Chiropractic Perspectives

2008-10-20T11:49:00.002-04:00

Since graduating, I began Traveling with Baby: a blog on health and parenting. I also blog at Deep South Moms. I expect to continue the Chiropractic Perspectives blog on my new practice website in the very near future. So, subscribe, read, and contact me!

Closing a chapter on professional education

2007-09-20T18:04:00.000-04:00

Tomorrow at 2pm, I will graduate. After 3.25 years of chiropractic school (following a 4-year undergraduate program), I will finally be a doctor of chiropractic. I'm DONE with school . . . at LAST!

Now, I just need to make it through my last month of pregnancy, and this is definitely a tough month! I'm so belly heavy that it's uncomfortable to sit, sleep, walk, stand, or do just about anything. I love it when the blood just rushes to my uterus and about all I can do is sit down on the floor. I can go from being relaxed to feeling so uncomfortable that I have to just plop down wherever I'm at in about 30 seconds. Right now, this little bambino is chalking up about 6 lbs, and I still have almost a month to go. Estimated baby weight at birth is 8.5 lbs.

Even though I can't don the cap, gown, and hood for the ceremony and celebrate in true 073 style, I'm going to celebrate tomorrow evening anyway. My mom and step-dad are meeting us in Clarks Summit for dinner at Pepato's Cafe. Yay!

Hopefully in the next 6 months, Steve & I will figure out where we want to move and settle down . . . where we'll open a practice, and then I can figure out all the other details involved with that huge life-changing event!

I'm taking a hiatus on this blog for awhile since I'm not going to be doing anything chiropractic-related for a few months (at least until well after the baby's born and I'm licensed). But, for updates on baby and travel, stay tuned to our Baby Blog.

Preceptorship Week 8 of 8

2007-09-09T17:23:00.000-04:00

I finished up on the last week of August. What a crazy week. There were 4 out of town patients, and at the end of a week, a doctor came up to train (2 of the patients were his from Texas). It was madness with the schedule and local patients on top of that.

I was so burned out by the end of the preceptorship that I was so glad to be done and to get back to PA to relax. I was able to get some good work on Steve, per post radiographs. I also sat in the scoliosis traction chair for 5 minute sessions a few times to pull on my right side dorsal-upper-dorsal angle. It made my ribs and upper thoracics feel so much better!

I learned a lot during my 8 weeks preceptoring. I saw some interesting cases, and got a better understanding of the flow for rehab and scoliosis correction. I learned how I would do things differently in regard to staff communication and leadership. I learned how to deal with difficult patients, or the difficult parents of patients, and I learned how to better analyze radiographs. I also realized that I most definitely don't want to work that many clinic hours per week. I just don't want to burn both ends of the wick...I'd rather work 20-30 hours a week and be totally focused and energized with my patients during those hours than to give them only 60% of my energy, and have even less left over in the evenings for my family.

Preceptorship Week 7 of 8

2007-08-26T16:05:00.000-04:00

Last week we worked with a couple of out of country, intensive care scoliosis patients. Having new patients here for intensive treatment is a lot of work.

Monday: history and exam, full-spine x-rays and analysis, report of findings, demonstrating and teaching patient exercises, 2 rounds of treatment with warm-up (MIX), adjustments (FIX), and rehabilitation (SET) which usually lasts 2-2.5 hours.

Usually, I don't have to start taking photos of the patients until the 2nd day, but that wasn't the case this week. I added it up and taking photos of the patients x-rays, the patients warming up, getting adjusted, and doing rehab adds up to close to 120 photos per patient. So, on average, I take about 240 photos per week, edit & crop photos, and create a 38-40 page personalized report for the patients.

On top of everything going on with that, we were short 1 staff member last week because she was on vacation. Then, on Tuesday afternoon, the other staff member who works with patient rehab wasn't able to come in due to a family emergency. That left 1 person, the intern, ME, doing EVERYTHING: muscle stim on regular patients, setting up 4 scoliosis patients on all the mix and set rehab equipment. Additionally, the doctor was giving me even more stuff to do like review home exercises with a patient. There's only so much 1 person can do in an afternoon to get everyone done by closing time!

I was so thankful for the weekend!!

Can't Get Enough Tests!

2007-08-26T15:47:00.000-04:00

Steve & I decided we're going to get certified by the National Strength and Conditioning Association's (NSCA) as Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialists (CSCS). According to Steve, who was an athletic trainer at the State University of NY - Brockport, CSCS is the gold standard of certification for an athletic trainer or a healthcare professional who's working with athletes or even in a clinical setting.

Steve wants the certification to strengthen his credentials as a fitness instructor and to possibly open the doors for other job opportunities. Let's face it, having a masters in Biblical Studies doesn't necessarily pay the bills. All throughout school, he's encouraged me to get the certification, but the constant study cycle for chiropractic national boards never quite made CSCS cert a priority for me. However, since I hope to one-day hire an athletic trainer as part of my practice, it will help me to have a stronger understanding and appreciation for what they do.

Certification requires being current in First Aid and CPR. Since my CPR certification runs out in October, I have to get recurrent on it (internet studying and a 2 hour class should cover it!). Then, Steve & I have to study for the CSCS exam and schedule to take that at some point in the fall.

I supposed the best time to study is now. I know HOW to study since I just did it intensively for the past 3 years, and most of the exam material is stuff I learned in school: anatomy, physiology, and orthopedic tests. New to me will be info on managing a gym (who cares?! but it's on the test).

Orthopedic Exams

2007-08-26T15:44:00.001-04:00

The folks who really know how to demonstrate orthopedic tests of extremities are athletic trainers who work with numerous injuries and abnormal presentations on a daily basis. A prof at California State University in Fresno created a blog with instructional videos on several orthopedic assessments. Watch, learn, and enjoy!

Preceptorship Weeks 5 & 6 of 8

2007-08-15T20:02:00.000-04:00

Last week, I was able to visit a local clinic that's only been open less than 2 years. Dr. Keith gave me lots of awesome pointers on where to find office supplies and clinic equipment for an inexpensive price. Seeing his practice also gave me confidence to know that I can start out from scractch with bare-bones for adjusting equipment, and still make it!

This week, we have several out of town patients here for a week of intensive treatment. I've been busy with exams, report of findings, teaching patients' their home exercise and rehab protocols, running the scoliosis center, and helping out with front desk operations. Also, a doctor from Mississippi is in town training for a week; she's here with a CA and her husband. I've been able to pick her brain and learn about running a high volume practice that includes scoliosis treatment while also being a mom. She's given me a lot of tips and pointers, including adjusting patients much larger than me and still achieving results (thank goodness for Thompson drop tables!). Together, we've been analyzing x-rays and determining the best method for treatment for the respective patients.

The more clinics I visit, the clearer picture I develop on how I want my future practice to look and to run. However, I'm still undecided on whether or not I'll work with insurance plans . . . or at least whether or not I'll work with Medicare. I still don't know how I'll eventually balance being a mom AND a doctor, because I never want my practice to come before my family. I never want my kids to grow up and say that their mom wasn't around enough for them. Somehow, Steve and I will balance raising a family, running a practice, and cultivating our marriage for a lifetime.

Maybe it's for the best that I don't know yet where I'll practice, where we'll plant our roots, and what we're doing after the next 6-8 months. For now, we're focusing on having a baby, meeting our immediate budget needs, and being open to what plans God has for us in the future!

Preceptorship Week 5 of 8

2007-08-04T13:03:00.000-04:00

Less than 1 month left . . . and past the half-way mark of preceptorship! This past week, I did exams on an out-of-town teenage scoliosis patient and her mom. Both improved considerably with 5 days of treatment, and both felt tremendously better after only 5 days of treatment. Focusing on cervical curve restoration and addressing the upper cervical subluxations helped them to feel "lighter and clear-minded" and it reduced a lot of headache pain and nausea related to the strain they were both feeling on their spinal cords.

Additionally, I did an exam on a non-scoliosis patient who complained of a foot drop and low back pain due to nerves severed from an injury in the military. The orthopedic tests and motor and sensory tests we learn in school definitely come into play for a case like that!

On another interesting note, I learned more about the genetic disease, Turner's syndrome. In Turner's syndrome, females have only 1 X chromosome (X,O) instead of X,X. Some Turner's syndrome females manifest with X,Y.

In school and for national boards, we learn about the common characteristics which manifest itself in an adult, but we never learn about what that presentation looks like in a child. There is a young patient who is undergoing genetic testing for this disease. Although the results haven't yet been provided, some research provided more insight into the presentation . . . and this patient presents with very classic findings:

short stature for her age
congenital heart defect
scoliosis
drooping eyes, down-slanted eyes

Other related affects with Turner's are kidney defects and premature ovarian eggs which typically means that someone with this disease cannot get pregnant nor have children. Although a young girl who isn't yet interested in boys may not think this is a big deal, one day it may be a hard concept for her to embrace. I would think it would be even more difficult for her parents to endure. You can read more about Turner's syndrome here.

Preceptorship Week 4

2007-07-26T19:06:00.000-04:00

The doctor is on vacation this week, therefore, I am, too! I'm visiting other local doctors' clinics, catching up on reading, e-mails, and blogging. I'm also studying and working on a big class project that will also help me develop a more sound business plan for the day when I eventually open my future practice.

A couple of weeks ago, Steve & I attended an Erchonia Laser seminar in Minneapolis. The main instructor was Dr. Dan Murphy. I learned so much, and I really enjoy his teaching style. I could literally listen to him lecture for hours. Steve enjoyed listening to him, too. Now, he's helping me brainstorm ways in which we can integrate nutrition, laser, and possibly ion hydrotherapy into our future clinic. I knew the cold laser was pretty amazing based on the results I saw in the Palmer clinic, but I had no idea it had so many possibilities for healing. We went through the basic protocols for myotome testing in the upper and lower body. What I really enjoyed was learning the cellular reason to it's success--there's a reason we memorized glycolysis other than for national boards! Electron Transport Chain and ATP, that's what cold laser therapy is all about! Anyway, I encourage you to check out one of those seminars when you get a chance. . . and student pricing is 50% off! (Steve got to attend for free since he's not a doctor!)

It's nice to have the week off from the grind. Being pregnant and working 50+ hours per week where I walk 3-4 miles per day in the clinic was really taking a toll on my stamina. I'm to the point where I will just duck out at 11 AM (when the rest of the staff leaves for lunch), come downstairs and take a nap, then head back upstairs by 1pm. Must have the nap. Must get 8-9 hours of sleep per night or I'm crashing and burning by 2pm due to utter exhaustion.

August is going to be just as busy as July, so this is my week to rejuvenate. 1 more month! I can make it, I know it! I take every opportunity possible to put my feet up and to sit while in the clinic. By labor day weekend, I'll be able to head home to PA and just CHILL OUT until this baby is born. That's exactly what I'm looking forward to!

Preceptorship Week 3

2007-07-18T23:57:00.000-04:00

Ever have days when you want to leave work . . . and NEVER go back? That was today.

I was able to compartmentalize my frustrations and carry on with my duties for the day, which mainly consisted of helping other staff members rehab patients and smooth out the patient flow. But, all I wanted to do was go home, take a nap, and get a big hug from Steve.

I did get a great massage during my lunch break. It didn't make all my problems go away, but it sure helped me deal with the stressors of an unpleasant day.

Even so, I can't wait to be done with everything related to school, including this preceptorship. I just want to get back to PA where I can relax in my last month of pregnancy, and not deal with a demanding work schedule, aching feet, rare lunch breaks (or breaks in general), and a place where I can actually see the sunshine during the day. Living in the basement of where you work sometimes means you never leave the building.

Chiropractic and Schuermann's Disease

2007-07-15T23:22:00.000-04:00

A week ago, I did a re-exam on a 15 y.o. male who had been diagnosed with Scheurmann's disease. When he first came to the clinic in January, he had a 67 degree kyphosis in his thoracic spine. Normal is 40 degrees.

After 6 months of treatment, rehabilitation, and home exercises, a post-film revealed a significant improvement. His kyphosis decreased to 49 degrees. Re-exam findings also indicated improvement in proprioceptive balance with Hautant's test and increased lung capacity (spirometry testing).

To see those findings in a young man when we're taught in school that chiropractic pretty much can't help Scheuermann's disease.

Fresh water

2007-07-10T19:41:00.000-04:00

We spent Saturday at the largest body of freshwater in the world and avoided the 100 degree heat in St. Cloud. See photos and check my post from my other blog about our weekend trip!

Preceptorship Week 1 of 8, Part II

2007-07-10T19:25:00.000-04:00

Independence Day felt like a Saturday in the middle of the week. I liked the break, but it made me want even more time off! Thursday was pretty slow in the clinic. I was left to do a report, and I had plenty of down time to work on a school project.

Friday was another story . . .

Dr. Dennis had me adjust anterior dorsals on several patients. I barely felt anything move on anyone, and I couldn't figure out why. Later that day, a chiropractor was the patient and he gave me some pretty good feedback. Plus, he was the first patient where I actually felt the joints move when I adjusted him. He emphasized using an inferior-superior line of drive. Thus far that day, I had been hit or miss with that aspect, and I had been thrusting more anterior-posterior.

A couple of the staff members also asked me to work on them later that day. They'd never seen me adjust anyone nor had I ever adjusted them. So, in spite of not knowing about how forceful or in fact decent I am at adjusting, they at least felt comfortable enough working with me in the clinic to ask me to work on their spines. Since it was near closing time, I only had time to adjust 1 person. The only catch was that I had to dictate the SOAP notes into a recorder, something I've never done before. Thankfully, there was at least somewhat of a pattern to her SOAP notes. Since the diagnosis hadn't changed, and I was using Pettibon adjusting procedures, I could at least reference similar things that had been recorded in previous adjustment SOAPs. The best part about it was that the patient was easy to adjust, and her legs balanced with a neurological leg check so that I didn't even have to address the upper or lower angles of the atlas.

Also, she gave me feedback that helped me with all the self-doubt I'd accumulated adjusting numerous other patients' thoracics that day. She said she felt her thoracics move in at least 3 places when I adjusted her. I, however, didn't feel ANYTHING move. So, it's possible that I had adjusted some patients throughout the day, but I hadn't felt anything, just like when I adjusted a staff member at the end of the day.

Dictation notes are definitely the way to go. The electronic push-button forms are great, but they don't help much if they don't cover all the stuff that you actually do when you work with a patient. Presently, there aren't any electronic note forms that are compatible with structural correction. Also, dictation is always patient-specific and relevant. Much less likelihood to get in trouble with a malpractice suit for poor note-taking when you have dictation notes. However, I'm a novice at it, and I need practice. I also need to learn the codeword shortforms for standard phrases. I hear Dr. Dennis say "Macro 7" or something similar.

I'll probably develop my own form of code notespeak for the typist once I get settled into my own practice. Once I get that down, I'll be much faster at treating patients for each respective visit.

Preceptorship Week 1 of 8

2007-07-03T13:43:00.000-04:00

I had a really relaxed first day. I thought I'd be running around like mad trying to keep up, but it wasn't that way at all. Since this is a holiday week, and the clinic is closed for 2 days, there aren't any new patients. In fact, yesterday, we were able to leave by 5pm instead of 6pm since the last scheduled patient was finished early. The staff said that early close time NEVER happens. They were super excited about it.

My first day was relaxing due to the fact that I got to experience the Young Living Raindrop Technique . . . which is a treatment that combines essential oils, trigger point therapy, and massage. Dr. Dennis mentioned that he uses this for his out-of-state patients who get the intensive scoliosis treatment, and that the therapy helps them relax before getting chiropractic treatment and rehab. He asked if I wanted to try it out . . . who am I to refuse a treatment that my prospective patients will endure, especially if it has essential oils and massage! It was great, and Dorie avoided using any oils that were potentially harmful to a pregnant woman and developing baby, so I only got a truncated version of the therapy. Wow was it cool . . . and it smelled great!

Day 1, I also adjusted 1 patient's thoracics, applied a few therapeutic modalities on patients, read some current research and chiropractic-related reading material, and I got the run-down on the front desk operations. I only had to analyze a few sets of films. I got the first set correct, but I forgot a couple of things on the lateral cervicals for the last 2 sets. I'll never forget those body base lines again. Since I was thrown into analyzing an S-curve lateral cervical with a very short time limit, I messed up the math on the loss of curvature. However, once Dr. Dennis pointed out what the value SHOULD be, I was able to see where I made the error, and I know I'll never mess it up again (hopefully). It finally makes sense to me.

Day 2, the clinic isn't officially open, but a few emergency patients and a couple of out-of-state patients are receiving treatment. Tuesdays are when I get a weekly 1-on-1 meeting time with Dr. Dennis to ask questions. Today, my questions mostly focused on employing staff, firing staff, wages and bonuses for staff, office policies, worker's compensation, & accounting and billing. There's only 1 more patient scheduled for this afternoon, and I'll also get treated later on today, YAY!

Next week, we're expecting 2 out-of-state patients for intensive treatment. They are daughters of chiropractors. So, their dad's will be observing and learning in the clinic, too. It should be a busy and fun week.

Relief!

