Breaking Heart

I don't even know what to say at this point...I just found out that a friend of mine from college was killed yesterday morning in a car accident on her way to a job interview. She was only 23 years old and had her whole life ahead of her. She was supposed to get married this summer.... Please pray for her family, fiance, and many many hurting friends. None of this is making any sense.
Thanks for the support friends....
Much love, Melissa

Hurting Heart

Do you ever have those days where it feels like everything just hits you all at once? After the last 24 hours I feel like I've been run over by a dump truck and I'm pretty sure it's getting ready to back over me again....

I'm not gonna lie...I'm stressed about what's going on with my dad. For one, this is my dad...I'm a proud daddy's girl and as silly as it sounds he's always been invincible in my eyes. Even with his heart attack before, he recovered quickly. But knowing there's the possibility that he might not be able to walk freaks me out. I know that he'll most likely end up being fine ,but he's my dad....I'm just praying for this whole situation.

On top of this, there's a friend of mine who's going through a very difficult situation and is not making the best of decisions right now. I hurt for her because I know she's in so much pain...I feel completely helpless to do anything and that makes it hurt even more.

Lastly, I got the phone call today that I've been dreading for a while now. My professor from undergrad who's been missing since January was found today; they found his body in northern Michigan in what looks like an apparent suicide. I hurt for his family, I hurt for everyone who knew him, and regardless of what issues I may have ever had with him, I hurt too because this is a big loss. Regardless of who anyone is, what's gone on, what history is there, this is just not the way you want things to end for anyone.

Today was a grey, rainy day and it felt like it fit pretty well...I have this knawing feeling that there's more around the corner, but I don't even want to think about that right now.

If you think of it, I and everyone involved in each of these situations could use your prayers right about now....Thanks friends.

Prayers for my Dad

Please pray for my dad if you get a chance. For a while now he's been having back pain that was always just diagnosed as sciatica. It has recently gotten much worse however; I was talking to him on the phone today and he was saying that he can't even walk through a store for more than 10 minutes with my mom before he has to go back to the car to sit down because of the pain. My dad is a very active guy who's always working on something at the house or someone's car and it kills him to not be able to move around all that much. He only just turned 52 so he's not even that old!

He (smartly) decided it was time to go to the doctor. He had some X-rays done and was sent to a neurologist. After an MRI and then (today) a CT scan the neurologist told him that he has a condition known as spondylolisthesis. What this is is that either some of the joints in his lumbar vertebrae (in his case L4-L5) or even a part of the vertebrae is damaged or fractured. This causes the vertebrae to become unstable and the top vertbrae slips forward on top of the lower vertebrae. This can cause arthritic changes but also can compress spinal nerves (and the spinal cord itself) as it's doing in my dad. The doctor told my dad that they're not sure the severity of it yet (they will have more of an idea when they get the CT results back) but if he were to leave this alone, he wouldn't be able to walk in two years. Please pray that the doctors are able to make the right call on what's going on for my dad. If it's either grade I or II (not as severe; only slipped 25-50% out of place) then they'll probably try bracing it or physical therapy first. If it's slipped greater than 50% (Grades III and IV) then he'll have to have surgery (most likely) to fuse those vertebrae to keep them from slipping even farther.

I'd appreciate any prayers you could say for my dad as we're all really concerned about this. As much as we don't want him to have to go through back surgery and all that entails, this has to be fixed and soon! Thanks friends...

Love you all!

Washington D.C.!

I found out this morning that I am DEFINITELY going to Washington D.C. in April. Over April 25th to 27th I'll be in our country's capitol talking to various representatives about issues in healthcare and participating in "D.O. Day on the Hill" white coat and all! :) The best part about all of this is due to school funding, the only thing I have to pay for for the trip is transportation to and from the airport in D.C.!!! This is an amazing opportunity and I'm so excited!

Ok, I have yet another test tomorrow, so I should get back to studying, but I just thought I'd share this exciting news!

Some Follies Pictures

Happy Days

There are some amazing things going on in my life right now and I just wanted to share a few of them with you guys. I figured it was time for a non-negative post! :)



1) Again, Follies is tomorrow night and I get to wear this-->

If it looks even half like that on me, I'll be feeling good! Oh yeah, the back's REALLY fun too (being that there's really not one) :)
Sometimes I love being a girly girl!






