Just a wee update

Sorry I haven't posted anything in a while. Started my summer job on May 7th, and the 9 hour work day starting at 7 am has been a bit rough on me. I'm exhausted by the time I get home at 4, but having every other Friday off and weekends makes it tolerable. I also started studying for the MCAT which I am writing on Sept. 1, the physics section is going to kill me! I got a 14 on the Verbal Reason section though that I did on a practice AAMC exam (I did the exam before I even opened a study guide), so that is really promising seeing as that is the only section that really, really counts. (Unfortunately, all the sections count, but Verbal is the most important.)

I started biking exactly 2 weeks after my surgery (May 12), and the first few rides were a little uncomfortable especially on the bumpy sections. I saw the surgeon for a follow up appointment on May 18th in Vancouver (I had to leave my house at 4 am, my mom drove me through a legitimate snow storm 3 hours to the Calgary airport after my flight was cancelled in Cranbrook at 10pm the night before in order to get there), and he was surprised at how well I was  doing at three weeks, but not surprised that I started biking exactly 2 weeks after the surgery. (To be fair, he said no activity for 2 weeks, and I followed that exactly!) He did say though he was a bit shocked during the surgery to find the distal end of my nerve had not only failed to degenerated but had grown a 2cm branch...according to biology and physiology, the distal end of a severed nerve should degenerate after 48 hours of being cut. So I'm apparently a freak of nature when it comes to neurophysiology.

I still don't have any nerve pain going up leg, which is amazing and the surgeon was pretty pleased to hear that. He did say the nerve pain in my foot should get better, and at the very least not worse. I can handle that!

I also did my first road race since the surgery on Sunday, it went okay, it was pretty painful near the end. My ankle is hugely swollen now though, and at physio yesterday my physiotherapist put on some hot pink kinesiotape like Lance Armstrong used in all 7 tours that he won. It actually made it feel a bit better and the swelling is a bit less (but of course this could all be in my head too). At the race though, the Para-Cycling coach from National Cycling Centre -Calgary came and talked to me, and there is a chance that I might qualify as a para-athlete, which means I could compete in both able bodied and para events. Which could possibly be an opportunity to represent Canada at worlds and the Olympics...something I need to look into!

One more thing, I GOT IN TO THE UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY!!!!!! Yup, that's right friends, KP will no longer be out east anymore. I have an appointment with an academic adviser on Friday to sort out transfer credits and then I get to visit the lab!!! Its pretty cool because the lab and the "O'Brien Centre for Bachelor of Health Sciences" is at the Foot Hills Medical Centre which is basically biggest and most advanced hospital in all of Alberta, and it part of the Faculty of Medicine. Its going to be awesome to be around doctors all the time in an educational manner instead of being the patient! I'm super stoked!

Peace Like a River

Ummm, so awesome??

I just finished my skype interview/meeting with Dr.Z, and it went really, really well! If I get into U of Calgary I will be working his lab and shadowing him during clinical rounds. He also said that there is a very good chance that I will be able to get my name on a major paper that will be published in a highly regarded journal and even a possibility that I could publish on my own (although that is pretty rare).

This all so amazing that I am know deathly afraid that I will not be admitted to U of C. I think I will be absolutely crushed if I don't get in. I almost want to e-mail them and tell them that one of their lead researches is going to be taking under his wing and that they would be stupid to not let me in!

This is both awesome and frightening at the same time.

Shhhh! You might jinx it!

I haven't used a crutch in 2 days and I haven't taken a pain killer in over 24 hours (I'm still taking my usual Lamotrigine) and....I am not any pain! It aches a bit, kind of like a tired muscle pain, but nothing that I would even consider taking a Tylenol for. And when I say 'no pain' I mean no pain, like my right and left foot feels the same...except my right foot has a giant bandage, is still dyed red and is significantly larger.

In a way, I am scared to believe it is true, because everything I have tried in the past has only been temporary and then its devastating when the pain returns. I'm finding it hard to trust that something may have finally worked.

On another note, I have my interview tomorrow with Dr. Z at the Uof C. I will have the house to myself to skype with him, so at least the interview will be somewhat private on my end. I am scared of what he might ask though, I have been trying to read as many of his paper as I can, but so much of them just go straight over my head. I understand it until he starts talking about the immunochemistry and Westernimmuno blots...I actually can't understand a thing in those sections. Hopefully he doesn't ask me detailed questions like that!

I made Gluten -free cookies today

Surgery, Smurgery

My surgery is done, and I am alive!

On Friday afternoon, I arrived at the hospital at 11 am and by 12:45 I was in the block room with a lovely anesthetist who did the popiteal block (a nerve block that is done behind the knee to freeze both the sural and peroneal nerves, thus numbing everything below the knee) on my leg before the surgery. She was incredibly nice, actually talked to me like a human being and reassured me that I will get into a medical school in Canada because (and these are her words) I am reasonably smart, I will probably do reasonably well on the MCATs, I can talk to people and I have a good story. Its always nice to get a reassuring pep talk from a doctor. After she did the block on my leg, she let me see the ultrasound of where tibial nerve divides into the the sural and peroneal nerves...which was pretty amazing! I love learning things when I go into the hospital, its like getting a sticker after a shot when you are a kid. This anesthetists even called me this morning to see how I was doing (unfortunately it was at 7 am and my phone was off) and left a message with her phone number to call her if I have any questions or concerns. Who does that? She is awesome! Is there a new doctor that I want to be like? Yup, I think so!

