NOT quiet on the Western Front

Sorry about the lack of posts, but the MSDQCH Emergency Room is kicking my 'sorry black ass'. (Ten points for whoever can pinpont the movie reference.) For some reason, the ER is channeling the big bad Spirit of Winter - I've seen more wheezers in the last night than I want to think about. Our wait time is climbing towards six hours, and I haven't peed (or drank) in ten hours.

Not good, my friends, not good.

On another note, here's a shout out to the Ween. Happy birthday, Chica.

Bad, bad me!

So it has been eight days since posted an update. My only excuse is that I've yet again begun night riding - but unfortunately, this time I'm riding the night at the Mega-Super-Duper-Quaternary Care Hospital (MSDQCH). Night riding at the community hospital I've posted about before is like surfing a sort of calm sea. Mostly, things are quiet and predictable. Only occationally do squalls or unexpected reefs appear. Riding the night at the MSDQCH is more like gripping a lifejacket after being tumped off of the Titanic during the world's worst storm - especially in the dreaded Respiratory Bay, also known as "Up Front". The folks who come "Up Front" are much more likely to be truly Sick. Notice the capitalization. When used among doctors, "Sick" is vastly different from "sick." When one of us normal adults has a cold, we are "sick." When one is dying of massive infeciton, has been intubated (had a breathing tube placed) and requires drugs to keep the good 'ole ticker pumping, one is "Sick." To make things worse, Respiratory Bay has fifteen freaking beds! Which means at night there is only one resident to cover fifteen Sick children.

Aack!

But there are good things about working "Up Front". The proportion of bullshit dips down. And the bullshit that eeks into Respiratory Bay is funny - for example, penile problems are frequently found Up Front. Why? The triage nurse is male, and honey, does he take the weewee seriously! An otherwise routine, minor infection of the foreskin? Respiratory Bay, damnit! That thing could fall off!

So bear with me folks, and think of me as I founder in the stormy sea of the MSDQCH.

My husband lusts after my blog

Seriously. He needs the content management software or something. There was talk of a news release?

I dunno - computers are strange and mysterious things. When he talks about work, I basically just smile and nod. He speaks of codes and screens and accessibility (websites for the blind - whah?) and layers and tables. I cannot, for the life of me, form a mental picture of what he does with his time during the day. This leads to problems - I definitely don't seem to mind interrupting his work day with totally inane phone calls. Maybe if I could understand how he spent his time I wouldn't be so prone to interrupting his day.

It isn't like I haven't tried. I've asked him to explain knowledge management software, why Cold Fusion and dynamic web content are better (which I sorta kinda maybe get) and why he absolutely needs more than one monitor at work. I've asked multiple times.

And I just can't compute. (Heh. Get it?)

Then again, he's told me that he does the same thing with my work. But hey, people have reality TV shows with doctors in action to watch. How hard can it be? I mean really. I talk to patients and parents, do my exam (deep breath, where is your heart, which ear should I look in first, say ah, follow my finger with just your eyeballs), write orders and do paperwork. And then some do some more paper work. Repeat as necessary, with occational breaks for nagging nurses, placating parents and double-checking patients. You can envision that, right?

But what happens when you stare at a screen all day? It must be work, and it seems to be creative, but I just cannot imagine doing that all day.

But then, he can't imagine doing my job all day. I guess we each found a good fit.