Long, long, marginally productive day. Still fighting the postcallness. Bleh.
So, here, read this. It's amusing, and contributed by robin. Enjoy!
Monday, August 31, 2009
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Throwback
So I'm postcall.
I know, I know, I said I was never going to have to take call again, there may have been a happy dance involved, etc. But, to clarify, I believe what I actually said was more that after that, any time I was doing "call" it was going to be voluntary and heavily compensated. And this was.
I think we killed Veronica on Friday. She and I left Friday night about the same time, she'd had one beer, she was looking a little peaked, but well, she's an intern, they always look a little peaked. We left because she was on call yesterday and I was just freakin' tired and had shit to do over the weekend. So I came home, blogged, stretched out, fell asleep a little after 1. Woke up at 7:15, of course (after waking up at 5), and was sort of dozing, mostly refusing to get out of bed, and my phone rings. And it's one of our chiefs, and she's like, "The intern is sick and can't take call. I'll give you three comp days if you do it."
Once I actually woke up, I was like, hell yeah. I'm all over it.
So I made a mad dash for the shower, found my scrubs, ran out the door, and despite my commute and the proximity of her calling me to the start of the shift, I made it by the end of checkout rounds. I was on with Scott, and we had a rockstar medical student (also named Kate). And two new ED evals waiting for us by the time I got there. So Scott went off to Second Year Consult Land, and the Kates headed down to the ER. Go team. Break!
It was a constant stream. We were essentially bedless, so there was a lot of referral action going on. It was a crazy shift. I didn't see my office after I dropped my stuff off in the morning, much less my bed. And for that level of chaos with two upper levels on, I can't even imagine how awful it would've been for a sick Veronica.
Crazy.
But interesting, and amusing in a lot of ways. We had some really good cases. Scott and I work well together, and Kate did a great job. We functioned as a remarkably good team, actually. And we had a couple of short lulls. One was like early evening, when Kate was still there, and we had a very good discussion of object relations and projective identification and a whole bunch of related nonsense that Scott and I are both pretty into, and she seemed to really enjoy. The second was sometime after midnight, when Scott and I finally got around to ordering dinner (one thing I did not manage to do during my AM Tasmanian devil impersonation was grab any sort of provisions for the day, because, well, yesterday was my day to go grocery shopping...). Of course, we hadn't had lunch until 3:30pm, so, midnight seemed pretty reasonable to us. Tarheel Takeout had already stopped delivering by the time things quieted down enough for us to think about food again, but we discovered this pita place nearby that delivered, and was pretty tasty. Good falafel. He and I also had a chance to decompress a little about some issues in the residency that we generally agree on, but on which we often have different outlooks.
One thing I found especially amusing yesterday was how shocked the medical student was that we all talked so openly about being in therapy. We both kind of shrugged and were like, well, how are you supposed to see things in other people's patterns if you don't know anything about yourself? I gave her my standard line of, I really think the key to being a good therapist is having a good therapist.
It also was remarkably helpful that I was on last night in that one of my patients had to come back in to the hospital, and I think it made it a lot safer and easier for her that I was there. She and I have a good therapeutic alliance, and wow, she really looked like hell when she came back in. We talked for a bit, she cried a lot, and by the time I'd gone back in to have her sign the paperwork, some outside influences had made things even worse. I hugged her before I left. We try to use physical contact very sparingly and with intention in this business, but sometimes, a simple pat on the shoulder or a careful and genuine hug can be the single most therapeutic intervention.
But while it was really good for her that I was there, it was really pretty upsetting to me that she came back, for reasons of my own neurosis. I, obviously, was so glad she was able to come back and to be safe and ask for help, but the transference in our interaction being what it is, and my own internal critic being as it is, and the fact that I was sleep deprived going in to the shift and had now been awake for like 21 hours made it really hard for me to see her looking as dysphoric as she was so soon after I'd last seen her. People who aren't in our profession really don't understand the depth of the internal tumult that goes on when you're surrounded by the sort of external chaos that we are.
The end result of that last night, unfortunately, was me yelling at a Neurology consultant who was trying to dump work on me in a pretty condescending manner. I actually hung up on him. Scott's commentary on that was somewhat pointed (see above re:sleep deprivation). He was like, "He's a good guy. I'm not saying he wasn't an ass to you right now." I ranted for a moment and then turned to him and said, "You can tell me if I'm being unreasonable." He thinks about this for a second and says, "Emotional, maybe. Logically, that was a reasonable request, but the emotions are out of proportion." I couldn't argue with that. Later, after the neurologist had actually done what I'd asked him, and I'd done what he'd wanted me to do, and I finally did agree with him that the neuro exam was pretty unrevealing in that patient, I paged him and apologized.
Interestingly, the apology was what Scott got kind of snarky about. I was driving home today and thinking that whole story arc of last night was a whole kitchen full of pots and kettles....
On the plus side, I did get a couple hours' worth of postcall nap in this afternoon. Oh, there is no greater bliss than a good postcall nap...
So now I'm actually going to go to bed, because I do have a 7am therapy patient tomorrow, and it's been a long damn weekend. But, really? I love my job.
I know, I know, I said I was never going to have to take call again, there may have been a happy dance involved, etc. But, to clarify, I believe what I actually said was more that after that, any time I was doing "call" it was going to be voluntary and heavily compensated. And this was.
I think we killed Veronica on Friday. She and I left Friday night about the same time, she'd had one beer, she was looking a little peaked, but well, she's an intern, they always look a little peaked. We left because she was on call yesterday and I was just freakin' tired and had shit to do over the weekend. So I came home, blogged, stretched out, fell asleep a little after 1. Woke up at 7:15, of course (after waking up at 5), and was sort of dozing, mostly refusing to get out of bed, and my phone rings. And it's one of our chiefs, and she's like, "The intern is sick and can't take call. I'll give you three comp days if you do it."
Once I actually woke up, I was like, hell yeah. I'm all over it.
So I made a mad dash for the shower, found my scrubs, ran out the door, and despite my commute and the proximity of her calling me to the start of the shift, I made it by the end of checkout rounds. I was on with Scott, and we had a rockstar medical student (also named Kate). And two new ED evals waiting for us by the time I got there. So Scott went off to Second Year Consult Land, and the Kates headed down to the ER. Go team. Break!
It was a constant stream. We were essentially bedless, so there was a lot of referral action going on. It was a crazy shift. I didn't see my office after I dropped my stuff off in the morning, much less my bed. And for that level of chaos with two upper levels on, I can't even imagine how awful it would've been for a sick Veronica.
Crazy.
