Stefanie Kwolek was a world-renowned chemist and inventor who invented Kevlar, the stronger-than-steel fiber that is used in bulletproof vests and many other applications. She was also our patient in the final years of her life. Ms. Kwolek had a delightful personality and was quite modest about her remarkable achievements. The New York Times has a wonderful obituary about her here.

Gwynn had undergone surgery for cancer of the mouth and salivary glands in recent years and had been on medical leave since spring as the baseball coach at San Diego State University, his alma mater. He attributed the cancer to having dipped tobacco throughout his career. See the full story here.

When I was a boy of 14, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be 21, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years.
— Mark Twain

Leah was welcomed by Kira’s sixth grade class at their Field Day event. Here Leah plays kickball.

Kira’s field day was on the last day of school — the day after Leah’s last day. So Leah enjoyed participating in Kira’s field day and was able to ride Kira’s bus home on the last day.

A neighbor’s dog came to our house and promptly chased a groundhog up a tree in our front yard. A google search surprised me by showing that groundhogs often climb tree. After the dog left, the groundhog finally came down safely.

Kira and Leah enjoyed a week of field hockey camp at Tower Hill School, where athletic mouthguards are required. These mouthguards are important for protecting your teeth and are relatively inexpensive from any sporting goods store. Kira’s mouthguards are for kids with braces and fit right out of the package over her braces. Leah’s are the conventional “boil and bite” mouthguards. As children, they will outgrow these mouthguards relatively quickly. Dr. Mike uses a custom-made laboratory-fabricated mouthguard since he is done growing.

As an assistant attending dentist at Christiana Care, Dr Mike enjoys teaching the dental residents. Mike and Tina also enjoyed taking in the Christiana Care staff event Philadelphia Union soccer game on June 7 in Chester with Kira and Leah, where the Union and Vancouver battled to a 3-3 tie.