Michelle Barron

Michelle was born in Blackfoot, Idaho. Her family moved to England and now she's back! There are 4 kids in her family. She has 1 daughter, Sydni. She went to school in England and Blackfoot High School. She worked as an RN in England. She loves to eat anywhere that has good food. She has been to Spain, Turkey, and Euro Disney. Bet not many other people here have been to Euro Disney! Interesting facts: She has done line dancing, clogg dancing-with wooden shoes!, and Morris dancing. She says don't knock it until you try it. If you don't know what Morris dancing is, go an ask Michelle, I asked and I am glad I did! Something she didn't tell me that I know is her grandpa was Harry Pope. He was a patient here at the clinic that was one of Sandra and my favorite patients.

Debras updates from April

For those of you who haven't seen the e-mails Debra Erramouspe has sent to Sheila that is hanging on the board back by the kitchen, I thought I would post them. So, here they are:

April 12:
The weekend is here and hospital day 6. Now we are doing a count down to Wed. When the stem cell transplant occurs, so we are on minus day 4 (-4). That will be Preston's second birthday, April 16. We pretty much have a set routine for the days--walking, reading the paper, reading books, getting on the computer, playing games. Her refers to the hospital room as his jail cell. He finished the first round of chemo last night. the second round starts tomorrow. He is doing pretty good. A lot of nausea, but continues to make himself eat. Jim started his injections today to stimulate his bone marrow to produce stem cells. Things are going as scheduled. We will have a party wed. some have asked about our granddaughters name: Shea, 8lbs & 9oz. 20in. Born on April 3. She has a grat set of lungs to make her wishes known. Thanks for all the good vibes. Have a good weekend.
Debra & Preston
April 17:
Preston had his stem cell transplant yesterday, so that is his 2nd birthday from now on. Jim donated 9.3 million stem cells over the 2 days. We are so grateful to him for this chance to beat this leukemia. They infused a little over half of the stem cells and froze the rest, to be used later if needed. Preston has had this sudden urge to ride a horse and pitch hay since the stem cell infusion. He is on medication to help prevent rejection of the stem cells and on medication to help control the side affects of the medicines. Once again we are waiting for his blood counts to recover. We are lucky (if you believe that) to have this opportunity to cure this disease. Enjoy your day and life, and make the most of each. Debra& Preston
April 21:
It is day 5 since the stem cell transplant. Preston is doing fairly well, he experiences generalized fatigue and nausea. He continues to make himself eat and walk. His blood counts are bottoming out again and should return in 2-3 weeks, when engrafment starts to occur. He had blood transfusions yesterday and now recieves O+ blood, so Preston will be O+ from now on. I have befriended 5 other spouses and only one is a man. The majority of beds are filled with men. This place does not lack for business. We each have our own story and hardships. I am very fortunate to work where I do and have the support to be at the hospital with Preston. There are several pt form Idaho. One couple has lost their home. We share our experiences and offer support to one another. We are all in agreement that the Bone Marrow Transplant Team at the LDS hospital is fantastic and thatt we are in the right place. Take care, Debra & Preston.
April 26:
It is day 10 since the transplant. The last 2 days have been kind of rough. He has a lot of nausea, fatigue, and a shor throat. We have been told that these are common symptoms from the chemo & the transplant. The medications to help control the symptoms makes him pretty tired, He continues to makehimself eat, shower, and walk. We are waiting for his blood counts to coome up, once again. We feel like we are in the movie "Ground Hog Day", (been there done that). He has been in the hospital over 100 days since getting diagnosed. Maybe we are suppsed to develop patience ( a trait neirther of us is very good at). We have had some friends visit from home, We appreciate all the thoughts, prayers, cards, messages, and words of encouragement. thes things make our days so much better. Talk to you later.

For those of you that got to go to the lunch at the Shelley Clinic, I bet you had a good time. The lunch was great, people were nice, and we were able to be out in the warm sun. Shelley invited our clinic and the Firth Clinic to go to the Shelley Clinic to meet the Shelley employees, see the clinic, and eat! They took us on a tour and had delicous finger foods. The clinic is Shelley is beautiful. I liked the miniture skeletons that are in some of the patient rooms. They said Dr. Erickson uses them to show people where they are hurt. Kay has decorated the trees in the waiting room and kitchen. They say the patients love seeing how they are decorated. They decorated them for all the holidays and seasons. Kay also has a collection of stuffed animals for the kids to get when they are having labs, shots, or x-rays. They also gave us poems with some mints and a gratitude rock. The gratitude rock is for us to keep in our pockets and if we are having a bad day or a hard patient we can hold it in our hand and be grateful for what we have or as Kay said, be grateful we aren't related. Thanks Shelley Clinic!

