eyes squeezed shut and repeated everything that Zeb said - it was adorable. I love these little cookie monsters.