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Sometimes you just have to set priorities. No more book reading for physiology class this week. I had been really good about keeping up with the readings for this class, but the first two exams have shown me once again that WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW IS IN THE HANDOUTS. Of course, the background reading does help to cement the ideas and clear up concepts, but with a histology exam looming Monday that will be one-fourth of my grade for the course, I have got to devote the week to that. The physiology exam on Friday will only be worth about 5% of our grade for that course. Next week is a big exam block, with the aforementioned histo exam on Monday, the National Board Exam in histology on Tuesday, our psychiatry final on Wednesday, and a physiology mid-term exam on Friday. I can’t wait to have the histology class over and done with. We will really be on the downhill stretch when next week is complete.

A lot of stuff is going on at home to keep my mind on other matters. Manning saw the gastroenterologist last week Of course he did not have one of his reflux episodes while having the upper GI done. She prescribed some erythromycin to help clear his stomach out to see if that would help any. She wants to try that for about two weeks but we have not seen any improvement so far. She said if he didn’t get any relief from that, she would refer us to a surgeon to explore a new fundiplication. Manning had the first one done at the Children’s Hospital in Birmingham, Alabama. At the time there was not a surgeon locally who felt comfortable doing the procedure on such a young child. There is one here now, but I want to call Manning’s prior surgeon first thing tomorrow morning just to get his take on our situation. I will try to talk to their office before classes start for me at 9:00 A.M. Angie will be available but she really feels more comfortable with me explaining the situation and listening to what the doctors have to say.

Beyond that, our 8 month old McKenzie is requiring the normal full-time attention that babies require and our pre-teen daughters are both undergoing dental work. I have health insurance for the family through a group policy the med school offers the students, but it does not include dental coverage. What a blessing to have my in-laws taking care of the girls teeth! (Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!) Both of them have a narrow palate and are having appliances installed which will gradually spread their palate and allow room for their emerging permanent teeth. My nine-year-old, Macey, had hers installed today and she was a little sore. The ten-year-old, Morgan, had to have some remaining deciduous teeth pulled to hasten the arrival of her permanents to use as anchors for the appliance. So of course studies were interrupted tonight to make a Sonic milkshake run for them.

I’ve got the whole family bedded down now and will try to plow through some histology notes before sleep overtakes me.