But interesting, and amusing in a lot of ways. We had some really good cases. Scott and I work well together, and Kate did a great job. We functioned as a remarkably good team, actually. And we had a couple of short lulls. One was like early evening, when Kate was still there, and we had a very good discussion of object relations and projective identification and a whole bunch of related nonsense that Scott and I are both pretty into, and she seemed to really enjoy. The second was sometime after midnight, when Scott and I finally got around to ordering dinner (one thing I did not manage to do during my AM Tasmanian devil impersonation was grab any sort of provisions for the day, because, well, yesterday was my day to go grocery shopping...). Of course, we hadn't had lunch until 3:30pm, so, midnight seemed pretty reasonable to us. Tarheel Takeout had already stopped delivering by the time things quieted down enough for us to think about food again, but we discovered this pita place nearby that delivered, and was pretty tasty. Good falafel. He and I also had a chance to decompress a little about some issues in the residency that we generally agree on, but on which we often have different outlooks.
One thing I found especially amusing yesterday was how shocked the medical student was that we all talked so openly about being in therapy. We both kind of shrugged and were like, well, how are you supposed to see things in other people's patterns if you don't know anything about yourself? I gave her my standard line of, I really think the key to being a good therapist is having a good therapist.
It also was remarkably helpful that I was on last night in that one of my patients had to come back in to the hospital, and I think it made it a lot safer and easier for her that I was there. She and I have a good therapeutic alliance, and wow, she really looked like hell when she came back in. We talked for a bit, she cried a lot, and by the time I'd gone back in to have her sign the paperwork, some outside influences had made things even worse. I hugged her before I left. We try to use physical contact very sparingly and with intention in this business, but sometimes, a simple pat on the shoulder or a careful and genuine hug can be the single most therapeutic intervention.
But while it was really good for her that I was there, it was really pretty upsetting to me that she came back, for reasons of my own neurosis. I, obviously, was so glad she was able to come back and to be safe and ask for help, but the transference in our interaction being what it is, and my own internal critic being as it is, and the fact that I was sleep deprived going in to the shift and had now been awake for like 21 hours made it really hard for me to see her looking as dysphoric as she was so soon after I'd last seen her. People who aren't in our profession really don't understand the depth of the internal tumult that goes on when you're surrounded by the sort of external chaos that we are.
The end result of that last night, unfortunately, was me yelling at a Neurology consultant who was trying to dump work on me in a pretty condescending manner. I actually hung up on him. Scott's commentary on that was somewhat pointed (see above re:sleep deprivation). He was like, "He's a good guy. I'm not saying he wasn't an ass to you right now." I ranted for a moment and then turned to him and said, "You can tell me if I'm being unreasonable." He thinks about this for a second and says, "Emotional, maybe. Logically, that was a reasonable request, but the emotions are out of proportion." I couldn't argue with that. Later, after the neurologist had actually done what I'd asked him, and I'd done what he'd wanted me to do, and I finally did agree with him that the neuro exam was pretty unrevealing in that patient, I paged him and apologized.
Interestingly, the apology was what Scott got kind of snarky about. I was driving home today and thinking that whole story arc of last night was a whole kitchen full of pots and kettles....
On the plus side, I did get a couple hours' worth of postcall nap in this afternoon. Oh, there is no greater bliss than a good postcall nap...
So now I'm actually going to go to bed, because I do have a 7am therapy patient tomorrow, and it's been a long damn weekend. But, really? I love my job.
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Friday, August 28, 2009
Whew.
Ohhhh, thank God it's finally the weekend.
So, it's close to 1am. I had a really, really, really rough day. After a really rough night. After a really rough week. By the time I finished today's 12-hour day, I was like, okay, seriously, I'm just going to go hide...
...but I didn't. I went to wine tasting with Peng. And then I went out with Mike and Veronica and Sparrow and Anita and Roommate Matt. Which was not as good when they left me standed in this random bar in Durham for 45 minutes (they said be there at 8!!), but once they all actually showed up, it was really quite lovely. And restorative. As many excuses as I tried to come up with not to go, or to leave when I was at the bar alone...I'm really, really glad that I didn't.
But Kelli's going to kick my ass in a mere 8 hours, so I'd really better get to bed...
So, it's close to 1am. I had a really, really, really rough day. After a really rough night. After a really rough week. By the time I finished today's 12-hour day, I was like, okay, seriously, I'm just going to go hide...
...but I didn't. I went to wine tasting with Peng. And then I went out with Mike and Veronica and Sparrow and Anita and Roommate Matt. Which was not as good when they left me standed in this random bar in Durham for 45 minutes (they said be there at 8!!), but once they all actually showed up, it was really quite lovely. And restorative. As many excuses as I tried to come up with not to go, or to leave when I was at the bar alone...I'm really, really glad that I didn't.
But Kelli's going to kick my ass in a mere 8 hours, so I'd really better get to bed...
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Queasy
This...makes me a little bit sick.
(Click here if the video won't load.)
Some days, it still amazes me, the degree of fucked up depravity that can go on in our world.
And yet...18 years later, what a blessing for this family, to have their daughter returned, alive, long after reasonable hope had faded.
Maybe, maybe, with some good intensive therapy, this poor woman and those young children can have something that resembles a somewhat normal life. But I can't even imagine how one would even start to get over that....
(Click here if the video won't load.)
Some days, it still amazes me, the degree of fucked up depravity that can go on in our world.
And yet...18 years later, what a blessing for this family, to have their daughter returned, alive, long after reasonable hope had faded.
Maybe, maybe, with some good intensive therapy, this poor woman and those young children can have something that resembles a somewhat normal life. But I can't even imagine how one would even start to get over that....
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Last go-round
So tonight was my last spinning class. You know, at least for the moment. I...oh. I love it. I love it so. And I think I'm going to take both Lorna's advice and my instructor's and buy a Bug. Probably not for a couple of weeks, and truth be told, I really liked the Ashford Joy better, but it apparently only likes to spin really thin yarn. And one of the things I ended up with tonight was this sort of Manos-y thick and thin (thickish and thinish, not like, you know Collinette Point Five or whatever) that I really enjoyed spinning, and I really liked the finished product. So...I think the versatility of the Bug is going to be where it's at. Even if I don't like the treadle quite as much.
Okay, back to English.
Today was mostly long. I woke up this morning all queasy, but went to the gym anyway. And then my trainer flaked on me and no-showed. Work was...you know....crazy, and it was just a really exhausting day. Not entirely sure why, but, nonetheless. And it didn't help that I didn't sleep super well last night. So..maybe I should shut up and go to bed....
Okay, back to English.
Today was mostly long. I woke up this morning all queasy, but went to the gym anyway. And then my trainer flaked on me and no-showed. Work was...you know....crazy, and it was just a really exhausting day. Not entirely sure why, but, nonetheless. And it didn't help that I didn't sleep super well last night. So..maybe I should shut up and go to bed....