2007-06-29T15:20:00.001-04:00

I just checked my scores for the NBCE Part IV board exam that I took in May, thankfully, I passed! I scored well enough to be eligible to practice in any of the 47 states that accept Part IV scores. Whew! Now, I just need to get through this preceptorship and my last business class project for Palmer, and I can graduate. I still have to figure out all the paperwork craziness for applying for a chiropractic license in Pennsylvania, but it doesn't look too bad. The end is in sight!

Summer Transitions

2007-06-21T10:00:00.000-04:00

We moved from FL shortly after Steve's graduation. Since then, we've been living between 2 houses in PA & NY and visiting family. Moving, as always, was such a pain. I still don't know where to find certain things packed away. However, just as we're sorta getting settled in our little bedroom at Steve's grandparents house, we're moving on Tuesday to Minnesota where I'll complete a 2 month preceptorship. Lots of moving & lots of traveling this summer. But, I'm ready to head out there. I'm getting antsy since this past week or so most of my days are spent cleaning, cooking, and reading books. I can only take so much of that. I need to be in the clinic and interacting with patients!

RTS Graduation Ceremony 2007

2007-05-26T21:41:00.001-04:00

Steve graduated last night from RTS. The ceremony lasted a little over an hour, but it had guest speakers from different countries, live classical music (vocals, trumpets, and an organist), and it packed out a very large church in downtown Orlando. Steve said goodbye to some of his classmates and friends with whom he'd traveled on a mission trip overseas.

Steve receives his diploma on stage

Steve with me (20 weeks pregnant) and his parents

The Class of 2007's banner for the RTS auditorium

Dallas Eatery

2007-05-26T21:36:00.001-04:00

We visited La Madeleine in Dallas, my favorite French cafe and bakery. Our friend Jessica drove down from Oklahoma to visit us. It was great to catch up with her, since we hadn't seen her in 3 years.

Steve's Graduation

2007-05-25T12:09:00.001-04:00

Steve graduates tonight from Reformed Theological Seminary with a Masters of Arts in Biblical Studies. His parents are in town for the ceremony and to help us pack and move. I got Steve a Mrs. Fields' cookie cake to commemorate the event.

Saying Adios to Palmer FL

2007-05-23T17:04:00.001-04:00

Tomorrow, I'll wear my clinic jacket for the last time when I check out. Hopefully, that process will go smoothly, and I won't need to do any more last minute hours or requirements. We'll pack up our stuff and move to PA by next Wednesday. Yay!

We already took our graduation photos. I'm posting mine now since there's a very strong possibility that I won't make it to the graduation ceremony, which is due to the fact that I'm due with the baby 3 weeks after our ceremony. Graduation is sort of a big deal here, but not really. I mean, it's not like the 3-day event that it was at UT Austin complete with fireworks, live concert performances, and buildings on the mall awash with lights displaying the 6 flags of Texas. It's nothing like that. In fact, at Palmer FL, the whole ceremony is usually conducted in the middle of the afternoon at a local college's auditorium and it's over in less than 45 minutes. However, it is a small college, so instead of a glorious commencement, it's more of a small, "say goodbye to your Palmer family" type of deal. Considering we have such small graduating classes, I'd expect a more personalized ceremony for each of the 50 graduates, but again, they don't do that here. What will be different for our class, thanks to a rockin' class council, is that we're taking huge strides to change the location of the ceremony. Hey, the charter class of Palmer FL was going to graduate in a local high school's cafeteria, so considering we have something more than that is a huge step up. We've been trying to do the ceremony in a different and classier location for the past year, but there's something about going through administration and getting them to approve it (money), so, we don't know the final word on that just yet.

But, we did vote on graduation speakers, and as long as our top choice says "Yes", we have an incredibly captivating speaker and leader in the chiropractic profession lined up to provide the keynote address. If his schedule isn't open, we've also voted on 2 faculty members to speak at the graduation banquet and/or 1 of them to speak at the ceremony as a back-up. I'd hate to miss Dr. Dan Murphy, and the opportunity to celebrate and say goodbye to my classmates, but I'm not going to risk my health nor this pregnancy and fly 3 weeks from my due date. But hey, I could deliver early and that could change everything. So, my last chance to see everyone will be at class next Tuesday morning. I think most of us are just itching so bad to get out of here and start our preceptorship that we just really don't care about much of anything at all around here.

To Class 073:

We've come a long way since July 2004 when we were just a lecture hall full of strangers. We've since grown so much as doctors and professionals. We've participated in 3 Student Olympics, 3 Homecomings, 2 Chiro Games (with 2 gold-medal teams), at least 3 sets of national boards, countless seminars, 1.5 years worth of anatomy labs, almost 1 year at the clinic to date, way too many classroom hours (most of us sitting in the same seats since 1st quarter), picnics, parties, & fundraisers.

We made it through 9th quarter, and we all know that NOTHING in an academic setting can EVER compete with the stress and chaos of those 3 months of pain. We'll never forget J-Pags' robot voice, Victor's contagious laugh, Barney's off-topic comments, nor Stew's Student Council announcements. OK, maybe scratch the last one. Through the ingenuity of really smart and talented people in our class with great movie-making skills, and numchuck skills (Rob), our class paved the way for filming lab demos to create incredibly smart study tools. We started over 8 new clubs and organizations on and off campus and have left a legacy at Palmer Florida.

Congrats to everyone for making it thus far . . . only 4 more months! I wish you all the best in 13th quarter and beyond graduation as you serve your patients and blaze new trails in our profession. Our most challenging classroom is yet to come, working in a real-world practice and making ends meet.

I hope you'll keep in touch (e-mail, myspace, even good ol' WebCT). Perhaps we'll see each other in the future at seminars, Homecoming, weddings, or reunions. By the way, I think having a class reunion in Puerto Rico would be fabuloso. Serve well, and God bless you all.

Part IV After-Thoughts

2007-05-19T21:08:00.000-04:00

Radiology:
- butt-kicking hard (the AM test!!)
- "what the heck is that supposed to be?"
- "oh, I can totally see what's wrong there, why aren't all of my multiple choice answers adding up to the same response on that particular station?"
- "oh, crap, I'm gonna have to re-take this thing in November"

Technique/Physical Exam/History:
- 2 hours into the test, "I'm so hungry, how much longer?"
- transitioning from ortho/neuro/physical exam stations to technique stations, examiner asks "what is your line of drive?" . . . (huge pause while brain is working really hard to think), then I blurted out an answer that I believe was correct. . . but I was frustrated it took my so long, and that I wasn't on point.

Exhaustion hit at the end of the test and I was just thirsty, mentally tired, and ready for lunch. Once we went back to our glass prison for 5 hours of sequestering, we were forced to watch really stupid comedies. I think I slept on the floor for a little while, until my sacrum was screaming in pain.

Post test, 2 hours later:
- "I'm so bored, and we have to sit in this room for 3 more hours until we're released"
- "I want to go home, change out of these clinic clothes into pajamas and SLEEP!"
- "Thank goodness I did better on the exam/technique than the radiology test, maybe I won't have to retake this bloody exam ever again"

This exam is a big deal. They had folks on the NBCE board of diretors present at the test site to watch the exam administration. Overall, the proctors and examiners were professional, and some were even friendly (unexpected). Parker was definitely a good campus to take the exam. Some of the patient-actors were a little over-dramatic and ate up a lot of time with their unnecessary theatrics, but otherwise, they did a good job.

I'm so glad to be done. I just immersed in study to ridiculous lengths this past week, and at least for the next five weeks (when scores are posted), I'm breathing relief that I'm hopefully completely done with this exam once and for all!

Part IV, the final stretch

2007-05-13T08:57:00.000-04:00

Flyin' to Dallas today. Finishing up Irene Gold's Part IV National Board Exam Review course at Parker College of Chiropractic where I'll take the exam next weekend. Steve will fly out to join me later in the week. We'll have some down time to spend with family and our friends from Oklahoma City. I'll be so glad when this exam is over!

Recruiting

2007-05-10T04:24:00.001-04:00

The Palmer recruiters recently posted a new video to entice prospective students to join the ranks of other Palmer grads. I'm briefly featured in the video.

Now, if only they filmed Palmer FL students wearing flip flops and shorts to class in December, they'd have huge matriculation numbers from northern applicants!

Last Adjustment

2007-05-08T18:32:00.000-04:00

Today, I delivered my last adjustment on my last patient for the last time at Palmer FL. I'm sad to say goodbye to the many amazing people who helped me grow as an intern and as a doctor. However, I'm super thrilled to soon leave this place chock-full of red tape mazes and subsequent headaches of frustration.

I leave on Sunday for Dallas for a week of Part IV board review and exams. At least there will be some relaxation time when Steve flies out to join me at my father and step-mom's house. It'll be good to spend the week in a familiar place and to be among family during a stressful exam, so I can more easily de-stress and not over-study (my tendency).

I've been posting lately about lasts, which also reminds me about a lot of chiropractic school firsts. I had a first chiropractic adjustment (probably low back, maybe thoracics). I remember when I accomplished my first Gonstead atlas adjustment on cervical chair. For none of these firsts do I remember whom I adjusted, I just know it happened, and it was awesome. I also remember when my philosophical paradigm of chiropractic, wellness care, and health completely shifted. It started the day I went to hear a guest speaker on Pettibon Technique . . . and I haven't looked back since.

The first time I heard Dr. Woggon speak about scoliosis correction--it completely stirred me to make a change, if ever so small, on my campus. It's cool how something so powerful and impacting can affect so many people in such a short amount of time, and it's been incredible to be a part of a new change in the chiropractic profession that benefits the patients immensely.

My first chiropractic college club was the Upper Cervical Club. Hey, it sounded cool. They were concerned with correcting the entire spine and that it all rested with the atlas, occiput, and axis. I still believe that, and I take from my experiences in upper cervical and apply them to what I now know about scoliosis, and it's awesome.

My first job in chiropractic school was working as an assistant in the Palmer FL library. OK, that wasn't altogether a milestone or anything, but it did help pay the bills, and I met some fantastic people.

While in chiropractic college, I also competed in my first swim meet for Chiro Games 2005 (more info here, here, here, and here). Thanks to my friend & classmate Andrew, I was able to surf for the first and possibly the LAST time (too many sharks in Ponce Inlet for my comfort level!).

I also had a first pregnancy, and this time, I hope I have our first baby in October. But, you can read more about that on our Baby Blog.

Throughout life, we hit these major milestones, high school graduation, college graduation, marriage, first baby, first house, etc. They're supposed to be these etched-forever-in-your-memory events or life-changing events. I think it's all part of the life journey. I'm not the same person I was in high school, definitely not the same person I was in undergrad. I become a completely different person in the military (more to survive the harsh structure and expectation). And now, I'm not the same chiropractor that I thought I would be when I first started chiropractic college. Based on this track record, I suspect, and hope, I'm not the same person 5, 10, 50 years from now. I want to continue to learn, grow, and develop into the woman God has designed for me to be: follower of Christ, wife, mom, friend, daughter, sister, neighbor, doctor . . . I want to look back and say that I'm not the same person I was when I graduated from Chiropractic college, but that my experiences and the grace of God has changed me and shaped me more into who I am meant to become.

Night at the Ballpark

2007-05-03T22:42:00.000-04:00

We just got home from a fun Daytona Cubs baseball game. It was Palmer night, so our school had free tickets available. Home team's defense was mostly good except for a few slippery passes. But, both times they scored, they scored big! The first time was in the 6th inning when the bases were loaded, and the hitter smashed a home run. That was sweet! The second time, the St. Lucie Mets tied with 4 (stronger offensive team) in the 8th and 9th innings. But, the Daytona Cubs came back with yet another triple loaded bases to hit a home run. What a finish. They didn't score any other times during the game, but when it counted, they came through.

073 in our final stages

2007-05-03T18:30:00.000-04:00

Last Tuesday, we took a class photo in our clinic jackets, since we never seemed to pull this off when we started outpatient clinic in the first place. We also took individual graduation photos in the cap, gown, and hood, but those won't be up until later. Well, 073 cleans up pretty nice in clinic attire. We started out as a class with 64 students. Now, we're down to 50 or 51.

We've come a long way in 3 years . . . that's for certain!

But, there's always room for improvement.

Seeing Clearly

2007-05-01T18:01:00.000-04:00

I first learned about the Bates Method for vision on Dr. Mercola's site. Although the description on his website was a little vague, it seemed like an interesting concept. However, I wasn't going to shell out $380 or even $150 for CDs. Thank goodness for ebay where you can purchase almost anything.

I'm just now listening to the first CD. . . and there's a total of 7 hours worth of information on all 6 CDs. So far, so good. It's a lot like yoga and martial arts relaxation exercises, but the focus is on the eyes. I'll keep posting on how it goes.

My vision isn't horrible to start with. I think my left eye is something like 20/50 and my right eye is 20/30. So, I seldom wear glasses for minor nearsightedness. I use them occasionally to see things that are far away when I'm in a lecture hall. I also notice my vision goes out substantially the more my atlas is subluxated. That's easily corrected with a chiropractic adjustment . . . but it doesn't fix everything 100%.

What I like thus far about the info in the Bates Method is that it was developed by a former opthamologist back in the early 20th century. He spent 40 some years developing it when he noticed that medical students who lost their glasses actually had vision improvements, and he wanted to explore "WHY?".

I'm always a fan of those who go against the grain in pursuit of something better and simpler instead of resorting to the status quo. He was shunned by his profession, but his teaching method and books changed several people and helped them have a better life (much like the work that early chiropractors did!). He even made such a huge impact on Aldus Huxley, that he influenced him to write a book on regaining vision.

You can learn more about Greg Marsh and the CDs and classes he teaches based on the Bates method on his website. Also, check out the cool links on their website to eye charts and other sites with eye strengthening exercises.

Last TEST!!

2007-04-30T14:13:00.000-04:00

Today, I just took my last exam EVER at Palmer. YES! Clinic Exit exam is done. I'm pretty sure it's just pass/fail, so I'm pretty sure I won't have to do it again. I felt really relaxed, and I tried to take it the same way I'd take Part IV. The history taking station was a little odd...they seemed to want me to just list history points instead of asking questions like we'd actually do for Part IV...I still got all the info that I needed. I went so fast through the adjustment set-ups that I had to look at the question list again to see all the things I needed to name on my set up...and I really don't know if I forgot anything, but I know the end result looked the way it was supposed to!

So, the rest of today, I'm chillin'. Taking a nap...swimming at the Y...and maybe studying a little for Part IV which is only 3 weeks away!

12th Q and 4 weeks to go!

2007-04-27T17:10:00.000-04:00

Our class didn't take well to the new clinic syllabus requirements that were dropped last minute. So, we wrote a letter to the clinic and school administration, and it paid off. They allowed us to be grandfathered with the old requirements which are 2 re-exams (NOT recruiting 2 new patients) and 1 primary x-ray credit. However, since we have to send out our films to the campus in Iowa to get read by a radiologist, we don't get the films nor our credits for at least 4 weeks. So, when the question was raised if we'd still get our credits if the films weren't here, the admin decided to drop the primary x-ray credit altogether. That's what happens when they change policy without thinking about how it affects everyone else beneath them. . . and they end up creating more work all around.

So, for now, I'm pretty much done with all my requirements. I'm still earning a few more hours, but I'll be more than covered in that area in 4 more weeks. We still get more things to fill out or turn in every week, so I'm expecting something else to pop up here, shortly.

Monday, we take the clinic exit exam--my last exam EVER at Palmer (I hope, anyway). I look at it as a practice Part IV boards mini-test . . . and that's exactly the way I plan on taking the test. Part IV is merely 3 weeks away, and it'll be so nice to get that over with!

After the very long week (almost 3 weeks straight when you add in board reviews on 2 consecutive weekends), it's really nice to have a little time off this weekend. Although I have to spend a lot of it studying for Monday's exam, at least I can sleep in on Saturday and Sunday past 6 am!!! Won't that be sweet?!

12th Q Hang-Up

2007-04-16T18:27:00.000-04:00

Hello Blog,

It's been awhile. Mostly because I either haven't had anything to say or what I've had to say shouldn't be said for all the world to see. Let's see if I can sum up the past few weeks.

First week of 12th Q clinic was going fairly smoothly. I was working long hours both taking care of patients and as a clinic training assistant (CTAs sport the long blue smurf coats). So far, our class was highly annoyed that applications for cases of high complexity changed from a listing of diagnostic codes for qualification to an 8-page document that requires tons of essays and lots of math to make the columns add up in our favor. Why on earth did the forms change on us mid-stream when we're in our last quarter before graduation? Also, the forms are so over the top compared to what's expected from the chiro college accredidation agency and in comparison to other colleges around the country. In the attempt to show-off to CCE, our clinic admin just created a ton more work for the already paperwork-burdened faculty AND us. Sometimes it takes 2 weeks to get an appointment with a clinician just to get signed-off on a file so we can continue to see a patient. . . now, that's messed up.

