WHAT I DID THIS WEEK

The letter will be short this week because I am trying to catch up at home with a deadline at work. What did I do this week?

Mainly I spent most of my time preparing for 2 committments on the same day as it turned out, though they were set miles apart in time. One was for the Cancer Committee which is held with about 20 physicians and administrators of which I am a part and I must report on many things going on during the last 2 months in the cancer program and I also have to take the minutes. So I am listening and reporting at the same time. I had 2 large studies to report on. I finished one covering 148 cases as to what treatment they received for their cancer and why 27 did not receive the recommended treatment. The 27 were the most controversial as I needed to get every detail of that right, for no physican wants to be the one not giving the recommended treatment. The other study was a five year lung study for the hospital which I have yet to do the final copy for. But the prelims look good.

I am not really educated in a lot of medical fields, but because the registry has to know surgical techniques, pharmacologic treatment and radiation treatment given to each patient, as well as labs and other testing, we have a complex range of knowledge and because we are the documenters we are in high demand, because our documentation is "evidence" that we are a high quality facility and that eventually means money in the physician's pocket because patients want to come to the best facilites and insurance companies want to pay for the best treatment, so suddenly we are in high demand because of our analysis of the data. I am not really as educated as I would like to be, but I have the experience in this field to show others how to garner the data and analyze it for treatment planning and marketing etc. Not a lot of power by myself, but the data is very powerful, so knowing how to get it right becomes very necessary. Things are changing so much with the human genome recognition, we can have targeted therapy depending on the genetic makeup of a person, so the documenter of the patient's picture becomes very important. Anyway for this reason I was asked to speak at a conference of physicians, nurses and registrars at the Veterans Hospital over a 2 day period. I only had to speak on one of the days :) So as soon as the Committee meeting was over I hopped in my car and sped off to the most lovely setting of the Hyatt Hotel that overlooks the Tampa Bay and took part in the conference.

But I was on pins and needles the whole time because Ariana had gone in to have her baby that morning and I was waiting all day to hear that Noah was here and me wanting to hop on a plane and go see her. He is definitely a little Merrill - a miniture Ariana as she looked when she was born. I am back to normal now with a more manageable schedule with only 2 more deadlines to meet by November 17th when we will have an audit.

Meantime, I am learning all about cub scouts, teaching in Primary and generally enjoying many a girl's night out. I am looking forward to seeing you all at Thanksgiving. We have much hugs and kisses to exchange. Love to each of your lovely faces. xxoxoox Mum

NOAH ARTHUR #10

Well, Noah Arthur Graf was born on October 14, 2010 and I was on pins and needles all day. I was to speak in a conference and could hardly restrain myself from hopping on a plane to be there at his birth. All is well. He is here. He has beautiful brown hair. His picutres can be seen at http://www.bellababyphotography.com/. I will post picutres once I have some to post. Ariana is tired but well and Derick is on top of the world. I just love his name. It is so manly.

GRAND BABIES GALORE

This is INGRID ELAINE MERRILL, 9th grand child to Ken Merrill and Dinah Smylie Merrill, and is the daughter of Danial Merrill and Lilon (Bunn) Merrill. If you are wondering why I am puting her geneaologic line here, it is because in 10 years time or 20 years, everone is going to say, who does Ingrid belong to again. This happens with the Soininen girls. My children are always trying to put Auntie Chris's girls and Auntie Shelly's girls with the right mother, not to mention their children with the right grandparents. Ingrid has 2 siblings, Janae and Cora. She was born to a very tiny mother but was a huge healthy girl. Huge is right 11 lb 3 oz. But she needed to be a large healthy child so that Janae and Cora could not break her so easily, for they do lots of holding and covering up and "taking care of" little Ingrid. We think she is going to be a real red head. Lets hope her dad is prepared for 3 firey daughters when they reach their teens.

The Baby Flipped

I got a phone call last week from Ariana to tell me the baby was lying Transverse (which means across the womb from side to side) and that the doc was planning a C section if the baby did not turn to head down position. Well I come from good old Irish stock and somewhere had listened to all the stories that pass around in the family from time to time. Says I to Ariana, "You have to do flips and flip the baby". We laughed and laughed envisioning her on the trampoline and all sorts of things. But Ariana assured me it was not so far fetched and that she had heard incidences of this before and that she would go down to the swimming pool and do flips every day and would move on her hands and knees. (I suppose this confuses the baby as to which way is up :) or perhaps there is a more scientific formula like inertia and relativity, but not being a scientist, I will go with confused swimmer!) Happy ending is that the baby flipped and now has his head down and she will not have to have a C-section. I hope he is as good a spelunkar as he is a swimmer. (A spelunkar is a person who gets into and out of small spaces, like caves, very well)

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

She is far away and I miss her so, and I follow her with all her friends on facebook and these two pictures popped up and I just loved them, so since it will be Halloween in about 25 days, I thought I would just put them in my journal of life and wish all an early Happy Halloween!!!!!

10 More Things I Love ...

11. The way a crane stands very still and waits while you pass.
12. The smell of barbeque on a summer night
13. Wassal at Christmas time.
14. A wee voice saying "Hi Granny"
15. Fresh tomatoes with salt and pepper.
16. The smell of sun-dried bed sheets.
17. Newly baked bread
18. The smell of a sun-warmed peach.
19. The beauty of a hoar frost.
20. The silence of the forest.

10 THINGS I LOVE

1. The smell of a baby after a bath.
2. The feel of a newborn's cheek.
3. The earthy smell just after rain.
4. A field of sunflowers
5. The beach on a misty morning.
6. Airports, everyone is looking forward to something, either going or coming.
7. A good belly laugh, either within myself or to hear someone else really laughing.
8. The smell of a pinewood fire on a cold snowy night.
9. A star filled sky to sleep under.
10. When the voice on the end of the phone says "Hi Mum"