Monday, August 24, 2009
I don't think "Cranky" was one of 'em
But he should've been. Because currently I'm also sleepy, sneezy, grumpy...and, of course, Doc.
Loooong ass day today. Lots of fire extinguishing. Left work around 7pm and had dinner with Ruthie, who filled me full of steak and sent me on my way. Got home, opened the door, and Maggie came out to greet me - I'm thinking the dog walker didn't shut her crate very well. Fortunately, no real messes, just a little bit of garbage stealing. So I get ready to go to bed, and my email won't work, and suddenly Time Warner is telling me my email account has been deactivated. WTF...I'm guessing the payment hasn't cleared yet, but it might have if, in the switch to paper billing from e-bills, they had sent me the bill before FRIDAY.
I'm just sayin'.
So now I'm on a "live chat" with some guy who apparently can't help me and is making me call someone. And now apparently THEY are closed. Damn it....
Loooong ass day today. Lots of fire extinguishing. Left work around 7pm and had dinner with Ruthie, who filled me full of steak and sent me on my way. Got home, opened the door, and Maggie came out to greet me - I'm thinking the dog walker didn't shut her crate very well. Fortunately, no real messes, just a little bit of garbage stealing. So I get ready to go to bed, and my email won't work, and suddenly Time Warner is telling me my email account has been deactivated. WTF...I'm guessing the payment hasn't cleared yet, but it might have if, in the switch to paper billing from e-bills, they had sent me the bill before FRIDAY.
I'm just sayin'.
So now I'm on a "live chat" with some guy who apparently can't help me and is making me call someone. And now apparently THEY are closed. Damn it....
Sunday, August 23, 2009
I'm all for free speech, but...
I think this is one of the more curious protests I've seen...
So, okay, first and foremost, the places to cut the budget are NOT where it will take from those who need it the most. It's a liberal way of looking at things, yes, but also rational and humane, really. And cutting HIV services helps no one.
But. A die-in? Not to mention - Stop killing queers?
First of all, everyone gets HIV now. It's no longer "gay plague," or GRID (Gay-related immunodeficiency, which was the original bigoted name for AIDS). Pink people, brown people, men, women, gay, straight, transgendered - everybody gets HIV. It's moved up the ranks as an equal-opportunity disease.
Add that to the protesters who seem to be bleeding from holes in their bodies and this leads me to conclude from this video that the budget cuts in California have not, in fact, targeted HIV services but instead opened a hunting season on gay people.
My first question is, how did the Religious Right manage THAT? And two, that's just mean. So, yeah, stop that right now!
Seriously, people. Condoms are cheap. Wrap it up. You're not invincible. Stop having sex on drugs. Stop hooking up unprotected. Get tested. Get informed. Stop being stupid.
Stop killing everyone.
I'm just saying...
So, okay, first and foremost, the places to cut the budget are NOT where it will take from those who need it the most. It's a liberal way of looking at things, yes, but also rational and humane, really. And cutting HIV services helps no one.
But. A die-in? Not to mention - Stop killing queers?
First of all, everyone gets HIV now. It's no longer "gay plague," or GRID (Gay-related immunodeficiency, which was the original bigoted name for AIDS). Pink people, brown people, men, women, gay, straight, transgendered - everybody gets HIV. It's moved up the ranks as an equal-opportunity disease.
Add that to the protesters who seem to be bleeding from holes in their bodies and this leads me to conclude from this video that the budget cuts in California have not, in fact, targeted HIV services but instead opened a hunting season on gay people.
My first question is, how did the Religious Right manage THAT? And two, that's just mean. So, yeah, stop that right now!
Seriously, people. Condoms are cheap. Wrap it up. You're not invincible. Stop having sex on drugs. Stop hooking up unprotected. Get tested. Get informed. Stop being stupid.
Stop killing everyone.
I'm just saying...
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Stormy weather
It's been raining all day here in District 8 (as Peng has renamed my town, formerly known as the Containment Area for Relocated Yankees. I have not yet seen the movie it references, but I hear it's awesome). Maggie is not so pleased with this. I tried to take her out tonight, she kept trying to run back in the house. She finally peed, and we both made a break for it.
Today was reasonably productive. I got up this morning, went and got my blood drawn (it's TSH time again), made it to the gym in time to get my ass kicked. Kelly and I almost got run over at the end of our session by the Boot Camp class, so I parked myself on a treadmill for the next half hour and watched them. I left, I stopped and got a vegetarian sandwich for lunch...
...and then, there was something of a lull.....
I finally woke up in the middle of a thunderstorm, which effectively cancelled Peng and my plans to go to the Lazy Daze festival (this big artisan craft fest we have in my town every year). So I prodded myself into getting into the shower and de-stink-ifying, and then headed over to Starbucks to get caught up on all my clinic notes. Which I now am. Hooray. And then Peng and I went to the wine tasting, where she promptly got stung by a wasp. We wined quickly and then went and got her some benadryl. And then we got her (and me) some Indian food. Which went much better than the beginning of the wine tasting had...
I really had such big plans for cleaning and unpacking this weekend, but, alas...I was going to try and reserve tomorrow afternoon for that, but I think I may just clean the kitchen and bathrooms and be done with it. Because, you know what? I have other things I want to do tomorrow. Like catching up on my TV shows and spinning. And my morning is going to be really full of more computer time at Starbucks (discharge summaries - hoo boy!), Target, groceries, some other errand I was supposed to run and have now forgotten, and then the gym...I need to take a couple hours to stop running, you know?
Today was reasonably productive. I got up this morning, went and got my blood drawn (it's TSH time again), made it to the gym in time to get my ass kicked. Kelly and I almost got run over at the end of our session by the Boot Camp class, so I parked myself on a treadmill for the next half hour and watched them. I left, I stopped and got a vegetarian sandwich for lunch...
...and then, there was something of a lull.....
I finally woke up in the middle of a thunderstorm, which effectively cancelled Peng and my plans to go to the Lazy Daze festival (this big artisan craft fest we have in my town every year). So I prodded myself into getting into the shower and de-stink-ifying, and then headed over to Starbucks to get caught up on all my clinic notes. Which I now am. Hooray. And then Peng and I went to the wine tasting, where she promptly got stung by a wasp. We wined quickly and then went and got her some benadryl. And then we got her (and me) some Indian food. Which went much better than the beginning of the wine tasting had...
I really had such big plans for cleaning and unpacking this weekend, but, alas...I was going to try and reserve tomorrow afternoon for that, but I think I may just clean the kitchen and bathrooms and be done with it. Because, you know what? I have other things I want to do tomorrow. Like catching up on my TV shows and spinning. And my morning is going to be really full of more computer time at Starbucks (discharge summaries - hoo boy!), Target, groceries, some other errand I was supposed to run and have now forgotten, and then the gym...I need to take a couple hours to stop running, you know?