Anyway, after the block I was wheeled to the OR, where a resident anesthetists took over. I asked him which kind of intubation he was going to use, and he showed me the two different kinds and explained why he was going to use the tracheal one. It was cool, to finally be able to ask questions and have them answered like I was an intelligent adult, and not just a silly patient.

I threw up a bit after the anesthetic when I woke up in recovery, but it was all settled with some Maxeran.

After that I dressed myself (which according the the nurse was quite impressive) and was out of there by 5:30! The surgeon recommend (or agreed to my suggestion) that we start driving home right after the surgery in order to milk the nerve block for all its worth. So we made it to Kamloops and stayed overnight there. I expected to wake up at 1 am in severe pain from the block wearing off, but I didn't. In fact, when I woke up at 5:30 am I still couldn't feel my foot or move it in anyway...such an odd feeling trying to wiggle your toes but nothing happens. Seeing as it was still numb, we hit the road and I didn't start to have any pain until 2.5hrs from home! That anesthetist did a darn good block! It wore off completely sometime last night, so now I'm in pain.

The doctor gave me Oxycodone (whoohoo) but I am slightly allergic to it, so I have to take benadryll which makes me even more sleepy. Oxycodone doesn't work so well for nerve pain, but it does make it so I don't care that I'm in pain...

The surgeon said that both the proximal end of the nerve (the one that was implanted in my muscle) and the distal end (the end near my foot that is only an axon not attached to a cell body) both had sprouts growing off it. So he removed those from the proximal end, crushed the nerve and put it into a 5mm drill hole in my fibula. The distal end is another story. Not only did it have sprouts growing off of it, but it also had grown an entirely new branch...this is pretty much impossible according to what we know about neurophysiology. The distal end was not attached to anything (the proximal end is still fully intact with a cell body somewhere in my spinal cord), so the distal end would not be receiving any nutrition or regulation from the cell body, yet it still managed to grow an entirely new branch. I apparently have an unbelievable ability to regenerate nerves (which is unfortunate in my case), so lets hope I can translate that biological ability into the ability to do so in a lab!

Alright, time to go back into an oxycodone stupor. Sorry for all the spelling mistakes...its not me, its the drugs.

Here we go

On April 20th (last Friday) I finished my last exam which was Biochemistry, a class I actually like and at 10:15am on Friday I officially finished my second year of university! This fall I will be in my 3rd year...which in case you are wondering, means I am officially old and should have my life together. I don't feel old enough or mature enough or responsible enough to turn 20...I still need my mommy!

Anyway, because I had to study for exams, I didn't really start to pack anything until about 12 pm on Friday...and I had a lot to pack. Like 2 bikes, books, cloths, hats, bike stuff, bedding, and other random things that I have no idea why own, but couldn't seem to part with. Thankfully my friend Mike helped me pack or I totally would have missed my plane!! He also kept me going because I was so exhausted from exams and the fact that I woke up at 3:30 am to study...so a he deserves a shout-out for helping me get home!

Usually, my parents come to pick me up at the airport in Calgary...except they decided that my brother could use my car (which was stored at my grandparents house in Calgary for the past 8 months) to pick me up at the airport with my mass amounts of stuff and then I would drive myself home. It was odd driving myself home...I have never done that before. I mean I have driven the 3.5hr drive between Calgary and my town plenty of times, but I have never done it just after getting back from school. It was kind of nice in a way, to just drive, listen to my music and not have to talk to anybody or study.

Now onto the real news. I am leaving tomorrow at 7am to drive to Vancouver (its a 12hr drive) because I have my pre-op appointment on Thursday (April 26) afternoon, and then my surgery is on Friday at some point. I don't have the time yet.

I will try and post up an update when I get back home though!

First bike ride of 2012 in BC! I kinda look like I am grimacing, but its hard to take a picture with a Blackberry when you are riding up hill at 32km/h!

Its On like Rocket Ron

So my surgery officially will not be cancelled! The anesthesiologists of BC have decided to revoke all previous intentions of withdrawing services. I was a big moment of relief yesterday when I found out that it wouldn't be cancelled, now I can just focus on studying for my last exam and packing.

Speaking of exams, I just finished a week designed by the lord of the underworld. I had 4 exams in 4 days, 3 of which were in 24hrs and two of those three were back to back with no space between them. I have never studied like this in my life, I am not good at cramming, it doesn't work for me at all...except for this time. I have never been at the library so early that it hasn't even opened yet and I have to stand outside, I have also never been at the library past 9:00pm. This exam period changed all of that. On Saturday morning I woke up at 4 am to study for my Cell Bio final, got the library just before it opened at 8 and studied right up until 11:20 am, and then ran to my exam which started at 11:30. Usually the night before I feel very confident about what I know, and then the day of my exam I don't spend more than an hour studying...for my last three exams that I just wrote on Friday and Saturday I didn't feel confident about any of my exams up until about 10min before they started, and even then, I was a lot less confident then I usually am. I didn't even study for my Pathology exam really...but I think I did really well (mostly because it was very similar to the practice final our prof gave us).

One more exam to go at 8:30am on Friday,  but I am so exhausted from studying, and from the amount of caffeine and lack of sleep on Saturday that I can't really find the motivation to study.

Summer Job

One phone call totally made my day today. I was offered a data entry job at Teck Coal this summer! The best part is that it is at one of the offices in town, and I can do it on crutches. It is absolutely fantastic, I'm not too sure how much it pays, but I am sure it is well over minimum wage (but to be honest I don't care how much it pays, I just need a job that doesn't involve the use of my legs).

My week started off absolutely awful, Monday and Tuesday were probably the worst days of my life, and seeing as I live in constant pain, that is saying something, but today made up for that.

Wish me luck tomorrow on my first race of the season!