Amy Visit, Grandma and Grandpa Walton Visit
Letter from Chris
Today was a fun day because we had a special lab at school. Each lab group (which consists of 4 people) were given an anesthetized pig to work on. We are studying cardiac physiology and this exercise was designed to teach us certain principles and train us in some fundamental medical procedures. This opportunity is a rare one, even at most medical schools so we felt very privileged to participate. We made incisions in the neck and dissected until we isolated the external jugular vein, the internal jugular vein, the carotid artery and the vagus nerve. we then inserted catheters into the artery and veins and installed pressure sensors to measure the blood pressure in important cardiovascular structures such as the aortic and pulmonary arteries and all four chambers of the heart. We also injected drugs which constrict the arteries and increase the heart rate to see their actual effects on the heart. All the while, we were monitoring the pig with an EKG and a pressure monitor. We were also able to perform a thoracotomy by cutting through the pigs sternum, spreading the ribs, and observing the heart work right before our eyes. It was an incredible sight. Eventually the heart started fibrillating and so we spent a long time attempting to revive it. We used internal heart massage with our hands, injected drugs directly into the heart, and defibrillated the heart internally. It was an incredible learning experience that will pay big dividends throughout our careers. There were many physicians there to assist us who continually commented on how valuable this experience was for us. I am very grateful for the opportunity. I hope no one who reads this gets the wrong idea. Please understand that the pigs never felt any pain throughout the entire ordeal and they were euthanized at the end.
The rest of my classes are also going very well. We have finals next week, which is going to be very hard but the spring break we have the week after will quickly help me to forget any exam woes. We have four tests in five days, but luckily my previous performance allows me some room for error and takes a lot of the pressure off. It will be especially hard to study during finals week because Lisa’s sister Amy will be here for the entire week distracting me and I like to be distracted away from studying so I better get a lot of good work done before she gets here. Spring break will be especially fun because Davd and Mary will be here to spend the week with us. We will do a lot of sight seeing, play a lot of Rook, and I don’t think I will touch a book. It is going to be great.
Lisa is doing well. She continues to take good care of her boys despite all the time she spends planning the time when her family will be here.
Ryan is the sweetest boy. The past two months have been incredible because he has learned so many new things. He is so mobile and finds a way to get into everything. He also stands up at everything including the back of our legs when we are doing the dishes or cooking dinner or anything else. He has been walking along the couch for a while, but he is now walking behind his little wagon using is as support. It seems he may be walking in the near future. He is still a big boy. He is now wearing all of his 12 month clothes at 8 1/2 months old. I could go on and on, but I will shorten it by saying we are very blessed to have such a happy and well behaved baby. He gets comments everywhere he goes about how cute he is and how good he is. We love to hear that of course and it really is true. We love him a lot.
We love having the Church of Jesus Christ in our lives. Our daily scripture study in the past couple months has been more spiritual and educational for us than ever before in our marriage. The scriptures are really coming alive and the spirit of the Book of Mormon is truly permeating our home and our lives. Every Sunday is just as busy as every other day because of our callings and the other things we are involved in. We have been teaching the new member discussions to 2 new brethren in our home the past few weeks and it has been a joy to do that. I was in charge of the young men/young womens combined activity in February and I also took the boys on an overnight scout camp a couple weekends ago. Lisa recently ran the primary sharing time and also taught Relief Society homemaking about scrapbooking. It is a joy to be of service in the kingdom.
Basketball has also taken up a lot of our time recently. We are nearing the end of my intramural league and we are in the midst of the Regional basketball tournament for church ball. It has been a fun way to let off some of the stress of medical school and Lisa and Ryan have enjoyed cheering me on. They are always there for me. Life is good. We continue to be very happy with the way everything has worked out for us and the blessings simply continue to roll in.
Chris, Lisa and Ryan
Chris’ Regional Church Basketball Tournament
This was basketball week for me. Thursday was the final fame of my intramural team on the Navy base. We ended up beating the number 1 team in a very close and exciting game. I enjoyed my best game of the season, partially because Matt Laudie was not there and that allowed me to play more my style and be the go to guy rather than the second option.
I also had 3 games from our regional church basketball tournament. There were 8 stakes involved. Our team really played well and made it all the way to the championship game. Ironically, we ended up losing the championship game to a team from our own stake that we had already beaten during our stake tournament. But they brought in one of their members sons, who was a professional baseball player, to play with them during the regional tournament and they played well enough to win. It was a fun tournament. I played a great tournament but my most memorable game was the semifinal on Friday night. I scored 31 points, which was not my high point game, but my points came at the right time. The first half I was in foul trouble and did not play that well, but my team kept us in the game. But the second half I scored 25 points with 17 of them coming in the 4th quarter including 4/4 from the 3 point line. The basket just seemed to be about 10 feet in diameter so I just kept throwing it up. It was great fun, but I couldn’t duplicate my performance on Saturday and only scored 5 of my 24 points in the 4th quarter and we lost the championship.
Finals Week for Chris
The week of March 14-20 was finals week. I had a Cardiovascular Physiology exam on Monday morning Neuroanatomy on Wednesday, Biostatistics on Thursday and Parasitology on Friday. It was a tough week to say the least.