Anyway, other than the high complexity case thing, things were going until we had our "active learning session" or ALS class. The assoc. prof who runs that class informed us that we'd only get 6 more simulated cases of high complexity, yet they wouldn't be presented until week 3. Hmmm, let's do the math here. Since they were a few cases short for our class when we started clinic 6 months ago, we're already behind. In fact, if 60% of our class needs to check out by week 8 in order to preceptor, and we only have 7-9 out of 15 cases of high complexity already accomplished, we won't finish with 15 cases by week 8 if we don't START the cases until week 3. When we asked the ALS instructor about this. He just scoffed and told us to apply for more live cases, as in, it's not his problem, he doesn't give a rip, deal with it yourself. Right. Noted. Now, we don't like that answer and we made sure the clinic admin knew that if we didn't get our simulated cases of high complexity because they failed to present them in class, then we wouldn't be able to check out in time for preceptorship. Their response to us was that they'd do everything in their power to help us get our high complex cases done . . . and so, they've asked US to present cases of high complexity to the other interns.

Wow, I don't know about ALL of my classmates, but I know that for most of us trying to get done in a few weeks, we're already super swamped (why am I here blogging, because I'm taking a study break). Being in clinic from 8am to 8pm for 3 days a week, sitting through a board review course through the entire weekend, finishing up business projects for class in spare time, and still trying to see patients and get all other clinic paperwork squared away, sure . . . I'll just put together a powerpoint to teach an hour-long class on a high complex case. Wait a minute. . . isn't that what the lead ALS instructor gets PAID to do? Yeah, that's what I thought.

But, the straw REALLY broke the camel's back last week when they announced we had NEW clinic requirements. We're in 12th quarter, getting ready to LEAVE, and they spring new grad reqs on us. Grad reqs that are WAY above and beyond the reqs that are ALREADY above and beyond CCE requirements. What's funny is that when we sat through clinic orientation in 10th quarter, we were told (and this is on film) that we would be held to the clinic requirements that were in place for us from that day on . . . and that nothing new could change while we were in the pipeline. It could affect classes behind us, but not us. We signed forms for the current clinic handbook, and felt secure knowing it was a big feat, but we could accomplish the reqs that were laid out for us.

NOW, it's week 2 of 12th quarter, and 60% of us expected to meet the 8th week checkout deadline for preceptorship by having all of our clinic requirements DONE. Being done means you help the younger interns along and transfer your patients to them. I've even transferred patients who could stand to get x-rays taken on them . . . it wasn't a HUGE pressing ordeal, and since I was WELL over the Palmer radiology clinic reqs, I figured I'd help out the next guy. Well, now I regret making some of those transfers. Because the new reqs are that we accomplish 2 New patient exams (that's at least 3-4 different appointments with patients and a TON of paperwork headaches)--that also means those of us who were long off the new patient lottery list may now have to put our names back on in order to acquire new patients. The new reqs also require 2 x-ray series. Series is 2 regions of the body on 1 patient or same series on 2 patients. Well, if most of our patients have been transferred, or if we've already taken films on most of our patients, we can really only take films on new patients.

Why would we have to take even MORE films on patients if we'd already surpassed the clinic reqs on radiology? We asked this question, and clinic admin only replied with a tail-between-the-legs response of "the new reqs came down from Davenport". I don't care if it came down from CCE (which it won't, since they take years to implement new changes and tell you WELL in advance), they can't change things on us so late in the game. They're asking us to REALLY probe if our patients have any complaints warranting x-rays. Not only that, but there's a huge cost incurred for the patient for this procedure. Hey, I'm a very pro-x-ray intern, I like to see what's going on in the spine. But, none of my remaining patients need further films at this point in time. So, now I need to go find new patients, of which I can perform exams, hopefully justify taking films, and then just immediately hand them over to a new intern without every really providing care for them? WE asked the clinic about this, too. They don't care. Of course they don't care. If they DID care, they'd fight on our behalf, and not implement the changes to our class, but to the next incoming class. THAT would make sense, which is exactly why they won't do it.

Somehow, some way, I'll get out of this ridiculously frustrating joke of a place called an "educational clinic", and move on to a real clinic where I can intern and learn about running a practice with ethics and standards and consistency, something I have NOT seen emulated at Palmer. Some day, I'll graduate and never look back. Oh boy, I can't WAIT.

12th Q Start-Up

2007-04-02T21:05:00.000-04:00

I decided to quit logging my workouts. It was getting mundane and lost its fun. I've been enjoying the warmer weather when I go on brisk walks or swims. Still doing light weight lifting, but that's about it. Just enough to keep moving and to keep strong. I do enough running around and heavy weight lifting when working in the clinic!

I'm transferring more and more of my patients, and slowly clearing up my schedule so I can get more essential paperwork completed so I can meet my graduation requirements.

NBCE finally released our test sites for Part IV boards in May: I'm going to Dallas! I'm excited about this because I'll be staying with my folks which means I won't have to worry about adapting to an unfamiliar bed. Steve'll fly down a few days later and hang out. Also, I hope to see some good friends from OKC who'll drive down for a day trip (the day AFTER I complete my exams).

Tomorrow, we start classes again. Not really looking forward to that. I heard we have to complete 8 projects this quarter. Great. In our busiest clinic quarter, 8 projects. Like always, our class perseveres . . . so, we'll get through.

Congratulations to 071!

2007-03-22T23:18:00.000-04:00

Tomorrow at 2pm, Class 071 will graduate. They've been our big buddy class since we arrived at Palmer 3 years ago, and now they are doctors! Strangely, that leaves us (Class 073) as the most senior class on campus.

I look forward to attending the ceremony and Dejeanne's celebration dinner at the Stock Exchange. Congrats to the graduates and best wishes to you as you impart on your future in chiropractic!

Wash your hands!

2007-03-22T23:16:00.000-04:00

Just another reason, a visually compelling one, to wash your hands after using the bathroom.

Vis DNA

2007-03-19T22:14:00.000-04:00

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

Woo Hoo!

2007-03-18T12:52:00.000-04:00

Boards are done! Part III wasn't bad at all. 2 sections of 100 questions each and a score of 70% is needed to pass, which means you can miss 60 questions. Heaven help me if I missed 60 questions today because it was mostly straight forward. Now, there were a few questions that had things that I'd never heard of or drawing that weren't discernible, but otherwise, it was WAY better than Parts I & II.

On another note, the Ligonier National Conference was amazing. Ravi Zacharias was my favorite speaker. However, John Piper, Al Mohler, R.C. Sproul were also spectacular communicators. They were very articulate and not only explained apologetics in reference to the modernist and post-modernist cultures, but they spoke of love and passion for Christ and for knowing Him more. Piper's talks are available for free via audio and manuscript on his ministry's website at Desiring God.

Since we volunteered to work the conference bookstore set-up and tear down, we were able to get free admission to the seminar. They also fed us lunch on the days we worked, and we got really great seating at the conference. Not bad for a few hours of doing product inventory and decorating tables with books and CDs!

Done with Clinic Reqs!

2007-03-05T20:48:00.000-05:00

I have officially met all my adjusting graduation requirements for clinic as of today! Yes! Now, I only need to do some of the other mandatory paperwork applications that prevent me from going on preceptorship. It's to the point that I sigh in relief when a patient cancels an appointment. It's one less thing to prepare for and it sometimes saves me an extra 2 hours a day (due to prep time). So, I don't mind one bit.

I'm starting to say goodbye to some patients and hand them off to other interns. As my friend DeJeanne once said, "you're happy to get your patients for the first time, and you're happy to let 'em go when it's time". I know this is totally unrealisitic to how things operate in the real world, but it is nice to close another chapter of school requirements.

I hope that I'll be able to get all 10 necessary cases of high complexity from my existing patient base, or else I'll have to hand off all my current patients and garner new ones from the outreach that qualify for the high complexity. It's such a numbers game for us with requirements, and it's very very silly.

I am grateful for the opportunity to work with some amazing people and to learn from them. I'm still amazed that so many of my patients got better and kept returning for more care. How cool is that when the protocols work and I and the patients can experience the results first-hand!?

Boards are gonna be here on March 18th. I'm burned out from studying for them, so when I do review anymore in the next couple of weeks, it will be 0ut of sheer discipline. I guess that's better than studying out of the fear factor that I will completely bomb the test. This exam is NOT curved, so I actually have to score above 70% on this board. However, I'll do my best, and not sweat the small stuff.

Sleepy Time

2007-02-26T22:13:00.000-05:00

National boards are 2 weeks away. I've been studying approximately 2-3 hours 3x/week. I figure any more than that and I'll be overdoing it. After all, Part III is only an abbreviated version of Part II with questions worded a little differently, but it spans the same material. The bonus is that Part III lasts only half a day while Parts I & II each lasted 1.5 days. That was a marathon of testing!

So, I'm wrapping my my graduation requirements for adjustments this week. I hope to begin transferring several patients to other interns soon so I can lighten my load for next quarter.

Mostly, I've been using my time when I'm NOT in clinic to sleep. I've been sleeping a LOT. I slept 12 hours a night last Fri & Sat. On top of that, I averaged 1-2 naps a day, every day last week. I certainly need it. I need sleep like the beach needs sand. Sleep, glorious sleep!

So, I know I haven't been the most timely blogger lately, but don't expect that to improve any time soon. Once boards are over, maybe I'll have something worth blogging about, and enough sleep to be energetic enough to type it up!

Clinic Coolness

2007-02-19T20:54:00.000-05:00

On Friday, I adjusted an infant for the first time. A 5-week-old infant presented with persistent right head rotation. For his 2-hour newborn exam, he kept his head turned toward the right the entire time. His parents had noticed that he preferred to keep his head to the right for several weeks. Nothing could encourage him to turn his head to the left (jingling keys, mommy's voice, nothing). As I passively tried to rotate it while he was lying on his back, he arched his back and started crying. He didn't not want to turn his head toward the left.

I held him with his back toward my chest, and again passively rotated his head to the left. Then, I tractioned upward on his skull/occiput. I lightly tapped on his atlas (Rt TP) with my pinky with 3 swift but gentle taps. Afterward, his neck muscles immediately felt more relaxed and symmetrical. While his mom swaddled him, he was actively turning his head to the left and to the right.
It was the coolest thing I had ever seen! Adults can respond pretty quickly to chiropractic adjustments, but I didn't feel like I was applying ANY force to the baby, and he responded so well and so fast to an impulse on his atlas.

Today I treated a patient with cerebral palsy. The only thing I did differently, was I applied a cold laser to his spine from skull to T1. I noticed an immediate difference in that his muscle spasticity in his left hand flexors relaxed. I didn't have to pry with all my strength to put his hand into extension.

The secondary intern applied a subsequent treatment to the muscle belly of his left bicep, and immediately we were able to stretch it out into complete extension.
With such great results after initial treatment, we proceeded to work on his chronically spastic and flexed hamstrings. The biceps femoris muscles were knotted and in myospasm. We applied laser to the muscle belly and were able to notice an immediate difference in the muscle tonicity. We were able to extend the patient's legs with much less effort than before.
We're going to try the laser treatment for 3 subsequent treatments and measure pre and post extension ranges with a goniometer to collect an outcome assessment.

Happy Chinese New Year!

2007-02-17T09:06:00.000-05:00

The Year of the Boar 2007 begins at midnight on Feb 18th. We celebrated last night at Dr. He & Dr. Cheng's house. The endless and delicious homecooked food was so awesome. Dr. Cheng's eggrolls were just like my mom makes. . . the good salty thin-skinned eggrolls that have really good meat and mushroom filling, and not just blah cabbage. I can't find any eggrolls as good as homemade at any local chinese restaurants. We were also served stir fried noodles, BBQ chicken, veggies, and sweet sticky rice. Dr. He invited all the Asian students from Palmer, and his house was full! Karson and I were amazed that there were so many. Just over a year ago, he and I were the ONLY students who attended an Asian American Student Chiropractic Association moon festival celebration. Now, the asians are attending Palmer en force.

Happy Valentine's Day

2007-02-14T20:44:00.000-05:00

Photo by Chema Madoz

Weekend Update

2007-02-10T17:58:00.000-05:00

Katie B & I buckled down for some serious national boards studying, and we were super productive. It felt good to be fairly confident about the exam material, and it was good that we got through a big chunk of content.

It's yet another NASCAR week in Daytona--the Budweiser Shootout to be specific since the 500 is next weekend. So, although I had to go to the Farmer's Market for our weekly veggies, I choose to not venture around in my car the remainder of the weekend, because traffic is NOT going to be pretty. We've already planned alternate routes to and from church tomorrow to avoid the Race Day traffic. . . which has the tendency to get backed up for 30 miles or more.

We've been catching up on a few t.v. series through our S-cable laptop and t.v. hook-up and website downloads. We're hooked on Heroes. 24 is getting a little ridiculous this season. Well, it's always ridiculous, but they make some characters way too powerful and others way to stupid to keep listening to the counsel of the way too powerful and problematic advisors. That's so unrealistic. Lost season 3 is just strange. Even though Lost has always been strange, I don't think it's nearly as good as Seasons 1 & 2, and I'm in no hurry to watch any more of it.

Other than that, once I can get a chance to get back to the Y (Monday morning, most likely), I will plug in my meters on the Concept2 toward that goofy Valentine's Day Rowing Challenge. 14,000m will probably take me 2 x 7,000m workouts. So, I'll just knock it out in 2 days.

Pizza Flinging and a Pocket Full of Crust

2007-02-10T09:37:00.000-05:00

To celebrate their completion of the dreaded 5-hour long clinic entrance exam, I went to lunch with Kristin & Michelle at a local Italian joint. The food was alright, and our server was pretty good. However, the management and bus staff really need some training in customer service.

A bus girl stacked plates on a tray behind me and one slipped out and smacked me in my back hard enough to sting for a good 10 minutes. meanwhile, there was leftover food from another patron that slipped from the plate down my back and into my jeans (no I wasn't wearing a belt). That was disgusting. In fact, a patron at a table behind me told me I had food on my back. Michelle was helping me pick nasty pizza crust and noodles out of my jeans pockets for some time. The busgirl forced an eyerolling "sorry" and picked up food off the floor. As I kept digging food out of my pockets, I tossed it on the floor and she got even more frustrated.

For this staff accident, I just expected a more sincere apology and the manager to swing by. But no. That didn't happen. We told the waitress what had happened and she just thought it was terrible and had a look on her face like "sucks to be you." So, I asked the waitress to send the manager over to our table.

She came over to our table and it seemed to be such an inconvenience to her. We told her what had happened even though the waitress had already filled her in. She asked us "what do you expect me to do? It was an accident. Do you want her to apologize to you? I'll tell her to do that." We were pretty disgruntled that she didn't just apologize to us for something like that happening in her restaurant. She and the busgirl were very defensive and said that she didn't do it on purpose. The busgirl began arguing with Michelle about what type of food was actually on the plate that got spilled on me. Who cares. The point is that it was gross and they were angry that we were a little ticked off by what happened, but more so by how they handled it.

The manager wouldn't discount our ticket. She made up some lame excuse about her brother-in-law and some key and how she didn't have access. I guess she's really NOT a manager. Then, she said she'd take down my name and I could have a free item on my next visit, but she hoped that this event wouldn't prevent me from returning to their restaurant. It wasn't so much the food launching that was my aversion as it was the piss poor customer service throughout the whole ordeal. After some back and forth discussion, I left with a take-home tiramisu which I let Steve devour.

We wont' go back there again. I really can't find any good old school Italian joints down here in Daytona. Our favorite place is the family run I Love NY Pizza in Deltona. They have the most incredible strombolis that are almost as long as the table. And they come in flavors like philly cheese steak and chicken blanco. We don't eat there too often since it's 45 min away and pizza dough is so devilishly terrible for the body. But, it is the next best thing to getting a pizza/calzone/stromboli up in the northeast where they really make 'em right!

Rowing for Valentines

2007-02-05T19:45:00.000-05:00

My friend, Heather, e-mailed me the following challenge by Concept2. It sounds a little corny. But, what the heck, might as well get in 14,000 meters!

VALENTINE'S DAY CHALLENGE
February 9 - 14, 2006

For fun.....

IF you row a total of 14,000 meters between 12:01 a.m. Thursday, February 9th and midnight on Valentine's Day, Tuesday February 14, 2006,

AND you enter it in your Personal Logbook,

THEN you can download your choice of C2-designed Valentine's Day cards to send to your friends and loved ones!

All those who row 14K will be listed on our Erg Lover's Board. Note that you can edit your Personal Profile to include a special Valentine's Day "message for other to see". If you make the Erg Lover's Board, fellow rowers will be able to see your creative message.

Vaccines and STDs

2007-02-05T13:07:00.000-05:00

Wow, TX Gov. Rick Perry passed a mandate that not only violates people's freedom and privacy, but it assumes things of the worst kind. The cervical cancer vaccination order has targeted all Texas girls in 6th grade beginning in September of 2008. That's assuming that all of these girls will have unprotected sex and contract HPV. The vaccination order seems as though it's unconstitutional on so many levels.

According to an article on Fox News, "Texas allows parents to opt out of inoculations by filing an affidavit objecting to the vaccine on religious or philosophical reasons, but critics of Perry's order say it still interferes with parental rights."

Although a little late, some senators in other states have listened to concerns. "In Maryland, Democratic Sen. Delores Kelley said last week she would withdraw her proposal to require the vaccine amid concerns there already are too many vaccine requirements for Maryland schoolchildren."

