I've found myself with quite a dilemma.
Working where I do, doing what I do has given me lots of blog ideas. I have stories that are funny, some that are touching and others that are downright sad, and I am just bursting to tell y'all about them.
However, I don't think that I can. It's not just about HIPAA and patient confidentiality, because I could sanitize the stories and bleach out personal details. It's about intimacy and trust.
Death is a very intimate event. I've learned that being in the room or at a person's bedside when they die is to be regarded as an honor. The family is trusting enough of me to let me be there, to WANT me to be there . . . and I cannot violate that trust by posting the details of their very private moment on the internet for the whole world to read.
So, there won't be any stories of death here. There will be eulogies; tributes to the people I've cared for in the last days of their life, but I fully intend to leave the most private moments just as they are - private.
Friday, April 16, 2010
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Not your fault, right?
It's been really nice here the past couple of days; sunny, with temperatures in the 80's.
It's also spring break. Consequently, there have been lots of kids outside playing.
Most of them are great; they're old enough to know that the street is primarily for cars and vehicles and that if a car is coming they need to get out of the way and onto the sidewalk. There are some kids, however, that are new to the street and who are far too young to be outside with inadequate supervision.
Yesterday I saw a car slam on it's brakes and honk at one of them when they ran out in front of the driver. Today, when I came home from the grocery store, there were half a dozen kids, all under the age of 4 or 5, in the street in front of my driveway and in the driveway itself. I came to a complete stop in front of them, thinking that they'd see me and get out of the street, but they didn't. They just carried on playing. In the end my son had to tell them to get out of the road and out of the driveway.
Nothing frightens me more than a small child who has no concept of how dangerous it is to play in traffic left alone on the street. They're unpredictable, and should one of them get hit by a car, you can bet your arse that it would be the driver's fault. It would be the driver's fault, the gub'mints fault for not putting up enough signs, the construction workers fault for using concrete and asphalt on the street...it would be anyone's fault but the parents.
Hubs and I have been looking at houses in the area. With every summer that passes, living off base and away from a neighborhood looks more and more appealing.
It's also spring break. Consequently, there have been lots of kids outside playing.
Most of them are great; they're old enough to know that the street is primarily for cars and vehicles and that if a car is coming they need to get out of the way and onto the sidewalk. There are some kids, however, that are new to the street and who are far too young to be outside with inadequate supervision.
Yesterday I saw a car slam on it's brakes and honk at one of them when they ran out in front of the driver. Today, when I came home from the grocery store, there were half a dozen kids, all under the age of 4 or 5, in the street in front of my driveway and in the driveway itself. I came to a complete stop in front of them, thinking that they'd see me and get out of the street, but they didn't. They just carried on playing. In the end my son had to tell them to get out of the road and out of the driveway.
Nothing frightens me more than a small child who has no concept of how dangerous it is to play in traffic left alone on the street. They're unpredictable, and should one of them get hit by a car, you can bet your arse that it would be the driver's fault. It would be the driver's fault, the gub'mints fault for not putting up enough signs, the construction workers fault for using concrete and asphalt on the street...it would be anyone's fault but the parents.
Hubs and I have been looking at houses in the area. With every summer that passes, living off base and away from a neighborhood looks more and more appealing.
Friday, March 19, 2010
Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes
A lot has happened recently.
I had a virus that wouldn't go away and was sick for nearly a month. Last week was the worst; I missed almost a week of lectures and labs because I felt so awful that all I could do was lie in bed and feel sorry for myself.
I also got a job. With a company that I really, really like, doing something that I really, really love – and something I'm good at. It's where I want to be career-wise and the opportunities for progression are literally unlimited. I love the people I work for, the people I work with, and my patients and their families….so far, it's been awesome and I consider myself incredibly fortunate to have been given this opportunity.
I'm working full-time – 40 hours a week – and my schedule is such that I'm not getting home until gone midnight. So, I'm going to have to drop a class. The way I see it, college classes will always be there, but the job offer was a one-time deal. I think that Chemistry is going to be the one getting dropped; I have labs and lectures at 0800 4 days a week, so it's the natural choice. I can make it to 10 and 11am lectures with no problems, but 8am is going to be a push, especially if I have to stay late. Consequently, Chemistry is the obvious choice (obvious to me, at least).
The place I work at is close to Midwest University I'm ultimately pursuing my degree at, so this fall semester I'm going to try and take classes there instead of at Small Town College. I'm hoping to be able to take late morning/early afternoon classes and just go straight into work after I'm done. It'll make for a longer day, but it'll save me a lot of mileage.
Things are shaping up nicely, and life is good!
Thursday, February 25, 2010
I don't know whether to laugh, cry, or be pissed.
*Hat-tip to the DrugMonkey for the photo*
I am sometimes ashamed to be human.
I don't know if I'm more ashamed to be of the same species as the people who are touting this, or the people who are fucking stupid enough to buy it.
This is charlatanism at it's finest; the modern-day equivalent of a snake-oil salesman selling panaceas to cure ALL ills. The people who buy this stuff...well, i'm keeping my opinions about them to myself. I'll just say that they're the same people who think that the internet is a series of tubes invented by Al Gore, that ghosts exist and that alchemy really is possible.
