Sunday, July 30, 2006

My Saturday Sky


A day late, but at least I'm actually posting this weekend. I've missed the sky the past few weeks because I've been at work. But this was the view from the courtyard in front of my building yesterday. Can you believe how blue it is? And not a single cloud.

Saturday, July 29, 2006

Golden Weekend!

I have two whole days off...Saturday and Sunday. I love when that happens. I don't know what to do with all this free time. I spent the morning knitting and watching Grey's Anatomy. I didn't make enough progress on anything to make pictures worthwhile, but I'll be knitting some more over the rest of the weekend. In the meantime, Kaitie Tee tagged me so here goes.

Five things always in my purse (usually a large tote bag or messenger bag b/c I carry so much stuff around):
- wallet
- iPod (but often not the headphones, so not too useful once I leave my car)
- Palm Pilot
- pager
- various little medical books

Five things always in my wallet:
- driver's license
- debit card
- old student ID (b/c I refuse to pay $10 to see a movie)
- at least a dozen receipts from debit card purchases I haven't recorded
- all my life support cards and my organ donor card

Five things always in my refrigerator:
- Brita pitcher
- milk (often past its date)
- good Parmesan cheese
- yogurt
- open bottle of wine

Five things always in my closet:
- stacks of shoe boxes
- purses that I never use
- piles of scrubs on the floor
- luggage
- clothes (duh)

Five things always in my car:
- umbrellas, hopefully not all broken
- directions to various locations stored over the past couple years
- several dirty travel mugs
- chapstick
- sunglasses

Five things always on my desk:
- stack of mail
- stack of journal articles I need to read
- pager, stethoscope, name tag thrown there upon arriving home
- cup full of pens
- jar of quarters for laundry

Thursday, July 27, 2006

Wow, I've been a slacker about posting. Things have just been a little crazy...ok a lot crazy. I'm at the hospital at the moment and things are actually quiet for now. Of course now that I've said that the 29 weeker waiting doawstairs will deliver and everything will get crazy. But until then I'm just checking on my babies every so often and working on a sock. Love sock knitting in the unit! By the miracle of the mandated 4 days off a month rule, I actually have the whole weekend off. That's right everyone, both Saturday and Sunday off to sleep in, go shopping, do laundry, clean my apartment. And watch movies while knitting of course. The big event of the weekend is the Northampton sidewalk sale. All the shops have set up tents along Main St (including Northampton Wools and Webs). You better believe I'll snag some yarn this weekend. Why is it that I feel the need to buy yarn even when I don't have time to knit? Dang it...phone is ringing.

Monday, July 17, 2006

So, yeah, I'm tired and cranky. This schedule does that to a person. If a doctor is ever short or rude to you, try to forgive him. Just think about 80 hour weeks, 30 hour days, 13 work days in a row... if that doesn't make you cranky you're a pod person. I'm right in the middle of 13 consecutive days without a day off... it sucks. I've had two nights of call in the past eight days of hell and both were rough. Like 31 week twins and a 24 week premie rough. Intubating babies in the middle of the night. Catching an hour of sleep only to be jerked awake at 4am by a phone ringing and a nurse asking how I want to change ventilator settings. Waking up like that makes me physically sick. I got up to turn on a light and almost fell over, my head was spinning, and I felt like I was going to puke. I think in the future I won't even try to nap; it's so not worth it since I feel so crappy when I get up. Then this afternoon I was leaning on the desk at the nurses station listening to my attending talk about a chest x-ray and almost fell asleep standing up. No good. If I can just make it to Sunday. I think I'll sleep through the whole day.

On a lighter note, I got a ton of mail today. Awesome knitting mail. First is my purchase from Katie.



A roll up needle case! I love it! And it matches my living room furniture so it feels right at home. Look how happy my needles are!



My other mail is from my Knit the Classics swap partner. A book about an American doctor in India (really looking forward to reading this), some yummy yarn, and chocolate. I think chocolate might actually be able to cheer me up today! The pic kinda stinks; the color is all wrong. The mohair is this great purple and the soy silk is a wonderful earthy mauve. Thanks, Knittergurl!



So after admiring my goodies and taking some Advil I sat down to a dinner of leftover Chinese food. Mandarin chicken is yummy. And for dessert, my favorite fruit smoothie.



When work is crappy use a pretty glass! I was at the grocery store the other day and they had South Carolina peaches! (The best peaches ever!) So I got a little homesick and bought a bunch. One of my favorite things to do with fresh peaches is make smoothies. My recipe:

1 South Carolina peach (forget about California ones)
1 handful of fresh raspberries
1 container vanilla yogurt
2-3 ice cubes

Crank up the blender and make it smooth. Pour into a pretty glass and enjoy!

This is also a great way to use peaches on the verge of being overripe. Slice them and put them on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper. Stick the peaches in the freezer and transfer to a ziplock bag once frozen. These will keep for awhile in the freezer. Then use them to make smoothies and omit the ice. I always wind up with bags of peach slices in the freezer because I tend to go a bit overboard at the farmer's stand and buy way too many peaches. After 2 pies, a cobbler, and just eating them fresh I still have some left. ::sniff:: I miss home!





