Copyright of The Beauty of the Lord Blog
Friday, January 18, 2013
Thursday, January 17, 2013
Nutrition for the Little People
Last week I had the privileged of completing a week long rotation in a specialized pediatric hospital. I loved it! My mind reeled at times, wondering just how I (and other intern like me) had never caught a glimpse into the world of pediatric nutrition. Much of our course-work as undergrads was aimed simply at basic equipage of nutrition facts, medical conditions and various resources to ready us for the great wide world of nutrition. Knowing the entirety of the vast realm of nutrition is the unthinkable and impossible, and yet I couldn’t help but complete my pediatric rotation wondering why, oh why no one had ever so much as mentioned a peep as to what a pediatric RD does, the challenges they face and the incredible rewards that sparkle and glimmer through the uncertain and often tragic stories of these precious little ones and their families. Here is what I loved about it:
- The collaborative feel amount the staff members. There is something undeniably special about the personality and character qualities of people (especially healthcare professionals) that love kids. This feeling, along with a welcoming feeling of warmth was pervasive amongst the entire hospital culture.
- The emphasis of nutrition. Ask anyone working in Peds and they will tell you that kids are nothing without their nutrition. The best therapies, medications and interventions will 99.99% of the time go nowhere without proper nutrition. For example, an infant’s stomach grows from the size of a shoot marble on day 1 to golf ball on day 3 and then a large egg by day 7. The what, how often and how much of infant and childhood nutrition is vital to their healing…and the MDs at this hospital knew it. They truly valued the advice and expertise of the RDs.
- The helpful and encouraging actions and words of all the RDs. They offered me handouts and gave me articles at my request. They went over calculations and quizzed me on my answers. They told me about the upcoming “RD Residency” program they will be starting and offered to have me shadow them any time! They were just plain awesome!
- The kids. Regardless of the tubes, the facial deformities, the smells, the alphabet soup of abbreviations listing their medical problems, each of the little ones that my eyes fell on where precious. Sometimes I felt like for just a second, I was seeing these kids as God saw them. They had fuzzy red hair, or chubby cheeks, or they were smiling in their sleep. Beyond the physical uniqueness they had incredible, “unseen” value. Also equally important, was the reality that being each child was parent and a family. Whether it was the teenage mom rocking her baby in the very low birth weight (VLBW) infant ward, the mom of a disabled 14 YO girl with cerebral palsy who sometimes had to carry her around, or the dad of the little girl being monitored for cystic fibrosis…all of them had stories swirling beneath the frothing waves of the clinical or outpatient setting.
This rotation was a wonderful reminder of the precious value of every life. Oh, how we , how I, often constrain worth and value to mankinds’ measuring sticks rather than letting it explode into the vibrant, unthinkably deep thing that God created it to be. ..to see it as it really is… without eyes so tainted by sin. This is a prized lesson I want to carry into each rotation.
I am not sure just what God has for my future, but after this rotation I find that I have a very large spot in my heart for pediatric nutrition! This just might be something I would like to invest long term into…but we will just have to wait and see!
- The collaborative feel amount the staff members. There is something undeniably special about the personality and character qualities of people (especially healthcare professionals) that love kids. This feeling, along with a welcoming feeling of warmth was pervasive amongst the entire hospital culture.
- The emphasis of nutrition. Ask anyone working in Peds and they will tell you that kids are nothing without their nutrition. The best therapies, medications and interventions will 99.99% of the time go nowhere without proper nutrition. For example, an infant’s stomach grows from the size of a shoot marble on day 1 to golf ball on day 3 and then a large egg by day 7. The what, how often and how much of infant and childhood nutrition is vital to their healing…and the MDs at this hospital knew it. They truly valued the advice and expertise of the RDs.
- The helpful and encouraging actions and words of all the RDs. They offered me handouts and gave me articles at my request. They went over calculations and quizzed me on my answers. They told me about the upcoming “RD Residency” program they will be starting and offered to have me shadow them any time! They were just plain awesome!
- The kids. Regardless of the tubes, the facial deformities, the smells, the alphabet soup of abbreviations listing their medical problems, each of the little ones that my eyes fell on where precious. Sometimes I felt like for just a second, I was seeing these kids as God saw them. They had fuzzy red hair, or chubby cheeks, or they were smiling in their sleep. Beyond the physical uniqueness they had incredible, “unseen” value. Also equally important, was the reality that being each child was parent and a family. Whether it was the teenage mom rocking her baby in the very low birth weight (VLBW) infant ward, the mom of a disabled 14 YO girl with cerebral palsy who sometimes had to carry her around, or the dad of the little girl being monitored for cystic fibrosis…all of them had stories swirling beneath the frothing waves of the clinical or outpatient setting.
