Archives for: 2008
12/29/08
In VA for the holidays, with 65 degree weather (warmer than the inside of our apartment, generally), hash brown casseroles, jello salad molds, and lots of tea. It's been wonderful. And if I don't reach the ten pound weight gain mark that I'm supposed to… more »
12/05/08
Better days.
Okay, so I seriously don't see many people die. Well, I do. But where I come from, people "code," go flatline, arrest, whatever, and then the troops rush in and everything is all adrenaline and movement and you either work it until the… more »
12/04/08
I don't know why I always feel the need to cry during the first month of starting a new job, but that's how I feel now. Two twelves down this week, one to go.
Despite the commute time and the office politics and overwhelming patient census and all t… more »
11/29/08
My yearly thankfulness post, a tad late. This year, in particular, I'm thankful for:
+ Family
+ No more morning sickness
+ My warm, cozy living room
+ The three jobs that Mark and I have between us, all of which pay for more than what we nee… more »
11/19/08
When I am sad, these days, or weary in spirit, I try to just go to Abbey's Flickr and look at pictures of their totally cute, totally sad-eyeball dog, Pete, because it just seems like he would have some sage advice for me such as: "Relax. Good things co… more »
11/14/08
One week later, I'm still at home sick with some dreaded bug that has migrated to everywhere possible in my face - my left ear throbs, my sinuses scream in horror, my voice is a becoming squeak, and my eyeballs look as if I could have easily have spent… more »
11/07/08
A side effect of the current low census at my hospital is that I have had many, many days off the past month. On average, I've worked a shift a week, sometimes less, so I have a lot of time off these days. This is no good on the paycheck/savings side of… more »
11/06/08
I would just like to put it out there that I think it's really lame how people just roll over and die after an election. Like, if I hear one more quotation of "The King's heart is in the hand of the Lord" I think I'm going to cry.
From either side, D… more »
10/27/08
I got my fill of the last warm days today by opening up the windows in the apartment, letting the wind sweep out the musty smells that have accumulated, and mercilessly cleaning house as if my life depended on it. With the onset of baby-induced fatigue… more »
10/16/08
After much waiting due to the home-grown operation that is Reese and Amy Roper shipping all the albums themselves, Mark and I finally got our copy of Brave Saint Saturn's new album, Anti-Meridian, the third in their space trilogy. Our late shipment came… more »
09/16/08
Wherein "animal guardians" (is this the new word for pet owners?) confess their sins and try to move on. Also of note - there is a very high ratio of pet owners of hermit crabs nicknamed "Shelly" represented on the website.
"I had two hemit crabs n… more »
09/09/08
I have nothing against plumbers. Two of my little sister's best buddies (they're sisters) are daughters of a plumber who is nothing short of a hard-working, all-American, family-loving, smart Christian guy. The plumbing company chosen by my landlady, ho… more »
09/05/08
"Praise God, from whom all blessings flow;
Praise Him, all creatures here below;
Praise Him above, ye heavenly host.
Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost."
The heavy heat that's hanging over Massachusetts right now is wonderful - a little extensi… more »
08/16/08
My parents are out of town picking up my great aunt so she can stay for a weeklong visit. In the meantime, I've got the three youngest in the family staying over my apartment for the night. So far we've done all the things that are, in Teddy's words, "T… more »
08/13/08
Last Friday we spent the night at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Nashua, NH as a little "staycation" (as Mark says they're calling them these days). It was really only about a half an hour away from our house, but for the purposes of getting out of the house… more »
08/08/08
Whee! Mini vacations! Whee! more »
08/06/08
I'm slowly learning that it's really okay to cry for people who I barely know. I think I know all this stuff about them (every surgery, every bodily function), but I really don't, And it's okay, even then, to cry when I hear they're hopeless, they're dy… more »
08/02/08
"This is the first day of my life
I swear I was born right in the doorway
I went out in the rain suddenly everything changed
They're spreading blankets on the beach
Yours is the first face that I saw
I think I was blind before I met you
Now I do… more »
07/22/08
I've been getting lots of new and fun stuff these days. I got my very first pair of sunglasses that I think I've probably ever had, and I plan of wearing them all the time. I've always worn glasses, except for my stint with contacts (when I was 13-15ish… more »
07/14/08
High Hospital Census: The Pros and Cons.