QuizGalaxy!
'What will your obituary say?' at QuizGalaxy.com


This might come in handy because I really do feel like death right now. Tired and achey all over, with a bad mood to top it off. Must cheer up. There's a real post coming, but first I have to pass out on the couch for a while and try to feel better.

Friday, July 14, 2006

New sock yarn!

I have a serious problem... sock yarn. I can't get enough of the stuff. I don't even have time to knit, but I still have an obsession with the yarn.

This first skein is from Gina. It's Blugger, a dye project gone... not wrong, just differently than planned. But I think it has potential, so let's see how it turns out.





The other is from LuLu's Yarns. I love the shades of blue. And for Beth, one skein as a hank and one wound. I think it's prettier as a hank.

So someday when I have a day off I'll have plenty of yarn to play with!

Thursday, July 13, 2006

What sucks about being an intern.

OK, there are a lot of things about being an intern that suck. Like being a doctor but not really knowing anything about being one, trying to come up with logical answers for things about which you have no idea, not getting any sleep on call nights, talking to patients and families and trying not to look like an idiot. Really, the list goes on and on. But the absolute worst is being called out for doing something that you were told to do. If you ever want to see this happen, just go to Grand Rounds at any teaching hospital. Surgery ones are the worst. I remember one I attended in med school where the intern was getting pimped about a bad outcome. He had prepped before hand and really knew his stuff, but the chair didn't like any of his answers. So after being asked why he had done something one too many times, I guess he snapped. "Because my attending told me to!" he finally called out. Not what you should ever say even though it's totally true.

My fellow intern in the NICU got hit really hard with this today. She was on call last night and one of the babies was causing a lot of trouble. He's on the vent and his blood gases were all over the place - oxygen too low, carbon dioxide too high, pH way too low. There are a couple things you can do about that - like adjust the vent settings or give meds. As interns we have no idea which thing to do in a given circumstance so we ask. So she asked the NP who was on overnight and did as suggested. The attending on for the night had gone to sleep and isn't the type who likes being woken up, and we have frequently been told to ask the NPs what to do when we don't know. So this was a completely reasonable action, definitely what I would have done. So then the intern does what the NP suggested and the baby improved. So this morning the attending emerged from the call room and sees in the chart what happened overnight. And disagrees with how it was handled. And proceeds to go off on the intern for doing the wrong thing and possibly causing chronic lung disease in the baby. All the while the NP just stands there and never says that it was her suggestion, just lets the intern take it. And that is what sucks about being an intern.

It's back!

Well, mostly. Thank you help boards. Apparently a lot of people had this happen a couple months ago, and fixing it requires picking a new template and republishing the whole site. But all the stuff I had in my sidebar is gone, so I'll have to redo it.

Wednesday, July 12, 2006

WTF?!

So something is screwed up with blogger. My posts aren't showing up and my template is all messed up. How did everything disappear? And how do I make it come back? I'm not a complete computer moron, but this is way beyond me.

And for added weirdness, the new posts are showing up on the RSS feed, just not on the normal page. Seriously, WTF?

As you wish

Miracle Max

Which Princess Bride Character are You?
this quiz was made by mysti

Sunday, July 09, 2006

Thank you, work hour regulations.

And thanks to everyone for all your encouraging comments to my last post. I had another night of call on Friday, and this one was even worse. Two of our babies took a turn during the night and had to go on ventilators. No time for sitting down when that's happening. But thanks to the new 80 hour work week and one day off a week rules, I have today off. So nice. I slept until 8 and had a lazy breakfast before even starting my day. Big plans for the day? Seeing Pirates of the Caribbean (yay for Johnny Depp!) and doing some knitting. Hopefully I'll make some progress on Charlotte, enough to make a new picture worthwhile. But first I saw this meme at Me & Mine.

Bold is what I've done.