Friday, August 21, 2009
Foow.
And now for a little Friday randomness....my cousin sent me this on Facebook. Watch. Consider.
I'm a little embarassed to admit this, but it made me cry a little.
There was a lot (LOT) of crying in my day today. Fortunately, this was the first time it was me tearing up.
I'm a little embarassed to admit this, but it made me cry a little.
There was a lot (LOT) of crying in my day today. Fortunately, this was the first time it was me tearing up.
Thursday, August 20, 2009
It's one of those nights...
...when I have so many things to say that I just really don't know what to say.
Lots of other specialties think we have the easiest job in the hospital.
Most days I think we have the hardest.
Even if we don't round until 8:30am.
I'm just sayin'.
Lots of other specialties think we have the easiest job in the hospital.
Most days I think we have the hardest.
Even if we don't round until 8:30am.
I'm just sayin'.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Giddy
I love spinning. I so heart it. And I totally need a wheel (thanks, by the way, to all who sent recs both on and off the record).
I had such a good time at class tonight, it almost made up for my day. Which started early, with my trainer kicking my ass. And then I came home, and showered, and then I flopped back on the bed to read some email, and Maggie comes up and snuggles right up to me....
So hard to find the motivation to leave after that.
I get into the hospital, and I poke my head into the workroom to say hello to the call team (also because I could smell Rene's maple oatmeal all the way out in the hall, and it smelled really, really good). And I walk in and Scott points at me, and then dropped the first bomb of the day in my lap. I got that fire down to a slow burn (sort of...) and then went up to the unit, where another one hit as I walked through the door. That one, fortunately, was fairly quickly (although not especially easily) extinguished.
::sigh:: It was a long day, y'all.
Yarn pics tomorrow. Meanwhile, I'm going to bed...
I had such a good time at class tonight, it almost made up for my day. Which started early, with my trainer kicking my ass. And then I came home, and showered, and then I flopped back on the bed to read some email, and Maggie comes up and snuggles right up to me....
So hard to find the motivation to leave after that.
I get into the hospital, and I poke my head into the workroom to say hello to the call team (also because I could smell Rene's maple oatmeal all the way out in the hall, and it smelled really, really good). And I walk in and Scott points at me, and then dropped the first bomb of the day in my lap. I got that fire down to a slow burn (sort of...) and then went up to the unit, where another one hit as I walked through the door. That one, fortunately, was fairly quickly (although not especially easily) extinguished.
::sigh:: It was a long day, y'all.
Yarn pics tomorrow. Meanwhile, I'm going to bed...
Monday, August 17, 2009
Right round
So I have another spinning lesson tomorrow. I'm getting better with the drop spindle, and am actually producing something that looks kinda like yarn. I've got a whole little ball of it, in fact. Which, frankly, makes me a bit giddy. It's still sort of inconsistent, but it's not all that bad (less so than Manos worsted, for those of you who know what that means). I tried to knit with it a little, but then it occurred to me that I don't know if we're done yet. Like, are we going to ply this week? I just don't know. But I'm pretty excited about it.
So for the fiberworkers out there, I pose you this question: Suppose I were to get a wheel. What do you have/like? What do you recommend? Are there any I should specifically avoid? Are there features that are more or less desirable? I have a friend who has two particular models she's selling (it's a long story how she ended up with two spare wheels), and I'll likely buy her Hitchhiker, but I'm willing to keep my options open.
For those of you who think the above paragraphs were written in some undecipherable code...sorry....
I did get up and go to the gym this morning. I'm counting it as a serious win, because I got to bed late and when I woke up this morning wanted nothing more than to sleep for another four hours (which I couldn't have done anyway, not if I wanted to keep my job), but I dragged my ass over there and did my thing. I didn't go all last week trying to rest my feet and my stupid plantar fascie, and as hard a time as I have dragging my sorry butt in there at quarter to dark, I find that I miss the gym when I don't go...
Work was....well, it was a Monday. I left my pager at home, so I had to borrow Rene's (she's on night float). I discharged FOUR PEOPLE from my team today, and have already picked up two brand new ones for tomorrow (fortunately for me, Sparrow caught what looks like the biggest train wreck). There was a lot of juggling and fire-squelching. I did a little postpartum group. I left around 6 after signing out two of my fires that were still smoldering a little to Scott and handing off Rene's pager to him.
But I did get to see robin at work today!!!! That was apparently quite a feat, because she's been working with us how long and this is the first time we've been at the big house at the same time...
Then I came home, did dishes, made spaghetti. And now I'm going to bed. My wild and crazy nightlife, folks.
And in totally unrelated news, it's still roachy in my apartment. I think we're looking at dropping a bomb on them soon.
So for the fiberworkers out there, I pose you this question: Suppose I were to get a wheel. What do you have/like? What do you recommend? Are there any I should specifically avoid? Are there features that are more or less desirable? I have a friend who has two particular models she's selling (it's a long story how she ended up with two spare wheels), and I'll likely buy her Hitchhiker, but I'm willing to keep my options open.
For those of you who think the above paragraphs were written in some undecipherable code...sorry....
I did get up and go to the gym this morning. I'm counting it as a serious win, because I got to bed late and when I woke up this morning wanted nothing more than to sleep for another four hours (which I couldn't have done anyway, not if I wanted to keep my job), but I dragged my ass over there and did my thing. I didn't go all last week trying to rest my feet and my stupid plantar fascie, and as hard a time as I have dragging my sorry butt in there at quarter to dark, I find that I miss the gym when I don't go...
Work was....well, it was a Monday. I left my pager at home, so I had to borrow Rene's (she's on night float). I discharged FOUR PEOPLE from my team today, and have already picked up two brand new ones for tomorrow (fortunately for me, Sparrow caught what looks like the biggest train wreck). There was a lot of juggling and fire-squelching. I did a little postpartum group. I left around 6 after signing out two of my fires that were still smoldering a little to Scott and handing off Rene's pager to him.
But I did get to see robin at work today!!!! That was apparently quite a feat, because she's been working with us how long and this is the first time we've been at the big house at the same time...
Then I came home, did dishes, made spaghetti. And now I'm going to bed. My wild and crazy nightlife, folks.
And in totally unrelated news, it's still roachy in my apartment. I think we're looking at dropping a bomb on them soon.
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Seriously?
There was an ad on the side of my FB page today, proclaiming that I NEED one of THESE (Need! Need! Need! Because I own a car! Because I am a Cubs fan! NEEEEEEED!!!!).
No. No I do not.
Today was productive. Got work done, got my ass kicked at the gym, did laundry and grocery shopping. Looked for beach rentals for the retreat. Dyed my hair again, although it seems as though Feria may have stopped making my color again, so in a fit of pique, I bought this "Naturtints" stuff at the Vitamin Shoppe that's all "natural" and ammonia free and...you know, I have to say, the dying was a much more pleasant experience. I never quite got it to run clear, but, I rarely get all the Feria out, either. It's a little darker than I'd expected, but on the whole? I think I like the color. We'll see how it holds up.
