post call mom

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Do you see what I see?

I went to the optometrist the other day, when I was post call, as that’s when I had time to go. She’s new to me. Because…Reset. A super nice gal. Took a lot of time with me. Chatted up the new town we are moving to and gave me names for a pediatrician, an internal medicine physician, the babysitting service and the local moms’ Facebook page. She cheered me on when I was trying to read the very fine print on...

9-1-1: What Is Your Emergency?

While I am examining the tachycardic patient who has a host of medical issues and a curious, but likely, non-surgical problem, I get a little tachycardic myself. She won’t tolerate a surgery, but she is a sick lady. Did I make the right decisions for her? I decide to call the admitting service, to discuss the plan of care, but I realize I don’t know how to reach the admitting physician. Bzzzz…my pager goes off. “Your patient is asleep in...

Post-Call Mom: Special Gluten Free, Organic, Free Range, Non-GMO, Vegan, Kid Free Edition

I was on call last night. The “trauma gods” were in my favor and I found about 3 hours to rest, in between pages. My husband, Scott, called me around 11am this morning and asked, “So when are you going home?” I thought for a moment, and even though I knew I could have cashed it in then, I said, “Oh, I’ll stick around for a while. I mean…I don’t even have internet at the carriage house (aka, my temporary...

Forgiveness is Messy

If the Old Testament Book of Leviticus were made into a movie, I’m pretty sure it would be at least PG-13. There are gory descriptions of animal sacrifices; there is blood and guts. The visuals are quite disturbing. Leviticus 1:5-9 (VOICE) “You shall slaughter the young bull in My presence…Aaron’s sons, the priests, will offer the blood and splatter it around the altar… 6 You shall then skin the burnt offering and cut the animal up into pieces. 7 …the priest will place...

The Kindness of Strangers

My parents came over to our place this weekend. We were expecting them around 9pm, after their cooking class. But they texted to say they would be late because they were grabbing a drink with “their new friends they met at the class”. They finally made it to our house around 10:30pm…and they went on and on about Frank and Betty (or whatever their names were…I missed that part). And then they went on all weekend, joking that after we move,...

Sidelined

Marathon: T- minus 35 days. Today’s scheduled run: 22 miles. Mile 1: Hey, I feel pretty good! The weather is nice. Gonna be a good run! Mile 2: Yep. Still feeling good. Whoa! I gotta slow down…not gonna last at this pace. This is a long run! Mile 3: Maybe I can even ditch the gloves. Knee still feels fine. Winning. Mile 4: Hmm…just a little touch of pain in the knee. Not bad. Just stiff. I’m sure it’ll feel totally fine in a few...

Survey Says…Do The Right Thing

If you have recently flown on an airplane, purchased an appliance or had one repaired, been a patient in the hospital or gotten a haircut, you’ve probably received an email requesting your opinions about the service. A survey. We are asked if we were satisfied, would we recommend the company to a friend? What could they have done better? Was it clean? Was is complete? Was is worth our time and money? Will we come back? Companies, large and small,...

First Things First

I got up early. I mean, real early. It’s the first day of my new job. And when I am nervous, I completely miscalculate reality. Like, it normally takes me thirty minutes to take a shower and get ready. But I scheduled myself an hour. And although Google Maps reassured me that the drive time to the hospital was a pleasant 16 minutes, I refused to believe it and I got in my car 45 minutes ahead of my desired...

Reset

Remember when we played Four Square in grade school? Remember when, if we didn’t like the outcome of the play, we screamed, “DO OVER!” Do. Over. Like…”Let me try that again, cause I know I can do it better”. Don’t judge me by that bad play. Reset. There is something about the “Do Over”. The Reset. A clean slate. There are times when our history, our experience, moves us forward, brings us opportunity, gives us credibility. And there are times...

What is this “work-life balance” that you speak of?

I’ve long since felt uneasy about this whole idea of work-life balance. I’m not quite sure what it means. Does it mean that work and life don’t bleed together? Does it mean we do work at work, and home at home, and never the two shall meet? Does it mean we think of only one or the other, but not both simultaneously? I’m really starting to believe that there isn’t balance, there just is. There isn’t a work me and a home me, there is...