Happy Birthday Neannie

I have always known that i am blessed because at the age of 31, i still have grandparents alive that i get to see pretty much all the time.

I grew up spending major holidays with both sets of grandparents- and although when i was younger that would mean driving to West Virginia, the 3 lambert kids and their parents piled into a car. And the drive wouldn't always be the easiest. There was a time when I-64 wasn't built yet, and we would have to drive through the snow-filled mountains of west virginia to get to our destination by Christmas. Once, i remember, my dad having to open up the car door so that he could see the edge of the road because it was snowing so hard! The trips weren't always the smoothest but we still went. And i have such great memories of those holidays.


Now, both sets of my grandparents have moved to Charleston, which is great to have them so close. Neannie (my mom's mom) lives 5 minutes down the road from me and Papaul and Marie (my dad's dad and his wife) live about 20 minutes away in West Ashley. Gone are the days of traveling 5+ hours for Christmas or Thanksgiving. Our holiday celebrations are easy- everyone comes over to my parent's house.


The reason why i am recalling all of this is that today, November 30, 2010, my grandmother, Norma Jean Prather, Neannie for short, turns 84 years young. She is a remarkable woman. She is a spitfire. She tells it like it is. She loves shopping, buying shoes, getting her hair done, going out to eat, and getting her nails done. She zips around town in her BMW and has a laugh that is infectious. She also calls her doctor "McDreamy" which makes smile each time i hear her say that. AND when i got my pulmonary fellowship, she bought me a bottle of champagne and we drank it together! She also is a strong woman- for 5 years she took care of my grandfather, who passed away from CHF in January 2008. She was always by his side, accompanying him to doctors appointments, putting up with him and his "itchies" and then, in his final days, helping the hospice nurses tend to him. Like i said, remarkable woman.


So today, i am wishing Neannie a very happy birthday and am thankful that i still get to spend time with her. I am thankful that Taylor knows her great-grandmother. She is amazing!



Neannie and Taylor- Dec 2009 (we need an updated picture)!

Giving Thanks

We are finally home, stuffed from the smoked turkey, grits, 7 layer salad, glazed apricots, green beans, stuffing, mashed potatoes, collards, mac & cheese, and rolls.....sooo much food.

We gathered at my parent's house- the whole Lambert clan:
my parents
my brother Paul and his wife Erika
Berry and taylor
my sister Leslie
Neannie and my great aunt, Ruth Anne
Pa-paul and Marie
My aunt and uncle, Patty and Ed
My cousin Stephen and his wife Mandy and their son David

17 total= wow!



here is our table BEFORE dinner

Me, Erika, and Mandy (with David crashing the photo)

Paul and Erika (19 weeks pregnant!)

Little David

Me, Taylor, and Pa-paul (who looks good for having spinal surgery just last week!)

Like i said this morning, i am thankful for sleeping in and my crock pot. :)

I am also thankful that my family lives close by and that i am able to spend the holidays with them. AND i am thankful that we are all healthy. With the month that i have had at work, i know we are so blessed to all be in good health.

People that were missing included: my cousin Brad and his wife Lisa (who are up in Charlotte) and Camille (who is in Denver- yes, Denver, Colorado, where it is spitting snow), and Mary and her Paul(who are with his family today).

Oh- and lastly i am thankful for the health of my dogs- especially Tiberius who decided he did not want to wait to eat dinner tonight, and chewed through the new bag of dog food to start eating early (without us). We found him munching happily on the food.....we were only 15 minutes late from our "normal" feeding schedule. I wonder how much he would have ate if we were a hour late!!!!

This morning i am thankful for sleeping in and my slow cooker

Today (thanksgiving) is my first day off in 12 days. I slept in til 9:30 which was joyous.


Then i started cooking for dinner at my parents this afternoon....and i have to say, i have been too exhausted/stressed out to think about cooking a side for thanksgiving dinner. So i looked through my favorite crock pot blog (http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/) and found a recipe for Sausage, Apple Stuffing. All i can say is yum! (and i am not going to tell Berry how much onion and celery i used....he hates it...hehehe!)

