Hillbillie Chick

2006-11-16T20:17:00.000-05:00

Neuter that Panther!

I have been terrible in my posts this year. I have been especially bad at keeping y'all updated on the fabulous Mounties. With Steve Slaton and Pat White, we are unstoppable!! (except when that stupid, flea-bitten bird pooped on our heads)

So right now I am watching WVU vs Pitt on my new 40 inch TV with HDTV!! It is fabulous! (the tv was a first anniversary present my husband and I have given each other - remember one year ago!!)

So here are some banners for your viewing enjoyment....

First, Happy Birthday to me!!!

GO MOUNTAINEERS!!

BEAT PITT!!

2006-10-04T20:36:00.000-04:00

Last Helicopter post...I promise!

My previous post was about scary times on the helicopter. This post is about my most fun time ever on the 'copter. If you have been reading my posts for awhile, you will remember I DID NOT LIKE the helicopter. I always found it too chaotic for my liking. I prefer the managed chaos of the ER.

Anyway, sometimes the helicopter would do the "PR" missions. Public relations for various fire depts, EMS depts, towns, etc. This would involve flying in, letting kids crawl all over the helicopter, answer questions about what you do and the like. For the 2 months I was there I had never been on one. Until my next to the last shift. I get to the base and find out that we will be doing a PR. I get very excited as I had never been on one, and I think it would be fun.

BOY WAS IT! We fly out to this very rural Fire/EMS dept. Now one of the few things I did enjoy about being the helicopter doc was the "cool factor". When we would land out in the field or at a hospital, people would come out from all over, from the houses, from their cars, etc. Cause it is pretty cool to see the emergency helicopter land! So I enjoyed looking out the window as we would land to watch everyone "watch us".

This PR visit was one big COOL FACTOR! The fire dept has an "open house" so people could come look at the ambulances, the fire equipment, etc. But also to come see the big city helicopter land! As we are landing I am looking out the window watching everyone, adults and kids get excited and gather 'round as the helicopter lands. And of course the closer we get to the ground, the more the wind picks up and starts to blow all the dirt to them. One of the pilot's says "Land Quick! We're blowing them away!" (that was kind of funny - *evil grin*)

So we get out and there is FOOD! Fabulous home-made potluck dishes and desserts! And people are hugging us! Apparently there was a prior patient that was transported by my heliocopter ambulance people a few months ago after a terrible accident. He and his family came out to thank us. Even though the nurse and I were NOT the crew that transported him. They were just grateful that he was alive. So hugs and food and people looking at you like you are the coolest! IT CAN'T BE BEAT!So we stay for a few hours, eat dinner, one of the other nurses gives a talk about what we do and answer questions. The kids love crawling in the helicopter and having their picture taken sitting in the pilot's seat. And I go back for a second piece of homemade cake.

Finally we have to get back to the real world. We get back in the helicopter and take off. Again the cool factor as everyone comes out to wave good bye. The pilot's circle the landing zone and banks real hard and blows the siren as we leave (yes the helicopter acutally has a siren like an ambulance). Again, ultra cool. So fun. While we are flying back, I ask "so where are we going for dinner?" I figure we could just call around and tell people "hey, we'll land at your place and you can come play on our helicopter...will you bring some food out to us????" I don't think they have fly-up fast food for helicopters. :(

2006-09-30T16:57:00.000-04:00

Things you do not want to hear from your pilot...

Some of you may remember that when I was a resident, I had to do a couple of months as being the "helicopter doc". Most of the various helicopter emergency transports throughout the country uses highly trained nurses and paramedics on board, and only one pilot. But the one that I worked with used physicians and highly trained nurses. As well as 2 pilots.

Once we were on a trip to go pick up a patient. As we fly, I and the nurse are sitting in the back, while the pilots are up front flying. Though my back is to them and can't see them, I can still hear their chatter on the headset. I don't know all the terminology, but I can still understand the context of their talk. Apparently one of the console lights came on. I liken this to when you are driving your car and the "check engine" light comes on. I hear one pilot say to the other, "try turning this and that and the other off". (I am not really sure what he said, but the gist is he was trying various things to get the light to turn off) After a few seconds that is when I hear "Oh *&^%!" (rhymes with "luck"). And I notice that the helicopter is turning around. Then I hear the pilot reading from the "pilot's manual"..."if such and such happens during inflight, you are advised to land immediately and make engine repair!" I feel the engines slow down and we kinda limp back to base, all the while I am wondering what is going on. I don't understand aircraft engines, so I am not quite sure what happened. But suffice to say an interesting time for me, as I am hoping we do not have to put the thing down in a field somewhere.

Another time we have a patient on board that we are transporting back to the hospital. It is early morning and the fog is just terrible. We are attempting landing on the roof though it is encased in fog. All of a sudden I hear one of the pilot's say "there's a tower" and the other pilot say "Oh &^%$!" (rhymes with mitt) and I feel the helicopter's engines rev up and we are climbing fast and banking. I am busy with the patient but I look out the window and can see the buildings go by fast as we are climbing very quickly. We can't land at that hospital secondary to too much fog. So we are flying around wondering where to go. There is another hospital across town that we go check out. We circle their landing spot and the fog is cleared enough from their spot that the pilot says "I think we can make it if we land RIGHT NOW". So the nurse and I say okay, so I hear the engines cut to slow and boy we are landing that very second! I look out the window and the security for this hospital are running out the front entrance like they are leaving a burning building trying to stop traffic and get the landing pad ready. Mind you they had no idea we were landing until they saw us about 100 feet above their pad! There was no time to warn them. We had to take advantage while the fog was clear for a few minutes.

Fun times...

2006-08-22T18:15:00.000-04:00

I am such a geek...

Got my first paycheck. And what have I done with it? Invest you say? Heavens no. I have bought toys. Filthy toys. My first purchase was a digital camera. I must admit that now that I have it, I am not sure I like it. I had an old bulky one (one of the first one's out) years ago. It took better pictures. We shall see if I keep this one. I am a dooce wannabe in the sense that I want to have a link on my page too that says "I take pictures every day!" I love her pics, especially of Leta and Chuck.

Next I got an iPod. I used to have a shuffle, but no that is not good enough for me. I must have COLOR SCREEN and MORE MEMORY! You can never have enough you know. I considered getting the one with the bigger screen that plays videos. But I really only use my iPod in the car or when I am walking or trying to ignore the outside world. And I am NOT looking at my screen during those times, so I opted not to get the video screen as I will probably never look at videos. Though I do like the idea.

Lastly, today my hubby and I switched cell phone service. My old service still had my Cleveland area code and number. So we wanted something more local. And so I wanted a spify new phone with camera abilities and all that. I got a pink Motorola Razr. As in Hello Moto! I love it! And it is PINK too!

Don't think I am too selfish. I also bought family toys too! So there. Now off to read all these owner manuals!!

2006-08-09T15:57:00.000-04:00

Update from the sticks...

I have started the new job. I hope to post new stories here of my experiences of finally being out on my own. Well, sorta on my own. I am working the noon to midnight shift, so there is always another doctor with me at all times, in case I need to ask a question or so. And they all have been very supportive and GREAT help to me. Still, I keep wanting to finish up with stories of my last few days in my residency, the promised "things you dont' want to hear your pilot say" stories, the graduation ceremony stories and all that.

Plus my recent visit to the ER as a PATIENT. Then 2 days later my husband's visit to the ER as a PATIENT, where he then got admitted with adult onset diabetes. It has been a fun wacky month my first month home.

But I am keeping up with my visits to everyone else's blog. I hope to get back into it myself. Just lazy.

2006-07-11T14:38:00.000-04:00

What in the world is going on?

And why haven't I posted? Am I not done with my residency? Am I not home now, with cable internet access for 24 hour posting capabilities?

I am home in WV now. I have been back now for about 2 weeks. It is very strange to have NOTHING to do. For the past 10 years I have been either working full-time while going to school part-time in the evenings, OR I have been going to medical school full-time OR I have been working my butt off in my residency. All that is done - the goal has been reached. Now I see my husband off to work and I sit and stare at the walls all day. I'll be the first to admit I thought the break was something I wanted. That after being so busy for so long, I would relish the chance at nothingness. Apparently not. I am bored to tears. But that will all end soon as I start work July 24th. Then the poop will really hit the fan as I will be stressed out beyond belief.

But I have been in the doldrums. Unsure if I even want to continue blogging. After a few run-ins with some rather hypocritical people, it wore me down. I realize that it takes all types in this world, but I don't have to put myself out there for ridicule. I'm sure my rut will pass. But I don't blame people not coming by. I mean why keep coming by if there are no new posts? So I don't know if I want to keep my blog or not. I thought about a whole new re-do. Perhaps asking Rachel to host and redesign me a whole new site. Maybe that would cheer me up. We shall see.

But I continue to check out all the sites of all my pals. And leave my oh so important thoughts of the day for your reading enjoyment! :)

2006-06-08T13:32:00.000-04:00

Pack up the wagon and hitch the mules...

So sorry for the delays between my posts. Terribly busy here. In fact one of the other residents and I seem to feel that instead of things winding down in our last month of residency, things are on the upswing. Getting the movers, getting packed, getting paperwork in order, changing addresses, blah, blah, blah.

Finished with the helicopter. I will try to put in a few last posts about that later. One will be titled "things you do not want to hear your pilot say".

Now I am doing a mini-rotation in radiology. I am working with an absolutley FABULOUS radiologist. She is great, making it fun and teaching me stuff as well. I wish I would have worked with her before now.

I may try and move my cats this weekend to WV. I am NOT looking forward to that, and may delay it to next weekend just so I can put it off some more.

more later...

2006-05-19T05:09:00.000-04:00

ETOH rant...

ETOH is the medical/chemical term for alcohol (ethanol). Last year when I was on my trauma month, I could not believe the stupid mishaps/human stupidity attributed to alcohol.

Tonight my helicopter was called out to transport a woman from a smaller hospital to a larger trauma center. She was involved in a MVA (motor vehicle accident), was pinned underneath the dashboard, had to be extricated (cut out) out of the car, had multiple facial fractures...and oh yeah, her blood alcohol was .34 Now legal limit most places is .08 So her ETOH level was over 4x the limit. DUH! In fact one place on the internet I found, describes a blood alcohol level of .35 at about the level where surgical anesthesia is maintained (in other words, same level of consciousness).

As it turns out the weather was too bad and we could not make it so we had to turn around and come back. But again I was dumbfounded at human's and their choices. Brent has a funny mini-movie on his web-site as to why ER's will always be busy. GO SEE IT!

2006-05-18T19:41:00.000-04:00

Sliding into home...

I am using baseball terminology in a tribute to the hubby! But my post is in regards that I have ONE MONTH LEFT IN MY RESIDENCY!!! I have 5 LifeFlight shifts left (ugh) and then about 10 days of an easy Radiology rotation in June AND THAT IS IT! Well, I do have a 2 presentations to do and a 2 big tests to take, but other than that...hehe.

Still, I have quite the headaches trying to get everything done in the allotted time. I gotta find some movers and all that. Gotta move the kitties the 5 hours back to WV. Moving them up wasn't a big deal, they slept most of the way (with some kitty Valium help from the Vet). But we shall see how it goes this time.

I know I am getting less and less sleep these days. I think I will sleep all of July, resting up for the big start of my new job in August.

2006-05-11T23:50:00.000-04:00

No exciting posts...

I hadn't posted in awhile, thinking I will get a few Lifeflight runs under my belt, then tell you about them. So far I have had 3 car wreck's, 1 stroke, 1 cardiac arrest, 1 assault with loss of consciousness, and 1 post surgical hemorrhage. Though now that I tell you about them, I am thankful that I didn't have an exciting time. See, I don't enjoy being the helicopter doc. Some THRIVE on it, I don't. I like the ER, don't get me wrong. Some people think the ER is just so chaotic, how can you POSSIBLY know what is going on, it is too confusing. But for me it is managed chaos. I know exactly what is going on and I love it. But the helicopter is just too much. Landing out in the middle of nowhere sometimes and having no idea what you are getting into. NO thanks! So 6 more shifts and I am done!

My husband's baseball team is in the playoffs. The won the state finals last year, so they are the defending champs. Winning this year will be their 6th state title. He loves coaching so much, and is such a good coach as well. It is rare that people find something they enjoy so much AND are good at it.

