Sunshine on my shoulder makes me happy

I am drinking my second cup of coffee this morning after sleeping until almost 10. I did get up with Kath to carry her backpack and tea down to the car for her, but then I happily crawled back into bed. Aaaaaaah... life of leisure for 1 week.

The kitties and I are enjoying the sun streaming in through the windows. Apparently I was just sitting in Dory's chair, and she ran around squeaking until I got up and let her have it. Now she's curled up, fast asleep.

I have loads of recipes that I am dying to make this week. First up, spaghetti and meatballs tonight. I'm going to try SmittenKitchen's version of the Barefoot Contessa recipe. The two of us have been dreaming of regular home cooking. This seems just about perfect.

I also have butternut squash and mushroom soup, peanut stir-fry, smittenkitchen's slow cooker barbecue brisket, and loads of other yummy recipes swirling around in my head. I feel like cooking two recipes a night, and stocking up for the lean times to come in one month, when I'm back on the wards. We'll see... I"m sure my enthusiasm will wane after doing all of those dishes. :)

It is just SOOOOO good to drink my coffee slowly, see the sun streaming in, and enjoy just sitting on the couch.

Random thoughts on a Sunday

I have the day off, hallelujah.
2 more days on the wards this month. Then elective and free weekends for one month.
Hallelujah.
Having a cold is stinky.
Who knew that pseudoephedrine could work so well?
t's funny that I prescribe medications to my patients, but I forget to prescribe them for myself.
Having cancer is worse, though.
I have diagnosed more stage IV metastatic lung cancer then I ever imagined.
Cigarettes are the devil.
I think of my grandmother often, these days.
I'm glad that I did some cleaning and laundry last night... less to do today.
I feel nauseated when I watch Kath doing her physical therapy exercises.
My kitties make me happy every day.
The three of them bonded with me on Friday night when I couldn't sleep - watching Aliens.
Aliens is not conducive to a restful night of sleep.
I can't wait to clean out our pantry next week.
Last night, our dinner options were balogna and cheese or old, dried squash.
That's what happens when one of us is lame and the other is never home.
I told the kitties they need to start pulling their weight around here.
Ty just looked at me, cleaned her face, and went back to sleep.
Today is an absolutely gorgeous day in Providence.
Our windows are wide open.
It's so nice to have the day off.
Time to refill my coffee and make breakfast.

Martinis + crutches =

Kath had her cast removed last night. To celebrate, we went out for dinner. We hadn't been out in over a week, since she had her surgery. She was so excited to have a more light-weight replacement that she initially said that we should walk... or hop, in her case... as the restaurant was just down the street.

However, she was planning on having a martini to celebrate.

I imagined a tipsy, slightly inebriated Kats trying to hop home on her crutches afterwards....

and then I nixed that plan, and we drove the 4 blocks.

It goes with the job.

I had to pronounce my first patient today. As in, "Time of death... such and such pm."

This patient had decided on "CMO" status - comfort measures only. It occurred quietly, and I happened to be stopping by right at the time.

They don't teach you how to confirm that a patient has died in medical school.
I had to call my senior resident to make sure that I did everything correctly.

I then spent some time in the bathroom, crying myself.
They don't teach you how not to cry in medical school, either.

I keep trying to tell myself that today was a learning experience.
It doesn't make me feel any better.

New Year, New Me

Well, that used to be my refrain. New Year's was always the optimal time for revamping myself - or so I tried to do. Never worked. Never lasted more than, say 1 week, either.

2009 was a great year. Lots of changes for us... graduations, a move across the country, new jobs, new city, new apartment, a wedding.

2010 appears to have started off with a snap - as in the snap of Kath's Achilles. But, I think we'll focus on settling in. Settling into her recovery, settling into our life here now that it seems more "real", and settling into the plans that we have for our life together.

However, I would like to point out that "settling in" does not mean that I will be settling into the couch with a giant bag of potato chips. (Although, I did do that the other day.) Nope. I still plan on "new year, new me" and trying to get my "revamp my body plan" back on track... especially since Medicine days in the hospital force me to run up and down the stairs umpteen times per day and I often walk to and from work. Now, if I could just get to the gym and build up my tiny little muscles, I really will be on track.

Ah yes, new year, not really new me. :)

Life's little hiccups

Kath never pages me at work, so yesterday when I was running from patient to patient, and I saw her phone number on my pager I did get a bit worried.
Turns out, it was for good reason. She called to tell me that "I think I ruptured my Achilles tendon during basketball practice." Ouch.
Luckily, it was her nondominant foot, so she could drive home. Luckily, I was at the hospital already so I could meet her and take her to the ER. Luckily, her time in the ER was fairly speedy-she was in and out in 2 hours. Luckily, she has almost no pain. Her foot is just kind of "floppy."

Unluckily, it is pretty obvious that she did completely tear her tendon and will need surgery to repair it. She has to wait a week to let the initial swelling go down before she sees the orthopedic surgeon.

Luckily, our insurance just was switched and we picked the maximal coverage. Luckily I have a week off at the end of January so we're hoping we can schedule her surgery at that time, when I can be home to pamper her. Luckily, she still has a few days off to rest on the couch (and not hop around playing Wii sports!).

Not the way we planned to start the New Year, but luckily she got plenty of DVDs in her Christmas stocking for just such an occasion.
I'm just thinking I should hide the Wii.

Merry Christmas

I have not posted at all since I started on Medicine.

It was a busy month - lots of sick patients. It was very rewarding at times, but very emotionally draining. I had a few cathartic nightly crying spells. I really think that Scrubs (the old show) is the best representation of hospital medicine.

Vacation for 6 days.

Time to enjoy the Christmas season. Time to enjoy time with family and friends.
Time to reflect on all of the good and wonder in life.
Time to focus on love and joy. And wassail.

Like my little kitty who just curled up on my lap and put her arm around my neck. Merry Christmas to you, my Puckerdoodles.

And Merry Christmas to you.