Cancer Sucks

I wear a button on my white coat everyday that says "Cancer Sucks." Some people LOVE the button and i have even gotten complaints about it because it says "sucks." However, what it says is true- cancer sucks.

The first patient i ever met that had cancer was during my 2nd year of med school. We had a class, physical diagnosis, that met every other month for one day a week where we would learn how to interview a patient and do a complete physical exam, and then write it up in the standard SOAP note. My physical diagnosis group was led by an Endocrinologist and during our 1st meeting, the patient we had to interview was a 50-something year old lady with breast cancer. And i remember talking with her and her husband like it was yesterday. The husband starts the interview with "well, when i found the lump in her breast...." and i said, "excuse me, you found the lump?" And he said "yes, i found the lump," with a big grin on his face.
I don't know what happened to that lady. The unfortunate thing about that class was we interviewed the patient and then never saw them again.....in my heart she is doing well, in recovery, but in my mind, i sometimes think otherwise.

Fast forward 6 years. I have now taken care of many patients with cancer as a med student, internal medicine resident, and now pulmonary fellow. And have even had loved ones that have been diagnosed with it. It is everywhere. Lung cancer, breast cancer, bone cancer, cell line cancers, renal cell cancer, GI cancer...the list goes on and on.

The one thing i have noticed with all of these cancer patients is that these unfortunate diagnoses happen to the nicest people. From the man who owns the wine shop by my house (who i have known for 10 years), to my best friend from college's brother, to my dear father-in-law, to the marine who i took care of in the ICU for the past 20 days. These people leave behind families, spouses, parents, children, brothers/sisters and loved ones who ask "why? Why did this happen?" We don't know why and it is hard to find comfort in the saying "everything happens for a reason" because it is so cliche and overused. But it is true. There is a great explanation for these people being taken away from us too soon, too early, too quickly- and sometimes our ears are closed to hearing it because of our anger or sadness- but there is one.

Until we get those answers and there are still tears that are shed, all i can say is Cancer Sucks.

What are we fighting for?

The title of this blog has been stuck in my head all day....and now that i sit down to write (i have a few free minutes while on call), i can't get started.

I remember a fight i had with my middle school best friend, Kathy Hudy. I got mad at her (when i was at her house, mind you) and her sister and i locked her outside for about a hour so that we could play together without her. Needless to say, Kathy was not happy. Nor was her mom. Or my mom. It didn't end our friendship....she ended up moving away to PA when we were in high school. I went to visit her one summer and had the best time. Unfortunately, as most people did back then when there was no cell phone, email, or facebook, we lost contact. My mom and her mom still talk at random times. I know Kathy is married and has kids. That is about it.


I hadn't thought about that fight until yesterday. It seemed that my weekend has been full of fights. I have had patient's families fighting, i have been fighting with my family, and then of course i have pissed off some people this weekend too. The hard thing about fighting as we get older, is that the people we often fight with, we love the most. We are now at a point in our lives where we truly value the people we surround ourselves with. Especially in my line of work, with my job taking up so much time, time is valuable. Therefore, friendship is valuable. And the time we spend with those valuable people is also valuable. Does that make sense?


It might not but i at least wanted to get this out. Life is short. I had a patient pass away yesterday and it made me realize, what are we fighting for?

I'm so tired i could cry

To say that this has been a long week is an understatement.....and it is only friday.
For most, it means the start of the weekend, 2 days of freedom from work/school/etc. But not for me. I am on call this weekend, which means i work saturday and sunday (28 hours straight) and then go back to work monday morning and resume my work week. My next day off will be thursday (Thanksgiving).....6 days from now. Thank goodness for a holiday- i will finally get some rest.

I shouldn't complain. I get 6.5-7 hours of sleep a night, which is perfect for most. However, when pulling a 12 hour work day that is both physically and mentally exhausting, i could use 9-10 hours of sleep a night! My stores are deplete! And all the adderall, diet mt dew, and diet coke can't help me now!

