a successful day! ian played over at his best friend's house for much of the day and i worked non-stop on my RCP. i gave up on the topic i've been trying to pull together for a while. it just wasn't working. i'm going to talk about management of depression in kids. i should probably come up with a less dreary title for the talk than "depression and suicide". no-one will come if i call it that!

i'm sadly out of CSI episodes.. watched the season finale last night. it was a tear-jerker. as luck would have it i'm also out of percocet. ack! and surprise surprise my hip is bad tonight. can't take nsaids so i guess it's just tylenol for me. *sulk*

so we have a move day all set. tom has been working hard at figuring this all out. the movers come on july 6 and we fly to virginia july 7. with ian and powder. oh dear. she will need some very strong cat valium! lol either she takes or everyone else on the plane will need to! she does this wailing thing when she travels in the car. high pitched, creepy and loud. and it doesn't stop!

i was thinking today about what essentials i'll need to bring to virginia while we wait for all of our stuff to catch up. my laptop (of course).. dvd player (for ian for the plane).. and cleaning stuff! i hate it when you move into a new place and it's all grimy and your cleaning stuff is packed! i mean i know i probably can't take the spray thingies but i have all these clever dusters and mops and wipers that i swear by.. *needs*. hee. the new place is carpeted, unlike this one. we need a new vaccuum cleaner! there's no way i'll be able to haul our old monster up the stairs.

know what else i want a new one of? a new car!!!! my car history is as follows. mum and dad gave me 'stroma' 10 years ago. wonderful car! it was an '85 toyota corolla hatchback. i was able to fit all my wordly possesions in that thing. *nostalgia*. i remember several instances of things falling off of it and it breaking down etc, but you always love your first car. then tom got a subaru and i started driving his '94 corolla. then last year when my arthritis started i couldn't drive stick any more so we swapped. i never really took to his corolla anyway. so tom's always said that it'd be my turn when we move back to virginia. we're only going to take the subaru. idk.. i think tom's pretty much due for a new car too! i guess we'll see what we find. i must say dad, if you're reading this, i wouldn't mind a convertible mini either! did you end up getting one?

i saved the most exciting news for last. my sister got engaged last weekend! CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!! (please please please send me a photo of Scott!). it sounds like the wedding will be soon. *psyched*.

wow, it has been a while since i've updated, hasn't it? i just haven't had much interesting to say! have been working the same schedule that april was supposed to be: weekdays with weekends off and 1/2 to 1 weekday off a week. ward senior but this time on team 3, which is general pediatrics, renal and cardiology. the interns and students on the team are really good, well except for two of them, so i'm a little busy checking on their patients but in general i'm very spoiled! and they all have good attitudes so that's great. lol no disasters like last month, when the attending made the mistake of saying "use your judgement" to an intern who doesn't have good judgement, in answer to his question about whether or not to discharge a patient. and the patient ended up being readmitted a few hours later!

i know i haven't had much to say about tom and ian lately. unfortunately i haven't been seeing much of them. i've spent most of my non-working time in bed.. i go to bed as soon as i get home, and this past week i spent most of my day off and the weekend in bed too. sleeping seems to be my major hobby! anyway, it's working. i haven't gotten sick! i've had to go up on the prednisone a bit but that's ok. had a very difficult time walking friday but am feeling much better after two days resting.

tom got a babysitter last night and we had a date! we went to a "fusion" restaurant for dinner and saw the hitchikers guide movie. it was very funny! i especialy liked zaphod. he was guy in galaxyquest. very funny actor!

sorry for the infrequent updates, i'm doing well. work has been awfully sad. two well loved girls died this week. so sad. but for the most part it's great. i have some really outstanding interns. and the attending lets me do everything! it's been great learning.. i'm forced to read constantly because if i'm directing the kids' care i have to know what i'm doing! likewise i'm pushing the interns to manage the patients themselves and consider me their consultant. it doesn't hurt that the census is finally decreasing.

hips and knees have been a pain, literally. i'm rationing the pain pills, not allowing myself to take them more than once or occasionally twice a week. i took them last night for pretty awful pain. unfortunately it's back tonight even though i wasn't very active today at all. in general though i'm doing tons better than a few weeks ago!

Which Incredibles Character Are You?

sorry about the lack of updates! i've just been coming home from work and crashing. and still am having a hard time getting out of bed in the mornings.. so tired! today had a day off for appointments. saw the ear, nose & throat surgeon, rheumatologist, and kidney doctor. i was tired and dragging all day so my brain wasn't really in gear to ask questions. and i'm a bit apathetic about it all at the moment. so many appointments and still don't know why my kidneys aren't working right and why i have chipmunk cheeks.

work is good; really interesting. i'm learning a ton, a lot of it from being forced to read up on things so that i can competantly direct care for my kids. the interesting patients we've had this week have included a 2 week old baby with salmonella. i guessed her diagnosis 2 days before the culture results came back because of her blood work, so i looked smart, which doesn't happen often to me! we had a teenage "body packer", that swallowed some bags of cocaine & ice. strangely we all were totally fascinated with her story, i guess because it's pretty rare in pediatrics! lots of other interesting cases but probably more interesting to me than anyone reading this so i'll stop there!

just a quick post.. started back on the wards, on the cardiology & renal team yesterday. got out at 7:30 pm, the first time i've gotten out before 8! it's a good team. good interns for the most part. the day went well other than the patient that had low blood pressure and a heart rate of 165 (in a 16 year old!) and the intern and nurse were oblivious until i pointed it out.

headache this morning. i've been waking up every morning with a headache lately. bleh. on my way to the gym left hip has been troublesome since doing the elliptical yesterday so i'll just lift arms and stretch. gotta go!

don't have much time.. need to crash. it was great being back at work but we got killed today with train wreck admissions and icu transfers. just slogged on through them and wasn't a problem because i was on with an awesome intern and the rest of the kids weren't very active. long day.. got out at the standard 8 pm and then went to visit my ICU friend. she was taken off the ventilator today and her father is so happy!

red eyes today.. weird. i'm just going to assume it's from the cold? really sore throat tonight that i'm hoping will improve with a good night's sleep. still the lingering headache. what a whiner i am! still the hematuria but back pain is better today. left hip was painful all day of course but i sort of mentally told it to shove it and ignored it! was able to do 15 minutes on the elliptical this morning without any problems. stuck to the chilton diet. had yogurt for breakfast, grilled salmon and brown jasmine rice for lunch, veggie chili, yogurt and two apples for dinner. day 3.

now bed!