To Snow Or Not

We are on a snow watch. Everyone I know is discussing whether or not we will have a storm on Saturday. The debates are going into how many inches and where it will fall. Television shows are comparing the American Doppler model to the European Doppler model. They each show a different picture. This basically means that they are guessing. If two machines show different outcomes for the same event, neither can be trusted. I like to use the window method. I get up on the day of the storm and look out of my bedroom window. What I see is never wrong.

Labels

This morning I put on a new pair of pants. It took me five minutes "prep" time. I first had to de-label them. There was a label on the pants leg. There was one sewn onto the waistband. There was a manufacturer's label hanging along side of the store price tag label. Inside there were four annoying tags. One for size, one for materials, one for care and one for country of origin. I had to get my scissors and start cutting. Some were easy cuts and others I had to be careful not to nick the cloth as I cut closely to get out as much label as possible so it would not rub up against my skin. I then had to go into another room to toss the papers into a wastebasket. All that work at 6am.

The Guilt Card

It has happened again. Someone has tried to pull the guilt card on me. I used to feel bad, now I feel angry. I received a call in work yesterday from a man who said he was a veteran. He has free benefits from the government but did not like his doctor so he wanted to come to my office. I quoted the prices to him. He said they were too high. I then said that if he used one of our junior doctors I would lower the price by 70% to make it more affordable. I have the discretion to do that. He said that was also too high. Then he threw in the guilt card. He said, "Thanks for looking out for the veterans". What did he want from me? I offered a 70% discount. The government offered free services. I do not go into Rolls Royce and complain that they are not looking out for me. I do not go into Starbucks and expect a $1.00 coffee. I go where I can afford. Plain and simple.

Cho King

Yesterday I went to a new restaurant. It was called Noodles and Company. They had all types of noodle dishes, Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Italian and American. I started to read the menu and then I decided to use the restroom. As I walked to the bathroom, I saw a free standing sign that advertised Cho King. It had a picture that I did not yet focus on.  I did not stop to read the ingredients. I would read them on my way back. After I used the bathroom, I went to read what the Cho King dish was. As I stopped to focus on the sign, I realized that it was not a dish that said Cho King. It was a sign that said Choking Hazard. The picture showed what to do to administer aid in case someone is choking.

Happy Birthday

Today is my younger son's birthday. He is 32 years old. The time has flown by. I can still remember vividly every moment of the day he was born. I remember that my husband was eating White Castle burgers at 1am and wanted me to wait until he was done and had his chocolate doughnut before I called the doctor. After he ate, he then wanted to shave, as he was beginning to grow a beard and didn't want to look bad at the hospital. I needed to remind him that it was not about him. It was about me and the baby. He did finish eating and he did shave before we went to the hospital. I was in too much pain from my contractions to argue. The baby was born 6 hours later. Good thing we were not at a buffet or my husband would not have left until he was full and the baby would have been born at the pasta station.

A Week

It is amazing how our bodies can heal in just one week. Eight days ago I was in New England, sitting in a hospital room. My son was one day out of major surgery, feeling bad. One week later he is up and about, healing well and shopping in a supermarket. Sometimes our attitudes have a great deal to do with our healing. His surgeon gave him a timeline. Painkillers would be used for three days. Appetite would be less for a week. Walking would be done from day 2 on. The doctor knew exactly how my son's body would react to this surgery and how long it would take to get back to normal. He was right on target.

Into The Woods

I work in a building that has multilevel parking. The second level sits in front of a wooded area. Yesterday a car drove into the woods. No one could figure out how it got there. There were concrete blocks in front of each spot and cars parked in each space. The car landed up behind the blocks, in the woods, and smack up against a tree. As each patient walked in, I heard the same comment. "There is a car in the woods. How did it get there?" I went out to investigate. I saw the maintenance man and he told me how it happened. The people drove over the concrete block, thinking it was an exit. They drove through the wooded area until they saw the tree and crashed into it. They then got out and walked away. Later in the afternoon I got a call from one of my doctors who was with the police. It seems that I was the only one, other than the maintenance man,  that knew how the car got there. I explained what happened and they thanked me. I have no idea how they will pull it out.