I TRIED to sleep in this morning. Instead of my usual 5:15 alarm, i set it for 6, so that i could get to work a bit later and enjoy a few extra minutes of sleep. However, dogs don't realize that you want to sleep in. They don't sense how tired you are. They don't realize that despite getting up at 5:15 every morning for the last few days, that we didn't have to do it again this morning.
5:15 rolled around and Tiberius stuck his face in my face and jumped on the bed.
His internal alarm clock was set for 5:15 and he didn't get the memo i wanted to sleep in.....so i got up. 45 minutes early. My plan for a *little* bit more sleep failed....

And now i am so tired i could cry.........

POE!!!

Lara likes going to my Homeland partly because she can find "cute" dresses (or dresses that look like coats) there. Taylor likes going because she can read her cheesy vampire novels, bake cookies, and/or drive my daddy's old truck.
I like going home because I grew up with a library. A library due to my mother's endless appreciation of literature, poetry, and prose. When I can go home I feel it call to me and often I stay up late reading words long forgotten but still inspiring. One of my favorites by the great Edgar Allen Poe. (Who by the way was stationed and wrote (e.g., The Gold Bug) in Charleston, SC and it is widely believed that his beloved Annabel Lee was a Charleston girl)


1843
THE CONQUEROR WORM

Lo! 'tis a gala night
Within the lonesome latter years!
An angel throng, bewinged, bedight
In veils, and drowned in tears,
Sit in a theatre, to see
A play of hopes and fears,
While the orchestra breathes fitfully
The music of the spheres.

Mimes, in the form of God on high,
Mutter and mumble low,
And hither and thither fly-
Mere puppets they, who come and go
At bidding of vast formless things
That shift the scenery to and fro,
Flapping from out their Condor wings
Invisible Woe!

That motley drama- oh, be sure
It shall not be forgot!
With its Phantom chased for evermore,
By a crowd that seize it not,
Through a circle that ever returneth in
To the self-same spot,
And much of Madness, and more of Sin,
And Horror the soul of the plot.

But see, amid the mimic rout
A crawling shape intrude!
A blood-red thing that writhes from out
The scenic solitude!
It writhes!- it writhes!- with mortal pangs
The mimes become its food,
And seraphs sob at vermin fangs
In human gore imbued.

Out- out are the lights- out all!
And, over each quivering form,
The curtain, a funeral pall,
Comes down with the rush of a storm,
While the angels, all pallid and wan,
Uprising, unveiling, affirm
That the play is the tragedy, "Man,"
And its hero the Conqueror Worm.

can't get you off my mind...

This is the dress from Jessica's that i fell in love with. Isn't it cute?!?!?
:)

Too bad berry and i aren't exchanging christmas presents this year, or i know what i would tell him i want.

A family that blogs together, stays together.

I must admit that I am impressed by the amount of blogging over the past day or so. I had one entry, taylor had 2, and berry had 1 as well. I like that we can share our thoughts, despite our differences.

To settle a few things:

1) I am still getting use to my husband hunting and the text pictures he sends me of his kills. I never thought I would be married to a guy who hunts and fishes (and is pretty good at it) but I am. It isn’t bad….as long as I don’t have to see him kill anything and as long as I don’t have to clean it! And of course, it is pretty cool to be able to get our food from the earth- the meat is organic and without any additives. I am impressed.

2) I don’t mind taylor dying her hair. I really don’t- I just wish it wasn’t so dark. So it all started with me allowing her to dye her hair last year- she had a burgundy color for a while, a brown color, and then over the summer, she went BLACK. It was a semi-permanent color that apparently doesn’t wash out despite what the instructions say. And now her hair is dark and when her roots start to grow, they are light brown- doesn’t look great. So, instead of spending LOTS of money to get her hair professionally colored back to her normal brown (which would require bleach and then more color), we went back to dark hair. And I am not my father- I don’t believe that black hair = drug use.