2) I may have the chance in just a few months to head out to Washington DC for "D.O. Day on the Hill." The school will probably be covering a lot of the costs and I get to go and speak to all of our representatives and senators about things that are really important in medicine right now. I'm excited at the prospect of heading out to our nation's capital! Should be a good time



3) My brother comes home tomorrow...I've really missed him while he's been gone. I just don't laugh nearly enough when he's gone...mostly because I'm by myself at home and it would be weird to just laugh out loud all of a sudden. :)



4) Did I mention Follies....I get to play dress-up! Yay!! I love being five-years old in my head.



5) Two weeks from now I'll be in a happy place.... :) So very excited.



6) I was able to see again today why I'm putting myself through all of this in the first place...I love those moments where I can forget how tired/stressed/burnt out/etc I am and just focus on the goal in all of this....It's what keeps me in this!

There are more exciting things happening right now and in the near future, but for now, this is a
good enough list!

Well, I'm off to finish a few more things that need to be done before Jamie comes home...Bentley's been washed, the house vacuumed, the dishes done, the trash out.... :) Whew...it takes a lot to get the house back to how he left it. Adios...Keep smiling friends! :)

Time for a random rant...

OK, for the most part, the last few days have been worlds better than last week...however there are a few things that have recently just (to quote a professor of mine) "chapped my butt." (I think the reason I like this phrase so much is that no matter how bad of a day you're having, the moment you say it, you can't help but laugh! :) OK, so this is all just to say that I'm going to rant and rave for a little bit just to get all this out, so feel free to just not read it! :)

1) Some of you know about this first one...about 6 years ago (this July) while I was in high school, I was in a car accident. I didn't get a ticket, the other guy was seemingly fine, blah, blah, blah...This last summer late in June I got a phone call from my dad informing me that I was being sued for $50,000 for "pain and suffering" from the guy that had been in the accident with me. Evidently he had found out that the statute of limitations was about to run out in 2 WEEKS and decided to see if he could sue me for something....seriously, suing a med student?? I'd be more than happy to give you my $100,000+ in loans! I just got the first of many questionnaires/legal things that I have to fill out and send back to the lawyer. This one included such fun questions as... "What time did you go to bed the night before the accident?" "What time did you get up the morning of the accident?" "What did you have for breakfast the morning of the accident?" "What did you eat?" "At what time did you eat?" and other inane questions that I wouldn't remember 2 months after the fact, let alone 5 1/2 years after the fact! Grrr....

2) Why do people think they can schedule something the day before and make it "mandatory" that the people who need to be there are there? Why do the people that do this always seem to be the same people that are going through the same things you are...the ones who should understand that in the semester before boards, last minute things just don't work!?!?! I have a meeting that was "called" for one of the clubs I'm an officer in for tomorrow night and I've spent a good portion of my night trying to re-shuffle things so I can show up at this "mandatory" meeting.

3) Why do people go 10 miles below the speed limit in the left lane? (I just had to throw this in there... )

OK...I guess I didn't have as much to rant about as I thought which is good. Since my mom always told me that if I was going to say something bad I'd have to say 2 good things for each bad thing I'll try to redeem this post now.

What currently makes me happy...
1) Follies (med school prom) is on Friday night; I love my dress and I'm so excited for a night to dress up and hang out and laugh/dance/eat with my friends all night!
2) I have great friends here at school who have supported me through some of the toughest times yet...
3) I got Bentley a new leash and collar tonight which make taking him on a walk and trying to leash train him SO much easier! :) No more purple hand from the circulation being cut off by the leash anymore!
4) My house is clean....I stayed up until 1am last night cleaning after studying last night, but for an anal retentive person like me it was worth it!
5) I get to see some of the most important people in the world to me (second only to my family) in just 2 weeks!
6) I wore flip flops today!!!

On a side note....Happy Birthday to my Brother today!! Unfortunately he's on a business trip in Boston this week, and even worse, he got food poisoning last night and has been REALLY sick today! Hopefully he starts feeling better, and we'll celebrate when he gets home this weekend!

OK...back to the books...