Amy’s Visit from Chris’ Perspective
It was hard to study while Amy was visiting because I just wanted to play with them all week. I did spend some time with them. We hung out all Sunday. Monday we watched “The Man in the Iron Mask”. Tuesday we watched “Ever After”. On Thursday night, we went to watch the Utah Jazz defeat the Washington Wizards. It was so awesome. Our tickets were a good deal so we were pretty high up. Ryan fell asleep in the 2nd quarter. At halftime, we walked around like we knew what we were doing and ended up enjoying the entire second half on the 8th row right behind the Jazz bench. Ryan was so cute clapping his hands and raising his arms that all the fans around us didn’t mind his Utah Jazz shirt all that much. Ryan also cheered for the Wizards since he clapped anytime anyone else did. We also walked down and got a close up picture of my man John Stockton with Hot Rod Hundley during the post game interview. It was a great time and a good break from the studies.
The rest of the week I was studying and Amy just saw the back of my head buried in books.
Lisa and Ryan had one interesting experience while at the Lincoln Memorial. A man stopped them and announced that he was doing a special for Time Life Productions and wanted Ryan to be in it. They rehearsed a while and then the filmed Ryan, Lisa signed some papers, and they went on their way. My son is a movie star.
Amy’s Visit from Lisa’s Perspective
The week Amy was here was so fun. She flew out to spend her Spring Break week with us! We scrapbooked lots (although we talked more than we scrapbooked), played lots of Boggle and Monopoly, took the metro downtown and saw the sights, went to the zoo, went to the outlet malls in Virginia and saw lots of good movies! One night we took the metro to the MCI center to watch the Utah Jazz beat the Washington Wizards. The first half we had cheap seats but at half time we moved down to some GREAT empty seats. It was so much fun! Ryan put his hands up and cheered whenever anybody scored! We also had a great time visiting the Zoo.
Youth Standards Night
Friday night was our youth Standards Night. We prepared a medical school theme and it went very well. Each of the youth in the ward received acceptances to the”University of Montgomery Village, Gregory Harman School of Spiritual Medicine”. (President Harman is our stake President). We dressed them all up in scrubs for the night put them through opening ceremonies, and then they were escorted around to four different hospital rooms where we had attending physicians with actor patients who had spiritual ills. The youth’s job was to diagnose the spiritual problems by taking a history and then provide treatments or prescriptions for the patient. All of it was based on the “For the Strength of Youth” pamphlet. In my room I had Lisa Curran dressed in Gothic clothing who was mentally depressed, had problems with the word of wisdom, and also had problems with friends. Her costume was very believable and she was also a good actor. There was a wonderful spirit in the room as each of the groups attempted to help her by teaching her the principles of the gospel. It worked out very well and everyone seemed to enjoy it. we also had a closing ceremony where the Bishop spoke and they each received their diplomas followed by refreshments from the Pharmacy. It was a wonderful night.
Stake Preparedness Fair
Saturday ended up being a very busy day. Saturday morning we went to the Stake Center for a ‘Preparedness Fair”. It was ver well organized. We learned a lot and committed to do better. We sure like our Stake President. He seems to be a very inspired man. We are eager to follow his counsel and example. We spent much of the rest of the day deep cleaning the house and car in preparation for the arrival of David and Mary that night. Amy had left on Friday afternoon while I was takin my last exam, but cleaning was fun compared to the studying I had been heavily involved in so I enjoyed the day, especially since I was with Lisa and Ryan.
Walton’s visit from Chris’ Perspective
The Walton’s flew in around 8:30 pm so we drove home and visited for a while. Sunday was a great day as usual but had the added bonus of some Rook games that evening which were out of the ordinary. Monday and Thursday were “downtown” days. Highlights were the Smithsonian Air and Space and American History (my personal favorite) museums as well as Arlington National Cemetery. After visiting Arlington on Thursday, David and I saw the movie “Saving Private Ryan “ on the big screen and the combination of those events really got my emotions. The movie was powerful and filled me with extreme gratitude for those individuals who have served and fought in such circumstances, being willing to sacrifice their own lives for peace and for the preservation of my freedom. I was very moved by the show and glad that I followed Adam and Marilee’s advice that it was in that elite group of rated R shows that I should see.
Tuesday was basically a shopping day and Wednesday I showed them around at my school, the BX, the temple and a military medical museum at Walter Reed Hospital. It was fun, especially at school so they could see where I am and what I do every day. Friday we played another game of Rook before taking them to the airport. We had a great time with them. Friday we took Ryan to the park and let him swing and go down the slide for the first time. He was so cute and loved it. This week I also read the latest Tom Clancy novel called “Rainbow Six”. It was awesome. So the last three weeks were filled with basketball during week 1, tests during week 2 and vacationing during week 3. I wouldn’t change a thing if I could.
David and Mary Visit from Lisa’s Perspective
So fun to have my parents come visit us for a week. We did some sightseeing - down to the Air and Space Museum and the American History Smithsonian, Arlington Cemetery and the White House. We even had a tour of the Patient Simulation Laboratory at Chris’ school. So fun to show them all around.
We played lots of Rook, watched some movies, played with Ryan, went out to eat at Chevy’s, ate lots of ice cream, and took lots of pictures. After one dinner, Dad moved the table to vacuum underneath it and then hit the light fixture with his head which made it sway and the glass coverings fall one after another and shatter on the table and floor. It was actually pretty funny and we laughed a lot and then cleaned it up together. My dad went and bought us new glass lights to replace it.
Lisa and a tired Ryan outside the White House.
Ryan at 9 Months old! He loves to crawl all over the place, stand up and cruise around holding onto everything, play patti-cake, chase his balls around the floor, and say daD (emphasis on the second D!)
When Grandpa Walton came to visit he loved to pretend Ryan’s little Fisher Price wagon as a Harley Davison Motorcycle. He would ‘rev the engine’ and give Ryan a push that would send him all the way across the room. Ryan loved it! So fun to have Grandpa and Grandma here to get to know little Ryan a little bit.