And here's to all you MOM's out there! Since I don't have a mom, I hope all of you have a VERY HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!

2006-05-05T00:55:00.000-04:00

ER Stuff

When I first started this blog, it was originally for me to vent about stuff going on at work (the ER). But I got carried away with family and wedding stuff that I haven't really posted any about work. And more than a few of you have said MORE GORE STORIES! So I thought I would try and dredge up a few.

Deceased Human Couch

Have any of you heard about the joke/urban legend called the human couch. About an obese patient in the hospital, and once they started undressing the patient, found all sorts of things (like TV remote) and stuff in their skin folds? Well, I had a similar story that is not urban legend but true (although sad). A 26 year old male brought in by EMS (ambulance). Found in his car slumped over, unresponsive. When they got to him he was not breathing nor was his heart beating. So they started CPR and all that. Had some trouble getting him out of his car and onto the gurney as he weighed, oh about 400+ pounds. While they were getting him out and onto table, started finding all sorts of drugs and drug paraphenalia in his skin folds. Brought him into my ER where we never did revive him and pronounced him dead. So the lovely task goes to ME to tell family that their 26 year old son was dead. This was their baby. And of course mom wants to know why did he die. I had to tell her that drugs were found with her son. She told me that she was sure he wasn't taking any of them. I did NOT correct her on that. That was probably one of the worst times I had to tell a family about their loved one. It is always hard, but when it is an 80-90 year old person, they (the family) kinda expect it. But you do not expect it when it is your 26 your old baby!!

Breaking bones for fun and profit

Speaking of 90 year old family members...Last month I started my shift as normal. I was seeing patients: colds, coughs and all that. I knew that there was a patient in one of the big trauma rooms - a 93 year old woman in respiratory distress, but that they had already been there a few hours, had already been worked up by the other doc, already intubated (tube in their mouth and down their throat connecting them to a machine to help them breathe), and they had an ICU bed already and was just waiting to go upstairs. When of course all of a sudden one of the family members comes out and says grandma is throwing up. We go in and sure enough she is. She is sedated because of the tube in her mouth but the vomit is coming out of her mouth. We suction it, but then see that her pulse is dropping and her blood pressure is dropping (she is already on some IV medication to try and get her blood pressure up). I start CPR while my attending talks to the family to see what their wishes are (do we keep coding her with CPR and drugs and shocking her heart OR let her die peacefully). Now one of the risks of CPR is that you can break ribs when you are doing it, especially in old frail people. But I have never experienced that. Yet there is always a first time isn't there? So while I am doing CPR on this poor 93 year old woman who should be allowed to go home instead of being forced onto a vent and drips and such...but that is another story for when I get on my soapbox...anyway...while I am doing CPR, I feel and hear a CRACK and know immediately that it is a rib I have just broken. My insides turn to mush as it is one of the ICKIEST feelings I have ever felt. And it happens two more times...CRACK....CRACK... so all in all I broke 3 ribs on this lady before the family finally had the gumption to let her go. I will never forget that feeling/sound.

Liar, liar, pants on fire

This isn't so much a story as an explantion of why doctors sometimes do tests that you may think are unnecessary. Especially if you feel you have told your doctor why you don't need them. Every doctor has hundreds of these stories, and I have many as well, but I will tell just one. Lady comes in complaining of nausea and abdominal pain. She is about 41. And of course during my interview ask the regular female questions, where was your last period, any chance you could be pregnant, blah, blah, blah. And of course the answer is ABSOLUTELY NOT, there is NO chance I could be pregnant. Plus I have had my periods regularly for the past several months, I have NOT missed one period. But doctors still check everything so I do a pregnancy test and lo and behold it is POSITIVE. We do an ultrasound and she is 19 WEEKS PREGNANT. Not a month or two, but 19 WEEKS. And though I have never had this, we docs always hear the stories of women showing up in the ER with abdominal pain or rectal/hemorrhoid pressure or whatever, and when the doctor looks, there is a head crowning (birth about to happen). Plus I cannot tell you the number of women that come in and tell me that there is NO chance they could be pregnant. I ask "Are you sexually active?" They say YES. I ask "What birth control do you use?" They say NONE. OKAY PEOPLE, IF YOU ARE OUT DOIN' IT, AND ARE NOT USING PROTECTION, THEN THE ANSWER TO MY QUESTION ABOUT WHETHER OR NOT THERE IS A CHANCE YOU COULD BE PREGNANT IS YES!!!!!! idiots.

So while I do not believe people are out to purposely lie to me, I still check everything!!

I will try and remember some more good stories and post them here...

2006-04-30T01:22:00.000-04:00

Beach Blanket Bingo

Back from the beach! Actually I have been back for a week, but as soon as I got home, immediately had to head to work. Tiring week.

But a great time at the beach. I haven't even started my new job yet (in West By God Virginia), but husband wants to move down there (South Carolina) NOW. He is very serious and is planning on looking for a job there in 1-2 years. Weather was great until last day when it poured the rain.

Tomorrow is my last day in the ER as a resident EVER! May is Life Flight (helicopter doc) and June is an elective (I am trying to get an elective in radiology). After tomorrow, next time I walk into an ER will be as an attending physician (doc in charge)!

2006-04-10T22:10:00.000-04:00

Ya gotta have friends!!

Hey I have been getting some great comments from my old buddies and some new pals! I treasure them all! I am in a hellish month of working every day (I get one day off) but only because I am taking some vacation time, so in pay back I have to work myself to death the other days. So hopefully I will have some more time to post next week when I am in sunny sunny Myrtle Beach, SC. I am taking the laptop, and if I have internet access, I will post some. Otherwise I will update my page and links (some are old on the side there) when I get back.

Sun, here I come!

2006-03-29T21:41:00.000-05:00

Whaazzzz UP?

Absolutely nothing. Hence my lack of blogging. I read all the other blogs on my list daily, and they have such great stories and ways of making even the most mundane things interesting and funny. Mine go like this...

1. Went to work
2. Intubated somebody
3. Drained an abcess
4. Coded somebody
5. Admitted a psych patient
6. Went home
7. Wash, rinse and repeat next day

Tomorrow though (Thursday) is my last day ever at my home hospital!!! I technically have 3 more months left in my residency, but April I will be "out of house", working at another hospital an hour south of me. May, I am the doctor on LifeFlight again (the helicopter doc). And June is an elective so I can pretty much do whatever I want. So tomorrow is bittersweet. I am happy to be nearing an end of this hell. But this has been my home for the past 4 years. I will miss all the doctors and nurses and paramedics and secretaries that have made me a better doctor by putting up with me.

So tomorrow I am taking in some cookies. I am taking in these and these. I think everyone will like them!

Well, I hope to try and blog more. I hate having nothing interesting to write about.

2006-02-26T07:16:00.000-05:00

Home Sweet Home...

I have a new home...though I am not living there - yet. After Christmas, me and the hubby started looking for a new home. He is already living in WV, and I will be moving back in May/June. So we needed to go ahead and get a place so he could go ahead and live there, and I could have a place to start moving my stuff to. I thought it was going to be a very hard find, to find a nice place. We wanted to rent, as opposed to buy, as we are hoping to move south (to the Carolina's) in a year or two. The housing market is not that great in rural Appalachia, and we did not want to get stuck with a house that we would not be able to sell. But I still had some criteria I wanted for our rental: at least 2 bedrooms, washer and dryer hook-ups, availability of DSL or Cable modem internet.

I was too busy stuck up here in sunny Cleveland to come down for any length of time to look. So I told hubby, do what you can and find us a place. Well, he found a duplex that had 3 bedrooms, 1 1/2 baths, washer and dryer, brand new carpeting, fridge, stove, etc. And totally in our price range. I couldn't come down to look at it, was afraid that it would go quickly, so I told him GET IT! I sent the money down and was renting this place sight unseen. Hubby was so worried that he had made a bad decision and was worried what I would think when I finally did get to go see it. IT WAS PERFECT! He did a great job. We have already bought a new microwave and couch (our first purchases as husband and wife) :)

So that is my fun new news. I am moving a little bit of stuff down every time I go visit. In April, I hope to get a moving company to get the big stuff like bed, roll-top desk and the like. Only 4 months left of my residency!

2006-01-29T10:25:00.000-05:00

I'm a rib woman!

I am proudly stating my enjoyment of ribs...bar-b-qued, braised, dry rub, half-rack, full-rack even, whatever. I LIKE RIBS! But apparently this is not a lady-like dish, what with getting your mouth and fingers all dirty and what-not. Because whenever my husband and I go out and I order ribs, they always bring the food back to us, and HAND HIM THE RIB PLATE! I have to say "That is MY plate". Now I am not a small svelte woman, but I guess I just don't look like a RIB EATIN' WOMAN!

This past weekend we went to Quaker Steak and Lube. I have had their wings before but a new one just opened up in WV. It was fabulous! I had the ribs (very good) and some medium wings (which were not hot enough for me). I am gonna keep moving up the "heat" ladder until I find the wings I like!

2006-01-24T01:49:00.000-05:00

Married life...

Sally asked "how's married life?" Well, it is fabulous. At least when I get to see him it is. I only see him twice a month. I CANNOT wait until I get to move back home and actually live with my husband. We are currently trying to find a place to life, which is turning into a struggle. Rural Appalachia is not known for its rental properites. I am wanting to rent right now, maybe buy a house later. But it is tough.

Plus it is a little difficult to try for kids when the sperm is 5 hours away. Sigh...

Thanks for all the nice posts about the wedding pics. Brent left me a nice note and Jen left me a note on my Flickr page as well. Love you guys!

2006-01-20T01:26:00.000-05:00

Wedding pics...

Well, after much waiting, here is one of my wedding pics. The others will be posted on Flickr over the next few days. Now wasn't that worth the wait? :D

2006-01-11T23:12:00.000-05:00

Back from Chicago...

Well, I am back from the Windy City, back to the ER grind. The conference was boring. But I guess it was okay. Kinda hard to make the subject matter any more interesting.

But I loved going out to new restaurants every night! Went to Sullivan's one night, then to Rainforest Cafe, which was a lot of fun. I think it would have been more fun if I had kids though. My last night there I went to Harry Caray's.

Went shopping along the Magnificent Mile and went to Kate Spade's! A fun time was had by me!

2006-01-08T21:43:00.000-05:00

Update more frequently, WILL YA!?!

I am soooo sorry for the massively long delay. No real excuses. Part of the reason is that I have a love/hate relationship with Ma Bell, so I have gotten rid of my telephone. With that went DSL hook-up. Plus at work, they have now put firewalls up on the 'puters so you cannot check e-mail or connect to anything they consider "risky". There is only one computer that I can really access the internet with. And that is hard to get to, as EVERYONE is using it to check their e-mails.

Right now I am in Chicago attending a conference for my residency. It sucks. But at least I have internet access for a few days. So here are some updates...

WVU won the backyard brawl!! (see previous post). We got a spot in the Sugar Bowl and played UGA. And WE WON!! 38-35. It was a fabulous win for WVU as we have not won a bowl game in years. We finished the season #5 in the AP poll on ESPN.

Got a new computer. Actually lap top. It has wireless capability, so perhaps I can keep up better when I go to little coffee shops and bookstores with wireless capabilities.

Worked Christmas but spent a fabulous New Year's with the hubby. Only 6 months left in Cleveland and then I can MOVE HOME! We gotta find a place to live still. But I cannot wait until I can actually see my husband daily.

Well, I will try and update at least MONTHLY perhaps? Sheesh...

2005-11-21T22:18:00.000-05:00

Hitch up yer britches y'all, it's time for the BACKYARD BRAWL!

What pray tell, is the Backyard Brawl? Is one of the oldest rivalries in college football. It is between the WVU Mountaineers and the Univ of Pittsburgh Panthers. Last year I froze my butt off to watch WVU LOSE to that damn flea-bitten Panther at Heinz stadium. This year, the game is played at Mountaineer Field. So look for me on ESPN at 8pm Thanksgiving Day. I will be cheering on my Mounties for a good revenge victory as well as a Big East Championship!

= GOOD :)

= BAD :(

2005-11-20T20:19:00.000-05:00

We interrupt this honeymoon...

TO VENT! I have been having fun posting my pics on flickr and shutterfly and reliving my honeymoon and all. But I have had 2 things happen to me today that is driving me nuts. I must get it off my chest.