According to the CDC and a summarized report by Lisa Killinger, D.C., in the 1980's, children received only 4 vaccinations. And, only 5 years ago, 10 million vaccines were administered per year in the U.S. Most were given to infants 2-6 months old. And, over 75% of all 3-year-olds in the U.S. were fully vaccinated according to the CDC's recommended schedule. By age 2, healthy infants in the U.S. received up to 20 vaccinations to protect against 11 diseases in 2001.

Yet in 2007, the CDC's recommended schedule increased for 2 year olds up to 35 vaccinations to protect against 15 diseases. Each state's vaccination requirements are listed here and here. You can read about exemptions to your state's vaccinations laws on the National Vaccine Information Center.

You can also check out merck for information on recommended vaccine schedules and estimates on the incidence of adverse effects.

Ultimately, it's up to you to decide whether or not your children should be vaccinated. I encourage you to read both sides of the arguments, and to not just vaccinate your kids because you've been told it's what you're supposed to do. You have rights as parents. And no state governor should decide whether your little girl should get an irreversible vaccination for an STD, a vaccination in which the long-term studies have not yet been published for adverse effects.

Tornado Friday

2007-02-02T09:00:00.000-05:00

Some tornadoes ripped through our area of Florida this morning. As a result, some patients had to cancel since the interstate is completely shut down west-bound (due to several tractor trailer crashes that are blocking it). If we don't have hurricanes and tropical storms for 7 months out of the year, then we have tornadoes in the middle of winter. Yup, that's Florida for you. So, even though I should be studying this morning, I'm playing on internet and posting to my blog. Enjoy.

Ninjas have been very popular among popculture jokes of late. There's the Ask a Ninja website which has some funny video clips. He even made a DVD which is a collection of 40 episodes. Unfortunately, my husband purchased that video, and I had to endure him watching the entirety of it from start to finish. Then, I found the photo below on a random blog several months ago. For some whimsical Hallmark card concepts by an artist who posts to flickr, check out Mr. Mannun's photos. Also, check out the Etch-A-Sketchist's blog. How he does that stuff, I'll never know.

Running on gas fumes

2007-02-01T17:56:00.000-05:00

I'm spending the afternoon writing up an article for the Triune. And, in order to stay in writing mode, I have to have tea from the Republic and listen to tunes and simulate my own personal coffee house atmosphere. I have the ipod on shuffle, and apparently it has a strong affinity toward the 80s decade. In the past 15 minutes, I've heard Phil Collins, the Police, Journey, and Michael Jackson.

My adventure for the day was running out of gas in the truck. Yeah, I felt pretty stupid. I'm not exactly used to using the truck for more than 1-2 days in succession. But, it's pretty much been the default vehicle for me since Steve takes the gas conserving Honda civic to class since he has to commute everyday for 2 weeks.

On my way home from the YMCA, I noticed the fuel gauge was just past the "E". I never let my Honda run below a 1/4 tank before I refuel, and this was a pretty sorry state. But, since I was only sporting my swimsuit and a towel, I didn't want to backtrack and hit the gas station. So, I made it back to the apartment and changed, and just hoped I could make it 1 mile to the gas station. Then, the truck slowed down on a 4-lane 45 m.p.h. road and the engine light and a hundred other lights on the dashboard turned on. I was able to turn on the hazard lights and coast down the road until I could turn into a small road and not jam up traffic on the busy road. Usually, Steve keeps a gas can in the back of the truck, but because I'm just super lucky, it wasn't there. I could practically see the gas station a block and a half away, but with no gas can, there wasn't anything I could do to help my situation.

So, I went into an office in the business park where I had attempted to pull in to borrow a phone because we don't own cell phones. Keep in mind, when a vehicle runs out of gas, it dramatically affects the steering capability. . . I couldn't exactly hug the curb when I parked, so cars that turned into the same side road were trying to maneuver around the truck. Thankfully, Katie & Josh were home. They saved my tail by bringing a few drops of glorious gasoline, and they followed me the rest of the way to the gas station to make sure I'd get there okay. Yes, I feel like a complete idiot, and I'll be much more cognizant next time I'm in the truck.

I guess commuting to and from the clinic bleary eyed in the morning and super exhausted in the evening doesn't put refueling on the top of my to-do list. But, it's a mistake I won't repeat anytime soon. I've been driving since I was 15, and this is the first (and hopefully last) time I ran out of gas.

So, now that I'm done with my procrastination post, I'm goign back to writing my article. Just in time because Mazzy Star is playing on the ipod. Sweet.

Chicken Embryos, Male Breast Enlargement, and the Emmys.

2007-02-01T15:07:00.001-05:00

Steve's been e-mailing me random videos with subtle subject titles such as "freakin' hilarious . . . blogworthy". Since Steve doesn't yet have his own blog, I sometimes blog on behalf of the family. So, here are some things that Steve found very funny, and he thinks that you readers in the blogosphere will laugh.

He found a link to this video on the flu vaccine from Uri's blog. I guess it was sorta funny, but not really. And, it wasn't really too eye opening for me since my chiropractor educated me on vaccine ingredients back when I was in the military, a.k.a. a government guinea pig for the pharmaceutical industry. However, I was able to weasel out of my flu shot for my last 2 years in active duty. Where there's red tape that can kill you, there's always a way around it. Yes, I found that loop, and I haven't had a flu shot since 2002. By the way, I haven't had the flu since then, either. Rather, all my co-workers who got the shot also ended up with flu-like symptoms and/or serious upper respiratory infections. I tell you, it's just not worth the risk. Especially since you increase your likelihood of getting Alzheimer's by the 5th flu vaccine injection . . . it's that good ol' mercury accumulation that never quite leaves the body.

Actually, it was the 1917-1918 influenza epidemic that actually allowed the chiropractic profession to persist. Back then, people weren't going to chiropractors for neck or low back pain. They were going to prevent death from the flu You can read Dan Murphy's highlights from "The Official History of Chiropractic in Texas by W.R. Rhodes here.

Next, he sent me this video clip from the Emmys.

Finally, today he sent me to a Fox News link on essential oils and their phytoestrogen or isoflavone link to gynecomastia (or breast growth in males). It's scary what excess estrogen can do! More published research is available on Medline (do a search for phytoestrogens and hormonal effects).

Pettibon Protocols in Clinic

2007-01-31T21:04:00.000-05:00

It's been painful getting the Pettibon protocols adapted into the Palmer clinics, but we've done it thus far with great acceptance and results from the patients. Patients tell me they prefer the Pettibon neck adjustments compared to the Palmer Package adjustments they used to get. Patients with scoliosis also notice improvements in the range of motion in their neck, increased breathing capability, and overall, better posture.

To date, only 1 intern has taken post-films at the 3 month mark to note improvement. His female scoliosis patient in her mid-20s had 10 degrees increase in her cervical lordosis (anterior-posterior curvature). She was stoked. And for the first time in her entire life, she actually has hope that her scoliosis can get better and reverse. I have only 1 patient who's a viable candidate for post-treatment films. He's been compliant with treatment as well as all the home rehab protocols. I'm looking forward to seeing his results next week.

The clinicians have been asking about post-films results because they're eager to see if the technique works. Those of us in 11th Q have been through a lot to get the green light just to treat our patients in clinic, but we're glad to pave the way for the interns in the classes behind us, so their experiences will be much smoother.

Tonight, I worked on a 14 y.o. track athlete who came to the clinic limping on his right leg. After an initial PT session where Greg (his secondary intern) and I did soft tissue work, he was already walking much better and in a lot less pain. I adjusted his spine, shoulders, knees, and ankles. Greg did Graston work on his calves and I used the PTLMS (Pettibon Tendon Ligament Muscle Stimulator) to flush the toxins out of his paraspinal, hamstring, and calf muscles. Afterward, he wore headweights and did heel-toe walking to reset his cerebellum. His posture was instantly improved with the headweights and his forward head posture was reduced significantly.

It was great to work with Greg and to learn about the Graston technique. We finally got the paperwork and red tape procedures squared away so Greg can do soft tissue work on the patient's legs once a week, while I adjust his spine and do postural correction once a week. Typically, they only let 1 intern work on 1 patient at a time. But, in this particular patient's case, Greg and I can both learn new techniques from each other, and the patient benefits greatly. He does 2 hour track workouts 6 days a week, and it's tremendously demanding on his body. He's definitely going to need the soft tissue work and adjustments to keep in good running shape and to prevent injury and the chronic knee pain that he gets associated with running.

Tomorrow, I have a business class at 7:30 immediately followed by a mandatory seminar on outcome measurements that lasts until 5pm with a 1 hour lunch break. I think I'll go to the gym during my lunch break, and I don't think I'll make it back to the clinic.

Rowing on the Halifax

2007-01-27T14:28:00.000-05:00

I met Heather at 6:45am to head over to the Halifax Rowing Club's boat house located near City Center Island. There were so many boats: 1-man, 2-man, 4-man, 8-man. There were boats for both the Halifax Rowing Club and for Embry Riddle's rowing club. Heather and I warmed up on the erg. She had me follow her rowing rhythm and helped me with my technique for each phase of the row. Then, we launched the single boats and I did my best to stay balanced with the oars. Heather did a great job coaching me since she told me what to do if I felt "tippy", and I never actually fell in the drink. The oar rotation from square-on to feather was awkward at first. And when I finally did get into a flow with it, I had to steer with 1 oar or another. I'm definitely not coordinated or smooth with the single oar steering. And then when I tried to row again with both oars, I felt like I did more dragging on the recover to counter-act the drive.

Afterward, we docked the boats, hosed 'em down and toweled them off, and we put them away in their racks. This is definitely challenging, but I still liked it. My back feels like it had a good workout without going into overkill inflammation. I'd like to return and improve my skills so that I feel more comfortable in the water. Eventually, we'll row in a 2-man boat, but I'm not quite to that level yet.

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

2007-01-26T22:34:00.000-05:00

I like to read Amanda's blog at . . . worth fighting for. I especially love the fantastic artwork and design she's used on her site. I'd tried creating my own super cool header artwork in the past and instead, it turned out to be more of a template headache. However, Amanda was gracious enough to create my new header, and I LOVE it. Thanks Amanda!

More paperwork!

2007-01-25T21:18:00.000-05:00

Long days in the clinic trying to stay on top of paperwork deadlines. I should be all caught up by early next week. Whew! Won't that be nice. Since the clinic schedule is constantly dynamic, it's been pretty tough to plan this week. Aside from Monday morning, I haven't been able to work out, and I've skipped lunch on several days. I'm looking forward to the weekend to catch up on sleep, workouts, and studying.

Since I'm checking out of clinic in mid-May, I want to start handing off some of my maintenance care patients so I have more time to study the more complicated patient cases. However, when I let one of my patients know that I'd eventually hand him off to another intern who would provide excellent care, he made it very clear that he didn't like that idea at all. I'm either going to have to get really good and time management and much much faster at paperwork, or I'm going to have to delay this transfer process. But, I'd much rather allow my patients to have 5-6 interactions with another intern who can observe or occasionally help out with a few aspects of the treatment so that he/she can develop a rapport with the patient and make the transition much smoother.

Homecoming Review

2007-01-21T16:22:00.000-05:00

The shortened week due to the MLK, Jr. holiday and Homecoming kept throwing me off schedule. I still managed to see several patients and get some clinic file work and x-ray line analysis accomplished. Meanwhile, I got in a few workouts (rowing, swimming, and running), and attended the Homecoming seminar on campus.

Dr. Dan Murphy was fabulous, as always. He lectured on "Immune System Maturity" and emphasized various nutritional components and their effects on development in utero, early childhood, and how to prevent against post-partum depression in the mom. He also talked about chiropractic, of course, and how and why chiropractic thrived as a profession during the great flu epidemic around WWI. Chiropractic's effect has changed so much in the past 50 years because of the changes in people's immune systems. Chiropractic alone can't touch a lot of the inflammation and toxicity issues that almost all Americans struggle with . . . therefore, having an understanding of nutrition and how it affects the nervous system and immune system is the key to being the most effective health practitioner. I'm glad I'm getting such a strong education in nutrition at Palmer. I see the effects of healthy nutrition first-hand in my own life as well as in my patients who are compliant with nutritional as well as chiropractic protocols.
I also listened to Dr. Thomas Souza discuss headaches and other similar case studies as part of our clinical active learning session on Homecoming Thursday. He authored Differential Diagnosis and Management for the Chiropractor which is a foundational text in our profession and our academic curriculum.

Dr. Woggon presented a complete scoliosis case study from start to finish. I learned more about things I should be doing with my scoliosis patients, and I want to incorporate those rehab and adjusting protocols this week! Steve and I also enjoyed going to lunch with him and his lovely wife, Brenda.
Last night, we skipped out on the Finale Celebration and opted instead for sushi at Amura with Burk Parsons and his family. The sushi was spectacular, and afterward, we had tea and dessert at the corner coffee shop. We always enjoy visiting with the Parsons, and this time I got to hold their beautiful newborn Elizabeth.

Semi-rose colored lenses

2007-01-18T08:47:00.000-05:00

God's really blessed me in several areas, as He always does. But especially of note are some great things He's given me lately. Instead of reflecting on God's grace and blessing, I've been wrapped up in the circumstances that feel like the opposite.

More often than not, it's seemed that my closest friends (aside from Steve) have always been the ones that aren't necessarily in the same zip code. When my long distance friends and I catch up on the phone, we're able to share in each others' joy and sadness. We lift one another up in prayer, and we mean it when we say we will continue to pray for one another.

A Lesson learned in military life and again in chiropractic school is to be guarded about what you say and reveal to others. I'm thrilled that I was recently awarded a very large scholarship. I've shared this news with family and a few close friends, but I haven't told anyone at my school. The last time I won a scholarship (about a year ago), I told a few of my closest friends at school, and sadly, they were jealous. I'd rather not deal with that again. For 6 months, I've been saving my meager paychecks from the Triune toward some costly chiropractic equipment. This scholarship helps me afford some of it instantly. But I recently learned that I may have to fork over several grand for an upcoming internship experience. So, my scholarship may have to go toward that instead.

At the moment, I also have a couple of great clinic opportunities in Asia. I thought I would have no other option than to work as an associate for another doctor--that prospect isn't bad at all. Yet, what disheartend me more than anything was that I would most likely not be able to start doing structural and scoliosis correction immediately when I practice. As I recently explained to my friend Jenn, it would be like driving a Lamborghini, and then being stuck with a Cavalier. It's pretty much scenario right now in the Palmer clinics. Those of us who've trained at scoliosis seminars and who currently have patients with severe scoliosis--we know we could get some amazing results if only we had more of the rehab equipment and the opportunity to take radiographs as needed in order to monitor patient progress. But, since we're only interns, we're subject to the red tape jungle of the clinic, and we must submit to the practicing philosophies of the faculty clinicians (some of whom believe you can't diagnose a subluxation based on x-ray film). Okay, I'm done with the explanatory venting. . . back to the job opportunities:

So, I have a couple of options of working in clinics in very large cities. For one, I'd work as an associate for a doctor who's already doing his best to tackle scoliosis cases. The limiting factor may be that this clinic won't be able to afford the necessary equipment to accomplish scoliosis correction. Without the equipment (which is critical for gaining the case results), I can expect to only work on scoliosis cases less than 30 degrees with predictable success.

My second option sounds fabulous at the moment. Another organization is very interested in working with me to establish a scoliosis center in Asia. They have asked me to submit my ideal business plan and floor layout which they will use as a baseline for government & hospital negotiations to make things happen. I can ask for the moon and stars, and I may not get them . . . but I'll get far closer to what I originally want in a start-up clinic if I've been asked for my opinion. As thrilled as I am about this option, again, I have friends AND family members who aren't. I get at least one phone call a week from someone in my family telling us NOT to move to Asia. This is so familiar . . . because it happened when I was commissioning in the Air Force, too. It's sometimes very difficult to explain to someone WHY we plan to do things that appear so offbeat and unlike the American dream of practicing in the states, accruing a ton of wealth, and then retiring early. There's nothing wrong with that dream, but it isn't exactly what Steve and I feel called to do at this point in our lives.

I can't ask others to be happy for us nor to agree with our goals and decisions. I also can't expect our beloved friends and family to always be thrilled when God showers us with blessings. Ultimately, having expectations of other people only leads to disappointment. I love my friends and family even when it doesn't seem like they're supportive. But, I still struggle with the fact that I want some small glimmer of their approval for our upcoming adventures. I am so grateful that through everything, I have Jesus Christ and Steve . . . both of whom keep me in line when I become an ungrateful whiner . . . and both of whom are always loving and encouraging.

I'm 8 months out from graduation, and I don't know how any of the job prospects will pan out (I need to see something in writing). We don't know where we'll live or how long we'll stay, but we know that we're moving overseas and that we will serve. God continues to bless us and to open opportunities as well as close others.