Had dinner with my aunt and uncle because my cousin and her boyfriend are in town. Good food, good company, good drinks. But I stayed out way too late again, and really do want to get up and go to the gym tomorrow, so, I'm off to bed. Big day at the big house tomorrow...
No. No I do not.
Today was productive. Got work done, got my ass kicked at the gym, did laundry and grocery shopping. Looked for beach rentals for the retreat. Dyed my hair again, although it seems as though Feria may have stopped making my color again, so in a fit of pique, I bought this "Naturtints" stuff at the Vitamin Shoppe that's all "natural" and ammonia free and...you know, I have to say, the dying was a much more pleasant experience. I never quite got it to run clear, but, I rarely get all the Feria out, either. It's a little darker than I'd expected, but on the whole? I think I like the color. We'll see how it holds up.
Had dinner with my aunt and uncle because my cousin and her boyfriend are in town. Good food, good company, good drinks. But I stayed out way too late again, and really do want to get up and go to the gym tomorrow, so, I'm off to bed. Big day at the big house tomorrow...
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Finally, a day off....
Peng and I figured out that yesterday was our twelfth day in a row of work. All of which were ten to twelve hour days. Ugh, ugh, ugh.
So today...I had all manner of plans. But I didn't actually get much done...
I slept in, sorta. Went to Starbucks for a while, with solid plans of finishing all the discharge summaries I have to have done on Monday morning. I got one done sufficiently for a patient that was supposed to transfer out today (but didn't, as it turns out, which is fine, because I still need to do the "full" summary, all I did was the brief). But beyond that...mostly I played on the internet. Read some blogs, caught up on my LOLcats, people watched around me. Maggie now has a Facebook profile (I blame the peer pressure of all my friends whose pets are online). I finally gave up and came home.
Mags and I spent the day mostly lounging and watching the SVU marathon on TV. She did some successful napping; me, not so much. I did get some spinning done with my drop spindle, though. It's getting better....my yarn actually kind of looks like yarn, which is encouraging. Kind of a thick and thin, but not too dramatic. I feel like it's over-twisted, but I guess I'll run that past the expert on Tuesday...
I painted my nails, I looked for beach houses for the upcoming upperclass retreat (we all enjoyed our intern retreats so much we're going to do it again. Except this time it's all three upper classes and we have to pay for it. So far there's 10 people coming; we have the potential for 26 more - including spouses - who haven't responded yet). I finally decided it was totally appropriate to have a nice lazy day today, given how hectic the last 12 have been.
However, this does not get my house unpacked....
We'll see how tomorrow goes. I have to see Kelly at 1, have dinner plans with my aunt and uncle, since my cousin and her boyfriend are in town. I have to get those summaries written, get some groceries, do some dishes and laundry...quick, before the week starts again...
So today...I had all manner of plans. But I didn't actually get much done...
I slept in, sorta. Went to Starbucks for a while, with solid plans of finishing all the discharge summaries I have to have done on Monday morning. I got one done sufficiently for a patient that was supposed to transfer out today (but didn't, as it turns out, which is fine, because I still need to do the "full" summary, all I did was the brief). But beyond that...mostly I played on the internet. Read some blogs, caught up on my LOLcats, people watched around me. Maggie now has a Facebook profile (I blame the peer pressure of all my friends whose pets are online). I finally gave up and came home.
Mags and I spent the day mostly lounging and watching the SVU marathon on TV. She did some successful napping; me, not so much. I did get some spinning done with my drop spindle, though. It's getting better....my yarn actually kind of looks like yarn, which is encouraging. Kind of a thick and thin, but not too dramatic. I feel like it's over-twisted, but I guess I'll run that past the expert on Tuesday...
I painted my nails, I looked for beach houses for the upcoming upperclass retreat (we all enjoyed our intern retreats so much we're going to do it again. Except this time it's all three upper classes and we have to pay for it. So far there's 10 people coming; we have the potential for 26 more - including spouses - who haven't responded yet). I finally decided it was totally appropriate to have a nice lazy day today, given how hectic the last 12 have been.
However, this does not get my house unpacked....
We'll see how tomorrow goes. I have to see Kelly at 1, have dinner plans with my aunt and uncle, since my cousin and her boyfriend are in town. I have to get those summaries written, get some groceries, do some dishes and laundry...quick, before the week starts again...
Friday, August 14, 2009
Thursday, August 13, 2009
One of those days...
....when I'm not so sure I want to be a grown up.
What a long day. So many fires to put out, you would've thought Rome was burning.
But.
We had babies at work today. My postpartum patient's whole family came, including her three kids, one of whom is a mere 10 months. And just the sweetest thing. SUCH a cutie pie, holy cow, oh my gosh. I got to play with him for a while. Her older kids were cute, too. And then Guido's wife brought their son by for lunch (since Guido was on call tonight), who is also one of the cutest children in existence, and just sweet as you please. Made the day so much better.
I'm exhausted. Brutal long day, paired with staying out too late last night (like 9:30, which is sort of pathetic, but I didn't really get to bed until 11), because my friend Edie (one of our social workers) made me come out for TCBY last night with a bunch of her non-work-related friends (and Peng, for a while). It was such hilarity, and she texted just when I was really frustrated and pissed off about something else...the timing was totally perfect. But perhaps I stayed a little too long (nah).
However - I'm not going to be stupid and make the same mistake twice. 'Night, y'all.
What a long day. So many fires to put out, you would've thought Rome was burning.But.
We had babies at work today. My postpartum patient's whole family came, including her three kids, one of whom is a mere 10 months. And just the sweetest thing. SUCH a cutie pie, holy cow, oh my gosh. I got to play with him for a while. Her older kids were cute, too. And then Guido's wife brought their son by for lunch (since Guido was on call tonight), who is also one of the cutest children in existence, and just sweet as you please. Made the day so much better.
I'm exhausted. Brutal long day, paired with staying out too late last night (like 9:30, which is sort of pathetic, but I didn't really get to bed until 11), because my friend Edie (one of our social workers) made me come out for TCBY last night with a bunch of her non-work-related friends (and Peng, for a while). It was such hilarity, and she texted just when I was really frustrated and pissed off about something else...the timing was totally perfect. But perhaps I stayed a little too long (nah).
However - I'm not going to be stupid and make the same mistake twice. 'Night, y'all.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Darkness
Oh, for Pete's sake...
So I get home tonight....long day at work. Whiny patients. Lots of crap to deal with. Endless paperwork. 7am therapy patient.
