California 2009

The last two and half weeks Matt, my mom, my grandpa, and I were in Palo Alto, CA for my clinical rotation at Lucille Packard Children's Hospital. (The second week my sister and Dad joined us). I spent two weeks working with the pediatric pain team (which included a full time golden retriever- an official pain and palliative care dog). It was an incredible clinical experience, and of course we managed to have fun on the down times as well!

Lucille Packard Children's Hospital

One of our favorite things to do in the evening was to walk to the outdoor Stanford Mall.

Of course we would always visit See's Candies for our free sample! Yum!

Stanford campus at night.

One of the best things about the trip was getting to spend time with our good friends Lailah and Ryan! They took us on the best sightseeing tours! On one of our trips we stopped off at a Maze, which were lost in for a good 30 minutes!

The Beach at Half Moon Bay!

Playing in the Ocean!

Racing the waves....

The first weekend we were there, Matt, my mom, my grandpa, and I went to San Francisco for the afternoon to visit Fisherman's Wharf and the Golden Gate Bridge!

We were having a great time eating seafood and walking the streets of San Francisco.... until we got back to our car..... We soon found out that someone liked our car so much that they decided to break in and steal Matt's backpack...

Of course that didn't stop of from having fun!

Having a picnic at the park...

Watching the Black Swan at the Stanford Theater!

During the day, while I was working hard at the hospital, my mom, Matt, and grandpa would head to the beach to look for sea glass.....

Matt and I talked about how fun it would be to live out here, but we decided that this is probably the only house we could afford...

Eating dinner at haunted restaurant on the coast of Half Moon Bay...

Playing in tide pools at the beach in Monterey......

The second time we went to San Francisco Lailah and Ryan took us.... We had a blast visiting Union Square, Golden Gate Park, and Haight Ashbury...

Although it got a little chilly....

Another evening spent at the Stanford Theater watching William Holden in Picnic and Sunset Boulevard.....

Our last weekend was spent at Monterey playing in the ocean....

Melissa, Mom, and I on Cannery Row

Watching the sunset...

It was an awesome trip and we are so thankful to have this experience!

It has finally come full circle.....

February 15, 2000- Tuesday

" Today I checked into the hospital. I was greeted by my team of physicians. They all seem very nice. Tonight will be my first official night in the hospital, luckily my room is not too bad. I have a nice enough view from my window of the front entrance of the hospital and a small garden, which is littered with flowers....but I still don't want to stay.... the food is gross, I have to share a shower with the entire unit, and it SMELLS like a hospital! I pray for strength and an open mind to help me make it through....."

My first hospital room

February 23, 2000- Wednesday

" Today was a crazy day! At 2pm I left for a nerve block procedure. First they wheeled me to the OR at Stanford hospital, then back to the OR at Children's hospital. When I finally got back to my room it was 6pm- with the medication I received before the procedure though, I didn't care what was going on...."

After a nerve block procedure- I actually feel okay in this picture, but my dad and I thought it would be funny if I pretended to look very sick.... (I still was a little out of from the anesthesia)

March 21, 2000- Tuesday

" ....During physical therapy today we set some very hard goals (well more like the physical therapist): 1. To walk heel-toe all of the time 2. Range of Motion goal of 5 degree dorsiflexion 3. While walking on the treadmill reach the speed of 3 mph in 1 minute 4. Walk up and down stairs alternating feet....."

My second hospital room- Spring Break when Melissa and Bryan came out for a visit. Bryan immediately climbed right up in bed with me.

April 3, 2000- Monday

" Today is my first day to be outpatient. They still want me to meet at the hospital at 8 am to begin a full day of activities including physical therapy, occupational therapy, and of course school. I took the courtesy van from the McDonald house to the hospital this morning, but they informed me that they want me to start walking to the hospital in the morning as part of my physical therapy..... I am not sure how I feel about this...."

