Human

So again today I am reminded that I am only human, and not even a great one at that. I was talking to the chemist about the nature of people with careers and how even things that seem ordinary to us are extraordinary to others. Case in point: checking blood work on a patient. I must order about 20 blood tests on any given day. I routinely follow up those as well as several others that are ordered by my partners. Well, this weekend I ordered blood work on a patient and I forgot to check the results. It was crazy busy on Saturday. I did two c-sections, four vaginal deliveries, a post-partum tubal ligation, and triaged and admitted numerous other patients. This patient ended up feeling better, we decided she had a viral syndrome, and we sent her home. She came back today and while she was being admitted, her lab results from Saturday popped up. They were not normal. Had I seen them on Saturday, I never would have sent her home. Very very sobering. Luckily in this case she was fine, her baby was fine, and everything should turn out okay. But she could have had a seizure or a stroke at home. Her placenta could have abrupted. She could have died. Her baby could have died. Luckily, they didn't.
And so there it is. I am only human. I make mistakes. But my mistakes can kill people, and if that doesn't scare the crap out of you (and me) I'm not sure what could. I went into medicine to help people, not to hurt them. Things like this (even when there was no bad outcome) make you question everything you know and do.
Turtlewoman

Welcome Aphidia!

I'm a grandmother! Well, sort of . . . Meet Aphidia, the second goat kid to be born on the Life is Goat Farm. She is a beautiful Angora-Boer cross of mom Pansy and my Tankie boy (see picture in sidebar). She was born Friday morning, April 6. A few days later and she would have shared a birthday with her proud grandma! You can tell she is part Boer as her legs are thicker and stronger than the average Angora kid and her coat is not as curly or long-haired. I think she is one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen and I can't wait to meet her in a few weeks!

In other news, the Power Science Girls threw me a fabulous birthday party last weekend in DC. I will try to upload pics later. I got to see Baby Will and get lots of baby snuggles. We had a great time. The Cherry Blossoms were in full bloom, the mall between the capital and Washington monument was mobbed with folks, and there were kites galore. We got to see the Rokoku battle at the Smithsonian kite festival and it was a well fought battle. I even got to wear my own pink princess hat. Thanks guys!

I am post-call today on my birthday, so it has been a sleepy day. I did have a birthday party last night though courtesy of my friends the night shift nurses on L+D. Even though we were crazy busy, they still managed to throw me a nice party complete with pin-the-tail on the donkey (they couldn't find a goat), party hats, cheesecake bites, ice cream, and singing. Sopje called me today to leave a singing message (sorry I missed your call - I was sound asleep!). And lots of other friends and family have been calling, e-mailing and sending cards. Thanks everyone! Despite being post-call, this has been a pretty sweet 31st birthday.

Turtlewoman

Exertion

As most of you know, I have not been a very active individual for quite some time. It is pretty funny, because once I am out DOING an activity (like hiking, or as in these pictures, cross country skiing) I think, "Gee, this is really great - I wish I was in better shape so that I could enjoy it a little more." This weekend I got to live that feeling again. Beca, Phelps, and I were at a conference at Sugarloaf and got a break on Saturday to enjoy the gorgeous Maine spring. We rented cross country skis and took off onto the groomed trails in the woods for an hour or so. Beca was off and going on her skate skis. Lucky for me this was Phelps' first time doing Cross Country so I had someone I could ALMOST keep up with. Regardless, we had a great time and I think you can see by the color of my face that I got a workout. Amazingly enough, I can even still walk today and it didn't hurt my bum knee.

In other news, the back to the entrelac scarf is almost finished and I will finally have a finished knitting project to show everyone. There are pictures of entrelac scarves on Chesley's blog, but of course they are not MY entrelac scarf so keep your web browsers ready for a showing soon near you. The conference went well. I did my presentation without falling on my face or doing anything too embarrassing. It was a pretty small conference so it actually wasn't that scary. There were even less people than we usually have at our department meetings. And I did know about half of the people as they were from our department. It was a good way to ease into conferences and presenting without being overwhelming.

This weekend will be my early birthday celebration in DC, so everybody get ready to party!! And everyone remember to wish Heat a happy birthday tomorrow . . . and has anyone else heard recently that 31 is the new 30? Cause we heard that it is.

Turtlewoman

Growing Pains

So I just realized that my last two posts were not allowing comments. I went to look at the blog and thought, "Hey, how do you post a comment?" Well, I think I have fixed it . . . blogging is apparently not COMPLETELY fool proof.

I also figured out how to get them to register the correct time (they were putting in Pacific Time before).

Happy Reading (and now, commenting)!