Cool . . . NOT so much

2007-01-18T01:31:00.000-05:00

Cool: Got 5 new patients in my first 3 weeks in 11th Q clinic
Not cool: Lost 2 patients who opted for another intern and a classmate tried to take a patient behind my back (that's illegal in all 50 states, but apparently there are no consequences to such actions at Palmer Florida--since the precedent was set last quarter, some of the more cut-throat types are going full-boar for more patients)

Cool: I'll be done with x-ray credits for graduation by next week. I'm getting faster at x-ray line analysis.
Not cool: We can't start to apply for live cases of high complexity for another 2 weeks.

Cool: Short clinic week due to the holiday and Homecoming seminars
Not cool: Because I'm up until 2am working on homework for a class assignment which I can't do during the day because I'm working crazy hours in clinic the 2 days when it's open for normal hours that I may not get to attend the morning Homecoming speaker.

Cool: I'm in 11th quarter
Not cool: I'm already tired of 11th quarter

Alright, enough whining from me. I just need to catch up on some rest and clinic patient file paperwork which tends to snowball when everyone has re-exams and new care plans due at the same time. Even though I have some careerist classmates who will stop at nothing to get what they want no matter who they step on, I am not going to let it bother me. This is certainly far from the first and I doubt it will be my last encounter with selfish people. Rather, I have to keep focused on my responsibilities and goals and not let others jab my sides with their elbows. Most importantly, I need to completely surrender my goals and hopes and dreams to God. I am not in control of the decisions others make and the way things will play out in my career. I can only make the best decisions for the moment (along with Steve's input, of course), and I can control how I respond in seemingly unfair or difficult circumstances. I choose to not let other people's meanness steal my joy.

Row, row, row your boat

2007-01-14T15:34:00.000-05:00

On Friday, my friend Heather showed Steve & me some training techniques on the Concept 2 Rowing Machine at the Y. Heather rowed for Division I NCAA at Ohio State. She gave us some drills and pointers on what to do for improvement. As it turns out, I'd been rowing completely wrong and overdoing it with my shoulders and arms. After Heather worked with me, I felt a good workout in my lowback, my arms and shoulders felt awesome, and my hamstrings were super tired & sore--which is the way it's supposed to be. But, I really liked rowing and how I felt afterward. I want to keep working on the skills and techniques and try it out on the water.

Hello, 11th Quarter!

2007-01-11T08:18:00.000-05:00

Here it is . . . 11th quarter. All we have to study for are national boards. No clinic entrance nor exit exams to worry about. This is the cruise control quarter where we can fine tune our skills and focus our schedules. It's rather painful to creep back into yet another quarter after taking a fabulous 3 week vacation. Although I've been able to schedule most patients for their regular appointments, there are always alterations to the plans. After an F2 tornado ravaged our South Daytona Outreach Clinic which provides free services to underprivileged people, it was relocated within the walls of our Outpatient clinic. It's fantastic that we don't have to commute back and forth between the 2 clinics, but now our Pettibon rehab room has been displaced due to the Outreach clinic.

Temporarily, my patients can't utilize the cervical traction units prior to their adjustments. . . although the wobble chairs are still available. As a result, I've noticed that the patients who don't regularly rehab at home are much tighter before I adjust them.

I also came back to learn that I had lost 2 patients who decided to remain with the intern who had temporarily served them while I was out of town. But, I also gained a new patient (adolescent athlete with extremity pain after exercise) AND his mom who has scoliosis. I got another new patient this week, too. So, net gain = 1 patient. Ultimately, I get the opportunity to work with 3 new cases, and I'm excited about it.

I'm progressing with graduation requirements ahead of schedule, and I hope to get everything completed by March so that I can start working on my Chinese skills. I'm particularly scheduling all my patients within Tues & Wed with a few appointment times available Mon afternoon and Fri morning. Ultimately, this buys me an extra day in the weekend - - and I have built in time for working out and studying for boards. Last quarter, I was at the mercy of the schedule of the interns who transferred patients to me. Now that my academic schedule has changed, I have the opportunity to build the schedule the way I want it. Most patients seem to be able to get their appointments within the days and times I've specified. So, now I have no excuse to not get in my runs, swims, and other workouts!

Speaking of new workouts, tomorrow I'm going to check out the Flow Yoga class at the YMCA, and Heather (a 4-year member of the Ohio State women's rowing team) is going to help me with skills and techniques on the stationary rowing machine. Soon enough, she'll take me out on the Halifax River!!

Travel Contingencies

2007-01-07T15:34:00.000-05:00

I didn't expect any weather delays in travel since we weren't flying through Denver, but Salt Lake lent its own snow storm. On Thursday, we were on the ground close to 1 hour in Salt Lake awaiting de-icing and a plowed runway so we could take-off. Of course, we ended up missing our connection in Kansas City. As a result, Delta granted us dinner vouchers and drink vouchers. Then, they flew us to Atlanta where they gave us dinner and breakfast vouchers, 2 overnight kits since we'd be without luggage, and they put us up in the Holiday Inn for the night. Steve & I enjoyed prime rib for dinner.

I was able to see my dear friend Lorraine who goes to school at Life University. She joined us for the yummy breakfast buffet, then drove us to the airport. When we arrived in Daytona Beach, our luggage was there to greet us. However, I was exhausted from the extensive travel, and 2 sleepless nights. I didn't rest well in Atlanta since I was still on Pacific time, and the night before we left, we were up until 1 am playing cards with family.

Saturday, Katie & I did a double workout. We'd both eaten junk over the break, and missed running on the beach. So, we did an hour run followed by a 500 yd swim at the Y. It was a great workout, and I felt refreshed and tired afterward.

Back to the clinic Monday afternoon. I have no idea when my patients are scheduled to come in. I have to follow up with the interns who covered, and call all my patients. Monday morning is gonna be me and the phone!

Winding up our trip to Washington

2007-01-03T17:59:00.000-05:00

We've spent the last few days seeing some of the local scenery. Unfortunately, I don't have the best photos to post because I lost most of them. I'm still just sick about that. Photos of the whirlpools of Buffalo Eddy in the Snake River. . . photos of the Nez Perce petroglyphs in the rock next to Buffalo Eddy. . . photos of the breathtaking view of Puffer Butte and the painted Blue Mountains below . . . photos of Steve doing a handstand while wearing snow shoes . . . and photos of couger tracks along our snow shoe route in Field Springs. Yes, all of these photos and more are just plain gone. I haven't had the best luck uploading photos from our camera onto my laptop . . . and something always seems to go awry in that transition and utilizing Picasa. But, they're forever gone, and I guess we'll just have to come back and visit again and take more pictures.

Photo of a rocky hill along the Snake River on our way to Buffalo Eddy.The Waha mountains as seen from the Snake River valley. You can see the giant "C" for Clarkston H.S. on the crest of the center peak. They light up a giant star during the holiday season.

Last night we visited several relatives. Most of my relatives up here are elderly, typically over age 80. Compared to most of the elderly that I interact with in Florida, the folks up here have so much more youth and vigor, and they are, overall, much healthier. The older folks participate in the card games or dominoes with the youth, they often keep active with outdoor activities which may range from walking around the block, tending to chickens, or gardening. But mostly, they just like to find audience with the youth, so they can share their amazing life stories of their younger days.

We listen to my grandfather tell and retell tales of his glory days as a cowboy, and his near misses with death, of which he's had more than most. He woes about the 100 acres of riverview property he could have bought for $6k years ago, and missed purchasing it by a day. We've heard the tale about how many boats he's sunk in the rapids of the Snake River, how he was one of the first persons EVER to go tubing down the Snake River. We've heard about how he braved cold temperatures and ate whale blubber when he spent some time with the Eskimoes in Alaska, and how the Eskimoes will just dive into the frigid cold and icy waters to hunt on a regular basis. He has a hundred more tales, and he's doing his best to record them for posterity in the family. He's one of the last real cowboys. He's one of the guys from the early and mid-century west that lived what John Wayne acted out on film. He had grit, steely tenacity, and worked hard and hunted big game.

My great uncle Jim told us stories about how he made $0.06/hour at the Potlatch paper mill in the valley, and as newlyweds, he and my great Aunt Francis weren't sure they could make their $28 house payment each month. Hunting wasn't a sport back then, it was a necessity to feed hungry mouths. He hunted in the rough Idaho country, which meant strapping the large game on his back and taking it out in several trips to get it home. My great uncle Jim was also a former marine who fought in Iwo Jima. He thinks it's ludicrous that today's media balks at the 3000 American troops who've been killed in the 4 year war in Iraq. He thinks it's tragic, to be sure, but he lost several fellow marines in his unit alone in Iwo Jima. . . a battle that lost 7,000 troops in only 2 months. He definitely believes that Vietnam and the Korean war weren't lost by America's troops, but by U.S. politicians . . . which is where the Iraq war stands on the scales today.

Uncle Jim also told us about good officers and bad officers. Things have changed so much since his day in the service. He said if the enlisted troops didn't like an officer, they let him know that he wouldn't make it back to the beach once they deployed. He cites sources of the number of USMC officers who were killed in action . . . because they were shot in the back by their own troops. He said that it was a good number of "good" officers who were left. Leave it up to the marines to purge their own.

I love the stories, and I have a much greater appreciation for their generation. I hope their stories won't die with them. I hope they live long in words, and in our memories. We need to remember our roots. It's awe inspiring in these majestic mountainous lands, snow-cropped hills and rocky soil, giant looming trees, and bountiful wildlife . . . it may be quiet in the west, but it isn't quaint. This land makes you yearn for your roots, and it makes you yearn to live in a place that fills you with awe and grandeur. I never had quite the same feeling in Texas, Oklahoma, or Florida . . . there's just something magnificent about the northwest.

Rocks

2007-01-03T17:48:00.000-05:00

Take a close look at this beautiful collection of butterflies. They're not preserved insects, rather they're polished rock carvings. Grandpa Ken's father was a rock hound on top of his daily job in a factory in Walla Walla, Washington. He made the butterflies by carving the outer edges of the wings. Then, he sliced the rock into 2 halves, similar to how he'd make symmetrical book ends...and that's how the wings came out with symmetrical colorations.

Grandpa Ken's father had an expansive rock collection. He made a mallard duck that used over 50 different pieces of rock and stone for the various colorations of the feathers. He also carved intricate mini tables, chairs, plates, utensils, axes, and other similar hand tools for a doll-sized user. Below is a clock. He carved each individual piece then glued it together to form the clock. The clockface is just an old pocketwatch that was set inside.Below is a sampling of symmetrical bookends--utilizing the same techniques he used for the butterflies. The rock hound and artist is visible in the photograph in the background.

Happy New Year's Eve--Bring on 2007!

2006-12-31T14:51:00.000-05:00

Unlike most people I know, I don't do new year's resolutions. Instead, I just set goals each quarter since that's how the calendar year breaks up for us with the academic schedule at school. It works out quite nicely. Instead of setting some goals in January that I'll forget about by June, I just set them every 3 months when I can still keep them at the forefront of my mind. I realize it's still December 31st in many time zones, but I'm getting a head start on my winter quarter goals, which I always categorize based on topics. I've found when I group my goals, make them reasonable and focused, I'm much better at staying on track and prioritizing what's important to me when it seems like everything is vying for my time and attention.

Spiritual
1. Read 2 chapters in 2 different books of the Bible every day
2. Pray for 2-5 different people each day of the week
3. Get the women's prayer group going again, and meet every week
4. Read at least 1 spiritually oriented or academic book by the end of the quarter

Academic
1. Set up a study schedule for national boards and stick with it
2. Pass Part III national boards in March!
3. Finish clinic requirements by the end of April
4. Complete research article for publication before June
5. Apply for preceptorship!

Physical
1. Finish the Disney half-marathon in January!
2. Make the time to complete run or swim workouts 3-4x per week every week
3. Try rowing on the Halifax. . . if I like it, do it at least once a week for 6 weeks
4. Avoid inflammatory foods
6. Prepare meals the night before to help both of us out during the busy school/clinic weekdays

Personal / Relationships
1. Take time out to relax and read a non-academic, non-chiropractic book this quarter
2. Have a date night with Steve at least twice a month, if not every weekend
3. Call my long-distance friends at least once a month
4. Hang out with my girlfriends at least twice a month (study time or rehab do not count as hanging out!)

Sabbath Preaching

2006-12-30T15:41:00.000-05:00

Steve spent 12 hours of preparation for this morning's 15 minute sermon. He did a fantastic job preaching on the authority of scripture in 2 Peter 1:12-21. He also referenced chapters 3, 5, 1st Peter, & Romans. He even spoke loudly enough that all the near deaf people could hear him.

We had some family members balk at the fact that he'd been couped up in the guest house spending so much time in preparation. Apparently most of the teachers at the church here don't spend even close to that amount of time. Pastor Larry Kirk of Christ Community Church in Daytona Beach, who also teaches Communication/Preaching at RTS, spends 20 hours per week in preparation for each sermon. Of course, his sermons are slightly longer than the 15 minutes Steve was alloted today. However, it's just a comparison for the preparation and teaching that we're used to, compared to the milk for babes that's often presented at many American churches today. Anyway, I think Steve is a great teacher. I've always thought so, but I don't often get to hear him teach anymore. I hope that the word of the Lord was able to pierce the hearts of His people. Instead of dramatic speech and flashy lingo in "Christianese", they were able to hear the Truth from the Word this morning.

Today for lunch, we're having haystacks. That's what they call taco salads in this part of the country. Steve & I are bringing our own salsa and spinach leaves (I'm not a huge fan of fritos or any other type of chips, for that matter). We'll probably break out the playing cards, if not tonight, then definitely tomorrow night--a new year's eve tradition in the family.

Washington Photologue II

2006-12-28T01:52:00.000-05:00

Today, for the first time in over a week, it was sunny and calm. I was in such a good mood due to the pleasant weather that I cooked turkey enchiladas for the family. I also did a 20 minute hilly route run, followed by a 3 mile hilly walk/climb with my aunt. I wanted to take advantage of the gorgeous sun, because who knows what the weather will be like tomorrow.

I forced myself to run in the windy cold yesterday. It wasn't raining, sleeting, nor snowing, but it wasn't pleasant weather at all. Steve ran with me along a scenic road that overlooks the valley at sunset. It was great to run downhill for the first leg of the run, but the uphill jaunt with a strong crosswind made the return trip very tough. Steve kept telling me to run each and every hill, but I took a couple of short walk breaks. This Florida girl isn't used to the steep hills. The locals call the mountains "hills" which is quite an understatement. But, I'll take the burning workout in stride as I prep for the race that will burn a lot more for a lot longer.

We watched The Nativity Story in the theater as a family . . . taking up more than a whole row. We enjoyed the movie: great acting from mostly little known actors, except for 2002 best actress nominee Keisha Castle-Hughes who played Mary. There was definitely some story-telling liberty that got thrown in the mix to flesh out some details, but overall, it was excellent and captivating with fantastic desert and Mediterranean footage. Finally, Hollywood got some things right and didn't make the angels female. The soundtrack features several Christmas hymns and carols set as background music. It's a beautiful movie for the holiday season. So, check it out!

And now, more fun photos from Christmas in Washington:

Family tradition is that whomever receives the gift with the nativity scene reads the story of Jesus' birth from Luke 2. I knew that Steve would be dubbed the gospel narrator this year, since he's the one in seminary. Bill got a couple of pairs of snowshoes . . . for all 4 feet. I got the warmest and cutest new bathrobe!
Abe & Lily zonked out waiting to unwrap gifts. Abe got a t-shirt that said "Dogfather" as a play on the Godfather movie poster. He is Italian, afterall.

Bill got Heather & Lily some appropriate signage.
Bill tortures Blazer with a reindeer costume. Keeping Lily snuggly warm.

Christmas Photologue

2006-12-27T14:22:00.000-05:00

My grandparentsCarrot cake, my weakness
Candle & tree

Little Lily & Big Blazer

Aaron & Blazer

Tree ornaments with a glimpse of the hills and Snake River valley

My cousin Heather has an adorable 5 month old Maltese purse puppy named Lily. Everyone loves her, especially Steve. He's a huge fan of big dogs, until he met Lily.My grandpa loves Lily, too.I adore the little snowball with legs, too. She's so sweet! And, she doesn't even bark. Who could ask for a more perfect little dog?

My grandparents' backyard complete with a light-up tower, waterfalls, and a couple of fish ponds.

Everyone huddled around the punch bowl for Christmas Eve party. My aunt & uncle hosted around 30 people for food and a white elephant gift exchange.

Christmas in Washington

2006-12-26T03:12:00.000-05:00

It's a Christmas marathon of festivities up here in Washington. My aunt & uncle, Bill & Tammy, hosted a house-full of people for lunch after church on Saturday. We ate food, played cards, and watched movies. Same thing on a different day, except on Sunday it was in honor of Christmas Eve. Same thing one more time on Monday for Christmas. Eat, hang out, play cards, eat s'more. . . non-stop. Tomorrow is yet ANOTHER family get together that will consist of even more food and hanging out. I'm sure we're going to play yet another card game. We've played everything from international rummy, Skip-Bo, Uno, Bouncy-Bouncy (or 7-up and 7-down) to Dutch Blitz. I think Steve will have his heart's content of card games for the next decade after our visit with family.