3) I am doing ok. Despite what you hear or see, I am ok. November has been a difficult month- I am working in an ICU with very sick patients which is draining both physically and emotionally. Also without going into too much detail, I am once again coming to grips with disappointments that I wish I didn’t have to face. It makes me question my professional career, my intelligence, and if I am able to balance work and family. It always hurts to question yourself, especially when you have gotten to a certain point in life—but I am quietly working through it. With my busy schedule, I barely see my friends here in Charleston, AND I miss my friends that have moved away terribly. What I wouldn’t give to sit and watch Sex in the City while drinking champagne with Karen, or drink a Bucket-o-margaritas with Jen or go to happy hour with Court. Did you notice the common theme- alcohol. :)
Alas, I will just have to settle for few and far between vacations and future weekend trips….if I ever get some extra $.

4) On a more silly note- my heart does NOT beat faster when I visit Jessica’s store- although I am still dreaming about that pink coat with the bow. It really was fabulous.

A Perfect Fall Day

Some days are just perfect. The dogs aren't barking, the gas tank is full, the kid isn't back talking (much), and outside is beautiful. The birds are chirping, the squirrels are foraging, preparing for winter, and then, just there in the thicket by a pile of corn out walks Bambi's father (or brother) and.......BLAMMMMMM!!!!!

The carbon echo of a .270 Winchester 130 grain SST ballistic round and I know what we will have for Christmas Eve Family Dinner......smoked venison hams. Yum.

Population 5?

Who knew that in a town with one stop light and a population of 5 that I, Taylor, could have a little fun?
Besides the trips to Super Wal-Mart that my mom loves so much, along with the super expensive "Jessica's" that seems to get my mom's heart beating faster with each over-priced piece of clothing on the rack, I do not usually have fun.
Since i have been 14 for a little over a week Berry's mom thought it was appropriate that I carry on the Legacy...when Berry and Mary were both 14 they both drove the pickup truck in the pecan field. Of coarse that would be fun for me, even though my mom was always saying "Slow down!" and "Not over 10 mph!" (I honestly went 15 most of the time which for me is slow and boring ). Oh the joy. Can't wait until I get my permit, it should be an interesting ride with my mother.

Happy Sunday!
(Schools Tomorrow and i don't know if i should be happy or not???)

Weekend in Manning

So this weekend was our only "free" weekend to visit Berry's mom. She lives in a little town called Manning, South Carolina, which is about 1.5 hrs away from Charleston, up I-95.

There are only four good things about the town:
1) Berry's mom lives there (of course)
2) Her house/land is the future location of our winery, Bell Branch Vineyard.
3) Jessica's Boutique- a wonderful store full of beautiful clothes that sometimes i treat myself to (and sometimes my mother in law treats me to).
4) Super Wal-Mart- it helps pass the time, what more can i say.


So Berry, Taylor, Tiberius, Ellie and of course me, piled into Berry's truck and headed up there friday night after i finished a long hard (and sad) day at work. We had dinner at the local Mexican place, went shopping at Wal-mart, and then as the girls went to bed, Berry did some work around the house.

The next morning Camille, Taylor and I walked the dogs, picked up pecans, and then went into town. Of course we stopped by Jessica's where there was this beautiful pink coat with a bow on it that was to DIE for- i couldn't bring myself to get it- $170 is a lot to spend these days in our troubled economic times. Then again back to Wal-mart for stuff for dinner and hair dye for Taylor.


That afternoon, Taylor and i cooked 5 batches of cookies and cleaned the bathrooms, while Berry and Camille worked outside. I also took Taylor in Camille's old truck and let her drive around the Pecan Orchard- working on backing-up, parking, turns, etc. I cannot believe that she is going to get her learners permit in 1 year....AHHHHH!

That evening, I cooked dinner as I had promised. It is my contribution to the weekend- Berry works outside and i cook- it works out. Anyway, i made salad, bread, and shepards pie-camille's favorite. I think the shepards pie was a hit but it was a strange recipe (got it from foodnetwork.com) and i would like to make it again with a different recipe. After dinner and desert, we all crashed hard- even Tiberius.