Tarena Thomas

Tarena was born in Rexburg, Idaho. She has ived in Menan, Provo, and Idaho Falls. She comes from a family of 5. She has to "children" Bubba and Bo. She has pictures of them in the lab I believe! She has 11 Nieces and 4 2/3 nephews. She loves to go to Vegas, go camping, and fishing. She is the Lab supervisor and a Medical Technologist. She loves to read and create pictures using seed bead weaving. She will have to show us some of her work!

Lab Duo

Liz Hernandez is a laid back kinda gal. She works in our lab as a phlebotomist. She is the one on the left. Liz was born in Blackfoot and has lived here all her life. She has 2 brothers, Mike and Leo. She graduated from Snake River High School and then went to Beauty School. She did do nails in Pocatello for a while. We are glad that she likes being a phelebotomist better than doing nails! Her favorite place to eat is Applebees, yummy! Last year she went to Mexico and had a lot of fun. She would like to go to Greece, maybe someday she will get the chance. She has been at the clinic for 6 years and can't seem to leave (it is because she loves us all so much!), she likes it here. She loves being with her family and friends.
Jennifer Hanson, aka Jen, works in the lab, also as a phlebotomist. Jen was born in Longview, Washington. We will have to look on the map to find out where that is! She has lived in Washington, Idaho, and Utah. She is from a family of 9 kids, 4 girls, 4 boys, and her. She has 2 B-E-A-utiful girls, Morgan Bess-age 9 and Abigail Lynn-age 7.Jen graduated from Madison High School-one of them Bobcats, and from Idaho State University. Jen loves to travel and would love to go anywhere. She loves to eat at Wingers. She says her girls are her world. If you didn't know, she is a volunteer fire fighter and EMT, you go girl! She loves helping others. She enjoys being active and is usually up to trying anything new. She hopes others see her as being happy and approchable.

Tessa Whitely

Tessa was born in Twin Falls, Idaho. She has lived in Oakley and Pocatello. She is from a family of 2. She graduated from Oakley High School and ISU. She works in our lab as a MT...What is an MT, I believe a medical technition, and the ASCP, which I believe is American Society for Clinical Pathology. She loves to vacation in Vegas and San Diego. She would love to visit Africa and Italy. She loves Red Lobster and Taco Bell. An interesting thing about Tessa is she is going to start the PA program at ISU in August. Good luck!!

Debra Tschikof

Debra was born in Los Angeles, California. She has lived in California, Texas, and Idaho. What do you think brought her to Blackfoot to work?? You will have to ask, because I don't know! Debra has 3 kids, Gabriel, Summer, and Noah. Debra's husband passed away 5 years ago, December 27, 2002. Debras favorite place to eat is Thai House. Her favorite vacation was Ireland because we rode English in the open land-running the horses-it was so beautiful and fun! Debra went to school at EITC in Idaho Falls and is a CMA and part of the AAMA. Debra works with Rhonda and has worked all over the clinic so she is a good go to person if you don't know where something is, don't know if a patient needs shots, or just have a questions. Don't be afraid to ask her!!

Kris Trejo

Introducing...Kris Trejo! Krist was born in Idaho Falls. She has lived in Idaho and Cache Valley, Utah. She is married to Robert Trejo and they have 3 girls and 1 boy. Their names are: Amanda, Brianne, Kaitlyn, and Carson. Kris went to school and Bonneville High School and Ricks College. Her favorite place to eat is Red Lobster and her favorite vacation in going to the Oregon Coast. She enjoys scrapbooking, the outdoors, blogging, and spending time with her family and friends. Kris is a receptionist in Urgent Care so make sure to say hi and get to know her!

Robyn Burt

Our newest nurse is Robyn Burt. Here is a little infomation about her. Robyn was born in Blackfoot and has lived in Mississippi, Wyoming, and North Carolina. She is from a family of 5 kids. She is married to Frank Burt and has 9 kids, yes, 9! They are Jeffery, Tulsa, Colten, Greg, Jamie, Caitlin, Layton, Carson, and Tucker. She graduated from Snake River and recieved her LPN from ISU. She loves to camp and one of her favorite vacations was spending her honeymoon in Island Park with their children. Interesting fact...she is a newlywed. She has only been married for 10 months! Welcome to the clinic Robyn.

Life at BMC

We are going to try blogging instead of a newsletter. You can access this blog from the knowlege base at work or from home. At home, the web address is: www.blackfootmedicalcenter.blogspot.com. Blogging seems to be the new craze. We can add pictures, websites, and stories. I hope this will be a lot of fun for everyone at the clinic. If you have any picture, stories or ideas, let me know and we can add them...Ashley