ACL in humans, CCL in dogs...

Not a merry xmas for Clifford... Well, Clifford did blow out his CCL and had surgery on Thursday (a TTA not TLPO). He was a disaster that afternoon and night. He is doing better daily and WANTS to jump/run/hump etc but is stuck on a short leash and, when we are not around, with a cone on his head. His whole Left back leg, buttocks, and lower back is shaved and he is stoned on pain meds half the time. So far we have gotten through day 2 of 60 of torture. In about 10 days he gets his staples out so can get the cone off but he is not allowed off leash for 2 months (and then only if the xrays show bone healing). It is horrible for him and me. I put out my back lifting him up the stairs and have been on pain meds myself. On a good note the Vet said the surgery went well and he is already putting weight on the leg.
As for Christmas it really was a good one since I was on call at the hospital but had a very easy call and got to spend much of the day with Clifford trying to make him feel better about the situation I had gotten him into.
I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and will have a wonderful New Year.
Love, Peace and to a successful surgery!

like mom like dog....

Unfortunately I think Clifford blew his ACL yesterday. I have done both of mine and the research in the dog community is if they do 1 they have a 30-50% chance of doing the other. Then there is surgery... most of the vets say surgery is necessary and it is a LONG recovery for a dog who is QUITE active and would have to be not active for several months. I am torn as to what to do. There are some suggestions per my research on the internet to wait 2 months and see if they recover on their own and so I may head that way but first it is the vet on Thursday to see what really happened and what they say. Tis a bummer since Clifford LOVES to play and LOVES to play in the snow.
As for the rest of the week... all is good. Tis full on-season now as I couldn't find any parking yesterday in town when I went to the pharmacy. Work is good and we had 1 doc on vacation the last 2 weeks so it will be good to have him back tomorrow. We have lots o activities planned for the next several weeks with work, friends visiting from CA, Brad's bro coming the beginning of Jan etc etc.
That is the news from now in CO... Love and Peace and strong ACLs are wished to you all!

CKF 2009 and Opening Day Highlands

So this was a fun week with work continuing to be busy and on season coming to reality! Then this weekend has been catching up on my outdoor life. I hiked with Clifford for several hours and then after seeing Brad at his spectacular Opening Day at Highlands show I went to do the Chris Klug Foundation Summit for Life Hike up Aspen mountain at night (a charity hike to support organ donation... check out it out on google). It was hard since I haven't been able to train for it... AND AWESOME (Dad, I was going to say "spectacular" but the awesome was for you). I am exhausted but happy. Tomorrow it is more hiking with Clifford, maybe some boarding and a holiday party for AMC. Hope you enjoy the pics!!!

returns...

Got back from CA and re-entry was not easy (especially with a cold) BUT got back to work and it was good. Had the AVH season party at the Roaring Fork Club which was beautiful and there was a good turnout. That was fun. Then yesterday found an AWESOME hike that is new in an area I hiked before so was THRILLED with that. It was challenging, beautiful, a loop etc etc. really nice. Then I visited a friend who just had surgery and brought her things to distract her during recovery. Woke up this am to snow. Tis full on winter now... see the picture out of my bedroom window? Did some shoveling and baking this am, have a provider meeting at my house today and then Brad should get back from CA. On the not so good side my friend I am trying to recruit decided not to come and that is a bummer but at least his work made his situation significantly better for him. His dog (who I have known for 11 years) died so he is sad... I can't imagine how it will be when Clifford goes. In fact my friend I visited after her surgery has a dog just diagnosed with terminal cancer (I have known him for many years also) so we are all getting older. Tis a bummer sometimes. BUT on a good note life is awesome and I am lucky to have known these people and animals and this is all a part of the circle of life.
Hope you are all well and happy... Happy Holidays :)

Thanksgiving at Plasket Creek

Well this was an awesome week after my last one. Flew from Aspen to San Jose and was delayed in Aspen but a friend held the plane for me in Denver so I didn't miss my flight from Denver to San Jose (YEAH DAN!), then drove to Santa Cruz where we stayed with my friends Mahlon, Ellen and their kids Leah and Miles. We had a reunion party of all the folks from Strawberry music festival and it was FABULOUS! Then we drove the next day to Plasket Creek and hung out with about 30-50 rocket scientist hippies... while camping on the beach we had a kitchen sink with hot and cold running water, a hot shower, a hot tub in a tepee, a huge food tent with about 8 chafing dishes full of food 24/7 and LOTS of music, good company and fun! I ate SOOOOO much and there was gourmet food galore. I got to hike up a mountain and walk along the beach every day and the weather was spectacular! I can't wait to send pictures (when I get home I will upload them onto this). I heard my family in NY had a great Thanksgiving get together and got GREAT NEWS from a friend that her visa came through so all in all a fantastic Thanksgiving with tons to be thankful for!
Hoping you all had a similar wonderful Thanksgiving... lots of love and peace out to the world, Kim

120 hour week...

