Study buddy!

I got one! And she's pretty cool! She is also sleeping right now :) Maja and I got together last night for some Indian food and studying. It was pretty great! Being we had so much time to study one subject we would study for an hour and then break for an hour... our breaks consisted of looking through all of our Hawaii 2008 photos. It was fantastic! We relived some pretty awesome moments :) We also got so much accomplished in terms of studying. Our OP is in a couple of hours and we're ready to rock it!
We found a the key to studying... caffeinated tea after dinner and a glass of wine before bed. Yes, we even stopped at just a glass. The caffeine still won at the end of it because after laying there for 15 minutes/ half an hour we started chatting again and talked until the wee hours of the morning. My internal alarm still woke me at 5:30 and I was able to get a touch more review in.
We agreed that we should start doing this until we write our boards in September. Mondays will be the evenings we get together for study time... which is great because we are on the same level and learn the same way. We also come up with the stupidest things to remember muscles or other things and it really sticks.
So other then studying nothing really has been new in my life. I've fallen into a comfortable groove of study, sleep, get up very early, study, school... until the weekend which is... meet Justin after school, spend Saturday night together, all of Sunday together (which mostly consists of cuddle time and time at the market) and then Monday is a mix of work and homework. It's a very repetitive life but I like it... most of all I am enjoying being at school and that is a really refreshing change! I think the unconditional love and support that I get from Justin really helps! I am one very luck lady :)

You would think it would be scary...

..to be looking up information about Canadians immigrating to the USA, Americans immigrating to Canada and Americans and Canadians getting married and what that means in respect to where they can live. But really it wasn't. It was comforting to know that Justin passed the test as a skilled worker and can most likely move to Canada without too much hassle. Now where life will take us in the next two to three years? We don't know. But we are open to the many possibilities that await us. For now we're just thinking short term, like finishing school and traveling. However that crazy urge to travel is not so crazy any more. I am starting to feel like just being with Justin will make me happy no matter where we are. It's a strange feeling but it's one that has been around for the past couple of days. Maybe those feelings will keep evolving, I don't know. But so far it's interesting and it's comforting. It's lovely and it makes me happy.

Because I am good at that too!

There are many thing that I am good at. But one of my hidden talents is the creation of cavities. I even impress my dentist. For someone who does not drink coffee or soda pop, eat candy or any of those other cavity inducing pleasures I sure as heck manage to come up with my fair share. Today's count... 3 1/2! When I said "I managed to create 4 cavities!" my dentist replied with a chuckle "No, just three... one is a maybe." I am glad she's thinking positive! Last time I was in to visit her was to get 3 cavities filled. It just seems to be my lucky number. And yes, I brush twice daily (sometimes more if I have clinic or a manual class which is quite often) and use mouth rinse. I don't floss. I hate flossing! But I am going to try to make it habit... at the rate I am going I won't have any real teeth left! I will also start wearing my mouth guard again... at least on week days (mouth guards aren't the sexiest thing... so when Justin is around, the mouth guard is out). Apparently I am still grinding my teeth and have done a nice job at making them nice and smooth. What can I say? I like soft things :)

Perfect weekend

It's been one perfect weekend after an other filled with busy week days in between. My time together with Justin is always something that I look forward tremendously and it's a wonderful reward for working hard all week.
This weekend it was especially nice three days off. This meant that we got to spend extra time together :) With one day filled with a visit to the market, a nap and hanging out naked together and the other day filled with lounging around then going to North Vancouver for lunch in the sunshine and some lacey things shopping... it really doesn't get better then that. I am sure eventually we will become productive together but for now it's nice to spend some time doing nothing much but enjoy each others company.
Today he went back to the states and I hit the books. I've got a mid term tomorrow which I wasn't too afraid about until 5 hours into my study time and I still haven't finished reviewing the first class. It seems simple. We've covered Bell's Palsy, Trigeminal Neuralgia and Thoracic Outlet Syndrome. However somehow that amounted to over 60 pages of notes. So I am stressing. I read but it feels like nothing is going in. Most likely because I am stressing... and because it is neuro.
Somewhere in level 200, 300 and 400 I shut off neuro and I don't remember much because I was so intimidated... anyways I think that's what happened because I seem to have caught the dumb when it comes to anything neuro related. Being this class builds on the basics I am kind of hooped.
Anyways I just have to make it through level 500, pass everything and hopefully I will be able to catch up in level 600 while we do our integration. If I can't catch up then... well I will have to make it through level 600 and I will have 4 months to relearn and integrate between May and September.
Well I am getting ahead of myself here... I should focus on tomorrow's mid term. I am just really glad that I don't have the oral practical until next week.