Cons:
Being asked every day to do a double.
Crying the entirety of my 45 minute commute home.
The same stupid email everyday from administration, "Hospital Continues to be on HIGH CENSUS ALERT" in big, b… more »
07/11/08
Waiting for the iPod Touch 2.0 software update to go live is torturous. This is what happens to me when I have a day off - I wake up with Emvee when he leaves for work (in the case of today, 4:55AM) and can't fall back asleep. Instead, I put on Five Iro… more »
07/08/08
Sometimes I forget that when I go to work in the morning, if I have one little oversight, one small but notable thing written on my little 4x4 sheet of paper with all the patient's information written on it that I might miss, someone could be seriously… more »
07/02/08
This birthday makes me feel kinda old. I guess I'm still not grown up, though, because every time I read my own post about the Six Flags Decapitated Head commercials I still giggle to myself. more »
06/29/08
Sadly, in my current state of weekend-induced euphoria, I am suddenly struck by the irony that Six Flags' current television commercials feature a giant floating head superimposed over a rollercoaster full of screaming joyriders. more »
06/03/08
Work makes me want to cry or explode and sometimes both. more »
05/21/08
...Get up every morning for a goodbye at the door, even when I can sleep in
...Let him buy sardines
...Make monkey noises and mime eating bananas to make him forget that I forgot to do that crucial thing that he told me not to forget to do
...W… more »
05/20/08
Apparently, the summer census has officially kicked in at work and I have been canceled for the past two days. I was originally slated to work this past Sunday until Wednesday, have Thursday off, and then back on Friday. So far, I've worked Sunday and t… more »
05/13/08
Thank you, God, for
soft skin
warm afghans,
the lilacs outside my
bb-gunned-down
window
Thank you, God, for
Magic Shell,
in-laws,
the family and its
dysfunction
(sometimes)
Thank you, God, for
lotion
that smells so good
like tange… more »
05/05/08
Blogging of the new millenium! Blogging from the iPod Touch! Woohoo! I'm still learning how to type on it but all is well. Happy early birthday to me!!!!!! more »
05/01/08
My coworker's husband died today, during her shift, while all the rest of us tried to concentrate on our work and listened to it happening as the two codes were called and his wife asked for them to stop it during the second time around.
Since he go… more »
04/28/08
Kalo Pascha.
Yesterday, for our own little Greek Easter, we ate lamb and manestra and salad and peas and bread and coffee and ice cream. All together as a family, we relaxed and visited. It was wonderful to do nothing and be together. Now that The D… more »
04/22/08
A long time ago, I was just a child, this little skinny sixteen year old working at a medical office, answering phones, making appointments, masquerading as something more mature and grown up. I found myself in a situation that was somewhat like a class… more »
04/21/08
Work was a trainwreck today. Crying patients followed me everywhere, family members calling and telling me to tell the doctors things like, "I think the doctor should do something about the way that my mother doesn't exercise! I am a very involved son,… more »
04/17/08
It is seriously, like, sixty-five degrees out or something.
I am barefoot and in scrubs the color of green grass and there is sun and breeze whooshing through my house, sweeping out the stale, depressing winter air that's filled it all these dreadful… more »
04/16/08
Since the other half/two thirds of the company (from Seattle and Ohio, respectively) were in Boston for a meeting of some sort, the company Mark works for had a dinner party last night at this restaurant in Boston's North End, Little Italy. I'm not gonn… more »
04/09/08
#1 -
Enormous 400lb Flamboyant Gay Patient: "Ha! Soooo, Doc! I guess I'm doing better than you thought I would, HUH?! I can't BELIVE I have proved you wrong, honey! You were sure I wasn't going to do well after the surgery because I AM FAT!!"
