Merry Christmas!!  : )  It has been a whirlwind week, and part of me still can't believe that it's Christmas morning.  This past weekend I took the first part of my state certification testing for my EMT-B license, which was the practical exam.  For the exam, there are several 'stations' each of which presents a different scenario (for example, an unresponsive/not breathing patient in need of CPR/AED, a broken wrist that needs splinting, etc.).  The first station that I got assigned to was a victim with a broken femur (that huge bone in your thigh).  As I stood before the two state examiners mentally rehearsing all the little known facts that I knew about broken femurs, I gave them the nod and began verbalizing the steps I needed to take.  But after the first step I had one small problem - my mind suddenly went completely blank and I totally forgot what Step 2 was.  My mind was racing and I decided that I couldn't just stand there staring blankly so I knelt by our 'patient' and began to examine the arm for a radial pulse, sensation, and motor function.  The arm.  I was examining the arm of a patient with a broken femur.  Why I thought that was a good thing to do, I'm not sure!  But as soon as I finished looking at the arm my brain cleared and I remembered all the remaining steps with ease.  My partner told me that the look on my face when I realized what I was doing was priceless.  After that small bout with nerves, I managed to go through the rest of the stations without any hiccups and - although they don't explicitly tell you - I think I passed!  An early Christmas present to be sure.

The rest of the week flew by, beginning with my trip to NYC to see The Tree in Rockefeller Square and many other Christmas sights.  Next came the Hendrickson Christmas celebration - always a highlight.  We draw names at Thanksgiving so each person buys for one other person, and this year baby Connor had me.  He (slash Kevin and Emma, his parents) did an awesome job and gave me some new winter running clothes - I've already put them to good use!  Then yesterday on Christmas Eve my family was all together for the day  : )  including my little nephew Nathan.  My parents went along with the running theme and I am now the owner of a Garmin GPS running watch - pretty sweet!!  I'm excited to put it to use...after I figure out how to use it of course.

All in all it's been a great week, and a reminder of how lucky I am to be surrounded by such great family and friends.  A popular status on FB lately has been, The average person has 1000 wishes, but a cancer patient only has one: to get well.  This Christmas I hope you'll join me in helping to bring that wish to reality for many patients by donating to the DFMC team.  Click Here to visit my fundraising page and donate!

Thank you, and have a very Merry Christmas!!