Teen Life Conference

Every year Touro University puts on something called Teen Life Conference, in which local high school students (few hundred) come to our campus and we have tables with health information, lectures, exercise classes, rock wall etc... to teach the kids about health and being healthy and eating healthy, an all around HEALTHY LIFESTYLE. I was in charge of putting together our booth on "What is a PA?" and "Confidentiality." I also gave a presentation on "Sugar in Soda, and replacing it with water!" So I wanted to share with you some of my highlights.

In one 12 oz. can of soda there is:

–207 Calories

–40 g of sugar

•Forty grams of sugar is the equivalent of 10 teaspoons of sugar.

•10 teaspoons of sugar is the equivalent of 20 sugar cubes

•Drinking one Coke a day for a year results in the consumption of 32 pounds of sugar.

A 120 lb individual will burn 100 calories for every mile ran (9 min mile). In order to burn 1 lb of fat (=3500 calories), the individual must run 35 miles.

One 12 oz can of soda a day can translate into 18 lbs of fat gained per year (HOT)!!! Is one 12 0z can of soda worth running for two miles?

hope you all enjoyed a bit of my lecture, there was more on water, but this is all I have time to do now!

I am procrastinating studying for my test, what's new right!

Every day I am in this program, I get more and more amazed at the intricacy of the human body, the amount of knowledge we do and don't have and what a miracle it is. All the while getting excited about my decision, but more and more fearful of the massive responsibility it has. I have never been more aware of the phrase "To much has been given, much is required!" Sometimes it seems like toooooo much, but I keep also learning over and over again that the Lord provides ways for us all to accomplish what it is we have been asked to do and His burden in light, and in a really weird way knowing this has made my mountains climbable:) I know this is a bit personal, but just wanted to share! I think about you all often and hope you are all AMAZING!!! Happy March!

Love, Kim

This is how I feel after two huge exams this week! the last of a run of six, I have a week off and then it all stars again :) School sure stretches you, but I wouldn't trade for anything :)

Kim

Ya...it's been over 2 months...

So we haven't blogged in awhile. I know Kim's been all over me to get it done, so sorry this is a lame post with quick recaps. I know the holidays were long enough ago that no one really cares to see our pictures, but I'll give you a tolerable taste and try to forgive and forget. I'll try to keep it current from here on out.

Kim's mom and sister Haley ice-skating in Utah.
The farm cat Dorkus that likes to climb on people.
Kim and her sisters acting normal on Christmas.
The Mahoney Family Christmas party.

With Uncle Sam at the Bitner Christmas party.

Winter weather in northern California.
Kim playing on the Touro University Championship Co-Ed Basketball team!

Thanksgiving 2009

My sister Sara and her husband Cody came out to visit us for Thanksgiving. We had a blast, we went to Pier 39 and Fisherman's wharf, Union Square and rode a Trolley all over San Francisco and looked at the lights. We watched the lighting of the big Macey's Christmas Tree at Union Square. We went shopping on Black Friday from 11:00 AM until 10:00 PM. We went to a beautiful Italian restaurant. Overall a great break, with wonderful family!

Halloween 2009

Halloween 2009 Party with my PA class!!!

YOSEMITE

Jake and I went to Yosemite last weekend, It was the end of my 10 day break and we thought we would run away for a couple days. Yosemite is beautiful. I absolutely love camping, I love the fresh air and the trees, I love cooking food in the fire and just forgetting about other life's stress (except I did study homework fireside- very intimate). I love the fact that there aren't any electronics while camping. Yosemite has so many beautiful rock formations and big red wood trees. Definitely one of my favorite places.

Deep Sea Fishing!

Jake's work took him and his team out deep sea fishing today. They went out to the ocean underneath the Golden Gate Bridge, and this is what Jake came home with!

This is Fisherman's wharf with all the seals saying goodbye at their departure!Jake came home with a Leopard Shark!!!! Pretty cool, now I have to figure out how to cook it, any ideas????

The Lungs!!!!

So since not a whole lot goes on in my life except school I thought I would share some of my favorite things with you all.

I metioned in my earlier post that my favorite organ in the body are the lungs. They actually are fairly large adn extend from the bottom of your rib cage all the way up under your clavicle (in a way when you put your hand on the top of your shoulders close to your neck your lungs extend that far up. They are very smooth and slimy and begin with a single esophagus that branches into two branches (L & R) then branches another 23 times in order to reach the most basic level where air exchange takes place into the blood stream.

So I'm sure you're wondering why they're my favorite. Does anyone love to pop the air-bubble-packaging that comes with vases etc... and you can pop them one by one. Well.... I love that stuff and the lungs kind of feel like hundreds of little tiny air-poppies, but of course they don't pop, all at the same time being extremely slimy and cold (love it). They are actually only 10% hard tissue and are 90% air when filled, but when you touch them they feel like a soft solid.

When I was at USU we actually blew up some pig lungs with an air pump, and they are actually quite large and blow up like balloons! AMAZING! I hope you love the lungs as much as I do.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3pfeXULyv0&feature=related#watch-main-area

The above link is to watch an inflation of Pig lungs, enjoy!

Some Fun Facts About the Lungs

• The right lung is slightly larger than the left.
• Hairs in your nose help to clean the air we breathe as well as warm it.
• The highest recorded "sneeze speed" is 99 miles per hour!
• The surface area of the lungs is roughly the same size as a tennis court.
• If placed end to end, capillaries would extend 960 miles.
• We lose half a liter of water every day through breathing.
• A person at rest breathes between 12-15 times a minute.
• The breathing rate is faster in children and women than it is in men.

The "Small" Intestines

So my cadaver lab is about as exciting as it gets around here and I thought I would tell you a little about what I am doing there. So for those of you who don't know a cadaver is a dead person and I have a group of 4 for my cadaver and we are doing a complete dissection of the human body. Let me just tell you that the human body is the most amazing creation on this earth. It is phenomenal how intricate it is and how something that looks like a little string can be a nerve that is completely responsible for all of your gastric functioning and more.

So far my group and I have dissected the back and all of the musculature (this involves skinning and removing each muscle layer by layer). The Chest's musculature and the thoracic cage (this involves cutting open the chest with a bone saw), the lungs (which are my favorite organ - like the way they feel), the heart, the entire abdominal cavity including the liver, stomach, etc... and one of the most fascinating and smelly organs of the body - THE INTESTINES. I'm sure you all know that the small intestine is actually 22 ft long (not small) and my classmates removed theirs and stretched it out along the room and you better believe that there was 22 ft in that little body. It is really funny because my teacher had to warn us NOT TO USE THE INTESTINES TO PLAY JUMP-ROPE. Of course we weren't doing that, but some previous class had and I guess that's just not cool, I was tempted though.

Bear Creek Half Marathon!

Now that Kim has started school, she's not really going to have any time to do anything fun. So she's been training for the last 6 weeks for the Bear Creek Half Marathon at Briones Regional Park near Walnut Creek, CA.

It was a warm day for a race, especially one where the trail climbs over 3,000 feet. It got up to about 100 degrees half-way through the race, but Kim kept it going and finished with a great time!

She is so amazing to have done so well on her first half marathon; all while starting medical school. I know this will be the first of many, now let's see if she can get me out for one! Great job sweetheart!

All smiles! (this is before it got up to 100 degrees)

Kim and her friend Joy from school.
Ready to go, about 50 people in the race.

On your mark, get set....
Go! Notice Kim in the back pushing people early on for some spacing....

Crossing the finish line!

The price paid!