The morning came quickly and Camille had to head to Walterboro and I had to head back to Charleston to do some moonlighting. So we said our goodbyes and parted ways. The trip to Charleston went quickly, with the dogs sleeping in the back, Taylor reading, and Berry and I discussing our Christmas Eve dinner plans.

It was delightful to see the Cooper River Bridge once we got back home.

:)

If you can read, then thank a teacher. If you can read in English, then thank a veteran.

Since today is Veteran's Day I thought it would be appropriate to remember our friends and family who have and do serve (apologies to ones I may leave out).

Current:
Mary Camille Hiott (USAF)
Morgan Lee Ard (USAF)
Jennifer Franklin (USAF)

Past:
Floyd Berry Hiott, Jr. (SCANG)
Herman Marion Ridgill, Sr. (Army Air Force, Belgium WWII)
Hereld Prather (Army, France WWII)
Paul R Lambert, Sr. (Navy, WWII)
Perry Reardon (Army, Killed in Action, Battle of the Bulge WWII)
Donald Ard (USAF)
Charlton Ard (USAF)
Adam Ard (USAF)
David Hill (Army, Vietnam)
Daniel Cantey (Army, Iraq)
Mike Black (Navy, Saudia Arabia)
Tony Rigdon (Army)
Bill Erikson (Marine Corps)


It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived.
George S. Patton

From the creek to the beak

Ok, so poor play on words but i am trying to be creative....

Yesterday i got a text message from berry saying that he got me dinner.....the text was this....





Ummm....seriously??

The rest of the conversation went like this:
Me: "what IS that?"
B: "Fish."
Me: "Duhh but what type?"
B: "Spotted sea trout."

Which then led me to Google "sea trout recipes," which led me to a recipe i thought i would try.

Charleston Sea Trout Cakes
1 lb sea trout fillets, cooked and diced
2 stalks of celery, diced
½ red pepper, diced
1 small onion, diced
1 small red potatoes, cooked and diced
1 egg, beaten
1 cup bread crumbs
½ teaspoon seafood seasoning
dash Worcestershire sauce
dash hot sauce
Mix all ingredients and blend well.
Form into cakes.
Heat olive oil on the stove and sauté cakes lightly on both sides.
Don't overcook, serve as soon as cakes are golden brown.

The result:

Now, my pictures don't really do our dinner justice. My friend Diana inspired me to take a picture...she and her fiance cook and post pictures of the food on facebook- amazing stuff people...i would want her to be my personal chef if i had the money! Anyway, i digress. If i cook more, i will get better with my photography skills.

For dinner tonight, I made 8 Charleston Sea Trout Cakes and served them with broccoli and cheese grits. A VERY southern dinner.

And it was delicious! Taylor even had a second helping! I say that is success!

Just another birthday dinner

So, this weekend was taylor's birthday and as usual, we had dinner at my parent's house with all of the family to celebrate. And Taylor brought her best friend, Cali, who had to endure our family (yes, she was asked if she was taylor's "goth" friend.....poor girl).

My mom cooked spagetti and bread and my grandmother made salad and of course there was birthday cake. Oh- and let's not forget the red wine.

:)

And what better way to top off the night.....but with a push-up contest! I kid you not. My brother always asks taylor if she "works out" and tells her what to do to get stronger (he is a pretty athletic guy...and his wife might even be more athletic, and she is pregnant, which is soooo exciting!). And last night he asked tay to do a push-up. Well...i caught it on video!

Not your typical birthday dinner .........but in our house, it is just another Lambert family dinner!

Taylor's 14th b-day

Hard to believe that my 14 year old daughter who looks like this....







....use to look like this. HOW ADORABLE!




I don't have a scanner or else taylor would be sooo embarrassed by all the pictures that i would post. She was such a beautiful baby!

So yes, 14 years ago i had a baby. I went for a check-up on Nov 5th (don't remember my actual due date) and was told my blood pressure was high and had protein in my urine. To a 17 year old i had no idea what that meant. Now i know that means i had pre-eclampsia and needed to get delivered sooner than later. So my OB said "come to the hospital tonight and we will have that baby!"
I went home, packed, and went back to UVA (9th floor) with Josh and my mom. Josh brought me shrimp for my "last meal" which unfortunately i threw up all over him hours later. Around midnight they broke my water and thus labor started. It was an uncomfortable night, which i don't remember much of, but i got an epidural at 8 am and slept for 3 hours. Around 11 am, it was time. One hour and 12 minutes later, a baby girl was born.

