Sunday, January 21, 2007

Under the Weather

Both literally and figuratively (lucky, lucky me)! I'm back! Battered, broken, sick, and exhausted, but back at home and back in the blogging world. Did ya miss me? Nah. No matter how wonderful an idea of a tropical cruise in January may sound, don't succumb to the allure. My body and my immune system are seriously up in arms over my fluctuating climate. We went from temperatures in the 20s into the 80s and then back to the teens in a little more than a week. There is a full fledged revolt waging here, and it is not pretty. As badly as I am feeling, Mr. Whoo has it worse, and today is his birthday. Happy Birthday, honey!

It is also not a fabulous idea to plan 2 back-to-back vacations in the weeks prior to a loved one's (very important) birthday, especially for a procrastinator like me. I had already had a good idea of the present he was getting, but minor details like dinner and a cake and all of the rest was a little more tricky with only a few day lead time. It is actually a very good thing that I didn't have a huge shindig planned, because the both of us were rendered absolutely useless this weekend, by colds and work and the like. On top of that we got about 4 to 5 inches of snow today (yay!) It has been a very low key day, and we have really needed it. Right now, Mr. Whoo is tending the driveway and CindyLou is busy decorating and re-decorating her kid sized snowman.

I am trying to recuperate, not only from vacation, but from getting my butt kicked at work in the last 5 days. We arrived home late on Tuesday, after a long, long 6 hour flight delay, pee soaked jeans (CindyLou's, not mine!), the great toddler pant airport search of 2007 (which culminated in a set of oriental style pj pants, only 27 dollars, in which the seam ripped within the first hour of wear), and a blizzard for the drive home. Wednesday, I had 3 surgeries scheduled, but one cancelled at the last minute, and, for a fleeting moment, I believed that I was going to get to leave the hospital before noon. Unfortunately, a laboring patient thwarted those dream plans and I was at the hospital until about 10 pm. Thursday brought 56 clinic patients and a tearful breakdown (moi), and I arrived home at 7 pm. Early Friday morning, around 3:45 am, a term patient with a non-reassuring fetal strip brought me into the hospital. Thankfully, the baby scored well on a biophysical profile, and the patient went on to have a very nice delivery after a little augmentation. The baby was perfectly fine, it just had a really tight nuchal and body cord. Luckily, since I was worried about the strip, I cancelled clinic patients to keep an eye on the baby. (Well, I say lucky now, but talk to me next week after my 100th patient in one day.)

This weekend I am doing my vacation penance call for OtherDoc, which has earned me the privilege of denying several pain meds to seekers, and a 6 am delivery this morning. I arrived home just in time to "get up" with CindyLou so that the birthday boy could sleep in, do the dishes, put away the groceries, and whip up some chili. Since then, I have been catatonic on the couch, staring out at the snow, and trying to keep from throwing up. Awesome. Right now, I actually am starting to feel more human! On that note, CindyLou is back in from the snow and hungry, so duty calls! I've missed you guys, and can't wait to catch up on what is going on in the blogging world! Oh, and I will publish comment responses soon, promise.

6 comments:

JoeBlogs said...

100th patient in a day?! you deserve a cruise!

Jawndoejah said...

What a whirlwind time for you, but then again, isn't that your life?

I have news of my own (since I don't blog on my husband's defunct blog I use to post). I was selected as one of the "Midwest Voices" for the KCStar newspaper for 2007. This means I get to write 5 columns this year. One of my topics might be legalities of miscarriage such as informing patients of rights to remains after a D&C or D&E to treat miscarriage, or if the fetus or products of conception are held in the hospital for any length of time due to miscarriage. I believe my state has no regulations on this, and when I had my miscarriage, I was not thinking clearly. If I had been told I had an option, I would have asked for the remains to be treated differently than they were. I would hope for this not to be a burden on medical staff, just a small piece of paper with the options should do it. I know there is enough to do in a day, and long discussions should not be the norm.

Sorry you had illness, and had to come back with so much work. Here's hoping you get an easy few days...at least.

Ottoette said...

Glad to see you back - sorry it wasn't the vacation and homecoming one might have hoped. I would give a lot for a couple 80 degree days though - do you think I might stop sneezing?
If you think it's worthy of a post, I would value your thoughts on VBAC. So much of the info on the 'net is very very adament, one side or the other. From what I've seen, you have a fairly moderate view on things.

Fat Doctor said...

Missed you. Glad to see you're back to blogging!

Midwife with a Knife said...

Oh, that's tough. To come right back from vacation to getting your butt kicked! I hope you continue to get rest and feel better!

dr. whoo? said...

joeblogs~ Hi and HA! Nevermind me, I have tendency toward hyperbole. Luckily for me, the weather was pretty nasty this week, so it kept my clinic load down considerably.

jawndoejah~ Ah, yes, such is my life. Congratulations on your column, that sounds like a wonderful opportunity. I had this weekend off, did absolutely nothing, and feel like I could do absolutely nothing for at least the next whole week and be perfectly content. Go figure.

ottoette~ Glad to be back, kinda. ;) I'll try to put together a legible post about VBAC (yikes at the controversy potential, though). In a nutshell, I think that VBAC can be a very good thing...except when it isn't. How's that for clarity?

amy1970~ Alive, barely. Hee. The lucky 100th patient gets to be seen by a frazzled doctor a mere 3 hours past her originally scheduled appointment. A dubious distinction, at best.

Hi FD~ Hi!! Aw, it's good to be missed. Yes, back and trying to get the rust out, both in the real world and the blogging world.

MWWAK~ It is an occupational hazard, I think. I've got a busy delivery month lined up in February, so I guess I'd better get myself in gear. Thanks for the good wishes! :)