First I freely admit I am a total yuppie that likes my coffee from those specialty shops like Starbucks or my real favorite, Caribou. But today I was in Target, and they have a Starbucks inside, so I was there. But even my yuppie self does not like flavored coffees. So today they had two offerings, some decaf whatnot and something called "Christmas Blend". Now I am thinking, is that some sort of pepperminty, gingerbready mixture? Cause I just want a coffee. So I ask the girl, "What is Christmas Blend?" and she tells me it is "SPICY", so I say "Like gingerbread spicy?" Another girl says "Well, that is just how it is described...sweet with a hint of spice" So I say " But is it just a regular coffee, cause I just want a coffee" finally a lady behind me who I am sure was just tired of me asking way too many questions says "Yes it is just regular" She probably had no idea and just wanted me to move along.

So I got my Christmas blend which was not spicy at all, it was JUST COFFEE! I mean is it that hard to just get COFFEE in a COFFEE SHOP?? I don't want a decaf peppermint frappe with a shot of espresso and a twist of lemon. I JUST WANT COFFEE!

My next vent is against McDonalds. Being the lazy butt I am, I am trying to avoid going to the supermarket as I will be leaving Tuesday for a week away for the holidays. So I do not want to have to go to the grocery store until I get back. So tonight I went to get some healthy all-natural McNuggets with Barbeque sauce. I place my order and the person reads it back to me, nuggets with BARBEQUE SAUCE! So you can see where this is heading. I get my order, and as I pull away I check....NO SAUCE. I have not left the parking lot yet, just the drive-thru window. So I go inside and someone comes up to wait on me and I ask for some barbeque sauce. She says "It is 15 cents". So mild-mannered me turns in to super-bitch and says "Absolutely not. I just want thru the drive thru and did not get the sauce that I specifically requested so I will NOT pay 15 cents for sauce that I didn't get in the first place" Needless to say she handed me my sauce and I left.

Now I totally agree that this was a minor thing. But how hard is it to get an order right? Especialy when you repeated my order BACK to me?

Thanks for listening. We now return you to your previously scheduled honeymoon already in progress.

2005-11-20T17:08:00.000-05:00

Exorcist Steps!

I got most of the honeymoon pics today. And of course I just had to show off this one. These are the "Exorcist Steps", the steps from the movie that the priest falls down. Apparently it is quite the tourist attraction, though no one was there when we were there, so I got some good shots of the steps by themselves, plus some of me sprawled out on them. It was sprinkling when we were there, and the steps were soaking wet, but I spread my raincoat on them and sat down. Of course it also helped that I had 2 glasses of wine and 2 beers by this time. :)

I will post more later!

2005-11-19T09:29:00.000-05:00

The Big Day!

I had always heard that sometimes brides are so nervous that they don't sleep very well. Well I guess the wine helped as I slept quite well, though I did not get to bed with all the stuff I had to do until after 1am. And then I woke up at 7:30am. But not so much nerves as just excitement. One of the first things I did was peek out the window. What was the weather? Though I was not having an outdoor wedding, I guess every bride wants pretty weather for her big day. And it was! Beautiful sunshine and blue sky with fluffy white clouds! That first look outside the window almost looked like someone had painted it just for me! (Thanks God!)

So my hairdresser will not be there until 10:30am. So I walk down the block to this little place called Pullman Square, which has all sorts of cute shops and a movie theater and a Max & Erma's, and what I'm going for - a Starbucks. Mmmmm coffee. And for breakfast a slice of Lemon poundcake. I head back to the room and continue my bridal vegetable plan until 10:15 when my sister calls and says they are down in the lobby heading my way with the hairdresser. They get there and my sister has brought champagne and orange juice (for some fab Mimosas) though after she leaves, the hairdresser and I have the champagne straight!

So for the next 2 hours I have hair and make-up done. Then my niece comes over and while she is having her hair done, my sis helps get me into the gown. I was worried that she may have to sew me into the gown as though I had been trying to lose weight, the first time I ever tried the gown on, it was shall we say...tight! But though I can't tell it in my face (damn Prednisone) I did lose some weight and in fact the dress was quite loose! The boob twins were about to fall out all day.

The first several hours after I got up were like "regular time" in the sense the passage of time seemed normal to me. Once I got into the dress, things seemed sped up to me at least 3-4X normal speed. All of a sudden it was get my veil on, get the tiara on, get the shoes on, get downstairs, get in the car, get to the hotel, stand in the hallway and have pictures made, quick quick quick, get the bridesmaids over here, get lined up, music starts, get the bridesmaids walking, get me and my brother in law lined up (he walked me down the aisle), smile, smile, smile, walk down the aisle, repeat after me, I DO, music starts, walk back down the aisle, pictures, pictures, pictures, mingle, mingle, mingle, cut the cake, toast, toast, toast, oh the bride and groom are leaving, streamers, streamers, streamers, BYE BYE! WHEW!

Actually as I was walking down the aisle, I purposely avoided looking at my fiance up at the front as I was afraid I would start crying. (I had waterproof mascara on) He said once he saw me coming up the aisle, he got a little teary eyed too! But as we said our vows, (I started to type vowels just then) we both didn't cry. So that was cool, at least everyone could hear us! Then afterwards we cut the cake and my husband made a very heartfelt toast to me that did bring him some watery eyes and me too! What a guy. I totally made the right choice! :)

The CAKE! Oh the cake was sooo tasty. I wish I could send all of you a piece thru the internet. And as for pictures, the photographer dropped off pictures at my sister's last night. As soon as I get some I will post them. I also have honeymoon pictures that need developed, though right now I am strapped for cash. When I came back from honeymoon, the CAR WOULDN'T START!! So that is $800 of new wedded bliss that I am dealing with.

I will type more about the honeymoon. He had to get back for football practice on Thursday and then a playoff game on Friday, so we only had a few days in Washington DC. He used to live there (and I have visited many times), so it was close by, he already knew the way around, and we were able to visit all we wanted to in the short amount we had. I think my favorite pic will be me sprawled out on the "Exorcist Steps". Do you remember the steps in the movie that the priest falls down? They are a tourist attraction in Georgetown. I can't wait to see that pic.

2005-11-16T19:02:00.000-05:00

One day before...

So now it is Friday, my rehersal day. We had a rehersal at 11am instead of in the evening as my fiance/husband had to coach his football team that evening in their last home game of the season. So my sister, niece, her 7 month old son and I arrive 10 minutes early thinking how great we are that we are on time. NOPE! Everyone else was already there WAITING on us. I was a little embarrased, being the BRIDE and all. My fiance said he figured I was having second thoughts :) But later I learned the confusion was that some thought it started at 10:30. Does no one use the internet? I told them in multiple e-mails and on my wedding web site WHEN EVERYTHING WAS! Welcome to the 21st century people.

So we have the rehersal, with one groomsman missing as he could not make it in until the day of the wedding. WTF? Then we go off to our rehersal lunch. The rest of the day I visited with bridesmaids. They were friends from high school that I still keep in touch with 20 years later. Later that night, I checked into my hotel, got my dress from my sister's house, and took it back to the hotel, where I basically turned into a bridal vegetable. I washed my hair, drank some wine my niece had given me, watched TV and got everything ready for the next day.

2005-11-16T09:31:00.000-05:00

Two days before...

Thanks everyone for all the lovely comments! And such a nice rendition of happy birthday by Brent! I am gonna post some wedding and honeymoon notes, starting with Thursday, Nov 3, two days before the wedding...

I HAD TO WORK! When our resident schedules were being formed months ago for this year, I specifically requested this month to be my "research" month. During that month, we only have to work 4 shifts. That way I could take time off for the wedding and honeymoon without using vacation days. But when I went to pick my 4 shifts I wanted to work, one of the only ones available was Nov 3!! My shift was noon to 8pm. I got out of there at 9:30pm, then drove the 5 hours to WV. I got in between 2:30am and 3am. Got some sleep, then got up and had my rehersal at 11am!

More about rehersal day later...

2005-11-14T19:28:00.000-05:00

Happy Birthday to ME!!

Today is my 41st Birthday. I am back from the wedding and honeymoon. Everything went great. I will post more in the next few days!!

2005-11-02T13:31:00.000-05:00

Brief hiatus...

Today will be my last post for about 1.5 weeks. I know, I know, I haven't been posting that frequently anyway. Hopefully that will return to normal once I get back from the Honeymoon! Wedding is this Saturday, I thought it would never get here. I cannot wait for it to all be over with. Fiance's football team is in the playoffs, so we may not get a honeymoon!!! GAH! Actually it would work out better to take one later, maybe next spring, but we shall see how everything turns out.

I will post pictures as soon as I get back and have some made. Also when I get back, you all can eat some birthday cake with too, as I will be turning the ripe ol' age of 41 on November 14th.

Have a great week everyone and hope to see y'all soon!

2005-10-30T20:27:00.000-05:00

Oh Lordy, she's at it again!

I have often posted about my little Weather Pixie. I think she lives a better life than I do. July 4th and New Year's, she throws parties with fireworks. Christmas, she decorates with trees and ornaments. And now I scroll down and she has her own little jack-o-lantern out! This chick is much more organized and partys way better than I do, as I am doing good if I get one holiday decorated. You go girl!

2005-10-29T12:53:00.000-04:00

Long Lost Blogger...

Sorry I haven't posted in about FOREVER! Work and wedding woes have been bringing me down. I have been interviewing for a job for next year after I finish my residency. Why I decided to go on two interviews in the last 2 weeks before my wedding I will never understand. What was I thinking?

But before I talk about that, let's update on all the stuff that I should have blogged about, but didn't. Starting with...

THEM FABULOUS MOUNTIES!!
My last post talks about losing to Va Tech, but then off to play Rutgers. Well we did win against Rutgers. After that, we played the Louisville Cardinals at home. This was the same weekend everyone was all abuzz about the USC-Notre Dame game and that big play that was replayed, oh like fifty eleven times on every friggin station. BIG DEAL!! Did any of you see the WVU-Cardinals game??? The one that went into TRIPLE OVERTIME!!! That was a fantastic game! But of course my Mounties came out on top, winning 46-44. I think this will be the beginning of a great rivalry with U of L. They played great and both teams played hard. I am sure they will be ready for a good revenge game next year when we travel there. Welcome to the Big East, baby! Next game is early November against that huskie mutt Univ of Connecticut. That dog should be easily muzzled and put in the pound. Then the next big game will be against our big rivals, Pittsburgh in the Backyard Brawl. It will be played Thanksgiving day, at 8pm, and yes I will be there, freezing my buns off. WE lost last year at Pitt, so we will be oh so ready for good revenge ass-kicking against that stupid Panther.

Interviews!
I have been on two interviews at two different hospitals. There are pros and cons for both. One will be close to where I will be living. One will be an hour drive. One will pay more money, one pays less. One is busier than the other, etc etc. I have made my decision. I will blog about that more later, as I have not told everyone my decision. Let's all hope I made the right choice! :)

Wedding!
Today as I type this, it is exactly one week away. In fact while I type this, it is 1:15pm and my wedding starts at 1pm. I think everything is in place. But this has been a miserable experience. I wish I would have just went to a Justice of the Peace. I thought this was supposed to be a fun and exciting time in your life. WTF? It has not been that way for me. But once I get some pics, I will post them and you can see me in all my married glory.

I miss all of you very much. I am sorry for my lack of posting. I hope you can come back and visit me soon!! I will try and do better.

2005-10-07T09:04:00.000-04:00

OW, this turkey pecked my eyes out!!

Not to mention my Indians! I am speaking of my favorite sports teams, taking that big dive into the shallow end of the pool. The Cleveland Indians were doing so well and had the potential to get some post-season play for the first time in awhile! Well that didn't happen. And last weekend my Mounties lost to Virginia Tech. I have to admit, I didn't really expect them to win. But 2 years ago we were in the same situation, playing Tech when they were the #3 team in the nation, and we whipped their asses! So I was hoping for a repeat, but it was not to be.

BUT my fiance's high school football team won against the #4 team in the state! The Logan Wildcats defeated Scott, so now we are ranked 15th. So at least ONE of my teams got a win last weekend!

This coming weekend, WVU is traveling to Rutgers to play the Scarlet Knights. Let's get medieval on those nasty knights and show them who's ruler of this castle!

