Tuesday, a good day

Story time!

Today I was charting on one of my floors and one of the infectious disease docs came and set next to me. We've chatted a few times and even though he intimidates me, I decided to be polite and so I said hello. He returned my greeting and then starting chatting with me. He asked if I had any Irish heritage (the red hair, freckles, and fair skin are a pretty good sign) and I replied yes and then he asked if I had ever been to Ireland. I've not, yet. He began to tell me about his daughters travels abroad and how she was in Europe for a few minutes (and I started to get really jealous...happy for her, but a little jealous) and then told him I am more Belgian than anything (don't worry, I'm not about to bust out my family tree) AND THEN...

...I said, "but I have the phenotype of a typical Irishwoman." 

A) Hi, I'm a nerd. B) The second it left my mouth I prayed I had used the genetics jargon correctly. I wasn't trying to impress him by any means, but the word came to mind (and it's one of the few things I remember from my lessons on genetics) and before I realized it, it also came out of my mouth. 

Our conversation continued and in the forefront, not back friends, forefront, of my mind I was praying I hadn't just made myself look like an idiot. A very basic lesson on genetics: phenotype refers to the physical or observable (ph to ph...that's how I remembered it) characteristics you inherit and genotype means refers to the genetics you inherit. Not that difficult right? Right. Except on the spot when a fancy term you rarely use but vaguely remember studying comes to mind and then out of your mouth in front of a doctor...yeah it's cause for a small dose of panic. And I'm just sayin' it now, if you go on Jeopardy and win mucho bucks becauseof a question about phenotype or genotype and you got he answer from me, I just ask for 10% of the proceeds. Not too much right? :) 

Anyway, the conversation concluded, he went and saw a patient, I continued to type. He came back. He was about to leave and then commented on my use of the word phenotype.

The Irish lass just impressed the doc with her genetics vocab. SHAZAM! Being a nerd has its perks. If only immense relief that I didn't embarrass myself. I'll take it.

Today I am grateful for wonderful people in my life. Truly. There are many and I am astounded that I have so many fantastic people in my life. Among them, a dear, dear, dear friend, example, mentor, amazing woman and a kindred spirit, who may have sent me a little something she picked up while in NYC, and while at the NY Public Library no less!!!! I love it!!!!!!  

Many, many, MANY thanks. 

I can't wait to use it. THANK YOU SHANNON!!

Oldy Goldy

 So can we talk about how sore I am for 1.34 minutes? I'm sore. Wicked sore. Going DOWN stairs is the worst thing ever. My coworkers make fun of me because when we go down for lunch we have to go down 3 flights of stairs and they fly down them and then tease me and tell me to hurry up. It's actually amusing. I laugh at myself (as tears form in the corners of my eyes with each step I take). I look like a toddler going down stairs for the first time by myself. But it's a satisfying and good pain. A well-earned pain. 

Yesterday I was sitting at one of the desks charting and one of the infectious disease docs was sitting next to me. He turned to me and asked if I was with the nutrition department and I said I was and perked up thinking he was going to ask me to see one of his patients. He then replied he saw me walking around with my friends and assumed I was one of them [dietitians]. I told him we travel in packs (true statement) and introduced myself. He then introduced himself and then said my name must be short for Gabrielle (pronounced GAB-ree-elle...ick but I wasn't about to correct him. It was late in the afternoon, I was almost done with my patient and just didn't have the energy to correct him and explain). I said yes and then he said, "You have an oldy goldy name! So does my daughter. Her name is Betsy." I laughed and wasn't sure what to say. Uh...thanks? Yes? But I thought it was kind of a cute. I have an oldy goldy name. So I commented on his daughter's name, which I really do think is cute. I was amused and pretty happy to have talked to this doctor. I see him all of the time and he intimidated me, but now we know each other. Cool! And because he's the infectious disease doc, this may open up a door for me to pick his brain and shoot him a few questions in the future. SCORE! Now if only I could get in with some of the surgeons. One department at a time...

Now today. I swear I had a sign somewhere that said something like "if you have a complain or want to take your frustrations out, please take it out on Gabe," because that's what happened. I had an alcoholic patient with swollen legs who ranted for 15 minutes about how swollen his legs had become ever since we repleted his electrolytes. I wanted to say, well maybe if you didn't drink excessive amounts of poison, er, alcohol and screw up your electrolytes and your liver this wouldn't be a problem now would it? I also nearly BUSTED up laughing when he stood up, lifted his pant legs to show me his swollen legs, which he kept referring to as hams. It really was funny. Maybe you had to be there and actually see him and his "hams" but whew, it was giggle-worthy. I waited until I left and was walking down the hall to giggle. 