Fortunately, I had my very first spinning class to look forward to tonight. And it was awesome. It wound up being a private lesson, because there were only two of us signed up and the other woman didn't show. And I LOVE it. She sent me home with a drop spindle and some roving, but I am so totally in love with the wheel. It's very....zen. I could just treadle for hours (and, in fact, did, for about an hour). I had lanolin all over my hands and left with about 11 yards of handspun from the wheel, and a huge ball of Blue Leicester Top roving to spindle. I am pleased. I have two more lessons, on the next two Tuesdays.
So I stop and grab some dinner on the way home, walk up to the door...and the dog is whining. And I notice it's awfully dark - usually the dog walker leaves the front room light on, and I always leave my porch light on. Hmm. So I go in, flip the switch, and....nothing.
Turns out, last week or so ago when I paid the bill that the power company finally sent me, the online bill payer never actually sent the payment. So they disconnected us. Also? My rent check "bounced" this month (more bank weirdness), and I came home at 7pm yesterday to a note telling me I was about to be evicted.
We have power again (when I started writing this, I was stealing my neighbor's wireless...). And are not being evicted. And I will get the bank straightened out eventually (because, you know, they're not open when I'm not at work...). But still....jeebus.....
In better news, only three more days until the weekend.....
So I get home tonight....long day at work. Whiny patients. Lots of crap to deal with. Endless paperwork. 7am therapy patient.
Fortunately, I had my very first spinning class to look forward to tonight. And it was awesome. It wound up being a private lesson, because there were only two of us signed up and the other woman didn't show. And I LOVE it. She sent me home with a drop spindle and some roving, but I am so totally in love with the wheel. It's very....zen. I could just treadle for hours (and, in fact, did, for about an hour). I had lanolin all over my hands and left with about 11 yards of handspun from the wheel, and a huge ball of Blue Leicester Top roving to spindle. I am pleased. I have two more lessons, on the next two Tuesdays.
So I stop and grab some dinner on the way home, walk up to the door...and the dog is whining. And I notice it's awfully dark - usually the dog walker leaves the front room light on, and I always leave my porch light on. Hmm. So I go in, flip the switch, and....nothing.
Turns out, last week or so ago when I paid the bill that the power company finally sent me, the online bill payer never actually sent the payment. So they disconnected us. Also? My rent check "bounced" this month (more bank weirdness), and I came home at 7pm yesterday to a note telling me I was about to be evicted.
We have power again (when I started writing this, I was stealing my neighbor's wireless...). And are not being evicted. And I will get the bank straightened out eventually (because, you know, they're not open when I'm not at work...). But still....jeebus.....
In better news, only three more days until the weekend.....
Monday, August 10, 2009
What better way...
...to celebrate one's birthday than by working a ridiculous number of hours in the preceding weekend? Especially when your husband of a month gets to come home between brunch and dinner prep and you're stuck at work. At least she was stuck at work with me (it was fun being on this weekend together! You know, as fun as those things get). And I have a feeling today will be better (there's big fabulous dinner involved).
Happy birthday, Peng.
Happy birthday, Peng.
Sunday, August 09, 2009
I mean really though
Weekend coverage somehow turned into two full workdays. Yesterday I got in before 7 and left at 2-ish. Today? Left my house 10 minutes earlier, got there ten minutes later (right about 7), and left 11 hours after that. And in that, spent like three non-consecutive hours fighting with one of my outpatients who's now inpatient and is being a brat.
Here's a tip, people - one of the most annoying characters is the help-rejecting complainer. You get one or the other; either ask for help or bitch about what's wrong with people trying to help you, but not both. Otherwise, soon enough, you have no one around to listen to either.
Except masochists like me.
Holy crap am I tired...
Here's a tip, people - one of the most annoying characters is the help-rejecting complainer. You get one or the other; either ask for help or bitch about what's wrong with people trying to help you, but not both. Otherwise, soon enough, you have no one around to listen to either.
Except masochists like me.
Holy crap am I tired...
Saturday, August 08, 2009
Friday, August 07, 2009
Breaking it down...
Thankfully it's Friday, because wow am I fragmented after this workday...
_______________
I didn't leave work until 7:45 today. I would've left earlier, but I returned a call to one of my patients, who wasn't surprised that I was still at the hospital. She'd called for two reasons - one, she was having this persistent hallucination of smelling something rotting. I said, well, okay, it's possible we need to push up the dose of your antipsychotic, but first, why don't you go see your PCP and make sure this is actually an hallucination, and not, say, a sinus infection.
Two, she said, was that she'd seen her GYN, who has this knowledge of psych meds because of X, and she recommended we try Y, which would possibly fix both her pain problem and address a psych issue (it was a very reasonable and interesting suggestion, by the way). When she's telling me this, she laughed and said, "I told her, 'how interesting. My gynecologist knows psychiatry and my psychiatrist knows gynecology.'" I agree, that's pretty funny.
_______________
By the way? I'm really much happier to be back doing inpatient psychiatry. I think that should tell me something.
Of note, however, even though I love my job, I wouldn't mind doing it a couple less hours per day...I'm just sayin'...
_______________
I'll admit it, I've become completely addicted to FarmTown on Facebook, which is a game where you create a little farm, and plant things, and sell things, and have livestock, and it's very cute.
On a related note, I'm worried that these 12- and 14-hour days are cutting into my Facebook time.
_______________
I'm a little worried about my proclivity for unavailable men. Not, like, married unavailable, just emotionally so. I have theories about this. Somehow, that doesn't seem to keep me from collecting them.
_______________
I picked up a patient this morning whose H&P said she was drinking "between 6-121 beers per day." We had fun with that. And it was clearly a typo, but we learn not to assume in this business. We have another guy on the unit who was taking roughly the equivalent of 120 tablets (not milligrams - tablets) of valium per day. For reals. We think.
_______________
I got all excited when I came home and checked my email, because I had a message offering me a "free gift" from Filatura Di Crossi yarns, which are Italian and typically lovely, or at least interesting. It turned out to be a pattern.
I think it's overpriced.
_______________
I have this clinic patient who's being extremely difficult right now. So I was in Mikaela and Scott's office today, generally ranting about how it was already 3:30 and I still hadn't eaten lunch and I had this patient to deal with and these three very borderline-y patients on my service and blah, blah, blah, and Scott says to me, "Well, now, some people think that you attract and collect specific things for a reason. And we do know what your professional interests are, now, don't we?" (This conversation, of course, followed one about dissociative disorders, which are totally my cup of tea and also very highly comorbid with borderline personality organization/disorder.)
I kinda hate it when he calls me out on stuff like that. I'm also typically really impressed by it.
_______________
Spinning class starts Tuesday!! Not the kind with the bike, the kind with the wheel. And wool. And happiness.