Gah.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
To: NM’s body
To: Head From: NinjaMedic CC: Sinuses; Nose; Throat; Temperature; Guts
Re: Inconsistency
Make up your bloody minds, will you? Either hurt, or don't hurt. Run, or don't run. Be hot, or be cold. All this hurt/run/hot one minute and don't hurt/stuffy/cold the next is getting to be a real drag and I've just about had enough of it (and you).
Oh, and you guts needn't think that you're off the hook just because I haven't mentoned you yet, because you're not: either reject food or accept it, and do it ONE END AT A TIME. Your current work ethic of BOTH ENDS AT THE SAME TIME is unacceptable.
Get your act together, all of you. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.
Toodles,
NM
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Dear Gate Guards.
Dear Airmen on gate guard duty at Scott,
I'm not sure whether this has been brought to your attention yet, but your appearance and demeanor MATTER. You are repesenting not only your career field, but also your branch of service when you work the gate; you are the first thing visitors to this base see. Ever hear the saying 'first impressions count'? Yeah. Apply that to yourselves. It's not a good idea to wear unathorized clothing on the gate, and it's also not a good idea to wear a uniform that looks like you just rolled out of bed.
It's also a GREAT idea to verbally ackowledge that you've seen a person's ID and it's okay for them to proceed. Grunting is not acceptable, and neither is total silence. I never know whether it's ok for me to go through when that happens, and that's why I ask you. I'm not doing it to be a bitch, I'm asking because I've seen the damage all the security measures in place at the gate can do to a vehicle, and I really like my car the way it is. I'm not asking for an entire conversation, but 'thank you' or 'have a nice day' would be nice.
The gate is not the place to conduct personal conversations when traffic is backed up for half a mile. Take today, for instance: there was a long line of vehicles waiting to come on via the Belleville gate, and whilst there were two of you standing there, only one was checking IDs and waving traffic. The other one of you was standing there, and you were both running your yaps. That's a bad image to present, fellas. Both of you should have been taking care of business; your conversation could have waited until the line wasn't so long and traffic wasn't so heavy. It's ok to chit-chat, but not at the expense of the people coming on base.
You might want to take the security aspect of your job a little more seriously, too. Some of you take my ID and don't even LOOK at it, you just hand it right back to me. Others take it, flip it in a split second and then hand it back. I know that you can't possibly have seen the pertinent information on it in that short amount of time. How do you know that it's me, that it's my ID card if you don't look a the photo? You may think that I'm being pedantic and that it's none of my business how you operate on the gate, but I disagree. It's very much my business: security is EVERYONE'S business. I LIVE here; my family relies on you for our security.
I also think that how you look is my business. I'm proud to be an Air Force wife; I'm proud of my husband and his colleagues and the things they do for this country. When you look like a big bag of shite, it reflects on him, and by proxy, on me.
Today it was just me coming through the gate and noticing these things. Next time you may not be so lucky - it might be a General who notices and who takes action, or worse still, it could be a terrorist. The consquences from the former can be unpleasant, but the consquences from the latter...well, it doesn't bear thinking about.
So c'mon, guys. Get your act together before something catastrophic happens.
Love,
A Proud Air Force Wife.
I'm not sure whether this has been brought to your attention yet, but your appearance and demeanor MATTER. You are repesenting not only your career field, but also your branch of service when you work the gate; you are the first thing visitors to this base see. Ever hear the saying 'first impressions count'? Yeah. Apply that to yourselves. It's not a good idea to wear unathorized clothing on the gate, and it's also not a good idea to wear a uniform that looks like you just rolled out of bed.
It's also a GREAT idea to verbally ackowledge that you've seen a person's ID and it's okay for them to proceed. Grunting is not acceptable, and neither is total silence. I never know whether it's ok for me to go through when that happens, and that's why I ask you. I'm not doing it to be a bitch, I'm asking because I've seen the damage all the security measures in place at the gate can do to a vehicle, and I really like my car the way it is. I'm not asking for an entire conversation, but 'thank you' or 'have a nice day' would be nice.
The gate is not the place to conduct personal conversations when traffic is backed up for half a mile. Take today, for instance: there was a long line of vehicles waiting to come on via the Belleville gate, and whilst there were two of you standing there, only one was checking IDs and waving traffic. The other one of you was standing there, and you were both running your yaps. That's a bad image to present, fellas. Both of you should have been taking care of business; your conversation could have waited until the line wasn't so long and traffic wasn't so heavy. It's ok to chit-chat, but not at the expense of the people coming on base.
You might want to take the security aspect of your job a little more seriously, too. Some of you take my ID and don't even LOOK at it, you just hand it right back to me. Others take it, flip it in a split second and then hand it back. I know that you can't possibly have seen the pertinent information on it in that short amount of time. How do you know that it's me, that it's my ID card if you don't look a the photo? You may think that I'm being pedantic and that it's none of my business how you operate on the gate, but I disagree. It's very much my business: security is EVERYONE'S business. I LIVE here; my family relies on you for our security.
I also think that how you look is my business. I'm proud to be an Air Force wife; I'm proud of my husband and his colleagues and the things they do for this country. When you look like a big bag of shite, it reflects on him, and by proxy, on me.
Today it was just me coming through the gate and noticing these things. Next time you may not be so lucky - it might be a General who notices and who takes action, or worse still, it could be a terrorist. The consquences from the former can be unpleasant, but the consquences from the latter...well, it doesn't bear thinking about.
So c'mon, guys. Get your act together before something catastrophic happens.
Love,
A Proud Air Force Wife.
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