Recent Loves

So this summer I have discovered some amazing things!

1. The Gurnsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

I love this book! I saw it in Barnes and Noble probably at christmas and thought it sounded interesting. But, due to previous impulse buying disasters (Wicked) I didn't get it. Then, a patient was reading it one day and I asked her about it and she told me it was great. I still didn't get it. Finally, when we went to visit my family for Memorial day, low and behold, my mom has the book! So she let me borrow it. And I read it twice in like a week. I LOVE it! First off, I love historical fictions. Second, I'm fascinated with WWII. Third, I've never heard of Gurnsey, but now I totally want to go there (and lucky for me, England is a place Brad really wants to go). And Fourth, I love the main characters personality, cause it is so much like mine (at least I think so, cept for the part about her loving wuthering heights and pride and prejudice cause I really despise those stories). I just wish I could work in a bookshop so I could read all these books for free and talk to other people about them. Basically I want to read Charles Lamb now (and see if he really is as great as she says), move to an island, and have fun adventures. If you haven't read it, you totally should.

2. Forever Sunshine

I have been totally disappointed with Bath and Body works cause every time i find a scent i really love, they discontinue it (or make it only available online ie: Brown sugar and fig, pink grapefruit, and white cherry blossom). I have come to depend on coconut lime verbana, and found a few others that are okay. But no great perfumey smell. Then, they just introduced their new smell, Forever Sunshine. After my first smell, I knew i needed the spray. Then I tried the lotion, and it is amazingly not too strong, but just so wonderful (much unlike cherry blossom thank goodness - that lotion gives me a headache its so strong!). Basically I love this smell, and now I spray myself with it every morning, cause it makes me not feel so frumpy in my scrubs. It's the best. Nice and summery and girly (i know, very shocking for me right?)

3. Holds and Google

So I finally acquired a library card for the Provo City library. I don't know why it took me so long to do this, especially considering I used to only live like 2 blocks away from it. But, hey, I have one now, thanks to the book club i joined. I joined the book club to try and get ideas of what to read. And have the library card, I can now get whatever I want and return it if I don't like it (too bad I didn't think of that before buying wicked). Problems with book club, the books we read are always checked out, so I put them on hold. I love it! Those are some of the best emails, notifying me that my book is ready. Fantabulous.

Now, I have made a rule to never buy a book until I have read it. I saw some books at Barnes and Noble that sounded good, and although they were on sale, I stuck to my rule. I don't need another wicked. I just got the first of these books from the library and am taking it to Lake Powell with me to read. I'm so excited. It's called The Lost City of Z. Sounds interesting. Another thing i learned during this whole book process, google has previews to books. So when i left Barnes and Noble with 4 book titles that sounded good, I googled them all. I got rid of one, that would have been a wicked, and decided that The lost city of Z sounded the most intriguing, so i put it on hold at the library, and now I have it for 3 weeks. I'm excited, and it's getting hard to wait until Powell to start reading it. But I'm managing.

I just love books! I am determined to one day have a beauty and the beast library. Right now, my current bookshelf is overflowing with books, so brad and I will need to upgrade soon :).

4. I love vacations

So work still stresses me out and sometimes I still hate it. But thank goodness for vacations and holidays! I have all next week off to go to Lake Powell with the in-laws and then Jackson Hole, WY with my mom's side of the family. Lake powell should be a blast, and my mom has planned out all sorts of fun for jackson hole, I'm just not looking forward to seeing my uncle, who I'm not at all close with, and his crazy kids. But I should come back happy and tan (at least i sure hope so). A week should be plenty of time to regain my sanity and be able to come back ready to work. Hallelujah!

Time Flies when you are...at work?

I can't believe the fourth of July is this weekend! Holy crap! What have I been doing? Well...Brad and I work. Exciting right?! Brad works for Orem City Parks so he is super tan and I'm white as a ghost. No fair. I get up at 5:30 every weekday to get ready for the day and drive Brad to work at 7, then I sit and read in the car till I go to work at 7:45. Then at 4:15 I'm done and we drive home. Super exciting, let me tell you. Good work news, the construction/remodeling is done! Yay.

Here is a summary of the fun things we have done:

Go to Rocklin for Memorial Day weekend, which included a killer bike ride. I loved the beginning (cause it was practically all downhill) then I realized that for every down hill there is an up hill. And those up hills were HUGE! I didn't think I was going to make it that last mile, but my wonderful dad put his hand on my back and pushed me. He told me he didn't feel like he was doing anything, but seriously, it was life saving. That's when Brad decided I was out of shape and I decided that I need to do something to help my poor knees. Brad and my brother went to sunsplash after the bike ride (I was exhausted and didn't want to be in the sun any longer, so next summer I will go). I saw Letters to Juliet with my friends Katie and Tamie. We went to BJs with the family. I could have eaten there every day! We had a memorial bbq with the ward at penyrn park. And we visited Grandpa Cramer's grave and went to see Grandma Cramer.