This rotation was a wonderful reminder of the precious value of every life. Oh, how we , how I, often constrain worth and value to mankinds’ measuring sticks rather than letting it explode into the vibrant, unthinkably deep thing that God created it to be. ..to see it as it really is… without eyes so tainted by sin. This is a prized lesson I want to carry into each rotation.
I am not sure just what God has for my future, but after this rotation I find that I have a very large spot in my heart for pediatric nutrition! This just might be something I would like to invest long term into…but we will just have to wait and see!
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
Defining 2013
If you could have one
word that described your year what would it be? This was the question Mom asked me one chilly
Sunday evening as we took a walk bundled in our sweatshirts and beanies. I guess it’s a popular thing going around in
the blog-sphere…to pick a word that defines 2013.
I thought about it and batted around different ideas before
the word really landed on me. Literally...that just kind of what happened. It
landed and I just had to catch it in time.
When I looked to see just what word I was holding I saw it was the word…
SATISFIED
Perfect. That is indeed
my word for the year.
I want to be
satisfied with God….with what He is…with what He is not….with what He gives…
with what He withholds….with the unknowns…with the chronic fatigue….with the
growth I am experiencing in my spiritual walk... with the reality that I cannot
fix the problems my friends are facing….
Oh, there is so much more that I wish to be satisfied with,
and yet it all revolves around being
satisfied in God and His activity in my life and the lives of those around
me: my family, my friends, my church and my nation. It isn’t
about quenching the insatiable desires with therapeutic things so that I don’t
feel or want or pine for. It is about my
relationship with Jesus. When satisfied with
Him I can feel hurt or happiness fully, I can be full or lack, I can be perceived
as an excellent or mediocre …. and it is all ok.
If SATISFIED is the word to define 2013 for me…..what would
yours be?
Sunday, January 6, 2013
New Year Updates...I Am Alive
I feel really alive tonight. That doesn’t happen every evening, although
it seems to happen on the nights when I am supposed to be working on homework (especially
if it is due the next day). My dear
mother said I should at least check in and let the bloggy world know that I am
still alive and while I have the energy to do so. So I am.
Pleases understand that I have had so many good intentions
about blogging. I actually had several
lined up…and then later couldn’t find them (I still can’t!). Reality is that I have been busy…and tired.
And not wanting to look at a computer screen when I have just spent4 – 6
hours looking at one. I will be brief. Let me give you the highlights of the space
that has occupied the silence of these last 4-ish months.
Internship Activities….
·
I have completed my dietetic foodservice
rotation at my hospital St B and a nearby school district.
o
I have conducted plate taste studies, interviewed
countless nutrition program directors, counseled moms in the WIC program,
written several papers/reports, conducted an outreach activity to Dr.’s offices,
modified diets, conducted a cafeteria survey and begun to understand our
complicated freeway system…..oh the hundreds of miles I have driven already!
·
Began my clinical rotation this week. I am sporting a nice white lab coat. Boy do I look official (don’t be fooled
though, I don’t totally know what I am doing!).
I will pretty much be in this rotation until June.
Other Activities….
·
Went
cross country skiing for the very first time over Christmas break and fell in
love with it. I have discovered my “inner
Norsewoman!”
·
Went on some hikes with family
·
Got together with friends for a “friends-giving”
·
Food I
have fallen in love with …. roasted beets and a carrot celery crunchy salad
with flaxseed and dill dressing (a recipe entirely of my own creation!) I must
say I am addicted to the “crunch” of it all!
Flaxseed oil is amazing…even as a face moisturizer! No joke!
·
Fallen out
of favor with other foods….turnips and I don’t get along! Unfortunately I must abandon broccoli, cauliflower
and their cousin Brussels sprouts too! So sorry fellas!
·
Started
going gluten and lactose free and found much relief from the bloating! For years I never knew what that uncomfortable
feeling was every time I finished eating.
Always wondered why everything
used to bother my tummy. On the one hand
it has been a “yippy skippy” and the other an “on my” challenge. Good thing I am a Foodie or this could be
tougher cuz there is really no going back now.
I finally feel like I have fallen in to some sort of grove of being a dietetic intern. The other day that I actually realized I had the mindset of anticipation what is next rather than that uncomfortable uncertain feeling of lost-ness despite that craziness of it all. There are still months ahead of challenge and no doubtless uncertainly, but I am trusting God with all of that. He has blessed me in incredible ways and I marvel and His sustaining hand.
I look forward sharing more with you about it all….hopefully
before yet another 4 months slides by!
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