Bye Bye Appendix

After a fun January, I decided to start February with appendicitis! I began to have some ailments the day after our fun Food and Wine Experience. It started slow but progressed fairly quickly. On Monday we decided it was time to go to the ED, since the pain was getting worse and it had been 24 hours since it's onset. They did a CT and some blood work and found a stone in my appendix. They wanted to wait and see what happened so they sent me home. That evening I went back to the ED for a surgical consult, and which time they admitted me in the hospital to observe and decide what to do the next morning. Tuesday morning they decided to do exploratory surgery with a possible appendectomy. They did laparoscopic surgery and did take the appendix. I was in the hospital until Wednesday and then finally able to go home! The rest of the week has been spent healing. I am so excited to go back to work tomorrow, I do not do well with not being able to be active! I have restrictions of lifting and straining my core for a couple of weeks, which is really hard to do. You don't realize how many activities you do which require your core. I have soreness but am healing quite well! Thank you for all the thoughts and calls from family and friends!

Wine and Food Experience

The last weekend of January brings the "Wine and Food Experience" to the Chase Park Plaza. We have started to go to this event to celebrate Mike's birthday for the past couple of years. This is a fabulous event, there are 700 different wines to taste, food tastings, demonstrations, and vendors selling products (we found a large wine glass for our wine corks for a steal!). I am already looking forward to next year! Happy Birthday Mike!

New Job!

As I mentioned in the previous post, I started my new job with BJC. So far I love it! For the past 2 years I was in operations, I learned a lot and it was the proper first position for me, but it is nice not to manage staff for a while. The people at BJCMG are wonderful, it is challenging and enjoyable, and I feel that it is the perfect stepping stone to reach my career goals. They have made me feel very welcome and part of the BJCMG family. Below is an article they put in BJC Today about our department and my new position. (BJC today is a company wide publication that is put out monthly).

Medical Group announces new array of talent

Tesh Jewell, BJC Medical Group

regional manager, has been promoted

to regional manager 3. In this new role,

Jewell, who has been with BJCMG

since 2006, will have responsibility for

leading the BJCMG start-up team and

planning initiatives.

BJCMG also welcomes Roma

Nemani as a start-up manager. Nemani

comes to BJC from the Southern

Illinois Healthcare Foundation, where

she served as health center manager

for the organization’s family health

centers and family medicine residency

program. She received her MHA from Saint Louis University and

her MBA from the University of Phoenix.

Jewell and Nemani, along with

Lauren Colling, share the start-up team’s

responsibilities, including: on-boarding

of new physicians and acquisition, management of

disengagements, credentialing, and real estate projects

and planning initiatives. Jewell will handle BJCMG

start-up team responsibilities for Barnes-Jewish

St. Peters Hospital, Boone Hospital Center, Christian

Hospital, Progress West HealthCare Center, real estate

projects and planning initiatives. Colling will oversee

BJCMG start-up activities with Alton Memorial Hospital,

Missouri Baptist Medical Center, Parkland Health Center

and credentialing. Nemani will manage BJCMG start-up

coordination and management for Barnes-Jewish Hospital,

Barnes-Jewish West County Hospital and Missouri Baptist

Sullivan Hospital.

January

January was a fast month and as I look back, it's hard to even remember what all we did! January usually is a slow month, recovering from the holiday's and getting back into the swing of things. Some of the highlights were:

• I started my new job January 4, which I will update about in another post
• H started classes (for those who don't know, he is taking classes to sit for the CPA exam)
• Erica and I traveled to Springfield for Whitney's baby shower
• Girls' Night at "The New Pi" with GG, Erica, Prity and Jen
• Celebrated Mike's birthday at the "Annual Food and Wine Experience"
• Celebrated Liz's 30th Birthday at her Prince's Purple Party in Mascoutah
• Traveled to C-Town to hang out and spend time with the P's after mom's knee surgery
• H traveled to Evansville, IN to visit Emily and Dan in their new home