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My three big girls

Monday, August 30th, 2010

Lydia "Didi"

Amelie 8/10

Gigi

I can see in their eyes that the wheels are churning up there! Gigi is like the unruly jealous toddler.

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Welcome, Victoria!

Friday, August 6th, 2010

Victoria is one of my new assistants. She is a recent graduate from USC who majored in neuroscience. We are enjoying working with her and hope you do too! In a couple weeks, she will be joined by Laura, a recent pre-med graduate from UCLA.

Impossible is Nothing!!

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CPR update

Friday, July 30th, 2010

It is always intimidating to remember the rules for CPR. A couple of days ago, I read in the LA Times an article which referred to some studies done here and in Sweden. Essentially the message is this: don’t be afraid to just do chest compressions and leave out the breaths. A lot of people are scared or reluctant to perform mouth-to-mouth on strangers. These studies suggested that the crucial part of CPR is really the chest compressions to keep blood circulating.

You are supposed to do the compressions to the beat of “Stayin’ Alive” (in other words pretty fast)

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SD pictures/videos

Sunday, July 18th, 2010

ameliecryingvideolydiawalksvideo

Hanging out in SD

It's not Kauai, but we can pretend for now

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Paradise to a Point

Sunday, July 18th, 2010

That is my new name for the resort we stayed at (Paradise Point in SD). A lovely place for families, as long as you don’t get locked out of your room due to a faulty lock without milk, bottles, medications, etc. Ants joined us for the stay also. Aside from this and numerous temper tantrums amd hours of crying, we had a great time. We saw beautiful bonfires on the beach and great fireworks from SeaWorld every night. Good food and lots of family time with Grandma, Grandpa and my cousins. We had an early family birthday party for the girls at Firenze Trattoria in Encinitas.  

Another derm-related vacation.  I taught some dermatologists from the Netherlands some suturing techniques and flaps at the UCSD Superficial Anatomy and Cutaneous Surgery course. They were in a good mood despite their recent World Cup loss. If you want to complain about how long it takes for a path result in our office-they said it takes 3 weeks in their country and there are only 2 places to get Mohs. We can complain about the cost of healthcare here, but we’ve got it pretty good in a lot of ways.

It was so nice to spend so much time with the girls. It was really sweet-they both individually gave me a kiss for the first time. So coincidental that they both did so without the other one knowing.  It was an incredibly stressful trip but that made it all worth it

Mission Bay, July 2010Hanging out in SDIt's not Kauai, but we can pretend for now

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Bye, Becca:(

Monday, July 12th, 2010

For all who don’t know, Becca’s last day is tomorrow.  We are in the midst of finding a replacement, but luckily have the wonderful and experienced Thu and Frances (from Pasadena) for the summer.

Becca, you’ve been a great assistant and I appreciate all the hard work you put in and your reliability. You’ve handled grace under pressure (OK, maybe not on the first day when you passed out. Then again, I didn’t see that. I’m sure it was a graceful fall…If it wasn’t you’ll have another chance on the first day of anatomy lab). I’ve looked forward to going to work every day to see your smiling face and knowing that things were well taken care of. I think I did an overshare/TMI on breastfeeding, but now you know pumping in the car is always an option (and who couldn’t use this information?). Just pick a song on the radio that has the right beat!

I’m looking forward to calling you Dr. Gra-vez. Don’t forget you are so, so young, so don’t feel like you have to rush into anything careerwise or personally.  As my 7th grade home ec teacher Miss Wilsnack said, “The 20’s are the best!”  I thought I knew what I wanted at your age. What you want keeps evolving and becomes more clear. So party hard and study hard. (In whatever order you choose)

I’ll miss you and your sense of humor. Good luck!

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Earthquake!

Monday, July 12th, 2010

Ok. That was scary. I was just thinking about earthquake preparedness as I strolled the aisles at Smart and Final. “Gee…I should really update the earthquake kits…”  Just one day later, I’m standing with a half naked patient putting in my last stitches when we hear a squeaking noise and see the blinds going back and forth, for a LONG time. I’ve been through earthquakes in Chicago (yes, there was one!) Seattle, San Francisco, San Diego, and LA. I think this was the scariest because it was just too long. I’m getting pretty good at discerning a 3.0 from a 5.0. 3.0 is like, “Oh gee that was fun!’ 5.0 is like, “Oh s*@% what do I do again?”

A friendly reminder that texting is the most reliable way of communication during a disaster. Also, it doesn’t how much money you have in the bank or how many credit cards you have, during a disaster you need cold hard cash. A colleague of mine who survived Katrina said you need hundreds of dollars in tens and twenties. I don’t know how you’re supposed to have that on hand (I actually did this for a while but kept dipping into it). I also don’t know how you’re supposed to keep kits at every office, your home (and where in your home?) and the car. Puh-leeze.

So I guess I better stock up on massive cans of beans again. Otherwise I may be stuck eating cat and dog food.

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