2005-09-28T21:06:00.000-04:00

Time to slaughter an early Gobbler for the holidays!

My undefeated Mounties won this past weekend, beating East Carolina. But just barely! They played horribly, and if they don't pick up the pace this weekend, they will lose to #3 Virginia Tech (the Hokies). But 2 years ago in 2003, we were in the same position, playing a #3 rated Va Tech, and we crushed them good! So here's to a great game this weekend. Bring you cranberries and stuffing as we're gonna have some Turkey meat!

Another update for you...

2005-09-18T00:17:00.000-04:00

Man, this turtle soup is good!

So if you have been following along with my posts, you must be able to guess that WVU beat Maryland! My Mounties are UNDEFEATED!! Next week we play the East Carolina Pirates at home! And I WILL BE THERE (finally after missing the first 3 games)!! Shiver me timbers, Matey, make them walk the plank!!

2005-09-15T22:14:00.000-04:00

RSVP me baby!

I am starting to get back some of my RSVP cards from my wedding invitations. I got my first 3 back today! 2 yes's and 1 no. WHAT? A NO? How DARE YOU not come to my wedding - haha. It was exciting to see those 3 little envelopes in my mail box.

I have joined the Y. I am hoping to start working out regularly, to help me lose weight for the wedding, then to keep it off long term and become more fit and healthy. Today I walked on the treadmill and did the "Fat Burn" pace. Kept my target heart rate up and hopefully burned off some fat cells. Tomorrow I am going swimming. I cannot wait. I always loved to swim as a kid, but haven't in years. So when I joined, and found out they had an indoor pool...well I have went nuts. I have no bathing suit. And at this time of the year all the stores have their fall clothes up. Not even some clearance suits. So I went online and found this place. I bought this as I am very self conscious and did not want all of my fat showing. They also require you to wear a swim cap. I have never wore one of those. I remember as a kid seeing the old ladies with them, with the rubber flowers on them. ICK. So I got this one. I think it represents me well - haha. So wish me luck in my pursuit of lost poundage.

OH! GUESS WHAT? AMANDA is back! Well, now she is Sally, but SHE IS BACK! I have been anxiously awaiting her return all summer. It is so good to have her back and to be able to read about her written words. I have missed you so much Amanda/Sally (sorry, I can't resist the play with your old/real name).

Plus I have lots of other new guests. Red Fish came by and tried to help me out with wedding shoes! Wasn't that nice? Though I must admit I chintzed out and went to Payless and bought some that have hardly any heel (not the ones shown in my previous post).

Kris came by and said hello. I like her site and plan on adding her to my list as wel.

Beth has some cute froggy pictures on her site as well as her boys. Plus I like her pink border on the blog.

You have got to go over to Maggie's blog and see the pics of her puppy. Plus, as she says, some mornings it just ain't worth chewing thru the leather straps!

How 'bout them 'Eeers! They neutered that pooch, the Wofford Terriers. Now we are off to Maryland for some Turtle Soup!

2005-09-09T00:46:00.000-04:00

Come one, Come all...

Well, the invites are out. Actually I should say most of the invites are out. I still have a handfull left to address, but I am tired and sleepy. Plus I think I may need some more LUV stamps. I have the .60 stamps on the outside of the envelope, but I need more .37 for the RSVP envelope inside. I think I have some more around here somewhere, but I am too tired to look now.

This Saturday the 10th makes 8 weeks until the wedding. I still have to get stuff like shoes and bride's maids gifts and crap like that. I can't find any shoes that I like. And heck, no one is gonna see them under my dress so maybe I will just wear some flip-flops.

But here is one shoe that I am considering. I am calling it the 'Ho shoe as I think it looks a little cheap. It has this pearl thing that ties around your ankle. Real classy. But where the heck do people buy wedding shoes these days? 'Cause I am finding nuthin' out there.

2005-09-04T17:28:00.000-04:00

Nothing like fresh Orange Juice!

So my Mounties beat Syracuse 15-7! WOO HOO! We crushed a few Orangemen and made us some Juice!

Next week, we are home against the Wofford Terriers. Get the dog muzzle out and MUZZLE THAT POOCH!

2005-09-01T23:15:00.000-04:00

Football update

Last weekend my fiance's team, the Logan Wildcats beat the Man Hillbillies (no relation to my blog name). We won 12-10 in a horribly muddy field. What a mess. But a nice win though!

This weekend, Sun Sept 4, my WVU Mountaineers will be taking on the Orangemen of Syracuse. Let's see if we can squash them and make some juice this weekend!

GO MOUNTIES!

2005-09-01T23:05:00.000-04:00

Curse you, End Stage Renal Disease!

When people's kidneys fail, they have to go on dialysis. That is ESRD (end stage renal disease). When people have ESRD and are on dialysis, it can make their veins VERY HARD to find for starting an IV. A few days ago, I had a patient come in from a nursing home, that was a dialysis patient. He was hypoglycemic (low blood sugar) and we needed to get a line into him to give him some fluids and sugar. IT TOOK US 2 HOURS! First the nurses look for just a basic IV. This was 2 different nurses with multiple tries. Then I go in, the resident. I can't find anything. Then my attending (head doc) comes in and he looks. HE can't find anything. So at this point we have to resort to a central line (big IV into a big deep vein in the body). I CAN'T GET IT (and I am going at a very easy site). My attending comes back, HE CAN'T GET IT! So we start all over again. FINALLY my attending gets a very tiny IV in this poor ~~pin cushion's~~ patient's arm. I felt so bad for this poor man.

I need cheering up. So here is a pic of my wedding band that I will be wearing after Nov 5.

2005-09-01T03:35:00.000-04:00

Please help!

2005-08-26T01:42:00.000-04:00

Away for the weekend!

I'm off to visit the fiance and watch him coach his first football game. Some of you may remember he is a baseball coach. But this fall, he took on a second job, helping the local high school. He loves to watch football, and loves to play football with the guys, but has never coached it. Go Logan!

See y'all next week!

2005-08-24T23:04:00.000-04:00

Frustrations

Okay so I am two months away from the wedding. Today my sister calls and leaves me a voice mail. The musicians want $500 more than what they originally told us. WHAT? What kind of miscommunication was that? You told me X amount of dollars for X amount of time. Now all of a sudden "Oh by the way, that is X+500 now". I can't afford that, so two months away, I am all of a sudden looking for more music.

Today was just a full day of frustrations. My schedule for next month is screwed up. I am so broke. I am letting the stress of everything get to me. I am feeling very alone when it comes to planning this wedding.

2005-08-24T13:06:00.000-04:00

Always learning...

When you are a med student, everything is new. Almost every day there is something new to see or do. As you progress further along in your studies, you become more knowledgeable, but there is less and less new to see. Oh there will always be some rare disease or rash that sometimes people who have been in medicine for 30 years have never seen, but it is doubtful you will see that either. So days can become mundane as there isn't much left new that you haven't already seen or done.

But still even as a senior resident, you haven't seen it all. Like yesterday. An 18 year old who was 17 weeks pregnant came in complaining of abdominal pain and bleeding. She says the abdominal pain is coming every 5 minutes. Well right off the bat, the concern is that she is losing the fetus. She states she hasn't felt the baby move in awhile and I cannot get the fetus heartbeat thru ultrasound. So what we usually do is a pelvic exam to see if the cervical os is closed (the entrance to the uterus). So far I have ONLY seen it closed, even if the woman was having a miscarriage, it was closed, though you could see bleeding coming from the os. Well yesterday I looked. First off I can't find the os. Why? Because there was this big bluish bulging sac thing blocking my view! I knew in my heart what it was, but I had never seen it before so I asked the nurse to go get the attending. He came in and looked. And confirmed what I already knew. This was the amniotic sac bulging from her dilated (aprox 4-5 cm) cervix. We do not have OB at my hospital, so we transferred her to the hospital she had planned to deliver.

I was sorry for her and her family. But it was interesting for me to see something new. Sometimes I just love what I do. Other times I am so nervous still and wonder how I will ever cope out on my own.

Yet today is nice 'cause I am OFF!

2005-08-22T23:21:00.000-04:00

The embarrasment of being dehydrated...

Today I tried to donate blood. I say tried as I only filled up half the bag. Everything was going well...no I take that back. She had a hard time finding my vein AFTER the needle was in my arm. So a little sweat by me, but eventually she got in and blood was flowing...for awhile. Then it stopped. She moved the needle around SEVERAL times while in my arm, trying to find just the right spot to get the blood flowing again. Finally when I gasped and threw my head back on the cart with my other hand white-knuckled clenching the armrest, her supervisor came over and (thankfully) said "Okay I think that's enough!" I felt guilty though as I am working on my 5 gallon pin. They told me to drink more water next time. DAMMIT.

2005-08-22T17:20:00.000-04:00

Too busy in the afterlife...

Have any of you ever heard of John Edward? He used to have this show called "Crossing Over". I am not going to get into whether you believe or don't believe in that stuff (in fact, here is a really nifty article on why you shouldn't believe these people), but I did go to one of his seminars this past weekend. I was hoping to connect to my mom and dad. Did they show up? Nooooooo. I guess there is just too much coal-mining to do and too much house to take care of on the other side for either of my parents to stop by and visit their little baby. Sigh.

Here is a recent update on my impending nuptials...

2005-08-17T13:10:00.000-04:00

Wow new visits and everything!

Thanks to all the new posts I have gotten recently. It has encouraged me to come out of my rut and try to get back to some daily writing. I must admit I am so exhausted all the time, that it is difficult to keep up. And with all the wedding planning and such, I am easily distracted.

Back in the ER this month. I had a patient yesterday that was no fun. Well to be honest we did not lose him. He came in already dead. Usually when we are getting a patient, the ambulance will call in ahead and tell us what they are bringing. This time, it was the Police dept telling us that a GSW (gunshot wound) to the neck was coming in. No other info. So we start scrambling, get our intubation stuff ready, get the blood down from lab to give to the patient, get X-ray over and all that. Ambulance pulls up, he has no vitals, already intubated, no pulse, etc. He does have a small hole about 1 cm in diameter in the right front of his neck. It is draining blood, but not pouring out. Until I start CPR. Then each time I compress his heart, it is squirting out. This is an arterial bleed, like perhaps his Carotid artery. We put compression on that, keep pumping his lungs with air, and continue CPR. We give him blood and drugs to try and get his heart started. But he never comes back. Up til now, he was a John Doe. After everything is over, we learn from the police that his birthday was yesterday, he just turned 23. He is in the Navy, home on leave and had to go back tomorrow. And worst of all, alledgely his BROTHER shot him over a Blackberry device. And this was early in the day. Kind of brought a damper down on the whole day. After that, to then have to go see someone who has a cold, and are mad that they have had to wait so long, well gee dude, be happy you ain't DEAD.

2005-08-07T17:50:00.000-04:00

I'm Tired!

Sorry for no posts recently. I have been out of town for a few days. Now I am back though and doing my series of nights at the ER. As a resident, we do 4-5 nights during our ER months. I am in the middle of mine. AND I am having to do them over the weekends. During weeknights, it is only a 9 hour shift. But on weekends, it is a 12 hour shift. I HATE THEM. I am so tired, yet still 2 more shifts to go.

Go visit Suzie and her new little one! Congrats to the expanding family!

2005-07-26T22:40:00.000-04:00

Split Personality

My blog has had a few different incarnations. First I had "my journey in medicine" that was supposed to be mostly about the good, the bad and the ugly as I worked my way through my EM residency. But I also used it to vent about my life and relationships, which did not go over too well with the family when they found my blog. I never told them about it, as it was my own personal way of letting off steam, yet somehow they still found me. But to keep peace, I dropped that blog. After a few months though, I really missed writing. So I started "Hillbillie Chick". Vowing to not mention the family, it was another way for me to vent though, about work, and lately about all these darned wedding plans.

Yet I seem to have lost some readership. I never really had a lot of readers, but a few close friends that would leave notes, and I would visit them as well. Maybe I need to join those different club kinda things like BlogExplosion and all that, to attract more traffic. At any rate, I am toying around with the idea of splitting off into another blog. Keeping this one, back to its original content of work-related stories and vents about life in the ER. And then another blog regarding family life, planning the wedding, later my attempts to get a "bun in the oven" and all that. I have a trial one up over here. Let me know what you think.

2005-07-25T22:15:00.000-04:00

Linky Love

Some of my favorite sites. Can you feel the love on the web? Group hug...

