682 !!

Can you even imagine what the importance of this number is??

Probably not...

Jason is now one week away from finishing up his year of rural surgery training in Grants Pass. And this is the number of surgeries he has done this year!! Six hundred and eighty-two.

Unfortunately, lots of what would be interesting to share is confidential and then most of the rest of it is a little too colorful for this blog. But here are a few memorable moments:


- After Noelle was born, our pediatrician greeted me at our office visit with, "I'm so glad your husband was on call this weekend [the weekend after Noelle was born], he saved my friend's mother's life!" I had no idea what she was talking about (Jason definitely had not ascribed such a thing to himself), but come to find out, he had been a hero that day. He hadn't felt particularly heroic, but to that person he was. You oftentimes have the greatest impact when you least expect it.

- A couple weeks ago, a patient arrived in the ER with a tracheal transection. He had been riding his motorcycle at dusk and clotheslined himself on a steel wire. Yikes! Jason cleverly intubated him through his nose (rather than his mouth) and was able to restore his airway. He survived the incident and was transfered to the university hospital for reconstructive surgery.

- Another wild one. A lady and her husband were in a car accident and brought to the ER here. She had terrible chest pain after the accident. The radiologist did not lend much assistance reading her chest CT. Jason earned a gold star that day. She had a diaphragmatic rupture! What ought to have been down in her belly was up in her chest.

- And on a lighter note. Jason has made great strides in changing dirty diapers... Perhaps having to remove about 10 pounds of poo from a patient (who had to get put to sleep for the ordeal) gave him a new perspective on the subject. :-)

It's been a great year. We'll miss being here. Jason has really worked hard and we're excited to see how God uses what he has learned. Next, Jason starts his chief (i.e. fifth and last!) year of training back in Portland on July 1st. We'll be moving soon and covet your prayers. Lots of transitions ahead.