Flavored Ice and Family Updates

these are two things we need more of in surgery.

one of my wonderful grandfathers had major surgery this weekend and is doing quite well (praise God!). but again being on the other side of the mask made me realize that we have some room for improvement in the care we give our surgical patients and their families.

being starved sucks and we need to be more aware that checking a diet order on a form has a great impact on someone's mood and well being. and "ice chips" do moisten otherwise parched lips, tongue, and throat but are otherwise just annoying and awful. if only we could make them onion ring or cheesecake flavored- that might be more satisfying.

and when a family is waiting anxiously during a surgery on their loved one, frequent updates (calls from the OR to the waiting room) are SO helpful in curbing the terror that creeps up in your chest.

more soon. i've been slacking in my posts lately. it's been crazy what with my gpa being in the hospital and i'm on the floor this week (BOOH!) and i have a PA student (COOL!), and we're having weekend guests and yada, yada, yada.

more soon. for reals.

(but PS, real quick- SO GLAD I WENT INTO MEDICINE! feeling very fortunate that i was able to both assist with my care when i was the patient last august and also that i have been able to be a resource to my family during my grandpa's ordeal. this whole (surgical) PA thing has paid off. and good timing too, huh?)

Roosters Aren't Allowed in Hospitals, Apparently

been taking lots of call lately. this means that outside of our regular shift (mine is 7a-3:30p mon-fri, we as a dept have to cover all the nights and weekends for all the scheduled and emergency cases. we split up the call, and you can usually take as much/little as you want. mama wants a new pair of shoes (living room furniture, vacations), so i'm taking more lately than usual.

i was on call all last weekend (friday night through monday morning) and worked into the wee hours of sunday night/monday morning, so i started the week kinda tired. and then was on call again last night. i got called in at 11:30, stayed until 1:15, drove the 20 mins to get home (cuz they won't call me back again for sure!)...got into bed about 1:35 and was just falling back to sleep...when i got paged again at 1:45. got back in my car, shivering in the now sub-30 degree weather and was back at the hospital scrubbed from 2:30-4:00....when finished, i dragged myself upstairs to the call room to get a little bit of sleep before my normal 7am day shift started.

the call room is in this very centrally located (so loud!) area and it's always too cold or too hot and there's rarely fresh sheets/towels and the bed is this flimsy little twin bed and...it's always the greatest sleep of my life. by the time i get to it, i'm so desperate for sleep and entirely drained, i'm looking more like a wandering mental patient than a useful PA.

so i slept hard from 4:30 and on through my alarm up until 7:40 when i was paged to come to the OR for my first case of the day. WHAT?! so i frantically tried to unscramble my brain and make sense of where i was and what part of the day it was and where i needed to be. fortunately, we had a little staff cushioning today so i was able to shower and eat and relax for a while before getting into my cases...but i ended up scrubbing 2 long cases and doing admissions and other stuff all day. i stayed pretty clear headed, if not a bit discombobulated.

on a side note, the emergency cases were genuinely urgent and we may have saved lives, or at least, vital organs. it's exciting and stimulating to be in on things like that. even if it is in the middle of the bloody night. (so to speak).

so now i'm home. i indulged in way too much of all my favorite foods (i deserve it! leave me alone!) and my plan is just to watch movies and lie around all night.

greatest feeling ever.

I Plan to Start Smoking, Eating Bacon Cheeseburgers and NOT Dealing with Those Funky Looking Moles

everyone is talking about the health care reform. are we all panicking at the hospital? not so much. but is everyone a little disgruntled about it? well, sure.

here's a pretty good run down of the bullet items on the bill.

cheers.

Squeeeeeze.

for a while now i've been running in these sexy compression socks. if i'm planning a long run, i'll wear them the day before and after, also.

now since everyone is all mad for marchness, i read on cnn.com today that the bball players are wearing a padded version to avoid contact injuries and to give them added support.

compression keeps swelling down and avoids varicose veins from developing. it's also the first thing you do when you have an injury, so having it already applied to the micro tears we endure while exercising can be beneficial.

athletes of all sport persuasions seem to be trending toward them. i dig it.

I Totally Beat Mickey in the Race, but Captain Jack Sparrow Kicked My Arse

well, we're back from Disney and i have to say that Disney is way better than anywhere that is not Disney.

it is seriously, truly a magical, wonderful place. i am an adult. i am without a child as an excuse to be there, and i have no shame in saying that i am smitten.

everything is shiny and perfect and not tarnished, worn, chipped or un-cheerful. they have put so much effort into making every ride, every tour, every show, even every restaurant and shop a perfectly designed theme...it's easy to get swept up in it.

it helped that we were there in a pretty quiet time of year (longest wait for a ride- 30 mins), but even the lines on the rides are fun and engaging.

and the race was great. i ran 10 mins faster than my last half marathon and it was totally fun- characters were out to get pics with and we ran down main st in magic kingdom and since it was a princess themed race, everyone wore tiaras and tutu's and stuff. so totally fun.

and then we broke off our crazy diet after the race (tra-la!). we at french and italian food at EPCOT on sunday, and just kept eating our way through delicious things all week long. num. and no GI rot like i was afraid of- we actually showed some restraint in re-acclimating to dairy and such.

restraint until we got back home and went to town on the 4 boxes of girl scout cookies we'd been saving until after the diet. so good. but so bad. but so good!

and, as the race was a fundraiser for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, i was thrilled to raise over $6,000 for the cause! if you haven't heard about Team in Training before, it's the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's fund raising program where you raise money and, with help and support from your local team, train for a run/bike/triathlon/walkathon. then you go compete in your event and a small part of what you raise goes to your travel/entrance expenses. so you get to travel to a cool location, compete in a challenging event, and raise money for an awesome cause. i had a great experience with it. if you have any inkling at all, do check it out.

so, race and Disney were awesome and fun but now we're back home and back to work.

i'm taking on a PA student for the first time in a few weeks. it's great, because if they ask you something you don't know, you just get a superior look on your face and say, "why don't you look it up and report back to me on it tomorrow." :)

Breast Pumping in the Bathroom in a Business Suit?

well, the Oscars are this sunday and i've seen 7 of the 10 films on the best picture nominee list. i'm going to disney world this weekend (hoooooorrrrraaaaahhhh!!!), so i won't be able to continue on my quest. all my reactions are in a previous post (see below).

the movie that probably stuck with me the most was "up in the air." one of the themes they explored that i've been contemplating is females as successful career women vs family women. are the two mutually exclusive? can we ladies really have both? be both ambitious, successful women and available, successful mothers? can you have a complete and happy home and family if you're also an important and busy big shot at work? and if you try to juggle both, are you guaranteed to be plagued by guilt or be somehow lacking in one role or both?

recently in American society we've seen that there are more and more women who are the primary bread winners in their families. i'm curious about what this has done/will this do to the family unit, if anything. i know some of the concern is how gender roles might be rattled with these changes and that this can add strain to marriages.

any thoughts on this out there in the interweb? anyone have any personal experience on the subject you care to share?