Check this out! Cool huh! I got that from Genuine
Google the moon Zoom in as close as you can!
Hunger Site Go click and send some food, or education, or literacy or save an animal!

More later....I gotta go take some aspirin for my toothache. :(

2005-07-25T00:01:00.000-04:00

Ouch! - Part 2

I have a toothache. I am a total chicken when it comes to going to the dentist, so I wait and put it off until I am miserable (like now). I have been taking enough acetominophen to kill my liver and enough ibuprofen to kill my kidney's. Next, I'll start on aspirin, and lose my hearing. So tomorrow I am breaking down and calling my dentist. The only problem is he is 5 hours away in WV. He is excellent though, very caring and VERY PAINLESS (most important). And very popular. So I am worried that I am not going to be able to get in with him as quickly as I need. So, please DO NOT make me have to find someone up here. ICK! Wish me luck.

Wedding news: I found a cake lady!! (someone to make my wedding cake) She is oh so good and OH SO CHEAP! I cannot wait to see it. And I have found a photographer too. Now to find a minister...

2005-07-18T01:17:00.000-04:00

What the hell is a trousseu?

Caution: some PG-13/R linking to be had in this post.

So I am trying to get an idea of what kind of undies I need for my wedding dress. My sis is already asking me if I have my shoes? Shoes? What shoes? Can't I just wear flip-flops? Apparently when I get my dress altered, I need to be wearing the shoes that I am gonna wear my wedding day, so they can hem the dress. Well NO I do not have any wedding shoes. I have some Birkies that are quite comfy though.

Also, what do I wear undearneath that dress?! When I bought the dress, the bridal store sold me a special strap-less bra to go with it. I stupidly bought it, thinking that I needed it to wear underneath the dress. But the dress doesn't really have that low of a back. I am thinking I could wear almost anything undearneath it. Hubby-to-be has hinted, no, TOLD me he likes corsets. So today I ordered this one. What do y'all think? I am thinking of some white thigh-highs for hose.

How 'bout for the honeymoon? Guys, help me out here. Should I get lots of lacy, sheer, sexy stuff? Don't bother? Help me pack would'ja?

2005-07-17T20:59:00.000-04:00

Movin' on up...

Ooooo I am a crawly amphibian! Finally left that flippery fish. I have sprouted legs and am leaving the mud puddle behind. Let's see if I can finally move up to a flappy bird someday.

Tomorrow I have to go away on one of those day retreats for my residency. Every month we have one day where we have to go sit all day for lectures. Usually they are in Columbus, but tomorrow I go to Sawmill Creek Resort. It looks pretty nice. Plus there will be drug reps there, so I hope to scarf up some pens and notepads!

Here's an update as I am sure all of you are just dying to know...

2005-07-17T14:28:00.000-04:00

I'm healed! Ice cubes for everyone!

I have found the healing aspect of ice water. If you burn you finger, then stick it in icewater and leave it there for SEVERAL hours, always adding fresh ice after the other melts, you don't blister as much. Does medical science know this? Perhaps I could win the Nobel prize in medicine for this. Oh, you say everyone knows this? Where have I been?

The evil perp in all this was the TGI Friday's Honey Barbeque Wings I was trying to make. Damn 450 degree oven.

So today I am doing laundry and trying to order those DAMN wedding invites. I am so tired of all this. I should have eloped.

More blinkies for your seizure-instigating enjoyment...

- my hubby-to-be

2005-07-16T22:19:00.000-04:00

OUCH!

Burned my finger...can't type...will blog next week..

2005-07-15T22:45:00.000-04:00

Blinkies that describe me...

2005-07-15T21:23:00.000-04:00

Another Shrimp on the Barbie...

I am home relatively early from work. So what is a girl to do? Have a Foster's of course! (that's Australian for beer, you know) I have decided to travel the world this summer by alcohol. Last week it was a trip to the Rhineland with some Heineken's. Perhaps next week off to Ireland with some Killian's Irish Red. (Killian's link did not work for me) Or maybe south of the border to Mexico for some Dos XX's!

I am starting to feel the pressure of the wedding. I don't have everything done. My sister is e-mailing me saying "DO YOU HAVE THIS DONE YET? DO YOU HAVE THAT DONE YET? She means well but I am living on one nerve left. EVERYONE is starting to get on it and am getting snippy with the patients at work. Blahhhh.

Places I like...

Albino Blacksheep - Funny flash and games (some R and X-rated)
Hallmark Cards - I like their e-mail cards too
Beliefnet - What do YOU believe?

2005-07-12T23:10:00.000-04:00

I feel so pretty and girly!

Tonight I went to a Mary Kay party. I must admit I am not one that usually wears make-up. Given my hours as a resident, I would rather sleep another half hour than to get up and curl my hair and get gussied up for the heart attacks and strokes in the ER. But as some of you may remember, I have also complained that I am in a rut and hate my life outside of the ER as, well, basically I HAVE NO LIFE outside of work. So a friend invited me to her friend's house who is just starting to sell Mary Kay. There were a bunch of women all trying on make-up and eating veggie and fruit platters and "Better than Sex" cake. (the cake was okay, but it was NOT better than sex)

So I got me some cleanser and moisturizer and some foundation. Plus it was nice to get out of the house and do something fun as opposed to sitting at home and either studying OR feeling guilty that I was not studying.

Here are some more links to my bridal life...

Williams and Sonoma
Crate and Barrell

Here are some of my favorite purses. You know you want to go buy me one.

Coach
Kate Spade
Dooney & Bourke

2005-07-04T15:18:00.000-04:00

Happy Fourth of July!

Here's to a Happy and Safe Fourth of July to all of you! Don't get your hand blown off by firecrackers. Don't get burned in fire trying to start the Bar-B-Q. Don't end up in the ER! Though I, thankfully, have the day off. I am not sure why, but the ER scheduling gods looked down upon me this year and smiled.

So how am I celebrating? With day old pizza and doing laundry. Oh, and ordering invitations for the big Fall shindig (wedding). I am ordering them from this place. My wedding colors are red and white/ivory so the invites are gonna be red.

I am done with the helicopter! I am so gladl that is over with. I still have to do one more month before I graduate, but that won't be until after the New Year.

Speaking of graduation, I am now a PGY-4!! PGY standing for Post-graduate Year. So I am in my 4th (AND FINAL) year after med school. I am a senior resident and will be finishing my residency in June 2006. After that I will be getting a job that pays a lot more money so I can then start paying off my med school loans....GROAN. But it is nice to think right now there is a light at the end of the tunnel for me.

As to marriage details, I found a place to get married. All this time, I had the reception site, but no church. I did not realize how much churches COST! I thought it was just a donation of a couple hundred dollars. But Noooooo! I cannot afford to have a Christian ceremony it seems, so I am getting married at the same place I am having the reception.

(begin rant) Now I must tell you that this really pisses me off. First off I was having a hard time even finding a church that would take me as they all wanted you to be a member first. Well look buddy, I am 5 hours away in another state, so NO, I am not a member. Next I did find a couple that were very nice and would accept non-members having their wedding there. But gee whiz what am I paying for? I totally understand the minister fee and to pay a custodian to open the place up and then turn off the lights and close it back up. But I am not using the fellowship hall, I am not using your organist, I am not having candles to drip all over the place. I just want to walk up the aisle, have the minister say a few words, then walk down the aisle. I cannot believe that every contract given to me by these churches started out with that marriage is a holy union and a sacred bond and all that, but oh yeah, by the way, you need to pay us $400+! The Christians are raking it in. (/rant)

I am so tired of going back and forth from being a slimy mollusk to a flippery fish. I just don't have that many links to share. So from now on though, each time I post, I am gonna include 2 links per post. So you may find links in my posts that have nothing to do with my rants. Or they will be links to places you may think, "Billie, no one cares that this is a link to your medical school" Or "Billie, why do we care this is where you shop for purses". But you are gonna get some links and you are gonna like it! :)

So here are some links to my wedding registry. Feel free to let me know if you think there is anything else a blushing bride (at the age of 40) may need to start her household, so I can add more stuff.

Kohl's
Target
Pier 1

2005-06-20T07:54:00.000-04:00

Blah, Blah, Blah...

Every 3 months, the ER residents are supposed to meet with our boss (the residency director) to go over our logs (we are supposed to keep a log of every patient we see or procedure we do), grades, any issues, yada, yada, yada.

I have not meet with my boss ALL YEAR! Today is my year end review. This will be the first time I have meet with him all year, let alone I have not turned in any of my logs until today. Plus I am sure some of my grades will be missing as not all the docs have turned in grades for me yet. Part of it is my fault as I never made time to meet with him. But I am not taking all the blame as every time he had a quarterly review, I was out of house (meaning that I was on a rotation at another hospital, not at my hospital) so it was very hard to get back for the meeting.

I just hope he will not be mad at me. I must admit I am not in a good mood and just don't want to hear any complaints. He has every right to complain to me, but I just don't wanna hear it now.

Tomorrow I will be meeting with 3 churches, to see if one of them will take me on for my "gettin' hitched" party this November. I have one that is out in the forefront. It is pretty and they have been very nice to my sister when she has called to set up interviews and the like. Some of the places have been downright rude to her! HEY PEOPLE! YOU ARE A CHURCH! REMEMBER? BEING CHRISTIAN AND ALL THAT?

2005-06-16T05:46:00.000-04:00

True friends sell their kidneys for you...

I am just overwhelmed, and a little verklempt, at the response for my call for cash. So many of you are willing to sell body parts for me. It just really makes me proud to live in such a great country! :)

Seriously, thanks for the responses. My fun new news is my wedding dress came in! I had a dinner to go to at 6pm and my dress was in Youngstown, Ohio, an hour away. But I couldn't wait. So I went and picked up my dress and showed up at the dinner 2 hours late (luckily nothing had happened yet, just drinking that I had to catch up on!). So though I have linked to it in the past, I just couldn't resist one more viewing! Go imagine Billie in this dress!

I have joined Rachel's forum. That should be a blast! I keep missing out on Genuine's monthly bash. I gotta go sometime soon! I want one of his cool buttons. Since I seem stuck in my miserable existence as a resident (but only one more year!!), I want to join something. Join a gym, join a book club, join a knitting group (maybe they could teach me how to make more than a scarf), join SOMETHING! I gotta get out of this rut! And since I am online most of my free time, there must be some sort of groups I can join here. Any suggestions, here or in real-life?

2005-06-08T15:01:00.000-04:00

Just an update...

You would not believe how poor finances-wise I am and how behind I am in getting things done. I need to get off my butt. Maybe I should put a PayPal link on this website, "DONATE TO THIS WEBSITE! SUPPORT MY WEDDING!" haha

2005-06-06T19:54:00.000-04:00

How do I meme? Let me count the ways...

I don't normally do these. But I found this one at various people's pages so I thought I would try it as I was curious as to what I would come up with in my music files.

You put your music files in alphabetical order and then list the first song for each letter. Here's mine from iTunes...

A - A day without rain - Enya
B - Barcarolle - Charlotte Church
C - Can't get you out of my head - Kylie Minogue (don't ask)
D - Da Da Da (I don't love you, you don't love me) - Trio (the VW beetle song a few years back
E - Ebudae - Enya
F - Fallen Embers - Enya
G - Get this party started - Pink
H - Hella Good - No Doubt
I - I drove all night - Celine Dion
J - Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring - J.S. Bach
K - Killer Queen - Queen
L - La Pastorella - Charlotte Church
M - Mambo #5 - Lou Bega
N - Na Laetha Geal Moige - Enya
O - O Mio Babbino Caro - Charlotte Church
P - Pax Deorum - Enya
Q - I HAVE NO Q!!!
R - Remember - Josh Groban (from the movie 'Troy')
S - She Bop - Cyndi Lauper
T - Take a chance on me - Abba
U - Under Pressure - David Bowie and Freddie Mercury/Queen
V - I HAVE NO V!!
W - Watermark - Enya
X - I HAVE NO X!!!
Y - You're my best friend - Queen
Z - I HAVE NO Z!!!

Wow I have a lot of Enya and Charlotte Church! Enya should make a new album called "Learning the alphabet with Enya". Here are some other songs in my list for those letters above that are either Enya or Charlotte Church.

