Pilgrims at Oak Ridge

That is what my life consists of right now. I had 19 patients to see this morning, including three ICU patients. I think this is what it must be like at most people's residency programs, coming in early, staying late, rushing to get everything done and not having even a minute to yourself. Thankfully, there are just three more weeks of this madness, so I'm praising the Lord, again, for his wisdom in bringing me to a place where my life isn't like this all the time. I also realize that there are some things I need to help me with the stress. (In no particular order) 1. My sweet husband, who encourages me and loves me even when all I feel like doing is getting in bed and eating cereal. 2. Exercise. It had been several days since I'd gotten any and I could feel it. I decided I should swim last night, so got there just before 9, and swam until the pool closed at 9:30. That was just what the doctor ordered. 3. More planning. This morning was much less stressful than yesterda...

In consideration of short attention spans, and knowing no one has time for a full blog post, I offer instead this collection of short bloggettes. 1. So I drove past a auto repair shop here in Greenwood the other day, and it has one of those church sign style signs out front with a changeable message. The message of the week was, "Happiness begins by accepting what is." Nice. Pithy. But I couldn't help but think how unsuited it is to the repair business. Do they really want people to be accepting what is? 2. I think "worcestershire" is my least favorite word. It's hard to say, and impossible to spell. I think it has at least 5 silent letters, plus 2 implied letters. "Pianist" is my second least favorite word. I just say "piano player," less chance of confusion that way. 3. I've occasionally wondered if the Cubs could field a team of nine players whose names all end in -o. Naturally, Zambrano would take the mound. Soto wou...

I just started my month of medicine as an upper level. I've been on it for two days. I've decided that is enough for now. Only 26 more days to go.

Since I've been bringing my lunch to work lately, I've stumbled on a few essentials that help make my lunch both tasty and healthy. 1. La Banderita low carb whole wheat tortillas. (I got mine at Walmart, in the produce area where they have lots of other tacos and tortillas.) These babies are super soft, unlike many other low carb or whole wheat tortillas. And they are delicious. Most importantly, though, they are only 81 calories per tortilla, with 6 grams of fiber and 5 grams of protein. Take some chicken and veggies and avocado and wrap it up in one of these, maybe add a smear of dressing or hummus or a sprinkle of cheese (or nothing)- and it's a delicious and portable item. 2. Homemade hummus or white bean dip . Every day I eat at least a serving of cut up veggies with dip - this dip is also low in fat, high in protein and fiber. 3. Snack cheese to go . Few calories, but high in protein. I love eating these with an apple. 4. Some version of a 100-calorie snack pack, pr...

Jeff recently finished the written portion of the licensure exam so he can be licensed to preach in this presbytery. Sort of like James Bond. Or something. Anyway.... he "made a wild guess" for one of the questions and was pleased to discover he got it right. His "wild guess"? Sanballat . That's right - he wildly guessed Sanballat right out of the blue. Who guesses something like Sanballat?? I've never even heard that word. And I've read the Bible. The whole thing. And I went to Christian School. And go to church a lot. And was on a bible quiz team that went to a national competition. (Seriously.) Sanballat . (She repeats, while shaking her head.) He never ceases to impress.

I haven't ever had a lot of sports related posts on the ol' blog here. But we recently got ESPN at the house, so I'm a bit more informed and opinionated regarding the sports world now. My first opinion is that all this talk of C.C. Sabathia being a Cy Young contender is ridiculous. Sure, he's 9-1 with the Brewers this season, threw a one-hitter, and is an ok pitcher. But here are several reasons why he's not that good. 1. Of his 14 starts for the Brewers this year, the team has won 12 of them. Not bad. But it is never pointed out that those two losses were both against the Cubs. Their main division rivals this year. Those were the most important two games he has pitched, and his team lost both of them. 2. Also, no one points out that 10 of his 14 starts were against sub-.500 teams. Only 4 times has he faced a team having a good year. And in his start against the Astro's (a winning record team) he got hit more than any other start. He also beat St. L...

I got to take part in one of the sweetest deliveries this morning. One of my OB patients delivered, a 16-year-old girl recently moved here from Mexico. Of course, it's always a little hard when your patient is only 16 - I certainly do not want to encourage that kind of thing, and I always am saddened to see one so young have to suddenly take on big responsibility. But during this birth, her boyfriend was right there beside her the whole time. He was incredibly gentle and loving, holding her hand, getting excited to see the baby's hair starting to show. Right after birth, he gave her a sweet kiss, then proudly held his new daughter with a few happy tears glistening in his eyes. My patient's mother and sister were also there, and everyone was crying at the wonderful sound of that baby taking her first loud squawk. This situation is sadly fairly rare with most of our patients. Usually, the baby's father is nowhere to be seen - or worse, he tries to deny the baby is his o...

After my post yesterday, I remembered that this particular patient actually got Chlamydia during her pregnancy. And *she* only had one partner. (At least that's what she told me, and I believed her.) So while I was still glad that her boyfriend was there, being all sweet to her.... he did give her chlamydia. While she was pregnant. Which made me want to walk over to the hospital and hit him.

