sights and smells...

I'd like to start off by saying, whoopee, I'm more or less back to normal. I've taken my fourth dose of the uber-expensive meds and I'm feeling just peachy. I've skipped doses of my anti-inflammatory (usually by accident) and suffered no ill consequences. I even notice my skin is starting to clear up in some of the more minor places. It might take longer for the worse spots but any improvement is welcome!

The only weird thing that may or may not be related is that I am noticing my arm has tightened up. It isn't a big deal except when I attempt to reach for something and fully extend it. I am noticing either the muscle or perhaps a tendon seems really tight and there is sharp pain running up and down my arm whenever I do this. Usually I can massage it out and try again and nothing, but this has been going on for a few weeks, very coincidental perhaps? Maybe the real deal is that I haven't been able to extend this arm fully before because the elbow was out of whack with the arthritis and now that I can, the muscles have atrophied? Either way I suppose it is time to hit the gym downstairs and start getting back into shape.

In other news Rachel and I went for a hike the other day. It was fun, there are pictures. Oh just one, but I'll put up a few more soon (probably by the time you are reading this anyway). We went to Hurricane Ridge which was new for me, though not for her. Not a terribly intense hike but enough to poop me out and make me want to curl up in bed early! I suppose it didn't kick my butt as much as I thought because I wasn't all that sore the next day. It just wore me out as I was doing it I guess. More evidence I need to get in shape.

Did my labs. Everything is normal. Well, I didn't do all the labs, just the ones of concern with this problem. All of those were normal. I'm afraid to look at my lipids right now because I don't think they've had enough time to change just yet. Need to raise the ol HDL. I got my cholesterol down but the HDL was too low and the net effect was negligible. I'm still trying to figure out what I'm going to do about raising the good stuff, but for now I'm just avoiding the issue.

Avoiding issues is one of the few things I am good at. Tonight I couldn't avoid issues though; we had tons of mislabeled specimens. Days go by when we do not get any, but tonight we had three or four. It reflects poorly on our whole system when just a few of theses incidents occur, but catching it is the important part and we did that. Of course, the patients only notice that a mistake happened, not that we caught the mistake before it resulted in an error in patient care. Well one of them was partly the patients own parents fault, but I won't get into the details.

The lesson to take away from this: in any area of life, when someone comes to you and tells you they made a mistake in providing you a service, try to be understanding of the myriad of complexities in their line of work that you are not aware of and give them credit for admitting the mistake in the first place instead of trying to cover it up. Generally that is where things really go wrong!

Overall work is going well, though it is getting busier and our staffing is still at crisis mode. I was informed of a good job opportunity at Madigan, so I updated my online resume with them and "self-nominated" for the position. I hope they take a good look at me and at least give me a shot at consideration. I worked closely with some people who work in that department, so I am sure they will give me an interview if my application makes it past the DOD bureaucrats in Virginia. I have had mixed results in the past with them, being simultaneously turned down for one job and forwarded for another for which there was at least one discriminating factor in the posting that should have resulted in my resume being kicked out. Go figure?

I was simultaneously anxious to apply for the job and apprehensive about it. I still feel (sometimes) that I should stick things out where I am and see if they don't get better. The military job might pay less and the benefits which used to be stellar when working for the government are somewhat less than these days. I might just play it out, go to the interview and see what kind of offer I can get. The position would certainly allow me to specialize in an area I have always preferred to work in and should get me on day shift with little or no weekend/holiday coverage. This is what I have been looking for at least in the long run.

Well, nothing to do but wait and see.

Sorry I can't say 'not much else going on this time.' There is so much going on, just little desire to go on and on and on. This should keep you somewhat up-to-date. Otherwise you'll have to wait for the memoir!

Peace,

b