A - A little respect - Erasure
B - Beautiful People - Marilyn Manson
E - Enter Sandman - Motorhead (What the Cleveland Indians play when they take the field)
F - Fanfare for the common man - Aaron Copeland
L - La Regouissance/Music for the Royal Fireworks - Handel
N - No More I love yous - Annie Lennox
O - Our House - Crosby, Stills & Nash
P - Personal Jesus - Depeche Mode
W - Wedding Day at Troldhaugen - Edvard Grieg

2005-06-06T17:26:00.000-04:00

This Month

This month I am one of the docs on Life Flight. I have done one shift so far. There are different kinds of calls you can get. One is to go to a hospital and pick up the patient and take them to another hospital. That is about 75% of what they do (so I am told). The other kind of transfer is called a scene run. This is where say someone has a car accident and they are out in the middle of nowhere. The ambulance crews may decide that it is just too far to the hospital by ground, so call the helicopter to transport the patient. So the helicopter will go out and land on the highway or a parking lot or a field. I was told that this only occurs 25% of the time.

Well I went on 4 trips yesterday. THEY WERE ALL SCENE RUNS! I was exhausted by the end of the day. And yes we landed in parking lots and in fields and next to barns and all that. One was for a little 5 year old boy that got a fish hook stuck in his eye. Well that was what we were told. As it turns out, it was probably only in his eyelid. He was pretty calm. I would be nuts if was my eyeball. The next was a guy that fell off a horse and was unconscious. By the time we got there he was awake and denying that he fell off a horse. He was alert, yet a little confused. So he got transferred. (this was when we landed in the parking lot, next to the Northfield racing track).

Next was a bad run. We got called out to the middle of nowhere and all we knew going in was a guy with a GSW (gunshot wound) the the abdomen. We expected it to be bloody and that we would need to get him loaded up and transported quickly. But when we got there (landing in the grassy field) there were two ambulances there and police there. I thought we would go to the ambulance and pick him up. Passed one ambulance, passed two ambulances...we keep walking into a barn. My partner, the critical care nurse who has 3 years of experience told me later that when we passed the two ambulances and everyone kept waving us to the barn, he got a bad feeling about it and thought "oh shit". I am still too new at this and just thought "why are we going into a barn?" Once we got there, there was a mass of EMS and police. They parted to let us get to the patient and I looked down, there was one of the EMS guys trying to intubate (stick a tube down the patient's throat) the patient. I could see no wound on his belly (at first) and another EMS guy said "we can't get a pulse". The patient had been down aprox 15 mintues before EMS got there, and they had been working him another 15 mintues before we got there. So I intubate this guy ON THE FLOOR OF THE BARN. I am used to being in an ER with lights and suction and all kinds of stuff at my disposal. We give him meds to try and get his heart back. We do CPR. He gets 4 liters of fluids. During all this I finally see a small wound in the middle of his lower abdomen. Also during this I start taking in other stuff...there are little cards with numbers on the floor. (I later learn they were put there by police as markers for evidence) I thought of Brent as I start hearing other stories while we are there. Patient and wife had an argument...she finds him later in the barn...we had heard it was a suicide attempt, but there are more than one rifle shell on ground (hence the little cards), the wound is very low on body, would have been very hard for him to use a rifle on himself at that angle.

I don't know what really happened. But the bottom line of this horrible story is that he never made it back. We worked him another 20 mintues and never got a pulse or breathing back. I had to call this and pronounce him dead. It was a miserable experience and I feel terrible. On one hand I don't know anything else I could have done differently to save him. On the other hand, I still feel like there must have been something I could have tried. I cannot wait to see the coroner's report as I want to know what really happened. The guys had told me that the casings looked like a 22 long or a 22 magnum. I don't know what that means (Brent, can you tell me?) but the entrance wound was so small. Unless those bullets do a lot of damage on the inside, I just don't see how such a small wound could have killed him. The only thing we can think of is that it did do massive damage on the inside, rupturing an artery or something, and he bleed out in his belly, just no bleeding on the outside.

Our last run was for a motorcycle crash. Again landing in a grassy field. But the patient was totally stable smiling and laughing. We took her to the hospital and they could find no injuries and probably released her the same day.

All in all it was a rough first day. Trial by fire I guess. I thought I would enjoy this month. But not if they are all like this first day!

2005-06-06T17:08:00.000-04:00

Last month

I will try and tell here some stories about last month. I must admit it was such a horrible experience that I am trying to repress all the memory of it.

We had one woman come in with her throat sliced from ear to ear. Deep enough that it cut through her trachea (windpipe). She was still talking when she came into the trauma bay, though she was very hoarse. She was intubated to protect her airway (a tube put down her throat) then sent straight to surgery. She did very well as they repaired everything and she went home a few days later. But when she first came in, we were examining her cut and it just kept opening up and going deeper and deeper. Like I was looking down a bottomless well. I had never seen anything like it.

We had several people come in with broken necks. Some of them were little old ladies that just fell down maybe 3-4 stairs, and one lady fell from a standing position! The one that fell down the stairs was completely paralyzed. She was connected to a ventilator for awhile (machine that was breathing for her), but eventually family decided to make her a DNR (do not resusitate). The other one (fell from standing) should do okay. It is a small fracture that should be easily repaired. But I was amazed how much could happen to you with just a very minor fall.

Lots of drunks. I cannot believe the trouble one can get into with just alcohol. These weren't drunk drivers. Some of them were just drunk and fell down. Well hell I have been drunk before, but I never got taken to an emergency room before. Doesn't anybody believe in just sleeping it off anymore?

Lots of motorcycle crashes. Ohio is one of the lovely states that do not have helmet laws. I am just flabbergasted at that. My home state of West Virginia does have helmet laws. I am not going to get into any arguements about helmet laws vs freedom to ride how you want to. I just know that when you crash into a wall going 90 with no helmet...there is not much left. One patient had every bone in his face broken. He has a bleed in his brain. Neurosurgery had to take him to the operating room to take out part of his skull so that his swollen brain had room to expand. It is too early to say, but he will probably be a vegetable for the rest of his life now.

I was amazed at the stupidity of the human race overall. Last month left me with a lot of anger and bitterness. I should have become an animal doctor.

2005-06-01T17:19:00.000-04:00

It's OVER!

I'm done, I'm done! I am done with that hideous hell-hole month at Metro Hospital. That was THE worst month of my medical education so far. I will blog more soon about all my experiences.

This month I will be one of the flight physicians on a helicopter. Lifeflight is the name of the medical helicopter team. I am very excited to be part of their team for this month. Later, I might be able to pick up some moonlighting shifts with them as well. I will have to tell you all my helicopter stories as well. I hope to get some pictures of me beside the copter too. I am such a nerd!

2005-05-30T16:37:00.000-04:00

Where have I been?

I am still in that month of hell known as trauma. I am on my next to last shift, with Tuesday night being my last shift. I have seen some really gory stuff. And some really depressing stuff too. I will have to blog about it when I get a chance.

I have been checking in with everyone and reading their blogs when I can. But I miss y'all very much. I can't wait til I get back on to a regular blog schedule. See ya real soon!

2005-05-14T08:14:00.000-04:00

New Job for the hunny...

Some of you may know my fiance is a baseball coach. He has been coaching at WVU Tech for the past few years. They were a great, hardworking team. He loved those guys! But the administration was not the greatest to work with. Plus he was getting paid SQUAT! So he has made the move! Logan Senior High School was the school we both graduated from, not to mention he has coached there before and helped them win the state championships a couple of times in a row. They have been ranked in the top 25 high school teams in the nation. So he is happy to be back to a very well-run and successful program.

He will also be asst football coach while there. Which means more money as well! So I am happy too as we are still trying to pay for the wedding and honeymoon and save up for a place once we are together!

2005-05-11T09:17:00.000-04:00

Brent's Back!!

A few months ago, Brent from CopTalk signed off from blogging, much to my chagrin. But today I found him again! He is now Law & Disorder. Go say hello and welcome him back!

As for me, I am miserable in my current rotation of Trauma. You would NOT believe how much trouble alcohol causes. I mean we all hear "don't drink and drive", but sheesh. Even if you are not driving, apparently alcohol causes you also to get hit in the head while you are "minding your own business" at a bar. Also, if you are out jogging, and trip and fall on your wrist and it hurts...well that is not a trauma okay? So don't come in and tell me it is. ESPECIALLY when it isn't broke! Take some Tylenol, 'k?

2005-05-06T02:19:00.000-04:00

Update

Nothing new, just thought I would update on the wedding countdown. I was feeling pretty good about it as far as time frame and what I had done. Now I am starting to panic again! I gotta lot still to do! EEK!

2005-05-03T20:34:00.000-04:00

Rough month!

This month I am on trauma. It is at the big county hospital called Metro. It is like the show ER in that it is very big and very crazy. I am on the "trauma team" which means that any time someone comes into the ER, and if it is deemed a "trauma", then our team is called and we have to respond. Trauma could be a car accident, falling off a ladder, building or something, gun shot wounds, stab wounds, etc etc. Sometimes the calls are nothing, meaning we get there and there is hardly any injury. Other times the patient goes straight to the operating room. I get 4 days off this month...sigh. So I am not going to get to blog this month much. I will try and keep up with all of you though. See you in June!

Other news...I have a wedding planner! I hadn't intended to get one, but I am finding that it is well worth the money! I feel like I have a boulder lifted off my shoulders.

2005-04-23T11:03:00.000-04:00

New Kids

Well, they are new kids that I have just found. I have added 3 to my blog list of people I check. First is the new four-legged family member of Amanda's. Lil' Red is the new dog at the Mishap house. Go read about her hijinks!

Next is a fellow medical person. He has great stories of his experiences. Go read The Anonymous Clerk.

Next I have found a fellow hillbilly, that also now lives in Ohio, just as I do. Though he made an excursion to NYC along the way, while my excursion was to New England. Go visit Sir.

2005-04-21T15:00:00.000-04:00

Where's the rainbow and that damn Leprechaun?

As a resident, I have to sign a work contract every year. Saying the hospital agrees to provide me an education and I agree to be their slave...HAHA just kidding.

Today I got my contract in the mail for 2005-2006. Every year we get a little bit of a raise as we move up in experience. Not cost of living stuff, just that I got more money this year as a second year resident than I did last year as a first year resident and so on and so on.

WELL! This coming year (starting in July) I will be getting a SUBSTANTIAL raise. I was quite shocked at how much and am kinda still wondering where they are coming up with that money. But no matter! This will help out quite a bit with wedding costs and then after the wedding, helping to set up our first place (I wasn't sure how we were gonna come up with first and last month's rent and all that). We won't be living together until June 2006. But I am hoping either this fall or early next year, we can go ahead and get an apartment. He can go ahead and be living there, while I will have a place already to move my stuff too once I am done with my residency. Yet that means I will have to support two separate apartments and that will be hard. But this money will help out quite a bit!

2005-04-19T16:14:00.000-04:00

Evolution ROCKS!

For months now, I have been too lazy to keep up with regular blog postings. Hence I was stuck as a slimy mollusc. But finally I have moved up to a flippery fish! I cannot wait to be a flappy bird.

I am gonna go address more "Save the date" cards. See y'all in a bit.

2005-04-17T08:47:00.000-04:00

How many days until this rotation is OVER?!

I am back from vacation! Had a fabulous time with fiance and met with caterers for wedding. More about that later.

But first, let me just say that the rotation I am currently on SUCKS! I am doing OB/Gyn at another hospital. Some of my fellow residents that had already done this rotation told me how laid back everyone was here, how they did not have to take call, how they got out early almost every day, etc etc etc. Sounded great, especially since next month I will be doing trauma, where I will get off 4 days the whole month!! So I thought a nice rotation, learn about "birthin babies", and nice that I can finally use my vacation days. (we are not supposed to use them during internal medicine months or ER months)

So I get here to this hospital the first day. I get an orientation from medical education, one of the things they tell me is that I will NOT have to take call. WELL! Things have certainly changed. When I got here and met the OB residents, they are NOT laid back (well except the one guy - he is great) and in fact are quite snooty and over-bearing. They were appalled that I had planned to take vacation time, and did everything BUT say I could not take it. I complained to MY medical education dept and told them this was the LAST month I could take vacation and that I WILL take my days, unless I could hold them over until next year (starts July) or get the money - meaning get a check for any days that I did not get to take. Both of those were a big fat NO.