Our friends Madison and Joni got married on June 5th! So we went to a wedding dinner at the Joseph Smith Memorial building the night before. Then the sealing was in the Salt Lake Temple saturday morning the reception that evening. Brad was a groomsman so we stayed very busy and had fun decorating the car. Plus, they had coldstone catering at the reception! You could get whatever you wanted basically (whatever from the 5 ice creams and whatever mix-ins they brought). They didn't have my wonderful banana so I had to venture out. It was yummy.

We started playing in our stakes softball league, which means that Brad had to teach me to catch a ball with my left hand. Up until this time, I have thrown and caught balls with my right hand. Well I take that back. The one summer I played softball in the YMCA coach's pitch league, when I was 7, I caught with my right hand and threw with my left. I can't remember much about that league cause I honestly found the game completely boring. But Brad is doing his best to get me involved in the sport he and his family love. He laughs every time I catch a ball cause I'm so surprised. At the game we just played with his Dad's team, when I caught a ball and yelled in surprise, everyone was laughing. The other team had a hard time congratulating me cause they were laughing so hard. Seriously though, I was impressed that I caught a ball coming so fast at me. Granted I didn't catch the ball that was coming super fast to me at second base and it beaned the guy who just ran to second base. I felt bad, but I did shriek when it was coming. I thought that was fair warning to watch out. Brad told me that i was supposed to catch the ball, not move out of the way.

Other than that, we have seen a few movies, like Percy Jackson and the Karate Kid. And we are going to go tubing down the weber cause it's fun. Happy fourth to everyone! I'm just hoping I can get some sun :)

Our updated Life

I figured it has been a month so I better go over what has happened:

1. Brad finished his second to last semester at BYU and did amazing on all of his finals! I'm so proud of him, especially since he told me that it was his hardest semester so far.

2. We moved. Hallelujah! Yup we moved out of the house and away from busy 800 N in provo to 11 blocks south. We are now back in an apartment complex and loving it. We have a counter in the bathroom for the first time in our marriage, we have a garbage disposal again, we are living without cable, and are getting great calf muscles from hiking up the stairs. Plus, we are now in a regular family ward which is kinda nice.

3. We sold the honda! Well, Brad did. We are so happy, cause that is one less thing to worry about, a car with a radiator that we did not want to pay to fix.

4. Work is still crazy, but we have more staff.

5. Brad got a job working for Orem City in Parks and Recreation. So he is getting super tan from working outside, while i'm pasty white. Boo, but we are happy and now he has something to keep him nice a busy.

6. We started a trial of netflix and we love how movies are streamed to our wii! It's awesome. So we can watch a ton of stuff from that while waiting for the next movie to arrive in the mail. The only hitch is when the internet is being dumb (which unfortunately happens a lot lately).

7. Oh yea, I had my birthday. It was fun, Brad got me some new scrubs, and avatar, and some new running shoes that I wear to work (and might go running in...). My mom-in-law got me the last 2 books for the series I have been reading - Father of Our Fathers. So I finally finished those! And my grandma sent me a rug that my Grandpa Cramer had made. I LOVE it!!! My grandpa did a lot of crafts after her retired and I have always wanted something, so this is great! Now i just have to decide where to hang it and then I will always think of him. I just love my grandpa so much, so a rug with an elk on it gets to hang on the wall!

So, we have been busy, we feel pretty moved in to our new place and just got the swamp cooler turned on today, which makes Brad very happy. Plus, in exactly one week we will be driving out to California to spend memorial weekend with my family! I'm so excited! I need a vacation bad!

The Forgotten Merger

"The girl you spoke to must have forgotten about the merger."

Yup that was the funniest thing I heard all week at work! The situation was the Mandy had spoken with a patient who wanted to reach Intermountain Pain Specialists' billing. Mandy told them they had the wrong number. After the phone call she asked me what Dr. George's (the doc who merged with us) office name was and I told her Intermountain Pain Specialists. Then the patient called back again and spoke with Whitney, who said that hilarious line. I bust up laughing and couldn't stop.

Merger? Wait a minute, that's why it's been so crazy and we have all these new providers, patients, and billions of drug screens we are doing?! Who woulda thought?!

I love my co-workers and the funny things we say. I'm so glad Whitney said that, cause laughing is so much better than the crying I had done before from all the stress of work. On Wednesday, Mandy and I were the only MAs and it was the craziest day ever. I told Cassie today that it felt like our work/patients/etc. was a big ol bus, and Mandy and I were the 2 little bicycle wheels trying to support the whole bus. Laugh at me, but that's how it felt. Dr. Ockey today pulled me aside and was like, "Elly, it is going to get better." When I told him that I hoped it would, he then assured me that it was going to cause we are getting 3 new exam rooms (which will help with the room issue) and 2 new MAs (which will help lighten the load). I just wish it was all done now...But Dr. Ockey did tell me that I'm awesome. He had stopped his meeting with our office managers when he saw me running around (yes I literally run/sprint down the hallway in our office) so that they could help with the crazy rush we were experiencing. So I hate my job cause it stresses me out, but I love it too cause I do work with awesome people. So, now I just have to hang on until re-enforcements arrive and laugh about forgetting the merger.

