I just got home from a short shopping trip to Lowes (I make a lot of those in a week... good thing it's close by).  On the list today were a new broom (one for the inside, since the outside one is so gross), a couple spare apartment keys, and some new sponges for the kitchen sink.  I usually get the no scratch blue Scotch Brite ones... no particular reason, its just my norm.  Today, though, I was drawn to the pink ones, which I think are virtually the same, but they're pink!  For whatever reason, these sponges made me extraordinarily happy.  I don't know if it's because they are pink, or because I really get good tingly feelings when I bust out a new sponge.  But anyway, I love them.  I should have bought more, just in case they don't have the same ones next time I need new sponges. 

What simple things make YOU happy?

Kari

So I decided today was the day I would finally take the cross bike out on the trail after it's makeover a few weeks ago.  I'm not sure why I chose the hottest day of the week (where temps are supposed to reach 97 degrees without the heat index...)  So I loaded it up on the car, drove to Salem Lake, and set out.  I got about a mile down the trail when I realized my brakes were not really working.  If I squeezed both, really really hard, I could slow to a slight blur.  But if I kept going, I realized I would likely run into a tree at 20 mph.  Which doesn't sound like fun.  So, I stopped to see if i could work any magic on the brakes.  When stopping, I realized something else.  I hadn't adjusted the tension on my new pedals and had to work very hard to get my feet unclipped before crashing into a bench, or the creek just past the bench. 

So, I tried to fix the brakes and couldn't.  It required tools I didn't have with me.  Well, I had no tools with me.  So, I turned around, rode the mile back to the partking lot, loaded back up, and came home.  Boo.  I suppose I'll just go to the gym later.  I went for a run yesterday afternoon and it was just too hot.  Today is hotter... no running for me. 

Kari

Alternatively titled "Today is NOT Monday!"

Shift work has a way of messing with a person's sense of time.  I've been working a strange concoction of different shifts in the ED (Emergency Department: new term for the Emergency Room... since it's not just one room...), and they don't really let you get on much of a schedule.  I had some lectures Friday morning, then worked Friday night in the Peds ED from 6pm to 2:30am, then yesterday (Saturday, right?) from 5pm to 1am, then today from 9am to 5pm.  I think because I came home Sunday morning, I figured the next time I'd be back was Monday morning... lies.  So all day I wondered why we kept getting DFO's from church, and why there wasn't much traffic by the mall.

Now, for those of you who are not from the South... and even those of you who are, but have never thought to abbreviate your colloquialisms, you may be wondering what DFO means.  Ahhh, the education you are about to receive.

So those of you who go to church (and it's okay if you don't... you've just missed out on lots... hymns, Jesus, DFO's...), you've all seen a DFO.  You're sitting there in the pew, listening to the preacher preach his or her sermon.  You're enthralled, focused, and attentive.  And then, out of the corner of your eye, you see someone get out of their seat, and slowly walk to another pew, next to an old person.  An old person who has slumped over in their seat.  Or, after the service, you are all standing around chatting about Sunday dinner menus, and someone passes out.

I don't know exactly what makes Sunday morning and church such a passing-out friendly location.  But it seems to happen on a weekly basis.  DFO'ing is not exclusive to church though... it can happens in moments of extreme emotion (maybe finding a super-awesome sale at the mall), or during physical exertion (planting beans in the garden), or really just about any other time life is really excellent, really bad, really hard, or maybe even just different. 

So, what DOES DFO mean?  Welll, clearly is means "done fell out"!  As in, "wellll, we were just sitting there eating corn bread and meemaw stood up to get some more pinto beans and she just don fell out!"  In general, people who DFO turn out fine.  Of course there are exception (like there are to all rules), but if it didn't turn out okay, I wouldn't joke about it. 
It was just one small step in my learning of the southern language that has taken place in the last three years.

Dear person who smoked inside the restroom in the hospital,

I am writing this letter to thank you for sharing your smoke with me.  While I was on my way out of the hospital at 1am, I had to pee.  And so I stopped in at the women's restroom, in the middle of the hall, in the middle of the (nonsmoking) hospital.  I'd been working for over 8 hours, and wanted to get home.  What I didn't know is that I really needed some second hand smoke to make my night better.  Luckily, you knew, and came to my rescue.

When I went into the restroom, not only could I smell your cigarette, but I could see the leftover haze.  Phew, I thought I was going to have to walk the whole 4 minutes out of the hospital without my daily dose of second hand smoke.  Usually, I have to get the whole way to the sidewalk before you all start sharing your smoke with me.  But not today!  Today, you decided that the 4 minute walk outside was too far for you also.  So you decided to light up INSIDE.  But I guess you figured people might look at you funny if you smoked a ciggy right there in the middle of the hallway... especially if you are one who also requires supplemental oxygen.

So back to the point of this thank you letter.  Thank you for giving me the opportunity to remember why I don't smoke.  I mean, the whole eye burning, coughing, hacking experience is a good time and all.  But I'd say life is pretty good without it.  Plus, I save like $30 a week, most likely won't get chronic lung disease, lung cancer, throat cancer, mouth cancer, an abdominal aortic aneurysm, cardiovascular disease, and I won't "appear older than stated age," which is a favorite phrase of the ED (that you DON'T want someone to say about you...).  But then again, I'm sure you've grown fond of standing in the rain, heat, snow, old, wind, etc to smoke your beloved cigarettes.  While leads me to the question of why you chose to forgo that awesome experience to smoke in the bathroom.  Was it so you could come back later and relive the fun?  Or because you couldn't remember which way the door outside was?  Or because were visiting and didn't know where the cool place on campus was to smoke?  Either way, I think you may have started a new trend of hiding in the bathrooms to smoke illegally... it's kinda like high school, huh?  I hope you really liked high school...  They always did say it's the best time of your life!  I'm glad that was not true for me.  But you keep living the dream.  I'll watch from a distance... and use a different bathroom.