Dear Mr. (or Mrs.) Sandwich thief: I certainly hope you enjoyed the tasty sandwich you ate last night, a sandwich I was actually saving for my husband to eat for lunch today. I would hate if it caused you something like heartburn. I just wanted to point out that when a person writes their name on a box in the refrigerator, they are actually laying claim to all the contents of that box, and not just the box itself. So while I appreciate you leaving me the box, the napkin, and the mustard packet, next time I would prefer that you actually do not bother anything inside the box, which does, in fact, include the cookie and the pickle and , last but not least, the actual sandwich. I realize this may be a big stretch, but if you can remember, the bag of chips that was next the box that was clearly labeled with my name, that also went along with the box. I guess I assumed that its geographic proximity to my name would have made it clear, but perhaps not. So if it's not too much trouble, ...

For as long as Jeff and I have been married, I have made him a German Chocolate Cake for his birthday. I'm not really sure why we started this little tradition, but now I always just make this cake for him, without even bothering to ask if he wants it. Because I know he does. (Jeff can back me up here.) It also doesn't hurt that I, too, love this cake. This is the one my grandmother and mom always made growing up. If I remember correctly, mostly this cake was made for Andrew for his birthday. I always got the Texas Sheet Cake (still do, in fact). Austin usually got something strawberry. And I don't remember if Abram had a cake. He and Austin often shared, since their birthdays are only 3 days apart. But he did call this one the "snot cake" - as you can see, it wasn't one of his favorites. (There is no accounting for taste, but he did have a way with words.) Without further ado, here is our not-so-secret family recipe. Not secret because my grandma always use...

I just ate a * light * Hannah Montana string cheese stick. Something is wrong with using the face of the ultimate Tween Queen to sell a light cheese stick. Any cheese stick, really, for that matter. Regardless, though, of whose name was on the wrapper, there is something satisfying about slowly tearing your food into long strings before eating it.

During clinic today, I saw: 1. 2 post partum women whose babies I delivered. 2. One precious little baby who looked a little yellow 3. One lady with knee pain whose knee I got to inject, while teaching a medical student how to do the procedure. 4. One pregnant lady at 32 weeks whom I ultrasounded and watched in amazement as her baby's mouth opened and (I think) was sucking on her umbilical cord 5. A 17 year old smoker with some pain in his chest - I got to encourage him in his attempt to quit. 6. A college student with a UTI 7. A 23 year old with palpitations, who also smokes (See what I mean about telling people to quit ??) Doesn't this sound like a fun afternoon?

Several weeks ago, I decided to start taking my lunch to work. This has been one of the best decisions for me. See, at my job, they actually provide lunch for us. One of the nice ladies who works in our office orders lunch every single day from a different local restaurant or catering place, or sometimes just from the hospital cafeteria. The problem, though, was that I often found myself being grumpy about what I was eating because I like to try to eat somewhat healthily, and while we occasionally we'd have healthy things like salad, usually it's some kind of huge sandwich on white bread, or fried chicken, or chicken fingers, or pizza. I decided that instead of being annoyed, there was an easy remedy. Getting a lunch box and bringing something with me. So now, while everyone around me is eating some heavy, less-than-healthy lunch, I get to munch on carrots with homemade hummus, veggie sandwiches on wheat bread, and yogurt. (For example.) I did buy this great thing I bring my l...

For two or three terror-filled seconds today, while innocently munching on some home-grown carrots with hummus, I nearly inhaled a chunk right into my lung. For several seconds I really thought I was choking and might have to get up in a room filled with doctors and find someone to do the heimleich maneuver on me. I also thought back to my kindergarten classroom where I once puked right in the middle of the floor because I couldn't make it to the bathroom. Thankfully, I neither died nor threw up. There is something a little ironic about choking in a room full of doctors. But if you have to do it, I guess that's the place you'd pick.

Baseball is more Biblical!

Whereas it is the weekend, and one cannot watch Sportscenter without being bombarded by football news, and whereas despite the fact that the Cubs have started playing like the Royals, and whereas honor must be defended, I hereby state my case as to why baseball is a superior sport. 1. Football is too much of a production. Football teams have rosters of 80-100 people, (of which the casual fan can name 5-10) and coaching staffs of 15-20 all armed with headsets so they can communicate. Ridiculous. When baseball players want to communicate they walk over and talk. 2. Football is over specialized, while baseball exhibits a pleasant parity. Football teams have players who, if they ever get to play, have a ridiculously specific task(the "long-snapper?"). Baseball, on the other hand, requires a complete athlete. If you play defense, you also have to bat (at least in the superior National League.) 3. Football teams have a designated person whose job it is to squirt Gatorad...

These are a couple of our recent harvests from the garden o' plenty... This one included tomatoes and basil, which was used in the construction of homemade pizza, and well as the most juicy and delicious cantaloupe ever. It was actually the second cantaloupe out of our garden, the first was not as big or as sweet, but this second one was just right! This harvest includes the Zinnias in the vase. Also some sage we used in pasta that night, and 3 carrots. The carrot harvest was not impressive this year. Also more peppers and tomatoes. And here are a couple of pictures of the wildly uncontrollable growth of the garden. This first one is the box located in the corner by the fence. You can barely see the wood border for the expansion of the zinnias and unstoppable cantaloupe vines. The middle is mostly basil, the wispy thing in the top right is rosemary, the bottom has a large dahlia. And note the tenacious tomato plants. To keep them off the ground I tied them to the fence, now...

when you spend a little too much time outside in the sun, leaving your face a little too pink, and everyone you see that day feels compelled to either 1) ask you whether or not you got too much sun (obviously) or 2) express sudden interest in your weekend activities. Yes, in fact, I am sunburned. Yes, I was outside yesterday. On the boat. Without sunscreen. I feel like I need a sign.