We left after I got off of work on Wednesday and got to my parent's house around 11:00. We were tired but we hopped up Thursday morning and headed to Memphis to get things set up. David was taking his cart, and the cart of a fellow student and getting both of their stuff set up, while his friend was driving her patient and ours to Memphis. We spent the afternoon walking around the school, getting things in order, and dotting our i's and crossing our t's. I seriously couldn't believe how many details there were to work out. "Put the medicine on the form, but not how much until your initial check." "Change the patient's bib before grading and then replace with the old one." "If your patient gets out their cell phone, you fail." "Don't forget this form, and this form, and this form and put them all in these folders." The list went on and on and on...but David was ready. He was so prepared. Every time I would ask him if he had a certain thing, he was like, "Yes, and I have this as a back-up." I was so proud.
Thursday late afternoonish the other group came into town and we met them at the school after gettting ourselves settled at Uncle Ted and Aunt Princess' house. Calvin, a long-time friend from home (and 2nd year dental student at Baylor) came into town to assist David. We took everyone to dinner at Central BBQ and then David went and met our other patient, JJ to have him sign some papers.
Friday morning David left the house at 5:40 a.m. to get breakfast and go get Calvin and get set up for the marathon day. I picked up one patient from the hotel, Sarah, at 9:30 and took her to the school along with snacks for everyone. When I got there JJ was being "cleared" by the board examiners, which was the most nerve racking part. After he was cleared it was go-time and David got to work. The key is keeping things neat, tidy, and super organized. Not to mention following a million rules. While the "prep" on JJ was being graded, Sarah, the other patient was sent back to get cleared. She was also cleared and David was basically good to go at that point. JJ came back and David finished up and then started on Sarah. JJ was such a good sport to come down for us. We couldn't ask for better friends up here in Kansas City. David got done with the whole process around 3:45 and felt really really good about it. He and Calvin were famished, due to the fact that they hadn't eaten all day, but were in good spirits. I had monitored the waiting room...all day.
Once everything was cleaned up and loaded up, we went to our great friends Austin and Emily's house. They are in Memphis for Austin's residency and we couldn't wait to stay the night with them.
They took us to a nice dinner at a wonderful place called "The Elegant Farmer." If you're ever in Memphis we definitely recommend it.
On Saturday morning we loaded up and headed to Little Rock to spend the day with my family. We ate dinner with David's parents and then headed back to Kansas City on Sunday afternoon after our regular lunch at Senior Tequila. Although we were exhausted, we felt good because everything had gone so smoothly. We definitely felt lifted up in prayer by our family and friends.
When the scores were posted on Monday our joy was complete and we can't believe it's all about to be over. David feels great, as he should, and we can't wait for the next phase. David's 27th birthday is tomorrow and we plan to celebrate by going out to dinner on Friday night.
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