The Matrix, ABS style

The trip to Houston was not epic.  The humidity was not epic.  The ridiculously cute 5 week old puppy was not epic.  The American Board of Surgery oral exam--now that is something to write a blog post about....

I packaged up the little man and met G'ma en route with a quick pit stop in Denver.  We got to see G'pa, eat bar-be-que, and hang out at DIA for a bit.  All of this would seem quaint, even pass as a normal Judki activity if it weren't for the underlying mission--pass the oral surgery boards.  


In our lives as doctors, few things are more fear-instilling than the oral boards.  Not every specialty has them, most that do submit known cases for discussion, and even when people take them and survive, saying they really weren't that bad, they are LYING!!  DO YOU HEAR ME?  LYING!!


It goes something like this...
-->you started your surgery residency 5 years ago, realizing that these boards were coming, like a slow moving freight train, you can't escape, no matter how smart/bright/funny/popular/savvy/prepared you are.

Running stair pyramids at DG on call

-->You passed your qualifying exam in August, aka written boards, aka a computer test, in a weird testing center in an even stranger part of town, with flourescent lights buzzing overhead.  And you PAY $1000 to do this!
-->You 'picked' one of four dates to buy a plane ticket, stay in a hotel in a strange city, pull a random lottery for one of three days, morning or afternoon, first or second session, to sit in numerous hotel rooms (yes, bed and everything) containing two strangers each who pepper you with questions over the course of a few hours.  And you PAY another $1000 to do this!

My admission card

-->You put on a black suit, pick up a piece of paper with many strange names and numbers, walk down a long, long, long hotel hallway where around every corner is another black suit standing in front of a hotel door waiting for it to open--if this isn't the real-life Matrix, I don't know what is.  Wish I had a floor-length leather trench coat--might have given me some magical powers.  And I definitely don't think Neo had to deal with breastfeeding a sleep-deprived beautiful parasite in a hotel lobby bathroom minutes before his big showdown with Agent Smith, but who said motherhood was easy?


In true Judki fashion, this trip also included packing up the super baby, who now has more frequent flyer miles than most people 20x his age, flying in a super babysitter, my mom, and going a few days early for a super review course (another $1000).  On the bright side, we got to stay with Belen's family a couple of nights, play with a puppy, eat cerviche, monopolize the nail salon, and run through way too many practice scenarios (Belen was MUCHO meaner than any of my real examiners)!

Oh yeah...I passed :)  

And now we are four...

This week in the Judki house has been hard.  After a very short illness, we had to put Rica to sleep.  She was diagnosed with diffuse lymphoma, resulting in inflammation of her pancreas and her liver--it made her very sick very fast.  For the furbaby who would eat anything (Sammie, you KNOW pink and white animal cookies are not for dogs!) at anytime (when mom and dad's communication was less than stellar, she had no problem downing two breakfasts or two dinners), she had refused to eat anything for a week and was unable to keep down water. Although you are never ready to see your pets go, we had lots of plans in the next few years for her to eat under Luke's chair and teach him how to fetch properly.  I love how much she meant to all our friends and family and many of the memories you have shared this past week are some of our fondest.  The epic Denver storm our first year of medical school with 'puppy stamps' in the snowbanks, our outdoor adventures including all twenty 14ers she summited, talking, barking, growling, fetching, tugging her way into our hearts.  Bailey is a bit adrift but is getting lots of extra trips to the fetch park and runs with mom.  Rica will be missed more than we could have ever imagined when we brought her home 9 years ago.  We appreciate all the thoughtful cards and sweet texts we have received this past week--it has made our sad loss a bit easier to bear--thank you.

Roon, may your dog bowl always be full, the snow always deep, the water always cool, and the fetch unending.  We will miss you, sweet girl.

Ode to My Husband

   Corny...yes.  Sappy...perhaps.  Necessary...absolutely.  As we celebrated our 6th anniversary this month, I started thinking about all that is Timothy Robert Judkins (yes, Craze, I DO know your middle name).
   Starting with the obvious, he is an exceptional husband.  Not in the 'does the dishes every night' sort of way or even in the 'will you please go shopping, Sarah, and spend some money' sort of way.  It is more the completely consistent, unwavering even-keeledness that defines him.  Rare is the moment of anger, impatience, or disorganization.  He packs the car for road trips, packs me for ski trips, and is nicer to the nurses when they page him at 3am than I could ever dream of being.

   That leads us to Tim, the surgeon.  He loves his job, is exceptionally good at it, and still finds time to teach and mentor his younger colleagues.  Enough said.

   Tim, the dad, is a new and exciting facet of my husband.  We are both pleasantly surprised at how amazing Luke is and feel completely blessed to have him in our lives.  That being said, not all dads get excited about 'diaper discovery' after a particularly loud and wet bout of flatulence, spend quality 'man time' together at 6am so mom can sleep a bit more, or revel in the whole new realm of kid gear that can now be legitimately shopped, researched, and purchased (whereas before, it was under the guise of shopping for Cody).

Total Recall baby

   Ah, shopping.  Tim and his gear.  He loves shopping for deals so much that he has purchased at least four spin bikes off of Craigslist for family and friends.  We are known by the UPS guy as the house that has a weekly 'little brown box' delivery and I am quite sure many of you can thank Tim's enthusiasm for Steep and Cheap that has resulted in your own 'little brown box' addiction.  Living in Salt Lake City within minutes of the Backcountry warehouse has not helped this gear shopping one iota, but I am a very well outfitted skiing/biking/camping/running mama because of him.
   And finally, my anniversary present.  The dislike of all things Apple is a trait that Tim is unwaveringly committed to.  No iPhones, iPads, iMacs, MacBooks--you get the idea.  He has even threatened to get rid of the iPods due to the inflexibility of iTunes.  So imagine my shocked surprise when I opened my anniversary present...

   Yup, a shiny, beautiful iPad.  Trying to avoid sounding ungrateful, I asked, 'An Apple product? In this house? Really?' Think I failed miserably at the not sounding ungrateful part--needless to say, it lasted approximately 10 hrs before it was returned for an Acer tablet, best one available on the market to date.  It was a moment of weakness, a small lapse in judgement rarely seen in my husband, but it was rectified in a nanosecond in usual efficient Judki fashion.