I just finished my 120 hour week. I used to do this all the time; for 3 years in a row during residency and again for long periods of time after BUT not in a long time. It is exhausting and I feel tired and fat. I can't believe I used to do this on a regular basis!!! YUCK.
For now I will spend this weekend catching up, cleaning up and exercising. It was, however busy, a good week in that we have a PA student with us and we have had lots of interesting cases so shown her very good medicine. I have participated in some very good meetings and made some seriously good progress at work in making things more fair business-wise. I am still LOVING our new office space (it really is spectacular and everything I had hoped it would be). AND the weather is still good today so at least today I will get to enjoy some beautiful CO life.
No pictures for now but next blog for sure. I will be going to CA to camp on Big Sur for next weekend and it will be a MUCH needed break with no phone/computer/responsibility. So pix of camping in Big Sur coming your way next time. Hope all are well, happy and healthy! Love, peace and sleep... yahooooooo.

Animal Kingdom

Hi all... Winter is back with full force. It has snowed a lot in the last several days and I am VERY glad I have my studded tires on. I have started shoveling the roof, and the walkway. Also we have had some more animals visiting. We have had a wolf (or very large fox), lots of deer/elk and hawks galore. The bear are asleep we think. Clifford has had fun tracking and has managed to bring in a large bone from a large animal and eat it all over our house (thoroughly disgusting Brad).

I have been busy with work and have been on call this weekend but luckily off-season has finally hit so it hasn't been that bad. My friend Ken (who we are trying to recruit) was here last week and that was fun. Also had a medical student (who was brilliant) here for the last month and she left Friday. She did a good job of keeping us on our toes.

Hope you are all well.... Lots of love and good vibes...

Halloween at AMC

Halloween 2009

Just got home from a Halloween in Carbondale... Dressed as the Wolverene and Rogue. Gives Brad an idea of what I will look like with grey hair...

We listened to some friends play music. Tomorrow is a birthday party for my friends son and HIKING I hope. Then back for a busy week of work. Unfortunately, after a good week this week at work I tried to hot sync lots of my stuff onto my computer and lost everything on my calender. I imagine I will be missing a lot of events/meetings since if it isn't in my computer it doesn't happen. BUMMER...

Hope you are all well...

Summit For Life

I just signed up for the Chris Klug Foundation Summit For Life race up Aspen Mountain December 12th... He sponsers organ donation and getting people signed up. He is an organ recipiant and within a year of getting his new liver he won silver in snowboarding in the Olympics AND is an all around GREAT GUY with a GREAT CAUSE... if you want to sponser me Summit for Life. Go to summitforlife.org. Just pick me as a racer and it is self explanatory from there.

Shitkicker's Ball

Well, we had another week at work that is like any other week although the flu scare seems to be easing off. We now have a very smart medical student with us from the U. of CO which is keeping us on our toes. I also had to take PALS on Thursday and since I found out Wednesday night that they forgot to give me one of the study books I feel lucky I passed. We even finished the course and testing early so Dewayne, his wife, Clifford and I went on an awesome hike from Tyak to the Sugar Bowels and back along the Government trail. It was 2 hours of spectacular scenery. Then Friday night after work I met with Shinta and then went to have dinner at Brad's folks house and that was awesome. Marty's back is only slightly better but anything is better than nothing and Carolyn is doing ok after her week of radiation (although concerned about some scarring). Then Saturday Clifford and I had a good hike, met a friend in town and then Brad and I went to the Shitkicker's Ball with a bunch of old time Aspenites at the Jerome Hotel in western wear. The outfits were fantastic, food good, people fun and band great. In fact Brad went up and joined the band for a couple of songs. Also 2 patients of mine were at the event who I had actually made a difference in their lives and they told me so which was a nice feeling. Brad and I really enjoyed being part of the real locals of Aspen. Today, Clifford and I took 2 awesome hikes from the house and just enjoyed being outside in the last bastion of Fall before Winter hits. A good and relaxing weekend overall. Hope you all had similar!