The grass is not, in fact, always greener on the other side of the fence. Fences have nothing to do with it. The grass is greenest where it is watered. When crossing over fences, carry water with you and tend the grass wherever you may be.

Robert Fulghum

The day is here...

...that I go for cryotherapy of those darn little abnormal cells. It was fun while it lasted but it's time to part.
I haven't blogged about this issue for a while because I wasn't too sure what to think of it myself. After reading though my blog again (I had to do this for my clinic journaling, I wanted to put in my clinic journal bits anf pieces from my blog when I wrote about clinic) I was quite struck by a comment that I made earlier. I wrote "...I either have cancer or I don't.." I thought that this was quite a bold statement and I felt rather hurt by it. I still do. I don't think that is a positive way of thinking and I've been working on changing it.
I believe that if it was only the abnormal cells I would be a little more at ease with this situation but there is also a mysterious pain that we've (meaning naturopath and I) been trying to figure out. This is a pain that bothers me monthly (most often all month long but that's been changing) and drains me of energy. Chronic pain really sucks. We have ideas of the source of the pain but nothing conclusive as of yet. I've been trying all sorts of natural approaches and though the painful periods are decreasing in length the pain is still there.
One thing that I found to be quite interesting was that the mono that I had 5 years ago showed up on body scan. It was actually the number one problem. Apparently my body is still fighting the mono and while it's busy doing that other viruses or bacteria are able to do their thing. So the new approach... get rid of mono so my body can focus on the other things that are going on within me.
Anyways today will be interesting. I got a voice mail from the gyno office yesterday saying that they still needed that referral from the doctor. A doctors referral only lasts 6 months. If that referral runs out you need to get a new one. This make sense... sort of. Because if you are seeing the specialist often and chose to get continued care though this specialist (as I am with my gyno) after 6 months you need to get a new referral even though you are still seeing the specialist and the specialist agrees that you should keep seeing them. I think it's a bit of a useless Dr.'s visit. But I didn't argue. I do what I have to do and went to the doctor in early September to make sure that this referral had plenty of time to get to the gyno's office (it only has 2 blocks to go... if it went by dust mite it should be there by now). So anyways I have to track down this referral. Hopefully the Dr's office forgot to fax the gyno's office and that I don't have to go in for a referral before 2:30 this afternoon. I am already missing class as it is. I don't want to miss more then I have to.
Anyways we'll see how things go. I have a feeling it will all work out.

Right...

So I FINALLY got my marks back for that fascial OP that I first wrote about here... then followed up that post a day later with this one. After the speech I stopped stressing about my results but I was still very curious to see whether I had passed or totally bombed the darn thing! And I passed! Not only did I pass, I kind of did really well and am quite proud of myself. With 94% in the written and 80% in the OP* I feel better about my fascial skills.
I've also found that with this break I am more determined and am quite efficient with my study time. I am also learning a lot more in class because I actually want to be there and I'm asking questions. I am also answering questions even though I am unsure of myself. Before I would only answer if I knew my answer was right (which wasn't very often) because I was afraid people would think I was stupid. But I figure I am in school now so now's the time to mess up when I have people around me that can correct me. I think this will make me a better therapist in the long run.
Clinic has also changed. I find myself more confident and am tackling people's problems head on. I'm treating not only with the standard Swedish techniques (which is my comfort zone because I know I can do those well) but I am also throwing in muscle energy, fascial and other techniques that I am less confidant with. I figure now is the time to practice. I am also finding myself telling me clients that "Next week we're going to work on...". So without really knowing it I'm already building up long term goals and I am telling my clients about it. Voicing long term goals to my clients was something I never had the courage to do before this term.
So far I like these changes. They definitely seem to be for the better. I am also getting excited about my future as a therapist because I am starting to see value in the work that I do. I think the next year will be very interesting for me.

*OP - oral practical