Goodbye Tiny Tim

Well, we have begun the process of saying goodbye to Ohio and we started with Tiny Tim, our pet turtle.

The thought was that T-squared would have the best chance if we sent him to Turtle Nirvana well-nourished and still moving around. I figured we would be making him a spot in the flower bed next to Spike the fish, but the kids did a great job figuring out that these little guys need to have little live worms, and they won't eat unless they are under water, but not too much water.

We are down to the last few weeks here in Ohio, and have enjoyed being here. The kids seem to be just starting to settle in and make some friends, have been quite involved with activities and sports, and the weather is finally reasonable after 6-7 months of nastiness.

We still have to put a few final touches on things here, such as packing, selling our house, finding a place to live in Oregon, and such but I am looking at only 4 more calls left at the hospital, and most likely one about 2 more weeks of real work.

Have been using all of my "spare" time studying for my upcoming board exam in August, as well as putting the finishing touches on 3 different research projects.

Seems like it has been much longer than 5 years to me, but I suppose there are those who didn't even know we were even gone from Oregon. The children really don't have too many memories except here, so that part will be rough for them for a bit, but they will adjust well I am sure.

The training seems like it could go on forever before I am really "comfortable" doing things by myself, but on the other hand I am feeling safe enough to do large cases and even difficult ones on my own. Fortunately there have been all types of attendings here to train under. Some of the attendings always scrub in with me on all of my own cases, which is nice. Other attendings don't scrub in at all, and just call in to ask how I am doing, or if I have a question I call them in. At first that is a little nerve-wracking, but after the first case or two I actually appreciated that supervision, as it really gave me confidence that when I leave here and do my own cases by myself, I will have no problem, because I have actually been doing my own cases for many months now, and even some large complex cases.

Really happy about not having to take any more trauma call pretty soon. Really happy that I won't be up all night ever 4th night, pulling 30+ hour shifts and just getting farther and farther behind in my rest and out of contact with my family. Will really be glad to be busy, but I would much rather be really busy with my own patients, and not doing all of the mundane residency stuff, ICU coverage, trauma call, backing up all of the neurosurgeons, vascular surgeons and in-house residents.

Have enjoyed many things of the training process, and have been able to work with some great surgeons, but am really glad it is coming to an end soon.

Well, good bye Tiny Tim. We hope you are swimming around in Frog Pond where the worms fall into your path, the sun shines on your log, and you find other turtles to play with.

Suppose we will have to get a pet lizard or something that the girls aren't allergic to when we move out to Oregon next month.

Tiny Tim

From Spring 2011

This little fellow is cute. (Alec is too, but he hates it when we say that.)

The turtle is a Midland Painted Turtle. Very common in Ohio. Probably not more than two weeks from hatching. About the size of a quarter.

Our children have wanted a pet so badly. In the midst of this time of upheaval and change I think it is a marvelous gift from the Lord that he would provide this tiny creature for the kids to dig worms for and laugh and coo at. I read once in a good book that children need three things every day: Something to DO. Something to THINK ABOUT. Something to LOVE.

They really do love that little thing. Anne has allergies to dogs and cats (and probably to other hairy creatures, but no one has ever offered to test her for allergies to horse or cat or gerbil :)). Although the kids know that it will be difficult for us to ever have the kind of pet they long for, they still hope for it and talk about it and ask about it. Often.

So I feel especially blessed by God that He has provided this very real pet for us to enjoy for a few days/weeks.

We have been worried since we had read that it is very difficult to get hatchlings to eat. The plan was to keep the turtle a day or two and then let him go quickly if we couldn't get him to eat anything. This morning, Tiny Tim sat in the old fish tank (with a little bit of water and some rocks in it) in the middle of breakfast table so the kids could watch him while we ate. He started to pull on the worm that the kids had picked up off the pavement. They were delighted to see him pull off a big piece and chomp away on it. "He's eating! He is happy with us!" I don't know about that, but it is good that he is eating and it will make me comfortable letting them keep him for a couple more days.