Mergers are good right?

So, my life has been so crazy between class and work. And just when I was feeling like I could handle that, the merger happened.

I work at Utah Valley Pain Management in Orem. Our staff included one doctor, 2 PAs, 2 Nurse Practitioners, a psychologist, a physical therapist, a Physical therapy assistant, 4 medical assistants, 1 receptionist, a bill specialist, a authorization specialist, and our office manager. Within 2 weeks and this merger, we gained a second office manager, an MA (who was fired a week later), a new authorization specialist, another receptionist, 2 new PAs, and second psyschologist, with a second doctor coming soon. What does all this staff add up to? Crazyness!

I guess I should explain the merger. So there were 2 different pain management clinics in orem: ours, and Dr. George's office (Intermountain Pain Specialists). Well, Dr. George, due to health reasons, decided to retire and wanted his patients to all come to our clinic. So, we took on his 2 PAs (physician assistants) and some of his office staff, as well as all of his patients. Now, my clinic is part of a group of radiologists/doctors who work at IHC hospitals, Utah Valley Imaging, Intermountain Vein Center, and Interventional Radialogists. The COO of our group came and talked to us about this merger and was totally excited about the growth and good things this would be for the whole group. Well, he didn't seem to mention that we would be crazy and short staffed and busting at the seems even more then we were before.

So here we are, after week two of the merger, and it's crazy as ever. Dr. George's office did things a little differently (like paper charts! ugh what nightmares). So they are once again remodeling our office (which means changing physical therapy's side of the office and giving them less space to do things...poor guys). Plus we have had to train all the new staff, get the new PAs adjusted to our policies, done a billion urine drug screens, fired staff so we are even more short staffed, etc. Before the merger, a busy day would involve like 15 drug screens. Now we do like 30 a day, most of the time we are doing a bunch at the same time. We have to get vitals and drug screens on all of Dr. George's patients. Craziness. Most days I come home so frazzeled and worn out. Poor Brad. Since the merger, I have gotten 4.5 hours of overtime, and I'm definately not trying to get any! I just don't have enough time to finish everything in a day. The phone is always ringing and even more patients need to talk to MAs, get prescriptions, drug screens, etc. And guess what, we haven't gained any extra MAs (since the new MA from Dr. George's office was fired). Even the providers say we are way understaffed. For having doubled our patients, we should have doubled our office staff, and we haven't. Oh well, job security right?

So yea, the merger is good...good when you have no life you need to get back to and don't need sleep, or you can easily manage stress and feeling stretched way too thin. Monday I felt like someone had asked me to run a marathon faster than I ever have and then they shot me in the foot and told me to get going cause I was waisting time. Oh boy, at least its the weekend, and the new PAs are getting the hang of it all. Plus, Paul will be gone next week, so that's less providers to worry about. Happy day. I love my job, just not so much these past two weeks.

So my exciting thing of this week happened on Wednesday at work. I was on the phone with a patient and Cassie was standing in front of my desk. So when I got off, she told me that the patient she just roomed had questions about his meter and she figured that I would be the best to help with that. So I was just like, sure, I'll give it a shot and see what I can do. I walked into the patient's room and he told me that he just got this meter that morning and could not figure out how to work it and the test strips. Well, he happened to have a similar meter to mine and the exact same test strips. So I told him how to use the test strips and where to put the blood (with the free style lite test strips it goes on the side instead of the bottom).
I asked him if he had a one touch meter before (where you put the blood in at the bottom of the strip) and he told me that he did. I then explained that the free style lite were great because they require less blood and give you more time to get all the blood you need for the strip (this is a big deal, believe me). So he asked if I could help him test his blood sugar, and he poked his finger and I put the strip in and then put it up to his finger so the blood was sucked in (wow that sounds kinda gross...). He thanked me for helping him out because he hadn't been able to test it that morning as he could not find out how to work it. I told him it was no problem.

Well, that was the most fun ever! My passion is diabetes and I wish every patient had diabetes related questions. I know a whole lot more about that than pain medication and procedures. So, it was 5 minutes of my dream job of being a CDE (certified diabetic educator).

A picture montage from December (mostly)

Here are some pictures from the Holidays. I didn't take a whole lot, but here are some.

Nothing says Merry Christmas more than a big decorated tree! Such an improvement to our little 3 foot tree. I love my in-laws!

My mom made us this placque, which I have been asking for, and in a goofy moment, we decided to take mug shots with it. I would like to think we don't look this bad all the time.

I love Temple Square at Christmas time!

This was Brad's goatee he decided to grow during the winter break. His goal was to keep it until we visited my family, but I'm pretty sure he shaved it before Christmas. I thought it was funny looking and he hates how itchy facial hair is.

This deliciousness is the marble chocolate cheesecake I made for Valentines day! It was delightfully yummy! I got the recipe from my friend Anita Draney.