Cereal Science

There's a special science when it comes to constructing the perfect bowl of cereal. Precise calculation of cereal and milk is paramount in not having soggy cereal or left over milk or even the dreaded left over cereal from lack of sufficient milk. It sounds simple enough and I am sure there are many cereal masters out there, but there are none of these masters living in our household. I can usually come close using a traditional round bowl - with minimal leftover milk and no dry cereal but when it comes to using one of our square bowls well, it isn't pretty. The square bowl is good for soups and salads and such but not for cereal. It's even ok for ice cream and pie. It's slightly tapered down to the bottom of the bowl so it's difficult to judge how much milk is really needed when the cereal fills in the tapered bottom giving the illusion the bowl is larger than it truly is hence a significant waste of milk. Moral of the story - keep all the round bowls washed, not piled in the sink. Trivial I know but the most significant happening in this household this morning.

A bit of advice

My mother always told me to wear nice underwear and socks, just in case some series of unfortunate events happened and you might be seen in your britches (this advice reinforced when I was a paramedic - very peculiar what people wear on a daily basis), well this next bit of advice runs along those same lines - If you are going to do something a little wild and crazy, that potentially gets you arrested, make sure you are not wearing your swimming suit... or less. No matter when you might be released, after your stint in the county Hilton, whether it be summer, winter, or spring, you will be released in the same outfit you came in wearing... which could be very chilly or slightly embarrassing (because staying at the county lodging is not). See, I'm learning something new everyday at work.

Present Tense

It's light outside when I go to work and when I leave work - too bad that will change once we lose an hour of sleep this weekend. Funny, Shawn always has to work the "fall back" weekends but never the spring forward ones. Work is improving (long hours and transition with the new company). I almost took a very enticing job offer at another facility in Hillsboro but decided timing wasn't optimal. My doc is quirky - even finding ways to chat me up about my personal life without making me feel like he's uncomfortable. Shawn just went through shift bid and ended up in a float position - guaranteed hours just not a guaranteed car, so if all else fails - he sits around and gets paid until there's a spot for him to take over. Unfortunately with this new float position it is the end of OT.

We are moving in the fall (7 1/2 months to be exact) if all goes as planned. We are planning for the long term now which is really fun, although still living in the moment while we can (like when an amazing crazy idea popped in our heads today for May that we are going to follow through on, oh so very very pumped).

It's only 2 weeks until Arizona... the last weekend of spring training - we are so pumped! We are so in need of a little away time, I really feel we've earned it. Our "merchandise" arrived today for our trip - t-shirts, hats and shoulder backpacks all with the cubs logo spring training Arizona printed on them - I'm a nerd but I felt really cool, like part of some VIP club (that I totally paid to be a part of). I'm hoping it's a great experience so we take another trip through this company during regular season and get a private tour of Wrigley field. See, already thinking ahead.

Not a leap year

My mom's birthday is Feb 29... sounds cool in theory to have a birthday on a day that only occurs every 4 years but unfortunately it doesn't mean that time is standing still in those passing years, so she actually gets jipped - aging without a special day to celebrate although I say she should celebrate for the last half of the day of 2/28 and the first half of 3/1 or get two days to celebrate every year she doesn't actually have a birthday. When I was a kid, I thought it was kind of neat that we celebrated our 10th birthday in the same years, mind you we weren't both turning 10.

March is practically here and that means just 4 more weeks until Mesa AZ!! Can't wait!! Sunshine, vacation and most importantly, Cubs baseball - the last few games before the start of the regular season!

Return to Os

Did 2 paps today - a third one scheduled for tomorrow - only after I sheepishly told the MD that I (and 2 nurses) couldn't find the speculums yesterday (and the last provider told me we had none because we dono't do them) and he opens one drawer that I didn't even know existed and woot - there are 15 speculums - egg on my face, guess I will be apping my RLQ abdominal pain with a white count and some other random woman complaint. Hadn't done any since Ecuador - I was worried I had lost my skill and I was in a bit of dread knowing that sometimes personal hygiene is not on the top of my populations to do list. But all in all great success - all on my own with my cytobrush and spatula in hand I followed the yellow brick road to the land of Os - even managed to find a retroverted one. Yay!

The Boss

My supervising doc called me The Boss about a week ago and has proceeded to occasionally call me boss when I'm in clinic... I do for all intensive purposes run the clinic - with his guidance of course, but I am not the boss of the clinic. So perhaps good readers one can empathize with me in my frustration when I get over ruled to send someone to the ER for a possible ostemyelitis or septic ankle joint. Slightly elevated white count at 13, no osteomyelitis on the xray - just evidence of an old fracture, no abscess, and a couple pieces of hardware. The ankle is now warm, red, pt is afebrile, still weight bearing, and is no other medical concerns(transient HTN) but I know if I saw this person in clinic - I would send them straight to ER. But in my setting we do things a smidgen different - the object is not to send them out, do as much as we can in house as it poses a threat to the community, the hospital and officer safety for people to go from our facility to one in the "free world". I may sit on a chest pain until troponins are sent back and read elevated from a stat lab, despite not having any change on the ECG. I wait on a hyperkalemic patient until they are above 6.2 - even though at 6 they can have fatal ectopy, not sending someone with lower right abdominal pain with a fever until blood work is back and a KUB, which both turn out to be normal. It's a slippery slope and an awkward phone call to a seasoned professional to say doc, I think the pt needs to go, because I am uncomfortable and you have not seen the patient, the command staff is asking me to override you.

In light of the not 1 but 2 or 3 contorted articles in the paper about a particular facility, I cringe knowing there is a slippery slope being a PA, using my best judgement but working and consulting with a physician - someone who is seasoned to make the best decisions to present to the patient. This is the one and only time I have thought to myself, I wish I were the doc right now.

What's up homie?

I think my doc and I are bonding. He's calling my JZ (he thinks he's the first to call me this and I decided after telling him my former classmates now colleagues have been calling me that) but hey it's "cool" and now I call him Dr. G (out loud), so it's all good. Maybe I should start calling my nurse Snoop.

Random story - cultured some weird foot lesions that i thought were totally vascular in nature but honestly was stuck and had no clue what else to do, so cleaned it up and stuck the lesion with a 27g and cultured what came out of it - blood. There are multiple lesions on the feet only, following superficial veins and no Roth spots... Low and behold heavy bacteria growth. Still not sure what the heck it is but hoping 7 days of Clindamycin will kick it... or at least give the patient diarrhea - i know exactly what to do with this.


Made first loan payment - sigh... I feel lost in the world of loans. I owe so much money. To consolidate or not... that is the question. First third of my check to taxes, then the next third to loans... sad day. Learned my site doesn't qualify for loan repayment after all - need more high or medium security peeps.
Peace out!