The Ronald McDonald House

Lucile Packard Children's Hospital

For those of you who don't know, it will be 10 years ago in November that I was diagnosed with Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy or CPRS (http://www.rsds.org/). It is a chronic debilitating painful nerve disorder resulting from a previous injury causing nerves to misfire and send constant pain signals to the brain. The sympathetic nerves become overactive causing intense burning pain along with swelling, changes in skin color and temperature. I was diagnosed November 7, 1999 and was given a poor prognosis. Although RSD usually begins in an extremity, eventually it will spread throughout the body. I was told that I would be crippled and in pain the rest of my life and there was nothing that could be done. My mom did not care for that answer and began doing intensive research to find a place that has had success in treating children with RSD. She found Stanford Medical Center. In February 2000, after multiple treatments in Oklahoma City, we headed to Palo Alto, California. What I thought would be a two week stay ended up being a ten week stay. Although this was not an easy road I am very thankful for the path that was taken and the support I received along the way, as I have been in remission for a little over 8 years! In a few days I will be returning to this hospital for a clinical rotation for school, to work with the same medical staff who took care of me nine years ago. I am excited to return and learn as a provider and not as a patient. My hope is that I will be to come away with the ability to provide hope to those in pain as they provided hope to me so many years ago.....

A Girl's Weekend........

Growing up my grandmother would spend her summers in the Branson area. She has very fond memories of those summers and has decided to share that experience with us girls! Every summer for the past 14 years my grandmother (or Grammy as I call her) takes all of her granddaughters to Branson for a weekend of shopping and shows! These trips are undoubtedly one of the highlights of the year!!!

Every summer one of our first stops is lunch at College of the Ozarks. It is where Grammy's mom went to school...... (They also have the best food!)

Shopping is always a must on these trips! We hit the shops at the crack of dawn and don't stop until it is dark..........

Of course we love our shoes!

Success!!

Every evening we see a show. The first night we saw the 12 Irish Tenors. An absolute must!

We also always visit Taneyville, where grammy's grandpa's (my great-great-grandfather) old general store is. It is currently an antique store!

From there we head to one of the old farms......

Lunch at the tea room....

The second show we saw was Peter Pan....

After a successful trip we head home with a full car load eager to return next year!

5 semesters down 1 to go......

After completing and passing my final exams (for the summer), Matt and I decided to celebrate by spending a couple days in Seattle! First stop, Matt's Mecca also known as the REI home store!

The next stop... The Farmer's Market.......

Yum!

Day two we headed to "Little Norway"......

from there we headed to Olympic National Park!

We ended the weekend watching the sunset on the beach! A perfect ending to an almost perfect weekend, (If only Seattle had not set the record high temp of 103, while we were there!).

Vital Signs

We are still alive....I promise!

We will post more about our last trip to Spokane, the 4th of July, and fun around Apt. C very soon.

Until then....stay cool and be very thankful if you live in a place where the temperature is under 105!

The 4th of July Celebration

The Stangeland family Loves the 4th of July, and every year we celebrate not just one day but several days! This year our celebration started with a "friendly" wiffle ball game!

Day two consisted an afternoon at Sun N Fun (the local water park) followed by a "friendly" game of laser tag.......
Talking strategy.....

The Players.......

The cousins.....

Our nightly gatherings at Braums!

Day three started with a trip to the original homestead....

The rain could not keep us away.......

The evening of the 4th was celebrated with Matt's family with a game of home run derby and fireworks! (Matt was the champion!)

Series Premiere

If you read our blog with any regularity you realize that we live in what some people would call a bad part of town. Others might use the word "sketchy" to describe our particular neighborhood. While some might even say that we live in "the hood". Despite all these lovely adjectives describing our place of residence, Carol and I both love living in this area (midtown OKC) and we feel safe and secure in our lovely little apartment.

We have, however, noticed and experienced many things during our almost two years living here and these experiences and events have led us to begin this new blog series called...

Oh wait...I don't really have a title for this new series. I need help coming up with some kind of catchy title. For now we will go with..."You know you live in 'the hood' when..."

...A homeless man uses the telephone pole outside your apartment as his own personal bathroom.