Turtlewoman

Power Science Girls

Today I want to write a little bit about the power science girls: The Chemist (hey, that's the Theoretical Physical Chemist to YOU, the Physicist, the Physician, and me. I came up with the dorky name and I'm not sure that the others have really accepted it as a moniker, but they do love me so they let me get away with calling us that - at least in private. These are three of my very best friends from college - and indeed in the whole world. There are a few other super awesome very best friends from college (Sopje for one) but today we are talking about this gang. We are talking about them because I am very excited that we will be getting together at the end of this month for a birthday party! We try to get together at least two-three times a year and considering all of the schedules (and now children and husbands and fetuses and fiancees) involved this is a pretty amazing feat. So these ladies are some of my super heroes (with or without the catchy name). They help keep me sane when my world starts to fall apart, they make me laugh even when I want to cry, and they throw me happy birthday parties in Washington, DC so that I can watch the kite fighting at the kite festival (which, as we discovered last year at Heat's birthday, is one of my NFT's (new favorite things)).

In other news, I spent today helping out with the very busy gyn service. I got to work in the OR with The Boss, which is nothing short of magic. We had a nice case with some of our favorite OR staff and then I spent the afternoon hanging out with the cancer patients and seeing how everyone was doing. I have loved this month (research time, very flexible, pretty relaxed work load) but it was nice to get back in touch with the rest of my team and get a little surgery in.

And that is all I have for today. Power Science Girls - this post is for you! For my other wonderful friends that read this blog, please don't be upset. I am sure you will get your due. I am just super excited that I am going to be seeing la mas guappas del mundo very soon.

Turtlewoman

Here Comes the Sun

Do -do-do-do. Here comes the sun . . . maybe it will melt some of this snow we have accumulated in the past few days. That would improve my mood tremendously methinks.

I was on call this weekend and it kicked my butt. I think I am just out of shape. I was sick the last time I was supposed to be on call and one of my colleagues covered for me. This was the first time I have had to work a 24 hour shift in about a month. You get out of practice - you really do. Somehow it seems easier to stay up all the time when you do it all the time. When you get two or three weekends in a row off you start to go soft. Luckily I am working from home today and got to sleep in a bit. My body was protesting getting up at all. But on the good side of things, I did get to deliver three very cute babies (two vaginal deliveries and a c-section). And babies always make my day better. Now you are probably going to ask if they were boys or girls . . . I'm not sure I even remember. In all honesty, in the excitement of it all, I often forget to look. Isn't that funny?

Anywho, that's all I have for now. I feel like I should have something more substantial to say, but I don't. Maybe later.

Turtlewoman

Snow anyone?

Okay, so first of all I DID try to blog a few nights back, but blogger died on me and it just didn't work out. Nothing more fun than spending half an hour typing up something to say and having blogger eat it! So I was discouraged for a day or two but here I am, back for more.

You may have noticed that I have added links to my favorite sites. Sophie, Heat, and Chesley are all personal friends of mine. I have never had the pleasure of meeting Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, but I have become an ardent fan. She is the author of several knitting books with a new one about to debut. Her writing is witty, fun, easy to pick up and read, and is all about one of my favorite topics . . . KNITTING! Her blog is written in a similar style and always shows pictures of her latest projects. She is an inspiration so I have put a link to her page on mine and hopefully she wouldn't mind! As for the rest of you, please let me know if you object to having your link published on my page and I can always erase it.

I do find blogging to be a bit of a delicate issue. How much information is it okay to post about other people? Personally, I don't want my last name attached with any of this, as it would be nice to feel free to write things that wouldn't be traced back to you by, say, prospective employers. It would be a real drag to fail to obtain a job because of your wanton blogging ways. So obviously I will try not to use the last names of my friends or family (although I think it is okay to use the last names of already famous people like the author noted above, as long as you are not writing slanderous articles or infringing copyright laws). But would others be upset to see their first name on here? Their pictures (don't worry! no nudes!!)? I would be interested to know how folks feel. Since I am just getting this up and running, it would be nice to avoid making people angry right from the start.

As for my life in a nutshell today . . . I have taken up the vow that all knitters seem to make at one time or another . . . and that is to finish some of my UFO's (that is unfinished objects for all of you muggles) before I purchase any more yarn. Ever since Chesley opened up her little yarn shop (LYS) I have entered the world of high quality and luxury yarns and I LIKE IT there. My wallet sometimes cries out in protest, but buying beautiful yarns fits into my obsessive-compulsive buying personality so well that it is hard to resist. So I am working on using up some of my stash before I venture up to the LYS again. Right now I am working a fleece backing to my entrelac scarf. It is knitting up rather quickly (20 stitches in stockinette stitch on US size 8 needles), so I hope to have it ready to attach to the back of the entrelac piece by the end of next week. I'll try to post a picture when it is all done. Next up on the list are Baby Will's baby blanket (which was supposed to be a gift for his pre-birth baby shower and now I am hoping to complete it before he turns 1 this fall) and Megan's birthday bag (I just got sick of making bags somewhere in the middle there). If I get those three things done and start a pair of socks, it may be okay to buy some more yarn.

That's all for tonight! Oh yes . . . and in case anyone is wondering why the post title has nothing to do with the post . . . I must confess I got distracted. Yesterday we had weather in the 40-50 range with bare patches of ground everywhere and the smell of spring (aka mud). Today . . . snowing like a bandit. Gotta love Maine in March.

Turtlewoman