A Quick Daydream

Sometimes I wish that I worked in an office job. I could wear cute outfits to work and blend in with the crowd on the T. I could work 9-5 and have weekends and holidays off. Things might be easier to see my family and Steve. I wouldn’t have to shower as soon as I walked into my house to get the germs off of me.

The one thing that holds me back from that life is that I love my job. I like working with my patients and watching them get better. There is nothing better watching a patient progress from sick to healthy, watching their bodies figure out how to function again after surgery. Being there for both the patient and their family as both deal with what is likely one of the most stressful times in their life is amazing.

In the end it’s a trade off. To do what I love I have to give up certain things like normal work hours and street clothing. In the end it’s worth it.

Why We Don’t Have Nice Things

Last week Steve and I drove all the way to Rochester New York to pick up our new Subaru. One might ask why drive to Rochester to get a new car when there are plenty of new cars in Boston? Well, Steve’s dad is a car dealer in Ohio and got us a deal on a car we couldn’t pass up. Hence the six hour drive to Rochester (a half way point) and the six hour drive back to Boston. There is nothing better than new-car-smell, just not our new car smell.

On the way to Rochester Steve asked me to drive. Steve never asks me to drive unless he feels really tired or crappy so I knew he wasn’t feeling too hot. After a short nap he said he felt better and drove the rest of the way there. We exchanged cars and stopped in at my Aunt and Uncle’s house for some dinner. That’s when Steve started to look even more sick. I drove our new car out of Rochester and towards Boston without incident until we were forty-five minutes out from Albany. That was when Steve sat bolt up right in the passenger seat and screamed “Pull Over!” At first I was worried something was wrong with the car that I had missed but it turned out to be much worse. For the last thirty minuets Steve had been trying not to throw-up and had finally lost the battle. As we slowed on the shoulder of the highway Steve groped the unfamiliar door trying to get out of the car as fast as he could. He didn’t make it. He ended up throwing up all over the inside of the passenger door. He got out threw up some more, then some more, then some more. When all was said and done he had gotten rid of everything he had eaten that day and then some.

Steve feels better now and we have a new car that doesn’t have new car smell so much as the smell of old stale puke smell. This is why we don’t have nice things.

Break Out The Doxy

*Spoiler Alert* If you Tivoed this weeks episode of House do not read on.

I usually try to avoid medical shows because no one likes to watch a show about the work you do. The grave medical inaccuracies are so bad that it’s often difficult for me to watch a show let alone enjoy it but this week’s House has gotten me wound up. For the third time in a year a patient on a medical show has come in with mysterious aliments and ended up having Lyme disease.

Remember not too long ago when Buffy’s little sister was on House and had all sorts of crazy things wrong with her and the episode ended up with House doing a pelvic in an elevator finding a tick in her lady parts? Or a few weeks ago when some guy came into the hospital on Scrubs with weakness and no one could figure out what it was until they shaved his head and there was a big rash on his head and he had lyme disease? This week on House a kid coming in for facial reconstruction surgery went into V-tach and vomited blood. What did they find when his head was shaved a big old rash that pointed to lyme disease.

Yes, lyme disease isn’t just the reason why Irene went crazy and left the Real World anymore. It’s become the scapegoat for all medical dramas; easily ruled out at the beginning of the show due to the lack of the bulls-eye rash only to have the rash be found at the eleventh hour and save the day. In real life things don’t work out like this.

Everyone I know who has been diagnosis with lyme disease may not have had a big bulls-eye rash but they had enough for the doctor to run test rule out lyme disease. Meanwhile they were started on doxycycline and all is well that ends well. Yes it’s a difficult disease and it wipes you out but that doesn’t make good TV.

I’m sure next week I’ll turn on the TV and ER will have someone with Lyme disease on but until then check yourself for ticks.

Now For Something Completely Different

Remember how everyone and awhile in Family Circus the Dad would let one of the kids draw and write the comic? It was always a bit cheesy and sort of lame but who am I to argue with a comic strip that has been in the paper for over twenty years? I decided to let Moose write this blog post as he decided his new favorite thing to do is sit on the keyboard while I’m on the computer. So without further ado, Moose’s masterpiece (edited due to length):

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Too Much Of A Good Thing…

When I met with my trainer at the gym a few weeks ago we made a few goals for me. Strengthen my back, increase my endurance, and loose a few pounds. I’ve met my goals except the last one.

“I think you should stop drinking any alcohol for a month, that will really make you loose the weight” was the suggestion that my trainer gave me. I looked at him as if he just suggested I give up eating dinner.

Over the last year I’ve naturally had a beer or two with dinner and since I’ve moved in with Steve we have had the refrigerator stocked with beer or wine so that we can have a drink to help us relax at the end of the day.

So I cut down hoping that would make a difference. Then last week I took another step towards cutting alcohol out all together. I was down in Rochester with my friends from college and we had a few beers. A few beers turned into a few more and before I knew it I was very drunk and puking my brains out in Aaron’s guest bathroom.

I haven’t been hung-over like that since college and it was enough to make me take a break from drinking or even thinking of drinking. So here to clean living and hopefully some weight loss.

Stop Asking

I’ve been home for a week now enjoying time with my family and friends. We sit around, enjoy some beers and reminisce about old times. It’s fun, except I keep getting asked “when are you getting married?” I first started getting asked this about one year ago and the frequency and persistence have increased. From what I understand from taking to some of my other friends who have dated for awhile, it will only get worse.

People ask me is Steve the one for me, I ask them how I should know? Will I receive some sort of note in the mail saying that Steve is it? Even if I knew Steve was the one for me we just moved in together and that takes up a lot of money, so does having a wedding. I don’t see the point in getting married just to get married. I don’t feel like I’m waiting for my life to begin and once I have a ring on my finger life will be better. I like where I am now.

Next time I get asked “are you and Steve getting married soon?” I’m going to say I’m waiting for his pay to increase so I can marry him, divorce him, and take half.