The Useful Posts

Hi there!

I was just ego-surfing a bit, and came across a very valid critique of this blog. It basically pointed out the fact that you had to wade through a lot of my navel-contemplation in order to find the resource material that I wrote when I…um….had some time and energy to spend on writing. (Most of those posts took about five or so hours each to write, on average. Hey, it’s been a long time since I took basic physiology. 😀 )

So!

For the people who read the blog only for snippets of medical information that they can use in their writing, I plan to comb through the last year’s worth of posts and tag the “useful” ones for easy access through my tag-cloud-thingy on the right of the screen.

Hopefully that will satisfy the critique, and allow people to bypass the one-off, five-minute posts that I put up to keep the blog going (and hopefully, entertaining?) in the complete absence of free time.

I have no idea when this will happen (see “complete absence of free time” comment above), but keep your eyes open for it!

Update: Hmm, looks like I just went ahead and did it. So, check the tag cloud and enjoy!

Some Perfection For Sunday Night/Monday Morning

Thanks, Blake!

Series 6!

One of the hardest things about being a geek doctor in a hospital where most of the nurses have a rather fun combination of dialect and accent is the question that arises whenever I give an order over the phone or return a page:

“You are Doctor who?”

It’s hard to avoid saying, “Of course not! I couldn’t park a TARDIS within a three-mile radius of this place without getting ticketed!” Which would really, really confuse a lot of people. While they’re trying to work. Which is not nice. So I usually bite my tongue and say “Grasshopper” instead. Or, you know, the appropriate substitute for the situation and its relative, um, reality.

(It’s going to be even harder working overnight tonight, knowing that SERIES 6 IS STARTING WHILE I WORK!)

Looking forward to it!

Enjoy, everyone!

Days Off Suck.

Two loads of laundry and one of dishes before noon, bills to be paid, exams to arrange, powerpoint presentations to be done, and a METRIC ASS-TON of studying that I just haven’t gotten around to…..

There is no escape!

Aaaaaaaaaaugh!!!!!!

Picture shamelessly stolen from http://riccikilmer.wordpress.com/2008/08/

Geez, We’re In The Last Half of April!

I set entirely too many expectations for myself this month.

::Sigh::

John P. Murphy !!!!!

Hey, everybody!

John P. Murphy just posted the 1000th comment!

Congratulations, John! You get a celebrating Kermit!

Other Uses For Scrubs

Is your mom visiting?

Is your desk chair firmly wedged under the desk you use as an eating surface in order to make room for an air mattress?

Is your coffee table sulking unceremoniously underneath your hammock, rendering booth temporarily useless?

Are you about to eat takeout sushi on your couch, employing a precariously-balanced lap desk and a tiny but full cup of soy sauce?

Scrubs are designed to be puked on, peed on, bled on, et cetera, with no lasting ill effects (after a good trip through the wash).

Couches do not fit in a washing machine.

Soy sauce likes to splash.

Couches do not like to be splashed with soy sauce.

Scrubs do not seem to give a damn.

Scrubs can be convinced to conform to couch-shape with little effort.

I feel the supplied premises are sufficient for you to draw your own conclusions.

(BTW, I’m feeling a little better today. Although my voice is two octaves lower than usual. At least I’ve stopped sneezing. Evil, EVIL sneezing!)

The Upswing

Just had a nice big yawn, and my ears cleared! Ahhhhhhhhh!

Fever and headache adequately knocked down with acetaminophen, secretions are thickening up to a point where they’re manageable, and I can close my mouth for a few seconds at a time and breathe a little bit through my nose.

This is the point where the bug decides whether or not it’s going to give me lower respiratory symptoms (lingering cough, etc.)

Showering and getting dressed makes me feel like a whole new person after I’m sick.

So I’m going to go study for a bit, while the bug figures out whether or not it’s beaten.

I Am A Goopy, Goopy Grasshopper.

I’m going under the assumption that people halfway give a damn and/or don’t mind reading about the progression of a common viral illness in real time….but as an update, I am to the point where I’m completely flattened by this bug. I’m goopy and runny from practically every hole in my head, my head aches and my brain is foggy, and my body doesn’t feel like doing anything but lie here in bed.

I had a can of chicken soup earlier, and I’m hungry again….but any food I consider making just sounds unappetizing at this point. So I’ll make some tea and some toast, and sleep for the rest of the night.

Upsides:

-I wore a respiratory isolation mask around my patients, so I think they’ll be okay.
-I got sent home from work early.
-I was invited to take tomorrow off too (I’m on an easy month with no inpatient responsibilities)

Downsides (besides feeling like a goop-monster who has just been run down by a steamroller):

-I sneezed all over my clinic preceptor. It was an unpleasant surprise for both of us. I’m so embarrassed.
-My mom is visiting, and I’m worried about infecting her.
-I was going to go dancing with my mom tonight. So much for that.
-I’m not studying either (like I should be)
-Various other downsides. But I’m falling asleep again.

Thanks for the good wishes, suggestions, and sympathy, everyone!

I’ll likely be back to functional status tomorrow.

And, As Predicted….

At 0348 this morning, the Sneezapocalypse began.

Doesn’t matter; still gotta go to work.

This. Sucks.