_______________
I'm working this weekend. With Peng, although we won't be covering the same units. And also with Dr. Jabba, who'll be my attending (I'm pleased with that). It's both Peng and my first weekend of coverage. It should be interesting.
_______________
My neighbor is outside revving his engine incessantly. I'm a little annoyed by this, because I'm going to want to be asleep soon. In related news, the new people in apartment D, with whom I share a common wall, are REALLY FREAKIN' LOUD. And I blame them for the roaches.
_______________
On the roach-y front, I found like a dozen of them in the kitchen tonight. Mostly these teeny-tiny little ones who are barely bigger than a fruit fly. A couple were bigger. I also found a really big cricket. I squished them all, and then found a collection of roaches hiding in the corner of my counter under the cutting boards, which I promptly stamped out. The exterminator came today, and is allegedly coming every week for the next few weeks. In the interim, you can call me Dr. Kate, Slayer of Roaches.
_______________
I didn't make it to the gym this morning, and am a little disappointed with myself, although, it's fine. Instead I laid in the dark for 30 minutes and ruminated and made myself anxious. But I'll go tomorrow. In the afternoon, because I'm going to still get up at 5:30 tomorrow to go in and round.
_______________
I'm really, really, really tired...
_______________
I didn't leave work until 7:45 today. I would've left earlier, but I returned a call to one of my patients, who wasn't surprised that I was still at the hospital. She'd called for two reasons - one, she was having this persistent hallucination of smelling something rotting. I said, well, okay, it's possible we need to push up the dose of your antipsychotic, but first, why don't you go see your PCP and make sure this is actually an hallucination, and not, say, a sinus infection.
Two, she said, was that she'd seen her GYN, who has this knowledge of psych meds because of X, and she recommended we try Y, which would possibly fix both her pain problem and address a psych issue (it was a very reasonable and interesting suggestion, by the way). When she's telling me this, she laughed and said, "I told her, 'how interesting. My gynecologist knows psychiatry and my psychiatrist knows gynecology.'" I agree, that's pretty funny.
_______________
By the way? I'm really much happier to be back doing inpatient psychiatry. I think that should tell me something.
Of note, however, even though I love my job, I wouldn't mind doing it a couple less hours per day...I'm just sayin'...
_______________
I'll admit it, I've become completely addicted to FarmTown on Facebook, which is a game where you create a little farm, and plant things, and sell things, and have livestock, and it's very cute.
On a related note, I'm worried that these 12- and 14-hour days are cutting into my Facebook time.
_______________
I'm a little worried about my proclivity for unavailable men. Not, like, married unavailable, just emotionally so. I have theories about this. Somehow, that doesn't seem to keep me from collecting them.
_______________
I picked up a patient this morning whose H&P said she was drinking "between 6-121 beers per day." We had fun with that. And it was clearly a typo, but we learn not to assume in this business. We have another guy on the unit who was taking roughly the equivalent of 120 tablets (not milligrams - tablets) of valium per day. For reals. We think.
_______________
I got all excited when I came home and checked my email, because I had a message offering me a "free gift" from Filatura Di Crossi yarns, which are Italian and typically lovely, or at least interesting. It turned out to be a pattern.
I think it's overpriced._______________
I have this clinic patient who's being extremely difficult right now. So I was in Mikaela and Scott's office today, generally ranting about how it was already 3:30 and I still hadn't eaten lunch and I had this patient to deal with and these three very borderline-y patients on my service and blah, blah, blah, and Scott says to me, "Well, now, some people think that you attract and collect specific things for a reason. And we do know what your professional interests are, now, don't we?" (This conversation, of course, followed one about dissociative disorders, which are totally my cup of tea and also very highly comorbid with borderline personality organization/disorder.)
I kinda hate it when he calls me out on stuff like that. I'm also typically really impressed by it.
_______________
Spinning class starts Tuesday!! Not the kind with the bike, the kind with the wheel. And wool. And happiness.
_______________
I'm working this weekend. With Peng, although we won't be covering the same units. And also with Dr. Jabba, who'll be my attending (I'm pleased with that). It's both Peng and my first weekend of coverage. It should be interesting.
_______________
My neighbor is outside revving his engine incessantly. I'm a little annoyed by this, because I'm going to want to be asleep soon. In related news, the new people in apartment D, with whom I share a common wall, are REALLY FREAKIN' LOUD. And I blame them for the roaches.
_______________
On the roach-y front, I found like a dozen of them in the kitchen tonight. Mostly these teeny-tiny little ones who are barely bigger than a fruit fly. A couple were bigger. I also found a really big cricket. I squished them all, and then found a collection of roaches hiding in the corner of my counter under the cutting boards, which I promptly stamped out. The exterminator came today, and is allegedly coming every week for the next few weeks. In the interim, you can call me Dr. Kate, Slayer of Roaches.
_______________
I didn't make it to the gym this morning, and am a little disappointed with myself, although, it's fine. Instead I laid in the dark for 30 minutes and ruminated and made myself anxious. But I'll go tomorrow. In the afternoon, because I'm going to still get up at 5:30 tomorrow to go in and round.
_______________
I'm really, really, really tired...
Thursday, August 06, 2009
Wednesday, August 05, 2009
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Tuesday, August 04, 2009
Whoosh...
Year three, day two. Went better. Still hectic.
On Thursday, I have to present a Journal Club article to the group. Something about postpartumness. Some idiot, who might have been me, decided a 17-page Cochran Review on the use of estrogen and progesterone in post-partum depression sounded like a good idea. Problem is, *I* actually have to read it!!
So that's what I'm going to go do. Because, it's not like I can move. My quads are SO SORE from SUNDAY's workout, I can still barely get up out of a chair. But gonna gym tomorrow AM, so have to get up wicked early. And more punishment on Thursday, but this time she's meeting me at 5:30am.
Oy, the masochism....
On Thursday, I have to present a Journal Club article to the group. Something about postpartumness. Some idiot, who might have been me, decided a 17-page Cochran Review on the use of estrogen and progesterone in post-partum depression sounded like a good idea. Problem is, *I* actually have to read it!!
So that's what I'm going to go do. Because, it's not like I can move. My quads are SO SORE from SUNDAY's workout, I can still barely get up out of a chair. But gonna gym tomorrow AM, so have to get up wicked early. And more punishment on Thursday, but this time she's meeting me at 5:30am.
Oy, the masochism....
Monday, August 03, 2009
Stormy weather
It's raining out there. A lot.
Fortunately, I made it home well in advance of the storm. Maggie was pretty happy about that. And we even got to pal around with the pup next door for a while.