01. Bought everyone in the bar a drink
02. Swam with wild dolphins
03. Climbed a mountain
04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
05. Been inside the Great Pyramid
06. Held a tarantula
07. Taken a candlelit bath with someone
08. Said 'I love you' and meant it
09. Hugged a tree
10. Bungee jumped
11. Visited Paris
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise
14. Seen the Northern Lights
15. Gone to a huge sports game
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
18. Touched an iceberg
19. Slept under the stars
20. Changed a baby's diaper
21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
22. Watched a meteor shower
23. Gotten drunk on champagne
24. Given more than you can afford to charity
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
27. Had a food fight
28. Bet on a winning horse
29. Asked out a stranger
30. Had a snowball fight
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
32. Held a lamb
33. Seen a total eclipse
34. Ridden a roller coaster
35. Hit a home run
36. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day
38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
39. Had two hard drives for your computer
40. Visited all 50 states
41. Taken care of someone who was drunk
42. Had amazing friends
43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country
44. Watched wild whales
45. Stolen a sign
46. Backpacked in Europe
47. Taken a road-trip
48. Gone rock climbing
49. Midnight walk on the beach
50. Gone sky diving
51. Visited Ireland
52. Been heartbroken longer then you were actually in love
53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger's table and had a meal with them
54. Visited Japan
55. Milked a cow
56. Alphabetized your cds
57. Pretended to be a superhero
58. Sung karaoke
59. Lounged around in bed all day
60. Posed nude in front of strangers
61. Gone scuba diving
62. Kissed in the rain
63. Played in the mud
64. Played in the rain
65. Gone to a drive-in theater
66. Visited the Great Wall of China
67. Started a business
68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
69. Toured ancient sites
70. Taken a martial arts class
71. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight
72. Gotten married
73. Been in a movie
74. Crashed a party
75. Gotten divorced
76. Gone without food for 5 days
77. Made cookies from scratch
78. Won first prize in a costume contest
79. Ridden a gondola in Venice
80. Gotten a tattoo
81. Rafted the Snake River
82. Been on television news programs as an "expert"
83. Got flowers for no reason
84. Performed on stage
85. Been to Las Vegas
86. Recorded music
87. Eaten shark
88. Had a one-night stand
89. Gone to Thailand
90. Bought a house
91. Been in a combat zone
92. Buried one of your parents
93. Been on a cruise ship
94. Spoken more than one language fluently
95. Performed in Rocky Horror.
96. Raised children.
97. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
98. Created and named your own constellation of stars
99. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
100. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over
101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn't stop when you knew someone was looking
103. Had plastic surgery
104. Survived an illness that you shouldn't have survived
105. Wrote articles for a large publication
106. Lost over 100 pounds
107. Held someone while they were having a flashback
108. Piloted an airplane
109. Petted a stingray
110. Broken someone's heart
111. Helped an animal give birth
112. Won money on a T.V. game show
113. Broken a bone
114. Gone on an African photo safari
115. Had a body part of yours below the neck pierced
116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol
117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild
118. Ridden a horse
119. Had major surgery
120. Had a snake as a pet
121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
122. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours
123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states
124. Visited all 7 continents
125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
126. Eaten kangaroo meat
127. Eaten sushi
128. Had your picture in the newspaper
129. Changed someone's mind about something you care deeply about
130. Gone back to school
131. Parasailed
132. Petted a cockroach
133. Eaten fried green tomatoes
134. Read The Iliad - and the Odyssey
135. Selected one "important" author who you missed in school, and read
136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
137. Skipped all your school reunions
138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
139. Been elected to public office
140. Written your own computer language
141. Thought to yourself that you're living your dream
142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
143. Built your own PC from parts
144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn't know you
145. Had a booth at a street fair
146: Dyed your hair
147: Been a DJ
148: Shaved your head
149: Caused a car accident
150: Saved someone's life

Looking forward to someday doing 51 and 62.

On a completely unrelated note, LadyLungDoc is setting up a Knitting Physicians webring. Check out the site if you're interested.

Tuesday, July 04, 2006

I have to agree with Theresa - intern call is nothing like med student call. I was silly enough to think I would have some down time during the night and brought my knitting along, but it never made it out of my bag. It was so busy in the NICU last night. We had 5 transports from other hospitals and 6 deliveries were admitted (including a couple "I didn't know I was pregnant" cases - how the hell do you not realize you're 9 months pregnant?!). My personal favorite - I didn't realize I was pregnant until a month ago (when you were 8 months along?) and this morning I had some cramps and took Tylenol PM. I fell asleep and when I woke up there was a baby between my legs. (Wow, Tylenol PM must be some strong stuff!) Thankfully the baby is doing OK. Had a temp of 85 when he got here because mom had to walk 2 blocks - with baby and placenta still attached - to find a phone and call 911. And she's not sure when the baby was actually born because she was asleep for over 2 hours. So, yeah, crazy night. I didn't get a break until almost 4am when I collapsed in the call room for an hour. And when I say I didn't get a break, I mean it. It's not like I didn't have time to sit and knit or read. I didn't get dinner. It was almost impossible to even get to the bathroom. That was the longest 28 hours! The thing that makes it so much harder than med student call is that everything is my responsibility. Any problem means the nurses call and I'm supposed to handle it. I've been doing this for less than a week and I'm supposed to know what to do when a baby on oxygen gets tachypneic (breathing really fast)? Fortunately NICU nurses are awesome. Many calls entail the nurse saying, "The baby in 4-4 is really working to breathe and I turned up the oxygen. Do you want me to get a blood gas?" Translation: "Hey intern, the baby in 4-4 needs a blood gas. Just write the order."

I had big plans for some lace knitting today. So didn't happen. I got home around 10 this morning and died. I just woke up and am planning on going back to bed soon. Hope to resume knitting soon.

Happy Independence Day