At church on Saturday, I sang with Heather and Tommy for the worship and special music. That was a lot of fun. It doesnt' get any better than singing Christmas carols with my cousins. Tommy is especially awesome at the guitar. We did the Jars of Clay rendition of "Little Drummer Boy" and the Caedmon's Call version of "What Child is This?" to keep things upbeat and lively. We were a little more traditional with a few other songs.

Forget running. It's either been snowing or raining here everyday. I'm lucky I got in a run the first day we were here. It was mostly a hilly run on pavement, so the steep downhills weren't too kind to the shins. I did see a herd of 7 mule deer only about 20 feet away. Steve wanted us to take a different route which consisted of steep climbing and going through briars and nettles up to my waist. I think next time I'll just back-track on the paved trail. I was also able to get in a nice swim at the county's new aquatic center. I'll be back there tomorrow if the rain doesn't let up.

I've been helping my grandparents with some basic rehab exercises they can do for their spines. My grandfather has responded especially well to spinal exercises, molding, and head weights. Now, everytime someone comes over to visit my grandparents, they want to give him a pool noodle and tell him to use it for his back! Talk about patient compliance and referrals, they're machines! And, we're only doing exercises and molding up here!

Mt Hood Climbers

2006-12-20T13:01:00.000-05:00

Carolyn Custis James created a blog for friends and family members of the climbers missing at Mount Hood. She's the wife of Dr. Frank James and sister-in-law to the first climber who was found dead on the mountain, Kelly James.

Steve's been following the story of the climbers very closely, since Frank James is the President of Reformed Theological Seminary - Orlando campus. The RTS students first heard about the climbers during finals week. Please keep the other 2 climbers and all the family members in your prayers.

Happy Birthday to Steve

2006-12-20T12:37:00.000-05:00

I'm not the best at wrapping gifts and even giving them on someone's birthday. I'm usually late, sometimes early. In this case, I was both. I got Steve this and 2 types of homemade fudge (peanut butter chocolate & chocolate mint). Today, I let him pick out whatever he wanted on his Amazon wishlist. Of course, he wanted yet another Bible. I think he has somewhere around 20 already, but this is a DIFFERENT translation. I hope he enjoys it and has a wonderful birthday. His only birthday wish is for a homemade fruit pie. I think we can grant that one!

Washington

2006-12-20T02:15:00.000-05:00

We got in late last night and I'm still adjusting to not getting enough sleep in the past week. The temps are running in the teens out here, but it's still tolerable with the extreme dry weather.

This morning, I woke up to the sound of my uncle driving around a Bobcat on gravel. Forget about the sun waking me up, there's nothing quite like the revving engine of the Bobcat. We also watched a red tail hawk perch on the fish pond, and a wild turkey gawked at her reflection in the sliding glass door of the dining room. There are all sorts of crazy wildlife that hang out around here.

We ended the evening by playing a couple of rounds of international rummy. My family is really into cards and board games for the holidays. I let Steve know he'd get more than his fill out here. Steve plays a board game with me no more than once a year, sometimes it's less frequent than that. As soon as we get a re-charge hook-up for the camera, I'll post some pix of the incredible backyard and the beautiful Washington landscape.

Birthday Fun

2006-12-18T01:36:00.000-05:00

Not only did I get a really cool watch for my birthday, but I was serenaded by 7 guys. How cool is that? The tiramisu cheesecake was killer good. There's one piece leftover. I plan on chowing down on that for breakfast after my 6 mile run tomorrow morning.

I won't be able to post any more photos until we recharge our camera battery. We didn't pack one, but we ordered one that can be used in cars or outlets. It'll meet us in Washington later this week.

Chris recommended some awesome artists and tracks that he's going to play & deejay on a Sirius radio show for New Year's Eve. So, now I have a super cool list of inde artists and albums that I'll run out and purchase.

Nuthin' But Nashville

2006-12-17T16:51:00.000-05:00

Last night, we went to Percy Warner park to play frisbee & soccer. There were several locals running, playing la crosse, walking dogs, or riding horses along the trails. Then, we took a turn for spontaneity. Chris was invited to a Christmas party, but he turned down the invites since we were in town and we (actually--I) didn't have party attire. But, I suggested to Chris that if he had some women friends who might let me borrow a dress and shoes, we could make this thing happen. So, Chris called up a sweet gal named Rachel who was so generous to let me borrow a cute little black dress and shoes. This is the first time EVER in my life I've worn a strapless dress. It wasn't as revealing as I thought it would be. I actually kinda liked it. I may have to get one of my own!

Everyone cleaned up sharp and festive for the party. It was fun being anonymous and not knowing ANYONE there. I met several really cool gals, most of whom are in the music business or somehow related to or affiliated with someone else at the party in the music business. We were the atypical crowd: 3 chiropractic students and a seminary student. The question we were constantly asked was "how do you know Chris?". Seemingly, everyone there knew Chris.

I had a cool chat with Abby, sister of Matt (owner of the house and one of the party hosts). Abby is a Physical Therapy student and she and I got into a discussion on scoliosis and different ways to treat it using rehab and adjustments. I also met Rowdy, a really cool gal from Daytona Beach, FL who went to Embry-Riddle (which is just down the road from Palmer FL). We traveled all the way to Nashville and met folks from Florida and Texas. How crazy is that?Rachel and I had a lot in common: we both lived in Oklahoma, we went to rival schools in the Big XII Conference, we both worked for President Bush (except he knows her by her first name), and we both have affiliations to the Air Force. Rachel's only shortcoming is that she's an Oklahoma Sooner, but I like her anyway.

We went to church this morning with Chris, and we waited for him to catch up with his friends. I started up a conversation with a gal who had a really cool headband. When she realized we were at church with Chris and not fans lagging around to get a brief word with him, we all laughed.

We had a delicious lunch at The Cheesecake Factory, and Steve got me this for my birthday. I'm 29 today. We're having tiramisu cheesecake after dinner tonight! Katie got me a fantastic dark chocolate and ginger organic chocolate bar for my birthday which I decided to save at home for when I return in January.

Tales from Tennessee

2006-12-16T18:08:00.000-05:00

I'm exhausted from being here, and it's been so luciously relaxing. I think I'm more worn out from back to back days with longish runs. The hills are killer on the quads, but I love the training and the gorgeous views of the horsefarms and mansions from the meandering roads. Alan Jackson's large mansion is along the running route at the top of a fairly good hill . . . which I've now climbed 3 times in my runs. A few miles further was a sweet black pony who let us pet her furry neck.

Yesterday, we had the best breakfast EVER at Nashville's nationally famous Pankcake Pantry. Vince Gill was in there while we were breakfasting. Apparently his favorite dish are the sweet potato pancakes. I ordered them because I'm a huge fan of the lovely sweet potato. My stack of cakes were delicious complete with cinnamon, pecans, and cinnamon-flavored syrup.We also walked the pedestrian bridge over the Cumberland River. Afterward, I snapped a few photos of the old honky-tonk strip and we went inside Trail West to try on a few Stetson's.

We bought groceries at the local Wild Oats and cooked up a lavish feast of turkey cacciatore. Chris set the dining room with beautiful candles. Josh grilled the asparagus. I got a little creative after dinner and combined coconut milk with hershey's chocolate bars for a blueberry & banana fondue dip.Today, we drove around the area, played soccer and frisbee at a local park, and had a "snack" at McCreary's Irish Pub in downtown Franklin. Later, we're off for sushi and we'll view the festive lights at the Opryland Hotel.

Goin' on Holiday

2006-12-14T12:07:00.000-05:00

We leave for the airport in less than 4 hours. I haven't packed yet, and here I am blogging. Priorities! I had a packed morning at the clinic, but I got everything done. One of my patients (and a very dear friend) also gave me the coolest gift: a gift certificate to the local mall and a gift certificate for Steve & I to use at Ritter's Frozen Custard). I love presents!!

I'm tired because it's just been a busy week at the clinic. Last night, I also went to a classmate's bridal shower until 10pm . . . after I'd been at the clinic ALL day. Workouts got scrapped for the week . . . that's always the first to go, second is lunch, and some chores just won't get done (unless Steve gets finished packing before me).

For the first time since we've been married, Steve wrote our annual holiday letter--the entire thing--all by himself! I am so grateful. I haven't even read it yet, but I'm just pleased as punch that he did it since I was already short on hours this week for anything other than clinic.

Well, enough procrastination--I must start packing!

Happy Birthday, Katie & Congratulations DeJeanne

2006-12-11T21:38:00.000-05:00

I had planned to run, vacuum, work on my resume, and maybe run some errands this morning since I didn't have anything scheduled at the clinic until 2:30pm. That all changed when I received a phone call at 0830 from a referred new patient who wanted to come in for care since he was in acute pain. Well, I can't say no to that!

I was still able to get in a quick, and I mean very quick, run. It was a pleasure to do a new patient work-up and adjust him so he could go home with a little relief--if only the paperwork mountain was a little less cumbersome. I couldn't do much more than I did without seeing films and really knowing what's going on. So, we're taking radiographs tomorrow, and I'll get him on a care plan just in time for me to leave for the holidays. Thankfully, Randy is a super awesome intern and he'll provide exceptional care while I'm out of town.

I've actually been getting 4 of my classmates/fellow interns to observe and take over my patients' care plans while I'm taking a 3-week holiday. It works out so perfectly since my patients don't have to go 3 weeks without care, and my super awesome classmates get adjusting credits in the meantime. Everybody wins!

Today is Katie B's birthday. She turned 25! Happy Birthday, Katie. We celebrated at Tropical Smoothie and we also sent off DeJeanne to Minnesota for her preceptorship with Dr. Dennis Woggon in the land of sub-zero temperatures. Well, training with Dr. Dennis is worth putting up with ridiculous weather. She's going to return for graduation in March, and I can't wait to see how much she's going to grow as a doctor!

I'm excited about venturing to Nashville on Thursday. We'll be in Washington next Monday . . . and hitting the slopes by Wednesday at the local Bluewood runs. Steve's taking his last 2 finals tomorrow, so I have kitchen duty & shoulder massage duty. I'm also supposed to help him wake up at o'dark-thirty so he can get an early start hitting the review sheets. I don't have anyone scheduled at the clinic until 0915 . . . so it's going to be a very long day. Maybe I'll go for an early run . . . we'll see.

Meet my cyber pet

2006-12-09T23:44:00.000-05:00

adopt your own virtual pet!

Spectacular Discovery Launch!

2006-12-09T22:24:00.000-05:00

We scoped out a good lookout point on the bridge over the Cape on 583 & U.S. 1 on Thursday night. Good thing, because we knew exactly where to park to avoid loop around traffic. We walked up the bridge tonight since the cops were shooing all cars away from parking on the bridge. They were a little annoying with their loud speakers. But, once the launch took place, the cops were silent and they calmed down a little. I think they were enjoying the incredible view, too. It lit up the night sky and it looked as bright as the rising sun. The entire cape lit up in an orangy-light blue which was breathtaking. We watched the smoky contrails and the orange light of the shuttle engines until they became a small speck of white like a night star . . . until the light disappeared completely. Between Katie & Steve, we got a couple of good photos that included the launchpad at ignition. Nothing's quite as spectacular as seeing it live, but here's a launch video on windows media player with audio courtesy of NASA, in case you missed it on the news.

Both photos by Steve on a Canon SD700

Shooting

2006-12-09T16:41:00.000-05:00

We went to the Strickland outdoor shooting range in Daytona this morning to fire off the hand guns (Sig Sauer P228 & Glock Model 19 ). This was DeJeanne's first experience using a gun, and by the end of the morning, she was hitting the close-range target, and the bulls eye! She had a blast, and she remarked that she felt empowered. I tried shooting with my left hand which turned out to be more accurate than my right--I was consistently hitting the bulls eye. I knew I was ambidexterous in some things, but I never thought to try it with shooting. Go figure.

There weren't a lot of women at the range. In fact, while we were there, DeJeanne & I were the only women actually shooting. There were mostly middle-aged or older men shooting hand guns, but there were a few of 'em firing off rifles. It seemed like there was a familiar group present on Saturday morning who knew each other. We ended up next to a friendly ex-marine who proceeded to do a series of push-ups each time before the line was hot. One of the range employees kept giving Steve tips for hitting his target and lining up his sights.

I liked shooting the Sig more than the Glock because it was a little heavier (it felt simialr to an M-9) and it had less recoil. But I had fairly consistent issues with the empty shells lodging in the chamber between rounds, so I constantly had to adjust the slide to kick out the empty shell. Once we get the Glock worn in a little more, it'll be a little less finicky with the reloaded shells (which don't take too well to new guns).

STS-116 Shuttle Launch, Take II

2006-12-09T16:37:00.000-05:00

Following NASA's launch blog to determine whether or not the shuttle launch is still on track for 8:47 EDT tonight. Steve, Katie, & I would like to head back down toward Titusville to watch this night launch (the first one in years), as long as the probability for launch remains high. The next shuttle launch will be March 16th, which also happens to be NBCE national boards weekend.

NASA's space shuttle mission page
NASA's shuttle & rocket mission schedule page

Chocolate Friday!

2006-12-08T17:56:00.000-05:00

Since it's Friday, and I miss Jon's Chocolate Friday posts, I'm creating my own. However, since this blog is features my perspectives on chiropractic, I'll make it a health-related chocolate post. Sweetriot collected some decidedly good chocolate health facts, but I decided to find my own. Eight chocolate health-related research topics for the eighth day of December. Enjoy, and eat some chocolate!!

1. Chocolate as an Anti-Oxidant
Vinson JA, et al. of the University of Scranton published a study in the J Agric Food Chem. 2006 Oct 18;54(21):8071-6. stating that "chocolate is a powerful ex vivo and in vivo antioxidant, an antiatherosclerotic agent in an animal model, and a significant contributor to antioxidants in the European and American Diets." You can read the abstract here.

2. Improve Heart Health with Chocolate
Wang-Polagruto JF, et al. of the Dept. of Nutrition at Univ of California-Davis performed a study to determine whether chronic consumption of flavanol-rich cocoa improves endothelial function and decreases vascular cell adhesion molecule in hypercholesterolemic postmenopausal women, primarily by seeking for an increase in cardiovascular markers with chronic flavenol consumption. This study was published in J Cardiovasc Pharmacol. 2006;47 Suppl 2:S177-86; discussion S206-9. Read the abstract here.

CNN discusses chocolate and it's health benefits for the heart.

3. Chocolate Improves HDL Levels
Even better news is that consuming dark chocolate increases HDLs (the GOOD cholesterols). Mursu J, et al. of the Research Institute of Public Health, Univ of Kuipio in Kuipio, Finland found that "dark chocolate consumption increases HDL cholesterol concentration and chocolate fatty acids may inhibit lipid peroxidation in healthy humans". Free Radic Biol Med. 2004 Nov 1;37(9):1351-9. The full-text article is FREE on Pub-Med.

4. Chocolate and Improved Cholesterol Levels
This study by Wan Y, et al. goes a step further to find that dark chocolate increases HDLs, and it makes LDLs (bad cholesterol) and prostaglandins (an inflammatory mediator) more susceptible to oxidation (destruction) in humans. Am J Clin Nutr. 2001 Nov;74(5):596-602. The complete article is free on Pub-Med.

5. Chocolate & Increased Cognition Function
Although I haven't yet found a conclusive study that indicates whether cocoa consumption makes you smarter, there is a study related to cocoa consumption and cognitive function. The results indicate that further use of cocoa may be used to improve vascular function for people who suffer from stroke, dementia, and possibly migraines. Francis ST, et al. published a study on "the effect of flavanol-rich cocoa on the fMRI response to a cognitive task in healthy young people." This study is found in J Cardiovasc Pharmacol. (2006;47 Suppl 2:S215-20) and the abstract can be read here.

6. Chocolate Prevents Disease There is a study that links cocoa consumption to pathological disease prevention. Fisher ND, et al. studied cocoa flavenols and brain perfusion. Read their abstract findings here. J Cardiovasc Pharmacol. 2006;47 Suppl 2:S210-4.

Ding EL et al. of the Dept. of Epidemiology at Harvard Univ. in Boston, MA. performed a systematic review on the studies regarding the role of chocolate in preventing cardiovascular disease. Nutr Metab (Lond). 2006 Jan 3;3:2. The full text is available for free here.

Grassi D, et al. of the Dept. of Internal Medicine & Public Health, University of L'Aquila in L'Aquila, Italy found that "cocoa reduces blood pressure and insulin resistance and improves endothelium-dependent vasodilation in hypertensives". Hypertension. 2005 Aug;46(2):398-405. Epub 2005 Jul 18. Full-text available.

Not to be outdone, Miesel P. discusses chocolate as a single remedy for diabetes and hypertension. Hypertension. 2005 Nov;46(5):e17; author reply e17. Epub 2005 Oct 17. Read the full-text.

7. Chocolate & Sex
Long-held beliefs circulate that chocolate is a strong aphrodisiac. Well, now there's proof. Salonia A et al. from the Dept. of Urology at the University Vita-Salute San Raffaelle in Milan, Italy found an "intriguing" correlation between chocolate and women's sexual health, whether it's a positive psychological or biological impact. J Sex Med. 2006 May;3(3):476-82. The full-text is free here.