Keep smokin',
Kari

My birthday was on Tuesday!  I turned a quarter of a century old... it's probably all down hill from here. 

In order to ease me through the next 25 years of life, I bought myself a present.  A wonderful, wonderful present.  Let's rewind two years...

I was working at Kutsher's Sports Academy in Great Barrington, MA for the summer between 1st and 2nd year.  I was working in the infirmary taking care of sick kids, and the infirmary was in the bottom floor of one of the main buildings, and had no air conditioning.  In addition, in the small space, I was running a small fridge, a big fridge and freezer, an ice maker, and a dehumidifier.  Needless to say, they put out a LOT of heat.  So, I was hot.  All the time.  This was conquered by eating ice cream, which I could conveniently store in my freezer.  So, my birthday comes along, and I got a box.  A Styrofoam box.  I've learned that only good things come in Styrofoam boxes.  So I open it, and what do I find but a little piece of heaven in the form of 6 pints of ice cream from my friend Cody. 

This is not ordinary ice cream, however.  This is Jeni's Gourmet Ice Cream from Columbus, Ohio.  Now I am a big proponent of high quality ice cream to begin with.  I think if you're gonna eat it, you should eat something that tastes good.  And if you've never had high quality ice cream, you will realize it's worth the extra cost.  Anywho, Jeni's ice cream trumps anything I've ever had before.  It's smooth and rich and the flavors are more important than the sweetness.  Some are simple, common flavors taken to a new level, and some are complex, odd flavor combinations you would never think would be good... but are!

So today I finally settled on six flavors (you have to but at least 4 pints, but I figure I might as well go for 6 if I'm gonna do it!) and placed the order.  It'll ship Monday, arrive Wednesday, and I'll start letting you know how jealous you all should be!  The flavors I ordered are: Bangkok Peanut, Salty Caramel, Belgian Milk Chocolate, Kona Stout, Riesling Poached Pear (Sorbet), and Sweet Corn and Black Raspberries.

Check out the link to the website for descriptions about the flavors!!

Cheers,
Kari

PS.  Remember the post about Waiting For the Wolf to Come?  I had one the other night in the ED... a 24 year old kid who liked to ask for IV Dilaudid, and also had a history of some pretty serious medical problems who came in with abdominal pain.  We couldn't send him home in case something really was wrong, but we certainly didn't give him all the IV Dilaudid he said he needed...

Have you ever had a day where you really did nothing?  And had a splendid time doing it?!  I think those can be the best days, and I had one yesterday. 

I will preface this story by saying that everyone needs a friend who you can share a day like this with... who will spend the whole day doing really nothing with you, and you can laugh and still have awesome stories.  I've had a few of these friends through the years... you know who you are!  Right now, I have Betsy.  This was our day.

We started out planning to do something fun, new, and adventurous.  Something that, come 2.5 weeks and my ankle surgery, I won't be able to do for a while.  Horseback riding, kayaking, and hiking were at the top of the list.  We planned on picking up a couple cowboy hats, and heading to this beautiful farm to hop on a couple horses and ride clumsily into the sunset with a well-trained guide to pick us up if we fell off.  Good plan.  Unfortunately, they didn't answer when I called to make reservations AND the weather was a bit gray and shady.  So we decided to not pursue the horseback riding too heavily, and scratched kayaking because falling into the water (which we would most certainly do) would be cold.  So we settled on hiking Grandfather Mountain, a mountain we haven't been to yet, that's on the list of things to do before we leave North Carolina (ooo, I will have to post that list one day...).

So we were reading on the trusty Blackberry all about Grandfather Mountain and the things to do there, as we drove north/west towards Boone.  And then, we ascended into this.

How many of you have a scar on your knee?  One that required stitches?  How about one on your chin or forehead?  Congratulations, you have officially lived a normal unsheltered childhood!  In the last two shifts in the pediatric ED, I've decided that if you come out of childhood (which I will say includes college, because lets face it, it's four years of regression in the decision making and coordination/balance department), without a scar on your chin, forehead, or knee, you've probably spent a lot of time in a bubble or small padded room, were never allowed to go to parties and Chuckie Cheese, and your mom put neosporin on everything, including bruises, just to make sure they didn't get infected.

I've had the privilege of introducing two young kids to the world of stitches.  Both on the left knee.  One was the victim of an AC grate, and one the victim of his bicycle.  It's like a rite of passage into childhood!  The mom of the kid I stitched up tonight said to her son, "she's done this a lot before, it looks good as new!"  I chose not to tell her this was the 4th time I'd even done it, but I get much better every time!  I thought it would be better to let her live in the world of oblivious faith in my skills.  There's a reason I don't wear my (short) white coat in the ED... none of the patients would ever let me do anything! 

One of the things I'm enjoying about the ED is getting to do procedures... laceration repairs, abscess I&Ds, lines, etc.  I was pretty uncomfortable with them before this rotation because we just never got much practice.  Now's I'm totally comfortable with most of it!  Ahhh, progress.  It's a beautiful thing. 

I suppose there IS a reason we go to school for 4 years... we work hard to become something beyond glorified WebMD readers, contrary to the belief of some patients... 

Tomorrow Betsy and I are going to try to go horseback riding...  I hope neither of us end up needing stitches.