Dry… more »
03/18/08
I love Mark's new job. I love that he comes home every night and isn't working late hours two or three days a week like he was before. I love being home when he comes home and I love how he humors me and goes to bed an an unearthily early hour with me s… more »
03/12/08
I left for work at 5AM yesterday morning and worked a double, getting home at 1AM this morning. Mark, in his glorious way of awesomeness, welcomed me at the door with a single rose and a bag of Burger King. Two Whoppers and fries to share. I love that m… more »
03/10/08
A patient peed on my right shoe today.
Those shoes have been places, man.
They sweated it out in Honduras over miles of dusty trails and swung from my backpack, drying in the sun, when they were so stinky from the heat that I had to swap them ou… more »
03/07/08
Read your blog comment for your post about how we never say anything good about nursing. :) more »
03/06/08
When his shrunken little wife hobbled into the room with her walker and XXS pink sweater, my infinitely crusty, cranky, curmudgeony patient showed me a rare moment of sweetness when he announced that it was only one month until their 71st anniversary.… more »
03/05/08
As you can see from the picture below, I let it get a little crazy up in here over the weekend. Totally.
Portland, Maine is gorgeous even in the rain, really. Or maybe I just enjoy good company and staying at cheesy Howard Johnsons. I can't say enou… more »
03/03/08
Sometimes I overwhelm even myself. Believe it, homes. more »
02/29/08
Two people coded on my floor today, near-simultaneously. One was just getting stabilized when other started crashing. By coded I mean they went under... went into ventricular tachycardia... died.. sorta. One of them was my patient. I had this really bad… more »
02/24/08
Today marks the third consecutive work day in a row where I have been called a term that refers to a female dog by a third separate patient. All three times by patients who didn't belong on my floor, who weren't sick enough to be on my floor, who were b… more »
02/22/08
I don't get a lot of drug-addicted patients on my unit at the hospital. More often, it's alcoholics who are in liver and congestive heart failure, scraping the bottom of the barrel of health to try and survive a few more years. Every once and a while, I… more »
02/19/08
I'm a Big Girl.
I'm trying to decide what to do next - wash dishes, do laundry, read a book, eat ramen, lounge around, buy a pair of sneakers so I don't have to wear my MRSA-laden hospital sneakers around town, or clean out my entire closet of junk I… more »
02/14/08
A husband who, every morning, kisses me goodbye on our way out the door with the same gentleness and love as our wedding day
Baby brothers who yell, "CASSIE'S HERE!" and run down the stairs from their bedroom to greet me when I show up at the house u… more »
02/07/08
I had originally written a very fiery post about the life and times of the Christian woman today. It got a little too personal on my end, so I am revisiting it now while I'm home for the day after a very long week. Today, I'm playing the young and hip a… more »
01/22/08
God is so good,
God is so good,
God is so good,
He's so good to me.
He answers prayer,
He answers prayer,
He answers prayer,
He's so good to me.
He loves me so,
He loves me so,
He loves me so,
He's so good to me. more »
01/16/08
All I do all day these days is talk to people about life and death, life and death. I'm always trying to keep these people alive who are clutching onto these little strings of life after years of smoking, lung removals, lobectomies, valve replacements,… more »
01/10/08
I stayed an hour and a half later than the end of my shift today because the nurse I was supposed to pass my patient to was cranky about her assignment. I was going to give her my easy patient and she said, "But I thought I was getting a post-op heart,"… more »
01/09/08
Today, while napping before Emvee got home, I dreamed a series of bizarre happenings, one of which was that my retirement-age male-to-female transsexual patient of the last three days was trying not to be disturbed and so had placed a sign above her roo… more »
01/06/08
I roll the window down
And then begin to breathe in
The darkest country road
And the strong scent of evergreen
From the passenger seat as you are driving me home.
Then looking upwards
I strain my eyes and try
To tell the difference between shoo… more »
01/02/08
If I seem to me M.I.A., it is because I am. I am writing a quick blog to atone for my sins of negligence in correspondence (esp. you, Heidi! Check!) over this loveliest of holiday seasons. I write to you now from the household of my in-laws here in Virg… more »
XML Feeds