8. Chocolate Vitamin
So, in order to prevent grave disease, ace a test, get in the mood for love, and improve your heart, take your chocolate vitamin! "All we'll have to do is give him a triple dosage of my wonderful Supervitamin Chocolate. Supervitamin Chocolate contains huge amounts of vitamin A and vitamin B...and, believe it or not, vitamin Z! The only two vitamins it DOESN'T have in it are vitamin S, because it makes you sick, and vitamin H, because it makes you grow horns on the top of your head, like a bull. But it does have a very small amount of the rarest and most magical vitamin of them all - vitamin Wonka... It's most useful. He'll be able to play the piano with his feet." - Roald Dahl, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Clinic Week 10 Update + Boards

2006-12-08T14:46:00.000-05:00

It's that wonderful time again, time to register for national boards. Since I'll take Part III on campus in Port Orange, I'm not too concerned about getting my application in super early, as long as it's on time. Part IV, however, is another story. Since they don't offer Part IV on our campus, I have to pick 4 other campuses in other states where I'd like to test. My top choice is Dallas, primarily so I can stay with family, and I'm somewhat familiar with Parker's clinic and test site. I haven't visited any other campuses besides Parker & PCCF. I have submit my application early so I have a stronger chance of getting my top choice for a test site. So, I did the certified check, notorization, certified mail errend and run-around today. It's done! Now, I just have to register for Part III. Lucky us, we get to take 2 national boards within 2 months of another.

I'm glad I'm ahead on my clinic requirements this quarter, because board review and boards will take up a lot of time next quarter. I set a personal goal to get 100 adjustments this quarter. I thought it was a rather lofty goal, but I wanted to get ahead in case I had future time constraints in clinic. I met that goal last week, and I'm well over half of my clinic requirements in adjusting, radiology, exams, and re-exams! Next quarter, I hope to complete my radiology requirements, and most of the remainder of my adjusting requirements, so that in 12th quarter, I can just get my required routine adjusting rubrics (when we're graded on how we adjust the patient), and I can just keep seeing patients to keep up my skills. Before I graduate, I definitely want to work with some little toddlers or babies, then I can finally apply all the cool stuff I learned in pediatrics club and seminars!

It was so fantastic to not have to take OSCEs or finals this quarter. What a treat! Today, we had to give our final marketing presentation to the class and 2 instructors for our final grade in our business/marketing class. I'm glad that's finally over with. Now, I can just chill and enjoy the weekend. Talk about chill. . . it's exactly that here today. High in the mid 50s. At least it'll crank up to the upper 70s by Sunday. Thank goodness!!

Scrubbed Launch

2006-12-07T23:33:00.000-05:00

STS-116 space shuttle launch was a no-go. Last minute, and I mean LAST MINUTE scrub due to existing cloud deck and wind conditions. The next attempt at a night launch is Saturday at 8:45 p.m.

At least we've already staked out prime real estate for viewing the launch pad, although it was rather chilly and exceptionally windy, it was a spectacular view. Steve, Katie, Kristin & I had fun on the road trip down and back to Titusville, but we wish it had been worth our while to chill out in traffic on the way home.

Weekend Update

2006-12-06T15:59:00.000-05:00

I had a great trip to Dallas. In spite of the sub-freezing temperatures, I still managed 1 quick run. Dan & Mollie took me to some fantastic restaurants that were rated as top choices in the Dallas Observer: Thai Chili features incredibly complex flavors in a chicken coconut soup that meld for a wonderful palate pleaser; Cafe Istanbul serves mediterranean style lamb sensationally; and Jinbeh's teriyaki, hand-rolled sushi, and green-tea ice cream are so scrumptious!

I also attended CLEAR Institute's annual board meeting, and somehow got swept up into being the official note-taker for the session. I also presented to the board about the Scoliosis Mentorship Program so that we could get their full support and backing behind our student-driven community service organization. The Saturday Scoliosis Workshop was fantastic! I was able to visit with several docs that I've met on previous occasions, and I met several others who have been doing scoliosis work for some time. I learned some really cool things I can add to my chiropractic tool-bag when working with patients.

The students from Parker CC who attended the seminar told me the ins and outs of their chiro school experiences. It seems like there is no perfect chiropractic school. They all have their own hoops for students to jump through, ridiculous red tape, and frustrations. But, after meeting students from schools all over the country, I think Palmer Florida is definitely the best one around at the moment. We get a solid education in academics, and we have a very positive clinic experience as far as the freedom to utilize a number of elective techniques in which we've been trained. I wouldn't go anywhere else if I had to do it over again.

I brought my camera for the weekend trip, but I didn't feel very shutterbug savvy. So, I watched & learned at the workshop, took lots of notes, and sacrificed more sleep than I prefer. It was nice to get back to sunny Florida and Steve Sunday afternoon. Our friend Jason. . . who used to live down the road from us, was in town for a conference (he now lives in Colorado). He ended up driving next to us as Steve was taking me home from the airport. We were shouting a conversation between cars on the road at 45 mph. Later that afternoon, Jason stopped by to visit and catch up with us. He'll meet his new baby girl sometime in early January!!

Health-related tips

2006-12-05T21:43:00.000-05:00

1. Cool tips on how to sharpen your spidey-senses, which I found here.
2. A scoliosis patient posts about chiropractic hope on the national scoliosis forum.
3. The 29th report on America's health, as published by the Center for Disease Control
4. Dietary patterns are associated with biochemical inflammatory markers that may be related to heart disease.

Haiku #32

2006-12-04T15:28:00.000-05:00

An awesome weekend,
but way too freezin' and cold.
Slow clinic Monday.

Skymall features AWACS model plane

2006-12-04T15:24:00.000-05:00

AWACS is to cool that it made the Skymall mag. I couldn't believe it when I saw this on Sunday. The paint job is a little whacked, but this is freakin' hilarious. It is actually a remote model plane that takes photos.

Clinic Week 9

2006-11-30T07:43:00.000-05:00

Busy week. I had to cram all my patients' appointments into M-W, since I'm leaving in a few hours for Dallas. Monday and Tuesday flowed pretty well. Wednesday, I had 3 no-shows in a row from 8 am until 2:30 pm. But, I didn't know they were no shows until the time came and went. I just kept thinking to myself that I could have slept in, or I could have packed my luggage. But, it felt like I had a lot of gaps of wasted time. I did get to take care of 4 patients last night, so that made my long day worthwhile. Today, I get to pack and run around collecting signatures for a scholarship application and complete other last minute details before I jet outta town for a scoliosis seminar in the Big D. The cool thing is, some of my folks live in Dallas, so I'll spend some time with them. I haven't been back to Dallas--my old stompin' grounds--in about 3 years. I'm sure it hasn't changed much. Even the weather is still wacky. Yesterday, it was 75 degrees. Today, they're predicting a HIGH of 34 with ice pellets. Great. I'm expecting some landing delays and other Texas weather-causing scenarios. At least my folks live less than 10 minutes from the airport.

I still have 1 more article to complete for the Triune by Friday (in addition to preparing for 2 presentations on chiropractic college scoliosis mentoring programs that I have to deliver this weekend). I plan to get it done on the plane. I get some of my best work done on jets. What else is there to do with uninterrupted semi-quiet? No internet, no phone, no people I know . . . as long as the person in front of me doesnt' recline his/her chair and launch my laptop into my gut, I'll be fine!

Haiku #31

2006-11-27T17:15:00.000-05:00

Busy clinic week.
Lost my wallet tonight . . . what
a pain in the butt.

My Runner's World Half-Marathon Training Plan

2006-11-24T20:11:00.000-05:00

Runner's World Smart Coach devised this training plan, with only 6 weeks left before the race!

Your current race time is: 1:06:43 for a 10 K
Your distance training goal is: Half-Marathon
You currently train: 16-20 miles/week
How hard you want to train: Moderate
Your long-run day: Saturday
Your training program Starts: Monday, 11/27/2006 and Ends: Sunday, 1/7/2007
Length of your training schedule: 6 weeks

Wk	Dat	Mon	Tues	Weds	Thurs	Fri	Sat	Sun	Total
1	11/27 12/3	Easy Run Dist: 2mi @12:40	Rest / XT	Tempo Run Dist: 5mi, inc Warm; 3mi@11:01; Cool	Easy Run Dist: 2mi @12:40	Rest / XT	Long Run Dist: 7mi @12:40	Rest / XT	16 miles
2	12/4 12/10	Easy Run Dist: 3mi @12:40	Rest / XT	Speedwork Dist: 5mi, inc Warm; 2x1600@10:24 w/800 jogs; Cool	Easy Run Dist: 2mi @12:40	Rest / XT	Long Run Dist: 7mi @12:40	Rest / XT	17 miles
3	12/11 12/17	Easy Run Dist: 3mi @12:40	Rest / XT	Tempo Run Dist: 5mi, inc Warm; 3mi@11:01; Cool	Easy Run Dist: 2mi @12:40	Rest / XT	Long Run Dist: 8mi @12:40	Rest / XT	18 miles
4	12/18 12/24	Easy Run Dist: 3mi @12:40	Rest / XT	Tempo Run Dist: 6mi, inc Warm; 4mi@11:07; Cool	Easy Run Dist: 2mi @12:40	Rest / XT	Long Run Dist: 8mi @12:40	Rest / XT	19 miles
5	12/25 12/31	Easy Run Dist: 2mi @12:33	Rest / XT	Speedwork Dist: 7mi, inc Warm; 3x1600@10:18 w/800 jogs; Cool	Easy Run Dist: 2mi @12:33	Rest / XT	Long Run Dist: 9mi @12:33	Rest / XT	20 miles
6	1/1 1/7	Rest / XT	Easy Run Dist: 3mi @12:40	Easy Run Dist: 3mi @12:40	Tempo Run Dist: 5mi, inc Warm; 3mi@11:01; Cool	Rest / XT	Rest / XT	Race Day Dist: Half-Marathon Good Luck!	24 mile

Legend
Workouts:	All runs are Easy, Long, Tempo, or Speedwork
Dist:	Total miles for the day
Dist/Time:	9mi @ 9:11 means "Run 9 miles at 9:11 pace."
Warm/Cool:	Warmup or Cooldown. Generally 1 mile each. However, on some days, you must run extra Warm and Cool to reach your distance for the day.
Speedwork:	"6x800@3:47 w/400 jogs" means "Run 6 repeats of 800 meters each, with a 400-meter recovery jog after each repeat."
Rest/XT:	Take a rest day, or do moderate cross-training activity.
m:	Meters
mi:	Miles

Long Run and Hip Flexor PAIN

2006-11-24T19:52:00.000-05:00

Goal: 2 hour run on the beach which would cover ~10 miles
Actual accomplishment: 2 hour run at Reed Canal park and surrounding subdivisions, only 8.2 miles which ended up as a 14:16 min pace. I think it was much faster the first 4.1 miles. But, that doesnt' matter in an endurance race.

The first 45 min, I covered 4.1 miles. I took a quick break to go to the bathroom, and ran another half mile to get precious water and fuel in the form of raspberry-flavored Gu, before jetting off for another hour and 15 filled with nothing but hip flexor pain. It was more walking with bouts of running, with lots of stops for psoas and hip flexor stretching.

I came home and did some ab work, stood on the Vibe, and got advice from Coach Steve to do lunges and strengthening exercises for my weak and irritated hip flexors. Then, I sat in an ice bath. Steve thought I was nuts. I hadn't soaked in an ice bath since I played high school basketball. Well, the purposeful swim workouts in the outdoor pools in winter don't count...they were workouts, not soaks. The ice bath sucked for the first couple of minutes, then if felt great on my calves, hamstrings, and those plagued hip flexors.

So, my NEW goal between now and race day is to do 2-4 sets of 15 hip flexors flexes while hanging from a pull-up bar. Also, to do 50-100 lunges a day. I've GOT to strengthen those buggers, and I have about 1 month to get some results so I can run the race with a significantly decreased amount of pain.

So, I still have to cover 10-12 miles in a single run prior to race day. So, I'm shooting for a 1:30 - 1:45 long run next Saturday . . . whatever I have time for. I'll do a longer run again in 2 weeks. It's crunch time. I have to taper 2 weeks prior to the race.

Thanksgiving Fellowship

2006-11-24T12:26:00.000-05:00

We had a memorable Thanksgiving with friends. Steve & I prepared the turkey and a Florida avacado & pomegranate salad, and we trucked it over to Dr. Shawn's place. The turkey turns out fabulous every year. But, this year instead of the poultry rub and butter, we also added a chicken broth with onion, garlic, and poultry seasonings. This kept the turkey moist. We used an injection needle to continually infuse the broth and butter drippings into the breast meat and legs throughout the cooking process. Dr. Shawn had invited two of his hospital colleagues from Shang Hai who are currently working in the peds & NICU dept of a hospital in Boston. None of them had ever seen a complete turkey. So, they took photos with it to their hearts' content, and then we dove in.

Steve peeled the frills from the pomegranate, which is a time-consuming and arduous task. But, it is so rewarding for those ruby red pockets of sweetness!

Dr. Shawn prepared Chinese BBQ spare ribs and beef. So, it was more of a Chinese-American Thanksgiving dinner. In this photo, he's telling us a story about BBQ marinade preparation. There were a few vegetables available, spring greens and a veggie tray, but it was mostly a protein-heavy meal. That's probably why we didn't feel the big starch-protein contrast weigh down our stomachs like a big brick. We were all feeling pretty lively after the meal, unlike some other friends we ran into.

After dinner, we all traveled together to Dr. Don & Ronnie's house for desserts. They had a huge gang there of family and friends. We brought the beloved pumpkin cheesecake. But, since we have an extra one at home, we dove into the homemade apple pie, fruit torte, and apple torte with almond paste crust. Dessert was divine! Almost everyone there were still surviving their food comas from earlier in the day.Dr. Ronnie was "goofing off" with her friend Mike.

Steve got me (us) a new camera for Christmas. He let me use it early. It's a Canon SD700 camera. Thank goodness. My last one was a piece of crap. This one is almost as spectacular as a professional camera. We had fun playing with it on Thanksgiving! I hope all of you had a wonderful day with family and friends.

I really enjoyed the blessing of wonderful and delicious food, the time of fellowship with Steve and friends, and the relaxing time off from clinic. I'm thankful that I was able to spend this holiday at home, and I often thought of my friends and numerous other troops who are currently serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. They weren't able to spend Thanksgiving with their families. Holidays are the toughest times to be away from family in the military. So, I'm thankful for their sacrifice for freedom. God bless y'all!

Adam Sandler - Thanks giving song

2006-11-22T21:59:00.001-05:00

I remember the first time this aired on SNL 13 years ago. This performance makes me laugh! Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.

Clinic Week 8, Part II

2006-11-22T18:44:00.000-05:00

Today, there were some unexpected additions to the schedule. Nothing I couldn't just roll with and adapt to. But, I DID get a new patient today at the Outreach Clinic (free chiropractic care for low income patients in Daytona who meet certain requirements). The Outreach Clinic director pulled me aside and wanted to transfer a patient to me. I'm completely booked next week in the 3 days that I'm in town, but I'm not going to turn away a patient, especially a patient who has scoliosis!

I met the patient and we set up a time to meet in 2 weeks. This case is going to be challenging. His scoliosis is above 60^ in his thoracics. The kicker is that he had Herrington rod surgery a few years ago, and recently, the surgeons removed them. Great. Not only did the rods not work (which is already documented in lots of research), but now the patient is missing a lot of significant osseous structures in his spine and pelvis. And I'm sure he has some major scars to boot. I am now learning if there are any contraindications to adjusting a patient who's had the rods removed. This is definitely a challenge, and I look forward to it. I'm so blessed with patients, I've turned down 3 from the walk-in patient lottery system. But, I have a hard time saying no when it's a direct request for a referral or transfer.

Now, I'm cleaning the apartment, cooking dinner, blogging, and about to practice a powerpoint presentation with Kristin. Multi-taksing at it's best.

Clinic Week 8 Update

2006-11-21T21:11:00.000-05:00

It's only Tuesday, but it's been an unusual week at clinic. Several of my classmates and faculty doctors are out of town for the holiday. Meanwhile, many of us have had cancellations or no-shows by our patients since the schedule is so unusual for the short week. I like the lighter load, and I've enjoyed seeing the patients who've made it in thus far. It's been a little confusing as far as which doctor is covering a particular mod. There have been a few instances where I've waited for more than 10 minutes for a mod doctor or a floater doctor to even be on the same side of the building as my patient and me, but it all worked out eventually.

I've spent my evenings relaxing, when I could be writing articles for the Triune to meet my 1 December deadline. But, I'd rather procrastinate writing until the Thanksgiving break. Tomorrow is my last full day in clinic. I have patients scheduled from 9am to 4pm between the outreach and outpatient clinics. My colleagues on the other side of campus have 1 or 0 academic classes for the day, so they're getting an early break. It doesn't matter much to me since I'm sticking around here for Thanksgiving. I'm just looking forward to having a few days off in a row!