The way we do it at my hospital, is that we count business days (M-F) as vacation days. We get 10 days a year. So we count that as 2 weeks (M-F then a weekend, then another M-F). I did not get to do that here, as I am having to count Sat and Sun as a vacation day.

Another thing, once I met the residents, they told me I had to take "call" (where you sleep at the hospital). I had already been told by everyone, including the medical education dept at THIS hospital that I did not. Well, no problem. I mean if they are short this month, I will try and help out. But if this is the case though, what they need to do is send the call schedule a month ahead of time and let people know that when you get here, you will have to take call. And you can request days at that time, instead of waiting until I show up and tell me then! So I tell them I am taking vacation one week and a few days at the end of the month. But I can be available this week (the week they told me they were short) to help out. It means splitting up MY vacation, but I am doing this to HELP THEM. But I get here this morning and found out from the med student that they were trying to get hold of me yesterday...um well I was still on my VACATION 'k? The one I told you about and that you marked on your calender a week before I left, k?

Let me talk about my vacation before I blow a total gasket. As I do have more to vent about. But I had a great time at home. Went to some baseball games of my fiance's. They won 20-6! Went to the WV Power game, a new francise of minor league baseball in Charleston, WV. We have had minor league baseball in WV for at least 95 years, but this is the newest franchise in a brand new stadium too. It was great fun. The Power is affiliated with the Milwuakee Brewers.

Also met with the caterer for my wedding. I am feeling much relieved as they will do everything! Napkins, table linens, flatware, plates, glasses, clean-up, wait staff, etc. Such a headache relieved! And even started hammering out a menu. Though as I have mentioned here before, it will be mostly just hors d' ouvers, with a champagne toast and some wine, beer, soft drinks, coffee and water. No sit down dinner for me as I have no money!

2005-04-11T10:32:00.000-04:00

GOT THE DRESS!

I went to the opening of the new Alfred Angelo store. It was an hour's drive (actually over an hour as I got lost in the happenin' town of Youngstown, Ohio) from me, but totally worth it. I was the only one in the store at first, so I had 3 people waiting on me hand and foot. I tried on the dress that I wanted and I just LOVED it. Plus they were getting me headpieces and shoes and veils and stuff to try. I got $100 off my dress and a free headpiece (which I am not sure I will use - but it was FREE) and 15% off the other stuff (special bra as the back on the dress is low) and one of those fancy slips underneath that makes the dress "poufy". I don't know if this will work but here is a link to my dress. I won't get it in until June, and then it will have to be altered. But I am very happy and pleased with it!

I am now going on vacation for a week. I may try to blog while I am away, if I can use the fiance's computer. But I may have to wait until I am back. Talk to y'all later!

2005-03-31T11:28:00.000-05:00

Finally back!

I haven't been able to post as I guess blogger was down. I wasn't sure what was up, but after a couple of tries, I gave up. I am hoping to maybe get Rachel to host me and maybe I will have a real blog then! Blogspot can be very frustratin!

I was sick last weekend with a hideous cough and fever. I probably should have went in for a chest x-ray as I was short of breath too. I have never been short of breath and I don't smoke, so something was up. But I am getting better now.

This weekend I am heading to a grand opening of a new bridal store. They are gonna take $100 off their dresses, so I am hoping to get my dress this weekend! Wish me luck!

2005-03-23T05:32:00.000-05:00

New Wedding Website

I have a wedding website I created to try and keep family and friends updated on what was going on with my year and a half engagement. But it is put together with chewing gum and sticks. I don't have much time to work on it (nor am I any good with HTML or flash). So I went to one of those wedding websites and put together this. I am really pleased with it. I am sending out "save the date" cards, and am gonna put a link to the site, to help everyone keep up to date. It is difficult as I am in one state, my fiance is in another state, some of the bridal party is in a third state. Most of my wedding is being planned on the Internet and by e-mail!

2005-03-19T15:09:00.000-05:00

Am I OLD yet?

When I was little, I had two "Great Aunt's" that I remember. Great as in the term, they were my mom's aunt as well, not Great as in super cool! But I did like them. Yet as a little kid, these women seemed "old" in my eyes.

Well I am now officialy OLD. If I had any doubt, it has been nixed. But happily! My niece, Ellen had her son around noon March 18!! I don't have any pics yet but please welcome Karl Braun (his dad is German - Braun is the middle name) to the world, at 9 lbs!! My niece is tall and thin - model like. Where did she fit that kid! I can't wait to see him!

You've seen my wedding tracker. Here's another. As for me and pregnancy and when I am gonna start trying...

2005-03-18T16:25:00.000-05:00

Married life here I come!

I am sending in the deposit today for the reception site for my wedding in November. It is a great place with lots of "ambiance". I am not going to have a formal sit-down dinner (as I cannot afford that) but it will be more casual with hors d' ouvers (how do you spell that?) and wine and champagne and the like. The fiance and his college buddies want to bring in a keg of beer, though I am not sure if that will be possible, though I have no problem with that if that is what they want. Meaning of course they can PAY for it too. :)

I still do not have a church, yet as many in the city that I am getting married in require you to be a member of that church to get married in it. Well, DUH, I am 5 hours away in another state so NO, I am not a member! Plus I don't really care what denomination it is as long as it is a "pretty" church. At this point I will get married in a Wiccan Hand-fasting ceremoney as long as they have a pretty site!

I have in mind what dress I want as well. I will be going to David's Bridal as soon as I can to try and find it, or as close to the style as I can get. This is the style that I am thinking of. Long simple sheth with a lace "coat" over it. I think it is simple but elegant, suitable for an almost 41 year old woman! :) I didn't want a big poufy gown that would be "too young" for me.

Any ideas for my "colors" for a November wedding?

2005-03-15T21:55:00.000-05:00

Fun at work, Groovy drugs at home

My title is sarcastic as I have one story to tell about the "fun" I have at work sometimes. I got to tell a mom and dad that their 26 year old child had died. I also got to tell them that crack rocks were found hidden all over him. They had no idea. This was near the end of my shift. What a fun way to end the evening, huh.

But as for me, I finally have the official diagnosis of Rheumatoid Arthritis. For over 2 years I had sort of "self-diagnosed" myself based on my symptoms and lab results. I had only been on Prednisone (steroids) to stop the pain and inflammation. It worked, but I have also gained 30 pounds. And I have a wedding in 7 months. I told my sister (and yesterday my new doctor) that I wanted off the steroids so I could lose weight. I WILL look good in that dress, even if I have to be pushed down the aisle in a wheelchair cause I can't walk. I WILL look good!

Plus as of last summer I had begun to have a pinkish coloration to my cheeks. Even one of the docs in my ER came up to me and said "Do you have Lupus?" So I had been toying around with that diagnosis too. But my new rheumatologist is going with RA and I am now on Methotrexate and Plaquenil. He said we are gonna stay on the steroids just a month more to get the inflammation under control, but them I can start weaning myself off. And THEN I can start losing weight (I hope!). Wish me luck! :)

2005-03-10T17:20:00.000-05:00

Dig my new iPod!

My iPod Shuffle came in today. It is fabulous! It is tiny and only holds about 120 songs, but I love it. It is just the size for me. I have been wearing it around the house. Putting on your house shoes takes on a whole new dimension when you put them on while Carmina Burana's O Fortuna is playing in your ear.

On to other notes, my anger still has not debated against those who would try and hurt my loved ones. Yet I have no recourse against them. Except to vent here. So thanks for listening y'all :)

2005-03-08T21:01:00.000-05:00

Your Day's Coming BITCH!

I love Rachel's site. She is honest, tell's it like it is and holds nothing back. I love that about her and it is one of the few sites that I make sure I read daily! I wish I was more like her.

I can't really go into details here - yet, but suffice to say that there are men out there that totally let their wives run their lives, even letting the wife dictate to their husbands regarding their work. Even if the wife knows nothing about the skills or anything about the job!

So to you, you two-bit whore, let me just say that your day is coming. It is way past time for you to get the ass kickin' you deserve. Do you really believe all the lies you tell? Or is it nothing to you to go around and attempt to destroy reputations? Believe me, everyone sees thru your pious little fat face as to what a true c**t you are. How dare you go around and parade the "I'm a Christian" all the while you are scheming and conniving and playing your husband for the fool. You little shit. You know what, I take that back, not everyone believe you to be the fat fuck that you are, your husband is totally taken in by your lies. But then again he also deposits his balls in your purse, so what can I expect from him.

You are so stupid you don't even realize it. You have at hand a chance to really do something, to really help some people that need it, yet so you can get your pussy off on power, you are ready to stop at nothing to ruin it all! It will take years for any good to come back to this program! Yet once word is out that you are the destroyer of all that is good, no one will come there. Would that make your little evil black heart happy? To have your husband preside over the worst group around? Oh, guess what, he already was! Things changed for the better in one year thanks to someone who was willing to put in 18 hour days and cut thru the red tape and jump thru hoops and had the heart to see things thru. Someone who truly loved what they did and was a professional...ahhh yeah you don't even know what that word means do ya bitch - there has been no one around ever that was a professional until last year. So guess who was at the ER until 3am when one of the kids got sick? It sure as hell wasn't your husband. Who makes sure they get all the stuff they need and deserve? It sure wasn't your big winner was it.

You are the lowest piece of shit I have ever met. Thank god I will never ever have to be around the pure evil that comes out of your mouth again! The only regret I have is that I will not get the chance to kick the living, mother-fucking shit out of you, you whore.

2005-03-08T16:42:00.000-05:00

Oh Summer, where art thou?

It is snowing again in Cleveland. Sigh....

I am off today. Woke up to some of the worst arthritis pain I have ever had. I kinda looked like a Planet of the Apes reject as one arm just sorta hangs from my body as it is too painful to move. I am kinda slumped over and I have this incredible limp. While I was walking across the parking lot to the Office Max to spend money I don't have on junk I don't need, I thought to myself, "I walk like a gorilla". I have an appt with a new Rheumatologist in a week. My old one moved out of state!

So today I have also been surfing blogs and the 'Net and iTunes. I downloaded Motorhead's "Enter the Sandman" as it is the music played on the loudspeaker's at Jacob's Field when the Indians take to the field.

This past weekend I got to watch my fiance's team, the Golden Bears play. If you didn't know from before, fiance is a baseball coach for a Division II school. Watching them made me start missing summer and baseball! I have opening day tickets to the Indians and the White Sox on April 11.

Here is the latest on this...

2005-02-25T14:30:00.000-05:00

Everyone's doin' it!

I got this from Bryan over at Resist and as he said, "everyone's doin' it". These are the states that I have visited.

create your own visited states map
or check out these Google Hacks.

2005-02-24T13:23:00.000-05:00

Guilty Pleasures

Because of this guy I had to go to iTunes and download the song.

2005-02-23T01:19:00.000-05:00

BIG MISTAKE!

What have we learned today kiddies? If you are working in the ER, and your shift ends at 1am, and it is currently 12:35am, DO NOT PICK UP A NEW CHART! Especially if the chart is an abdominal pain that is now going to get a CT (CAT scan) that will include oral and IV contrast. Because that will take 3 HOURS FOR THE RESULTS TO COME BACK!!! And what will I be doing? Sitting on my ass for the next 3 hours! Sheesh I hate this place.

Not to mention that I have to be at an all day lecture tomorrow (today) at 9am. I am miserable just thinking about it. Plus, I have some other vents to talk about when I have more time and am not so sleepy. This has been an "interesting" month at this different ER. But when I mean interesting, interpret that to mean "learning to hate patient's".

I need coffee. No, drugs.

2005-02-19T18:35:00.000-05:00

I am now TRAUMA QUEEN!!

The past two days I have been at Metro Hospital, the big county hospital here in Cleveland. It is like county hospital on the show ER, big and busy. I was taking ATLS, the Advanced Trauma Life Support class. I was totally stressed out about it, but I PASSED! So if any of you were involved in high speed motor vehicle crashes, or falls from 10 feet or more, I'm your woman! haha

Now to eat some Donato's pizza and nap!!

2005-02-17T23:50:00.000-05:00

From Amanda's Site

Brrrrrr!

I stole the snow plow picture from Amanda's site. I always loved it when she put it up, even once giving us a "voice announcement"! Well there is a hideous storm on now here in Cleveland, dumping several inches in just an hour or two. I was out driving in it! And I will have to get out in it tomorrow around 5-5:30am!!! So the snow plows BETTER be out. My weather bug says it is 14 degrees!