the return of fall and the reminder that winter isn't so bad

So we just had another crazy week at work. H1N1 has made it so we have not had an off-season and we have been really busy. We are trying to recruit another doc to help us out and had an interview with a GREAT doc/friend of mine but I think it is a long shot that he will really move here. It would be AWESOME if it would happen but I am not keeping my fingers crossed. Then the weekend hit and it has been an astoundingly beautiful weekend. The weather has been spectacular and I hiked with Clifford yesterday and today. Then it is catching up with work that needs to be done ie re-applying for privileges at AVH and studying for PALS. In the meantime, in order to avoid work, I uploaded this to try to get myself psyched for winter (which I am not really ready for). Also had a good conversation with Greg (I am liking our weekly catch-up sessions). That is it for this week other than Brad and I went on a date last night and saw "where the wild things are" which was ok but not great... GREAT COSTUMES and the kid was cute but not much else you can do to make a movie out of that awesome book.

local adventures...

This week we returned to Aspen and work. Work was fine and busy with H1N1. There are quite a few cases but also lots of regular viruses and lots of people who are worried. I worked Saturday and then went on to hike with Clifford and then to an English in Action fund raiser "tamale event". It was full of good people and good food. Very enjoyable. Today I woke up late and talked with Greg and James (very pleasant) and then hiked Clifford and then was joined by Shinta and her family to go to the Deaf Camp open house. Sekar did the zip line and lots of fun things. We then went to a Northstar open house to benefit them and honor John Denver who was very involved in their work. It was so fun. Back to work tomorrow and another week of more of the same. I will include pictures later if I can find them...

Carolyn and Marty's 50th

We went to CO Springs and stayed at the Chyanne Bed and Breakfast. It was very relaxing with wonderful folks running the lodge. They showed us a great time with increadible food, homey feeling and a wonderful atmosphere. We went to the Garden of the Gods, local cliff dwellings, and hiked a little around the area, went out to some great dinners and had an all around good time. I would suggest it for anyone's 50th (hint hint)...

tis summer again...

This week started with snow on the last day of summer and since then has improved. Yesterday and today were beautiful. Work was good this week and things are getting done at my office. Saturday was a great day of work in the morning, a hike after that, a movie and then a party. It was nice to get some work done and then be able to still have a full day. Today was waking up late and hiking and then I plan to go meet a friend from CA who is visiting. I can't wait to see her. Then it is another work week that should be quite busy. The flu season is keeping our office quite full.
PS, the pix is a view looking into a window of the building on the top of Buttermilk with some plants inside (the clear plants on the left), a reflection of the mountains behind me (the large image in the center) and the view through another window on the other side of the building of where I had just came from (the smaller square image on the right).

telluride 2009

We always go to the Telluride Blues and Brews festival for Brad's birthday and this year was no exception but it was an exceptional weekend. We are glad we didn't take our motorcycles since we LOVED our 10x10 tent in this weekend of sun/rain/hail/snow... our regular tent was SOAKED at the end (but we stayed dry) and our 10x10 didn't fair well through the last wind storm so had to be sacrificed but it served us well while it lasted. We had a great time listening to GREAT music including Big Head Tod (subbing for Xavier Rudd who cancelled at the last minute to my supreme sadness since I LOVE Xavier), Jackie Greene, Joe Cocker, Buddy Guy, Umphrey's McGee, Anders Osborne, Ruthie Foster, Taj Mahal and Bonnnie Raitt AND the BONTAJ ROULET with Taj and Bonnie together which was fantastic! We got to hang out with the Sisters (our friends from Lyons who make GREAT Asian food) and tons of friends from all over. We got Vendor access, Back Stage and were even on-stage for Anders Osborne which was AWESOME and we got VIP access for the major hail storm! IT WAS GREAT! We showed a friend who had never been there an awesome time and he would have frozen without us (all he had was flip flops and t-shirts and fell in love with our Mr Heater).

We got back today to the frenzy of getting ready for the week. I already tutored Shinta, went to a hospital meeting and started to answer my 84 emails. ALSO dried out the SOAKING WET tent and got VERY MUDDY clothes laundered. Even got to wear and wash Gloria's awesome hippie skirt which Kay gave me which EVERYONE always comments on and loves (thank you Kay and Gloria). Wearing that makes me channel Woodstock ESPECIALLY when it is as muddy as it was this last weekend. Anyway it is back to my 6 day work week with call (ughh)...

Love to you all, Me