Thanksgiving break plans:
1. Cook a turkey
2. Eat turkey and pumpkin cheesecake
3. Spend time with Steve
4. Visit with friends
5. Write 2 glorious articles for the Triune
6. Compose my post east asia trip report in conjunction with our annual Christmas letter
7. Get in a 2 hour run as part of my half-marathon peak in training before beginning taper and maintenance
8. Read

Haiku #30

2006-11-20T22:33:00.000-05:00

Craving the movies
To relax after clinic.
I should read instead.

Elizabethtown Review

2006-11-20T22:20:00.000-05:00

Cameron Crowe's Elizabethtown is a quirky mish-mash drama about Drew (Orlando Bloom) who discovers his father's roots in Elizabethtown, Kentucky. Along the way, he befriends a flight attendant, Claire, (Kirstin Dunst) who has a very unique way of viewing life. What is this movie about? It's a patchwork quilt about coming of age, life, love, dealing with death, family roots, southern culture, and great music.

The road trip at the end of the film is awesome. It's a scrapbook, road trip score, and treasure hunt all rolled into one.

I expected a B-move romance drama, and this film included several smaller storylines that blended well together for a nice mix with an upbeat script. I enjoyed it, and it was definitely different and better than my initial expectations. So, give it a whirl . . . relax and enjoy being serenaded by Patty Griffin, Tom Petty, and Elton John (to name a few).

Scoliosis Workshop and Weekend Fun

2006-11-19T18:09:00.000-05:00

What a great weekend! And, I'm looking forward to the short, but jam-packed week. Since the clinic closes early on Wednesday for the Thanksgiving holiday, I have to cram all my patient visits in M-W.

Before viewing Casino Royale on Friday, Katie & I gave our friend Ryan a tour of the Palmer Florida campus and clinic. Ryan was in town for the scoliosis seminar, and he attends chiropractic college at our other campus in Davenport, Iowa. The 4 of us went to dinner at Maria Bonita's which has the fastest service, and the best homemade chips & salsa. I ordered my favorite: carne asada (skirt steak with a lime-cilantro marinade).

We got home late from the movie, and I had to wake up before dawn to load up the car with equipment for the scoliosis workshop. We drove over an hour to arrive at the Disney World Hilton by 0715 to set-up. It was, by far, the best technique seminar workshop that I've ever attended. Several doctors & student interns brought in their scoliosis patients to work them up and to understand how to continue with their care. I was fairly busy working different stations or reviewing powerpoints with Dr. Clayton, so I didn't get to sit down an enjoy the lecture and do a whole lot of hands on practice. But no matter, I attend the same workshop in Dallas in 2 weeks. So, I'll get to relax and learn and practice adjustment set-ups on December 2nd. I hope to post pictures of this weekend, soon. I took several on Karson's camera since mine is a piece of junk.

007 is back!

2006-11-17T23:23:00.000-05:00

The highly anticipated 2006 version of Casino Royale, based on Ian Fleming's original novel, is back with a stunning revival of the 007 character. Daniel Craig does a fantastic job as the newest actor to portray James Bond in his first mission after attaining the double-"0" promotion. In fact, he's my favorite 007 actor since Sean Connery. He actually looks built enough to pull off the stunts that James Bond has to do to track down the bad guys. Previous actors just looked like middle-aged guys throwing very slow punches. Daniel Craig is one tough lookin' spy who can run, jump, and fight on screen with commanding force.

The typical James Bond one-liners aren't predictable and peppered throughout the film. Rather, the script remains fresh and clever. I love the first dialogue scene between Craig and Eva Green, who plays accountant Vesper Lynd, as they size one another up with sassy yet respectful quips. I love the camera angles on the panoramic shots of Europe. But the true genius lies in the varying and artful camera angles on the first chase/run/climb scene atop a crane. The cinematographer and editor deserve plush kudos for that scene. For once, James Bond is a person who reveals his weaknesses and opens up to other humans. The latter Bond films with Pierce Brosnan painted Bond as so much of an unfeeling robot character. I like that Craig's bond is fun to watch when he's in spy mode, but also endearing as a character that's relatable when he cares about other people.

The first chase scene and the last crumbling building scene were a little over the top as far as believability goes. Bond chases a terrorist in a beginning scene; he moves through obstacles as if he was spiderman. Absolutely unrealistic, but it was the most fun I've had watching a man to man chase scene in the movies!

The casino scenes were sometimes a little too drawn out, especially for a movie that's 2 hours and 24 minutes in duration. And, the camera spent WAY too much time on Mads Mikkelsen's bad banker guy Le Chiffre, the scar eye with the cloudy blue contact weren't exactly fun to watch for so many scenes. Dame Judi Dench is back as "M"--the only woman who can keep James Bond in line and talk some sense into him. This 007 flick does not feature a "Q" or any other invention genius, for that matter.

Plot premise: Bond must prevent a banker/bad guy from wining a casino tournament and funding terrorism.

Overall film review: MUST SEE IT in the theater. I can't wait to see it again on DVD!

Christian-Mormon Dialogue, Part I

2006-11-15T21:46:00.000-05:00

Steve's got an assignment for his Apologetics class to have an apologetic dialogue with someone from a differing faith. The dialogue has been pretty interesting thus far, so I'll post it as it progresses.

Christian: Thanks for your help with this dialogue. First, feel quite free to be critical. In this forum I expect it to be open and often. I know it is for learning/teaching, not insult (that will be my intent as well). Obviously we will have a multitude of areas where we disagree, so I'll try to narrow these down to fundamental areas where we can focus our efforts. For convenience, I'll use "Christian" and "Mormon" to refer to our different faiths (though I know at least some "Mormons" consider themselves "Christian").

In my perception, the fundamental difference between our faiths is our view of scripture or the bible. Generally, in my tradition, we consider the (protestant) bible to be the inerrant word of God. Though I know we no longer have inerrant copies/translations. My understanding is that Mormons do not believe in inerrancy of the bible in the same sense as many Christians. I believe all our other disagreements sprout from this point. Agree/disagree? Do you see another area as a more fundamental disagreement?

If Mormons would accept the bible as a reliable and therefore authoritative source, I think it would eliminate our other fundamental (but I think secondary) areas of disagreement. Among these I think the person and work of Jesus is the most prominent but also the nature/charater of God, the Trinity, the process/road/requirements for gaining salvation, and the validity of the Mormon testimonty (i.e. The Book of Mormon, etc.). Do you agree or do you find other areas of disagreement more prominent/important?

Feel free to make your own suggestions or ask your own questions.

Mormon: First off, all Mormons consider themselves Christians. My definition of a Christian is someone who considers Jesus Christ to be the Savior of the World. I'm not sure what your definition is, but whatever it is, I'm sure Mormon beliefs still constitute as Christianity.

Mormons agree with Protestants in that the Bible is the inerrant word of God, so long as it is translated correctly. We don't believe that there is an absolutely correct translation of the Bible available today. Nevertheless, we still use it and it is considered 2 of the canonized books of scripture we use.

I don't agree that all differences in beliefs stem from our views on the Bible. First off, I think we both have the same view of the Bible. You said "I know we no longer have inerrant copies/translations." Obviously, protestants feel their version is the most accurate, and Mormons feel our version is the most accurate. However, if we all used the same translation that wouldn't bring us to the same beliefs. I say this because there are many different faiths that use the exact same version of the Bible, yet their interpretation of the same verses are completely different which leads to different doctrines and beliefs. The same thing has happened to the Mormon church. There have been numerous branches off of the Mormon church which use the exact same scriptures we use. Yet, their beliefs differ in various areas. Why? They interpret certain scriptures differently.

The solution to this problem is what I believe to be one of the core differences between Mormonism and Protestants (in my opinion). That would be modern day revelation. The LDS church is guided by modern day revelation that is given through a prophet and 12 apostles. This modern day revelation eliminates confusion as to what a particular scripture or point of doctrine means in any of our canonized books, including the B of M. Christ's church (when he was on the earth) was also founded on continuing revelation. He communicated to the apostles key points of his gospel. They in turn taught the rest of us. After he left the earth, they continued to receive revelation for the church community of saints (saints meaning followers of Christ).

As the apostles were killed and/or died, and the local leaders of the Christian churches began to deviate from the pure gospel, the priesthood (authority to act in the name of God) and revelation (for the Church of Christ as a whole through the apostles) were no longer on the earth, and the church Christ established fell into apostasy.

Modern day revelation not only helps us understand older scriptures, but gives us guidance for the circumstances in the world today. There are some other key differences, but I'll end here and see where we go.

Clinic Week 7 Update

2006-11-15T20:24:00.000-05:00

Clinic has been awesome and challenging at the same time. There are some fantastic faculty clinicians, and there are some that are just a bit too paranoid about us working on the patients. If we do any sort of adjustment that causes pain, then some doctors want us to completely avoid those adjustments. I know it's not fun to feel pain, but it's better to have a painful atlas adjustment with an instrument that lasts for 5-10 seconds (trust me on this, this is the MOST painful chiropractic adjustment on the human body), than to walk around for a week or two suffering from muscle spasm, headache, ear ache, and other issues related directly to that subluxation and its compensatory affects on the rest of the body's posture.

I've had a number of patients declare that it's a painful adjustment. . . this is AFTER I tell them it's going to be a very tender adjustment. After I adjust them, I tell them to apply ice if it continues to be sore, and that it may be sore up to two days afterward. But, it goes away . . . and so do the corresponding issues related to the subluxation. I don't do anything to my patients that I haven't had done to me. And I KNOW it will benefit their overall health. But, when a clinician sees a patient wincing in pain, they want us to stop cold turkey. I'm thinking these are the same clinicians who believe in band-aid chiropractic care. I believe in corrective chiropractic care. I believe that I can help the patients restore structural correction, and that they can learn to take care of their own spinal health so they're not dependent on me or anyone else for feeling good for the rest of their lives.

There are definitely interns and doctors who disagree with this point of view. Docs AND patients think that chiropractic should be a once a week for a lifetime type of care. I don't consider that wellness care (how can they be well if they have to come in once a week forever?). I think wellness is actually getting a patient's spine as close to optimal as possible. Then, they come in as needed. That may be once a month, twice a year, or until the next time they have a trauma (car accident, athletic injury, etc.) If patients are maintaining their own health through home rehab, then they don't need a doctor. I'd much rather empower the patient, then make a patient dependent on me. That's the POINT of wellness care chiropractic. Some docs and interns scoff and tell me they hope I have enough money to practice with that philosophy. At that point, I realize where their interest and insecurity truly lies. It's not about money or being scared that certain patients will never come back if we tell them they're ALL BETTER. It's about changing lives by showing people they're their own doctors. The more people that I can help by fixing their spines, the more time I have to see NEW patients.

My patients who are getting results, the ones who have relief from sciatica for the first time in years, the ones who can have a full night's sleep for the first time in memory, the ones who no longer suffer from anxiety or headaches . . . they're the ones who are doing their home rehab and spinal exercises. I can't fix a spine by seeing a patient once a week for months on end. Patients fix their spines by retraining their muscles and ligaments and doing the work at home. It's making a difference and I'm so proud of them for taking charge of their health!

Weekend Mind Vegging

2006-11-12T22:46:00.000-05:00

Aside from enjoying the Greek festival, we played frisbee in the soccer fields, I got in a good interval training run, and cleaned house. Steve & I also checked out some movies from the library, and viewed some more from Netflix. I love not having to study on the weekends! I'm really going to town on the movies, just because I CAN. But, after this weekend, I think I'm all movied out at least until Thanksgiving break. So here's the lowdown on a few that we viewed (we tried a couple others, but after 5 minutes, we hit the eject button).

Everything is Illuminated is Liev Schrieber's directorial debut in a film based on a book by the same title. An American Jew goes to the Ukraine to find out about a woman who saved his grandfather from death by the Nazis. It's a journey for 3 men from 2 cultures who end up having more in common than they originally thought. The story is rather strange from the beginning, and we weren't sure how much more we could take, but it did pick up and soon became more interesting. After we watched the deleted scenes, we agreed that we definitely would have hit the eject button early on if those scenes were kept in tact. It's not bad, and ends up better than you think it will after a very slow and odd start. I loved the cinematography of the lush countryside and the contrasting WWII reminiscing that was harsh and black and white . . . reminded me of Saving Private Ryan footage.

Yet again, Morgan Freeman and Ashley Judd team up to do a movie together. High Crimes also stars Jim Caviezel as Tom Kubik, a marine accused for the murder of 9 innocent victims. Freeman plays a former Marine who is an offbeat but successful lawyer that's recruited to help the defense. Judd plays Claire Kubik, wife of Tom and his attorney for what turns out to be a government cover up with a scapegoat for the accused. But, the plot takes various twists and turns as the story plays out. Suspense thriller. The problem with this genre is that I hate it when women get attacked or threatened and they STILL don't take any precautions and so they get attacked and threatened . . . AGAIN. DUH! Leave a light on at home, CALL 911 from your cell phone, get a weapon or learn how to use your arms and legs as weapons, but don't end up as a victim repeatedly because you're too dumb to take precautions! I hate that Hollywood does this over and over again in movies. Overall, good flick. Uhm, well . . . Jack Black is hilarious, as always. And, if you're a fan of Jack Black, then Nacho Libre is passable. Otherwise, it is really strange and really lame. Definitely a disappointment if you're looking for something to be a good follow-up to the director Jared Hess's Napoleon Dynomite. Mexican orphanage chef & friar by day, tag team wrestler (luchador) by night. This movie sucked bean dip.

Sandra Bullock plays Gwen, an alcoholic party girl who makes a mess of her sister's (Elizabeth Perkins) wedding and gets charged in a D.U.I. Her sentence: 28 days of rehab or jail. Her rehab counselor is played by Steve Buscemi (atypical role for him, but he pulls it off). Heavy drama with a strong cast, but the annoying songs and rehab chanting really are over done, but that's part of the story line. Viggo Mortensen plays an Oklahoman baseball pro who befriends Gwen in rehab. Not a super thick storyline here, just how Gwen and a few others struggle in rehab. This is pretty much. . . meh. But you can see the NYC skyline pre September 11th with the Twin Towers still in tact.

Bruce Willis plays . . . a cop. Wow, talk about typecast. This time, he's a bad cop, but then everyone in the flick is painted as a bad, corrupt cop. However, he wants to turn around and help a witness who's set to testify against a bunch of bad cops. So, for 16 blocks of NYC, it's cop & defendant (played by Def Mos) vs. many many cops. Do they make it to the trial in time to testify? Do they survive? Ahhh. . . gotta watch to find out. Worst part of the flick is listening to Def Mos drone on and on scene after scene in his annoying, nasally voice that was reminiscent of Fran Drescher from The Nanny. Steve and I were literally yelling at the screen and telling him to "shut up". Ugh, cast someone who isn't so annoying to listen to, or give him fewer lines . . . please! This movie was . . . okay, nothing special.

New Shoes!

2006-11-11T21:48:00.000-05:00

Today, I got a treat: a pair of Mizuno's Inspire. I tried on several Asics (which is my standard favorite running shoe brand), and a couple from Brooks, but nothing felt as awesome as these:

Nothing beats the local running shoe store compared to big chain shoe or sporting goods stores. And, I support my local running shoe store, Spikes. The staff's knowledge of shoe manufacturing, wear over time, and even how to properly fit out shoes by looking at previous shoe wear and the wet footprint test . . . unparalleled in corporate giant stores. I love my new running shoes, and I can't wait to try 'em out. Since I did soccer field intervals today, I still did the run in my old Asics Gel 1100, but I'll use the Inspire on my next road run.

By the way, thank you to all the military veterans who've served our country. Today is Veteran's Day!!

Greek Festival . . . OPA!

2006-11-11T21:19:00.000-05:00

Steve, Katie, & I enjoyed the Greek Festival at Saint Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church in Daytona Beach. We'd all been looking forward to the food all week, and we were not disappointed. Unfortunately, they ran out of galactobouriko by the time we were ready for dessert, so Steve & I had to settle for baklava. We also enjoyed the gyros and dolmathakia (grape leaves stuffed with rice and sirloin, topped with a lemon butter sauce).

The church owns prime riverfront property. The Dunlawton bridge provided a gorgeous backdrop to the courtyard stage and tavern. The church's kids performed cultural dances. It was so cute to see the young 1st and 2nd grade boys dancing with such gusto and attitude. While they boys and girls danced, their parents would run up to them and shower them with dollar bills.

We enjoyed our Greek food on a pier overlooking the Halifax River. At the end of the evening, we toured Saint Demetrios church which was in the shape of a cross. The incense smelled beautiful, and the walls were painted with colorful relics and adorned with golden icons. Heavy wooden carvings of leaves and peacocks decorated large shelving units, and other church staples (alter, and some other things I couldn't identify). At the front of the church, there was a large, dome ceiling covered in beautiful paintings. From it, hung a very large golden chandelier. And adjacent room in the entry way had what Katie described as a confession room. It was dimly lit with red lanterns, and the walls were covered with religious paintings of saints, and Biblical scenes. The church was filled with beautiful artwork, but it all seemed so foreign to me from any church that I've ever entered.

We had fantastic food and a really fun evening! I'm glad I found out about the festival from a patient.