Actually on my way home tonight, I passed some plows that looked just like the picture. There were about 5-6 of them, staggered like that so they could plow a bit of the road, while the other came along behind him and plowed some more.

Tomorrow I take that hideous ATLS course. Have I studied? NO! I am gonna be up a few hours tonight to cram, and a few hours tomorrow night as well.

I saw one of these over on Gennie's site. I loved it and had to have one of my own. So here is mine!

2005-02-09T17:03:00.000-05:00

Why am I such a procrastinator??

It is 5pm. I have spent all day either sleeping (did not get up until 11am), then playing Diablo II, then eating at Mickey D's for a healthy dinner. I have a big presentation due in 2 weeks. Have a started on it? Nooooooo. Plus next weekend I have a big test to take. Have I studied? Noooooo. I am in a rut.

Yet here is some fun I found on Amanda's website. I usually don't do these, but this one got me thinking as to what I was doing the past several years.

15 years ago today I would have been...
- Living in Connecticut
- Employed at a Marketing firm as a secretary
- Living in an apartment with carpeting from the 70's in geometric browns
- Enjoying my hobbies of sailing and scuba-diving

10 years ago today I would have been...
- Employed as a database manager for WV Society of CPA's
- Living in a studio apartment in South Charleston, WV, where my living room and bedroom were the same room
- Working full-time as I took classes at night (such as Organic Chemistry and Physics) in my quest to apply to medical school

5 years ago today I would have been...
- In my second year of medical school, getting ready to start rotations in the summer
- Still mourning the death of both of my parents aprox 2 years before
- Living in an apartment with a contraband black kitten (I wasn't supposed to have pets)

1 year ago today I would have been...
- Anticipating when my boyfriend was going to pop the question as he had already bought the ring
- Doing a rotation in cardiology as a first year Emergency Medicine resident
- Living in an apartment with the black kitten (now adult dominatrix cat) and a fat white boy kitty

This year I am...
- Procrastinating on my wedding plans (though I think I have found the perfect reception spot)
- Procrastinating on my work as usual (with lectures and readings)
- Working at a hellish ER (not mine, at another hospital) and preparing for an ATLS (Advanced Trauma Life Support) class

Yesterday I...
- Worked at the hellish ER
- Came home last night to enjoy 2 days off

Today I...
- Slept until 11am
- Played Diablo II
- Ate some wholesome Mickey D's food for dinner

Tomorrow I will...
- Attend my Thurdsay morning lectures
- Finish my presentation and take it to the doc that is supposed to give the lecture
- Do laundry and study for ATLS

And one that wasn't on the original, but I wanted to add...

Next year I will...
- Use my fiance (then husband) as a stud in our attempts to get pregnant
- Preparing to pack up and move as I will be in my last 5 months as a resident, where I will then graduate
- Hopefully will already have a job lined up for after graduation!

2005-02-09T13:33:00.000-05:00

Coptalk is no more

In previous posts I may have mentioned Brent over at Coptalk. I teased that he caused me a lot of peer pressure as last fall, I started posting my WVU Football scores because he was posting Iowa scores. Then he added a clock to his website so I had to add THE DOG clock.

But today I just found out that he is closing his blog. I am very saddened to hear this as he was someone I always looked forward to reading. I will miss Brent and his blog. Go say goodbye.

2005-02-02T21:04:00.000-05:00

New month, new ER

Well since it is Feb, I will be in a different ER this month. I have never been to St Joseph in Warren, Ohio before (I'll find the link next time). Tomorrow (Thursday) will be my first day. And what better time to start my new day than with vomiting and diarrhea. Actually I should correct that to nausea and diarrhea as I haven't actually thrown up. But I am miserable and dehydrated. I feel very weak and have no energy. Yet I must put on a bright shiny face and look happy and healthy! :D Wish me luck.

2005-01-29T08:21:00.000-05:00

Tranquil Night

Last night I was on the overnight shift at my ER. It was a good night for a Friday night. Nothing major and it was quiet after 4am. I am hoping for another good night, but tonight is Saturday and I figure it will be a fun time in the big city. Yet why? It is freakin 1 degree out at night! What the heck are people doing out, getting into trouble in this freezing cold?

Plus last night and tonight I had/have to work with my boss. Every attending is kinda like my boss. But this is the big boss, the head of the residency. He is a great guy, but even after 2.5 years here, he still intimidates the hell out of me. I guess it is because I admire him so much and want to make him proud, that I am always afraid I will screw up and look stoopid. And usually the stress of that worry does make me do something ridiculous. But I always learn from him.

Sunday night I have to work with a guy I absolutely cannot stand. More about that later, as right now I just want to get some sleep before I have to get up and go back to the hell hole :)

2005-01-26T21:13:00.000-05:00

I HATE THIS PLACE!!

Work sucks! I am back at my home ER. Last night I was to leave at 11pm. Did I? Nooo. Did I leave at 12? Noooo. Did I leave at 1am? Noooo. "But Billie", you ask, "Don't tell me you left at 2am, 3 hours past your shift?" YES! You are correct! And why did that happen? Because the #*)%!@ attending wouldn't let me. Usually when it is time for your shift to end, you "check out" to the next resident. This means that any patients you still have, you tell the on-coming resident to watch them, so you can go home. Say I am still waiting on a CAT scan report to come back, I tell the next resident "hey watch for this report from the radiologist. If it is okay the patient can go home" That kind of thing. But last night when the attending came on...first he told me to continue seeing patients even though it was past my time to go (which at first I didn't mind as I knew they were very busy). But then once I started the work up, told me that I had to disposition (see them to the end) all my patients as they were just too busy for me to pass them off. WTF?

Not only that, he told the previous attending (the one getting ready to leave his shift) to stay and finish up HIS patients as it was just too busy for attending #2 to come on and take from him. It is one thing to dump on the lowly residents, but to dump on your collegue? You do not last long with that attitude.

Needless to say I am NOT liking this dude. Yet I have to work with him for 9 hours Sunday night when I do my overnight shift. It will be just me and him taking care of the whole ER. God I hope it is not busy as he will be absolute hell to work with. He is also known to belittle you and insult you as you work. Fun, fun all around.

2005-01-11T13:07:00.000-05:00

What's wrong with me?

I just am not enjoying posting or blogging. Used to be I couldn't wait to get home or even at work, and make a post about something of the day. Now...eh. And since my posts are so few and far between, I know my friends are LEAVING ME! WAHHHH! I don't know what my problem is. Bored to tears or stressed out? Both?

But to catch up briefly, last month in December I was in the ER at another hospital. This month Jan, I am at my home hospital, back in the ER. After several good lumbar punctures (spinal taps) I couldn't get one and had to get the attending in to do it. Though even he had quite the problem getting in, so I don't feel too bad. But still...sigh.

Fiance Greg has started his "crazy season" as he calls it. He has started practicing his team for the upcoming baseball season. He was not happy to come back from Christmas break to find a few were made ineligible by either grades or not having enough hours (this is college baseball). One good player quit to pursue acting. Day one and fiance Greg is already stressed out. This will be a fun season.

And I have put my wedding plans off for so long. It is time to get crackin'! I gotta start makin' some decision and paying some deposits!

2004-12-27T18:35:00.000-05:00

What 'cha get?

I haven't posted in forever. Sorry. Just been spending all my time visiting with the fiance OR working OR veggin'. I have been reading everyone's blogs about their Christmas and their goodies. So what did I get? Greg got me a Dooney & Burke purse. I have been wanting one to go with my Coach and my Kate Spade ones. I just LOVE IT. He also got me a RED Kitchen Aid tea kettle, while his parents got me a RED Kitchen Aid toaster. As you may guess, I love Kitchen Aid, and I love it in RED.

Greg also got me this that will help me, arthritis girl!

What are you all doing for New Year's?

2004-12-13T03:15:00.000-05:00

Christmasy Weather Pixie!

Dig my weather pixie! She is all decorated up with her pretty Christmas tree! I swear that girl lives better than I do.

I am doing my last night at the hospital. Then I am off for two days. Tomorrow I take my car in for brake work. My brakes are shot! I hope this does not turn into a major expense. But I know it will probably be a least a few hundered dollars - sigh. Then tomorrow night I will be up all night working on a project that is due Tues morning. Then Tuesday off to WV to pick up the fiance! I cannot wait to see him! I miss him so.

2004-12-08T21:15:00.000-05:00

Down in the dumps...

I haven't blogged in forever. After Thanksgiving, just been in a rut. Fiance came up for Thanksgiving which was FABULOUS! But he brought up a virus, then gave it to me. We were both so sick. I even wonder now if I didn't have a touch of pneumonia. But I never went for a CXR (chest x-ray). Then went to Pittsburgh to watch a horrible football game. Watched Pitt beat up my Mounties. My Mounties let the whole game until the 4th when Pitt came out ahead. The Mounties are such underachievers. Earlier in the season, Greg (fiance) and I had planned on going to a bowl game, where ever the Mounties ended up. But after their pitiful performances the past few games, we have decided that it is just too much money to go to the Gator Bowl in Florida to see them lose to the Seminoles. But we will still be cheering them on, hoping for a win and watching on TV!

I am back in the ER this month. I am at the nice hospital, St John's Westshore. They have great food that is FREE for the residents, friendly attendings, good hours, there is just not enough good things I can say about them. This month so far has turned out to be "procedure month" for me as every day I am getting to do something cool. The first two days I was here, I got to reduce a dislocated shoulder each day. "Reduce" is fancy word to say I put it back in the socket. Third day I was there I got to do a spinal tap, my first that I got on my own. It was a "champagne" tap, meaning that I had no red blood cells in the fluid, which is a good thing. Fourth day I got to intubate. Today I am off, trying to turn myself around as I start a series of nights on Thursday night. I hope they will be a good as the past four days.

Hope all of you are well. I am sorry I haven't been around. I am trying to get myself out of my slump and back in the land of the blogging. :)

2004-11-24T03:18:00.000-05:00

Run Turkey Run!

I am on call at the hospital right now (3:20am Wednesday morn). I am so tired and sleepy. Plus the fiance is up visiting this week! It is fabulous having him around! But since I am on call, it sucks to be here and not be with him. Yet he also brought up some viral germs and has given me his cold as a present. So I am quite headachy with a sore throat. Fun fun.

He and I went to see National Treasure. Fabulous movie! I loved it. Next movie we will see will be Alexander.

Will be driving to Pittsburgh for the WVU vs Pitt game Thursday. So if I don't get a chance to blog before then, I hope all of you have a very Happy Thanksgiving with lots of good food and good times with friends and family! God bless!

2004-11-20T19:31:00.000-05:00

Bored to tears...

I haven't blogged in so long. Not much going on. Today (Saturday) I am on call at the hospital until Sunday morning. It has been busy, so I am hoping that it will slow down as the night wears on. Sigh...

But tomorrow I am driving to Wild Wonderful WV to go pick up the fiance and then bring him back up here for a week of fun! We are going to the Pitt vs WVU game Thursday. Though I still have to work and take call while he is up here, it will still be FABULOUS to have him around.

2004-11-15T21:20:00.000-05:00

DAMN EAGLE ATTACKED MY HEAD!

What is it with these birds? I mean I had some darn Hokie Turkey peck my eyes out when Virginia Tech beat WVU last month. Now this past weekend I had a Boston College Eagle nesting in my hair! Though we did get to beat up on a Temple Owl earlier this month.

Oh it was awful this past weekend. WVU played terribly! We lost to Boston College 36-17!! What a miserable time. And this was my 40th birthday!! THANKS FOR THE PRESENT WVU!

So who knows what bowl game we will end up in now. We may be heading to the TIRE BOWL now! :P

2004-11-11T13:19:00.000-05:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!

Actually my birthday isn't until Sunday the 14th, but I will be out of town this weekend (gotta go to that WVU game) so I wanted to post now. I am on call tonight at the hospital so this is my last chance to post until next week. Plus I am on call Monday night too, so a busy weekend all around.

It is the big 4-0 this weekend! Wish me well all of you bloggers out there in blog land!

Also, today is Veteran's Day. Though not a career military man, my father was in the Marines in WWII. I was and am quite proud of him and all our guys and gals in uniform. Be thankful for your freedom and thank a VET!