A GIRL? I hadn't found out the sex but everyone was telling us we were having a boy because of the way i was carrying it (to me, i was just fat, not "carrying" it one way or another), so i had a name all picked out- Kaleb Joshua. And now a girl? Dang it! :)
We named her Taylor Lynn- Taylor after my favorite soap opera star (nice, eh?), and Lynn after both his mom and my mom's middle name. Thus, TLD had a name and a birthday.

I honestly don't remember much about the labor/birth etc. I remember josh, my mom and his parents were in the room when Taylor was born. Oh- and the best part, my nurse was an ex-boyfriend's mom. I KNOW she was thinking "thank god this is not my grandchild." Haha! My friends, brother, sister, and dad came to visit Taylor after she was born. And i remember Josh calling to get insurance for her and us registering her for a social security card (which was stolen when berry's car was broken into and i haven't replaced yet).

An intersting thing- Taylor is 14 today. My sister was 14 when Taylor was born. Isn't that crazy?!?! I can't believe how fast time flies. When she was born, i didn't think about the fact that i was going to have a grown kid. I just focused on having a baby, raising an infant. I didn't realize that she would grow up as i grew up. That she would do homework while i did my homework. And that she would say things like "mom, you are ruining my life" or "chicks before dicks."

Anyway, it has been an adventure. 14 years and counting.
Happy Birthday to my little girl!

A post to make me smile....

My puppy Tiberius sleeping.....seriously, this is how i found him!










Berry and me











Taylor and Berry (notice the bloodhound in the corner)






sometimes you just need some pics to make you smile....like these!
:)

a little off this week

So, it is no suprise that when something happens that is unexpected, it can cause a ripple effect, making other things unexpectedly happen, and then more unexpected things happen, and then so on and so forth.
I had a pretty bad weekend last weekend. Despite the holiday (i sooo love halloween) and the fact that i didn't have to work, it was pretty crappy. In an effort to not let it get me down, i looked at Nov 1st as a new day of a new month and it was going to be good. Besides, i am currently working in the ICU (which i love) and the weather is turning into fall and the other holidays are coming up, so.....in my mind, it was going to be a good week. That hasn't been the case. So, let's see what has happened.
First, i stabbed my intern with a thoracentesis needle.

OUCH!



Then i had 2 really sick patients come in at one time and i ran around work like a crazy person trying to "fix" them. The kicker was that it kept me at the hospital a lot later than i usually work, causing me to come home just in time to eat, shower, and fall into bed.

My poor neglected family!



THEN today while trying to instruct my intern (the same one who i poked) on a line placement, i failed miserably and spent 1.5 hours trying to place a line. I was sweating in places i shouldn't be sweating in. And of course, it was a mistake to wear heels today.

I know i shouldn't complain because i do love my job but i feel like i have had a "terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day."

:(

different authors

I forgot when i made this blog it allows me, Berry, and Taylor to author posts.
I really wanted it to be a "family" blog that allows friends and family to see the ins and out of our lives, like a mini-reality show, but just to read. Something to chronicle the good and the bad, the sad and the happy, the ups and the downs.

Just this morning i sat down to check my friend Megan's blog to see if she had her baby yet (she hadn't). And discovered that someone had posted on my blog 1 day ago. It wasn't me....my weekend was filled with working, celebrating birthdays, more working, and then some sadness. However, i didn't have time to blog.

To my suprise, and enjoyment, i found taylor's reply to my blog. Apparently she IS going to kill me for telling her funny story about "chicks before dicks." I laughed out loud. She is such a crazy girl...i have NO idea where she gets it from!
:)

Anyway, all of this is in good fun. I'm excited that Taylor is writing...just hope she is working on homework as well!!!