Today was...nuts. I mean to tell you, I don't know how we're supposed to get all this stuff done. Ohhh...so I've got six inpatients (today, thank God, I only had five) and roughly two hours a day of clinic or therapy (three on some Mondays). And lecture at lunch on Mondays and Tuesdays. Oh, and because I'm the peripartum resident, I'm supposed to do a peripartum therapy group twice a week (ha!!). And I've got to come up with a Journal Club article for Thursday. Not to mention Tuesday night classes and all the attendant reading. And my workouts in the morning. And did I mention I'm working this weekend?
Kinda makes me want to curl up in a little ball....but, I think it'll get better...
Fortunately, I made it home well in advance of the storm. Maggie was pretty happy about that. And we even got to pal around with the pup next door for a while.
Today was...nuts. I mean to tell you, I don't know how we're supposed to get all this stuff done. Ohhh...so I've got six inpatients (today, thank God, I only had five) and roughly two hours a day of clinic or therapy (three on some Mondays). And lecture at lunch on Mondays and Tuesdays. Oh, and because I'm the peripartum resident, I'm supposed to do a peripartum therapy group twice a week (ha!!). And I've got to come up with a Journal Club article for Thursday. Not to mention Tuesday night classes and all the attendant reading. And my workouts in the morning. And did I mention I'm working this weekend?
Kinda makes me want to curl up in a little ball....but, I think it'll get better...
Sunday, August 02, 2009
Silly naked doggy
Maggie got a haircut this morning.
And has commenced to sleeping in the laundry again. Oy.
We had a relatively productive day, although, I didn't get the things done that I wanted to (I.e., we have no groceries and I didn't unpack a single box). But the laundry's done, the dishes are clean, I'm caught up on outstanding notes, I got a little housecleaning done, I spent way too much money at Ulta, I did my own nails, and I had my ass thoroughly kicked by my trainer. And I got a few other things accomplished. So, you know...
Tomorrow morning I start on the Geropsychiatry/Peripartum Mood Disorders service. My patients will be predominantly postpartum or pregnant women with mood or thought disorders, but whatever room I have left on the service will be filled with old people or overflow patients from the crisis stabilization unit. I've done a couple of days on the units doing coverage over the last two weeks, and a week of intern coverage like 10 months ago, but I haven't reeeeeally been on the units for a year. And I wasn't doing clinic duty then. So I'm a little anxious. I'm sure I'll get a rhythm down, and it'll be fine, and before you know it the whole process will be old hat again...but, I'm not there yet, so - anxious. At least I'm on the gero unit in some form or another for the next four months (two months of peripartum, one of general gero, then one of gero/ECT), so, I'll get chance to settle in before everything gets upended again.
Truth be told, I'm rather looking forward to getting in to the swing of things. I think this is going to be a better year once I get the hang of balancing things, and I'm hopeful that'll happen fairly quickly. So, we'll see how it goes...
And has commenced to sleeping in the laundry again. Oy.
We had a relatively productive day, although, I didn't get the things done that I wanted to (I.e., we have no groceries and I didn't unpack a single box). But the laundry's done, the dishes are clean, I'm caught up on outstanding notes, I got a little housecleaning done, I spent way too much money at Ulta, I did my own nails, and I had my ass thoroughly kicked by my trainer. And I got a few other things accomplished. So, you know...
Tomorrow morning I start on the Geropsychiatry/Peripartum Mood Disorders service. My patients will be predominantly postpartum or pregnant women with mood or thought disorders, but whatever room I have left on the service will be filled with old people or overflow patients from the crisis stabilization unit. I've done a couple of days on the units doing coverage over the last two weeks, and a week of intern coverage like 10 months ago, but I haven't reeeeeally been on the units for a year. And I wasn't doing clinic duty then. So I'm a little anxious. I'm sure I'll get a rhythm down, and it'll be fine, and before you know it the whole process will be old hat again...but, I'm not there yet, so - anxious. At least I'm on the gero unit in some form or another for the next four months (two months of peripartum, one of general gero, then one of gero/ECT), so, I'll get chance to settle in before everything gets upended again.
Truth be told, I'm rather looking forward to getting in to the swing of things. I think this is going to be a better year once I get the hang of balancing things, and I'm hopeful that'll happen fairly quickly. So, we'll see how it goes...
Saturday, August 01, 2009
Sleepy in NC
It turned out to be a fairly busy day today. I slept horribly last night, which I tried to make up for by sleeping in, but I didn't do that too successfully, either. I frittered the morning away doing small errands, and then Peng and I went to a local Mead Fest. Mead is a wine-like fermented beverage that uses honey instead of grapes. The mead was fine; the company was excellent. I made a new spinning friend who wants to sell me one of her old wheels (spinner ladies - or guys! - out there, is there one y'all would recommend?). We met a bunch of really neat people. And we left with a ton of last year's mead, which featured various stone fruits. This year we brought apple juice (that was the price of admission), so I guess we'll see how that turns out next year. It was a very fun time. We then stopped for Greek food on the way home, which was also very tasty, and now I have lunch Monday.
Fortunately, I could do all this running around today in my new car, which I mentioned yesterday. Here it is:
My family has this habit of naming our cars after the Greek Orthodox patron saint of the day on which we purchase them. Yesterday was the feast day of Joseph of Arimathea, so the Jeep was promptly named "Joe." Joe the Jeep. It fits.
It's a Grand Cherokee. I ended up paying less for it than my old payment was on the Liberty, despite that the interest rate I got was something close to being prison highway robbery, but, my credit sucks, what are you going to do? And it was about $20 more per month than a new Liberty. And it's roomier, and well appointed (as someone on my FB page pointed out, it even comes with a Starbucks cup. Those are standard on all models I drive). I had a Grand Cherokee in college/med school, and I loved it. I'm such a Jeep girl.
The key is all funny, though, look at this:
It's not actually a key, really. But, if you push the little button on the back, look what pops out:
A real key. Which works in the door. I think this is totally fabulous, because I can leave the car running and locked (say, if I have a pup in there whom I don't want to broil, but I also don't want anyone to steal her. Or Joe) and run into a building to run a quick errand, and then I can get back in the car.
Maggie seems to approve.
Fortunately, I could do all this running around today in my new car, which I mentioned yesterday. Here it is:
My family has this habit of naming our cars after the Greek Orthodox patron saint of the day on which we purchase them. Yesterday was the feast day of Joseph of Arimathea, so the Jeep was promptly named "Joe." Joe the Jeep. It fits. It's a Grand Cherokee. I ended up paying less for it than my old payment was on the Liberty, despite that the interest rate I got was something close to The key is all funny, though, look at this:
It's not actually a key, really. But, if you push the little button on the back, look what pops out:
A real key. Which works in the door. I think this is totally fabulous, because I can leave the car running and locked (say, if I have a pup in there whom I don't want to broil, but I also don't want anyone to steal her. Or Joe) and run into a building to run a quick errand, and then I can get back in the car.
Maggie seems to approve.
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