The last three months . . .

The last three months have been life-defining.  I don't say that lightly either.  I have felt pretty much every emotion under the sun to the very extreme.  I have been extremely blessed and watched out for through this time, however.  You would think changing careers and moving to the big city would be enough of a change for me, but I never like to do things the easy way so I fractured my wrist (again) 2 weeks after beginning my job. For anybody who may be wondering what on earth I have been doing for the last 3 months, here's the scoop!

My Job
My job is awesome.  I feel so fortunate to have landed this job.  I love the people I work with and I am grateful for the opportunity to work in such a wonderful organization. I have wanted to work at Huntsman Cancer Institute since before I began my master's degree.  I thought it would take a while for it to happen for me, but the timing was right.  It's honestly a dream come true for me.

So what exactly do I do? My job is a Study Coordinator in the Clinical Trials Office of Huntsman Cancer Institute. The overall goal of a clinical trial is to bridge the gap between the lab discovery and the use of the medication to treat the disease.  My specific role is in the GI cancers. I also have some phase I studies that I am working on.  Phase I studies are the first time the medication has been studied in humans. The goal of the phase I study is to determine side effects and toxicities and the optimum dose. Phase I studies are usually done on patients with "solid tumors."  So these patients can have all different kinds of cancer (colon, ovarian, thyroid, etc.).  These patients are incredible to me.  To be involved in a clinical trial, they are going literally where no man has gone before and committing to giving a lot of their time and energy when they may not feel well from their cancer and/or the treatment.  It's a humbling experience to work with these people.  Some of them are very sick and I'm becoming much more acquainted with death. I mostly work with collecting the data and putting it into a format that can be analyzed.  I'm learning a lot and very happy to be where I'm at.  Here's an awesome video about our department.



My Wrist
My first day at  Huntsman was June 25.  The new job was overwhelming and moving and settling in on top of that was just plain hard.  I had completed my first 2 weeks and was finally feeling like I understood my job a little bit and was settled into my new home.  I had just come back after a weekend in Cache Valley and was walking into my house at about 8:45 at night.  It was starting to get dark.  As I was walking up the driveway, I tripped over the curb.  I fell onto my hands and knew immediately that I was injured pretty badly.  I was lightheaded and nauseous and in a lot of pain.  I made my way into the house and asked Paula (my roommate) to take me to the emergency room.  I fractured my left wrist in June of 2005 and had to have surgery to put it back together.  I had a problem with the plate and screws so they were removed in December of that same year and I've been fine ever since.  Until July 8.  After x-rays demonstrated a fracture that was displaced, it was apparent that I would need surgery.  The doctor did a hematoma block which made it feel a whole lot better.  Since I had some pain relief from that, she thought it would be a good idea to try to get my fracture into a better position.  Enter: Finger traps. She put these little yellow things on my fingers and hooked it up to an IV pole.  Then she added weight over my elbow.  If it sounds like a torture device, it kind of was.  Here's the photo evidence:

Needless to say, I missed a week of work.  Everybody was great to work with me and very understanding of the situation.  I met with the hand specialist on Tuesday and had surgery on Thursday.  I was in a cast for a month. Doing everything one handed was a challenge, but I got through it.  I have a nasty scar which is nothing new since I had a nasty scar from the first fracture. I'll probably always have some arthritis in it, but in general, I can't complain.  I'm very fortunate. Things could have been a lot worse than they were and for that I am grateful.  There is nothing quite like seeing people who have an illness that they will never recover from to put wearing a cast for a month into perspective. I felt pretty fortunate that I was dealing with a fracture and not the diagnosis that so many other people are dealing with.

The Big City
I miss Cache Valley and my friends up there.  I miss being close to my parents and sister.  Whenever I feel sad, I remind myself that I have a Target nearby.  I love where I'm living and who I live with.  My new ward is wonderful and I feel very blessed.  I know I am where I am supposed to be and that makes everything easier.