Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Vacation thoughts

Things important to KIDS on vacation:
1. Hotel swimming pool
2. Hotel elevator
3. Hotel ice machine

Things important to PARENTS on vacation:
1. Local museums
2. Historical sites
3. Does the restaurant serve alcohol? (we WERE in Utah...)


Other thoughts:
The hotel bar closed at 11 pm. Last call was 10:45. :(

Damn, Utah has a lot of mountains. Here in flyover country, we're not used to drastic elevation changes! Walking SLC's zoo was a challenge - up and down and up and down... It was truly a beautiful state, even when we took a wrong turn and went down a mountain road riding the brakes as hard as we could.

The Great Salt Lake is fricken' HUGE!

Great kid quotes:
Upon hearing that the breakfast buffet was served between 6 and 9; DD said "Great cuz I'm 7!" I started crying, I was laughing so hard at that one.

Monday, April 14, 2008

Amazing article

Go here for a great link to what death and dying can mean.

As someone who has been the primary caretaker in a home hospice situation (for my father), I find these pictures beautiful and amazing.

Death is not the enemy, it is the natural consequence of living.

Friday, April 11, 2008

The OR

There is very little that compares to a good OR day. The one where every patient is thin, all of the instruments work without needing to jigger this-n-that, the anatomy is normal, and the patient has a virgin belly. You have your CD player going, you are running on time, and the conversation between the nurses, CRNA, assist, and me are teasing in nature. It is honestly a hell of a lot of fun, although it can be physically draining. And if everything goes right, the patient improves quickly post-operatively and feels much better. And THAT'S why we love to operate.

The above paragraph is a dream...most patients are fluffy (to be polite), the damn bovie machine is acting up again, we're hours behind schedule, I forgot my CDs, and conversation consists of me and the assist swearing because of distorted anatomy and our legs/back/shoulders ache. It's still a lot of fun, even when I'm bitching and moaning about why I hate vaginal surgery.

My OR day this week was more like the second day...it beat me up! But I'm still operating tomorrow...