And the best part of my day. I have a 101 year old on one of my floors. Yes you read that correctly. TRIPLE DIGITS. 101 years old and she is as sassy, spunky, and sharp as ever. I ADORE this patient. I hope and pray and aspire to be like her. I was in her room listening to her talk for about 45 minutes. She sews aprons (which are beautiful) and makes "sock monkey dudes and sock monkey ladies" (they are legit), calls herself "The Butterfly Lady" because she hands out butterfly clips to everyone, you know, those cool clips that were popular in the early 2000s? Yeah I had tons of them. She told me about how she met her husband (SUCH a cute story. I felt a few pricks of tears as she was telling me). I wanted to stay and listen and ask tons of questions but sadly her lunch arrived and I remembered I still had 13 patients to see and it was already noon. I just have to share this one story. She was telling me how she broke her hip a few years ago and was inching her way to her phone (she lives independently!!! Isn't that impressive?!?!) when she remembered the emergency button-necklace thing they advertise for elderly people to wear around their neck and when they push the button, the ambulance is dispatched immediately. She thought it had fallen off but then discovered, it was hidden in between "the great divide." It took me all of 5 seconds to realize she was referring to her chest. I couldn't help it and burst into belly laughter for about 2 minutes and she was giggling along with me. OH MY GOSH!!!! She kind of reminds me of Betty White, though not as....crude. This woman is hilarious. I can't wait to go see her again. 

And finally. I used my food processor to make crust for the first time. WHOA this is a historic event!!!!! This week for staffing I am making apple cinnamon hand pies. I decided to make the crust tonight and I will assemble them tomorrow. Pictures tomorrow of the finished product. For now, please allow me to beam about making my first pie crust for the first time in my food processor. 

Baking tunes: 

--"Daylight" by Maroon 5 (their new song; I have come to the conclusion that Maroon 5 is officially one of my favorite bands. Congratulations guys, I'm fickle about having "favorite" bands and you made the cut. Well done!)

--"Le Flair De Celmar" and "Sur Les Points De Venise" by Note Manouche (jazzy and wonderful. Madre--youtube this band, you'll like them)

--"Numb" by Usher

--"We Run" by Havana Brown ft. Pitbull (I actually do NOT like Pitbull but Amy created a playlist for my half marathon and this was on it and it's catchy and I can dance to it). 

That is all. Covert Affairs is one tonight. YESSSS!

CB comes to MB

Clary came!! 

Prepare for a picture overload...

(and I promise we did more than eat...these are just the moments I happened to think to take out my camera. Basically I've been slacking in the photo-taking department. And the blogging department. Sorry!)

Thursday, I picked her up from the Charleston airport and then we headed to our hotel, which was in North Charleston. We contemplated going into Charleston that evening but to be honest, we were both pretty tired (I was wicked tired from a very long work week) so we went to a Greek place for gyros and stuffed grape leaves and chatted, caught up, hung out. Love Greek food. I mean, if you read this blog you know I love food but I especially love Mediterranean food. Then we went to the Tangor Outlets near our motel where I got some SWEET new Nike running kicks for a grand whoppin' total of $32, originally $90. WHAAAAT!!?? I know, I know. Beam with me here. I love a good deal. And the shoes are so cool. Then we hit up Wal-mart for some ice cream and we just couldn't decide so we got these:

I am happy to tell you we did not finish them all. The new Greek Yogurt Ben and Jerry's flavors are good. The peanut butter banana was pretty tasty, though I thought the small amount was perfect; any larger and I might not have liked it as much. 

Friday we slept in (yaaay!) and then wandered around downtown Charleston. It's very cute. It has a lot of fun shops, neat architecture, history. It was very cool.

I love these trees!

We had lunch at an Italian place and then we wandered around a little more and then decided to head to back to Myrtle Beach. We didn't stay in Charleston too long because a) it was blasted hot with the sticky humidity, b) we both wanted to get home, c) we wanted to beat the traffic because it was, after all, Friday on Memorial Day Weekend. 

But first.

We stopped at Whole Foods because this is the closest one to me and as we were wandering around we came upon gelato and we tasted some (a must!) and then we decided to be crazy and taste this weird flavor they had: pineapple basil.

OH. MY. LANTUS.

TO DIE FOR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So we split one. Oooooh so good!

We got home safely and in good time and hung out. We were pretty tired. It was nice! Clary recommend the series "Once Upon a Time" so I started watching it a few days before she came. I LOVE it. I have no qualms admitting that I love fairy tales so I was hooked on this new show that weaves in all the fairy tales into one rather complex but well done story line. It's quite clever. Well, we finished the series while Clary was here. I can't wait for the second season! 

Saturday I had originally planned to take Clary to Wilmington, NC but being that it was a holiday weekend and I didn't feel like getting up early to beat traffic, nor did I want to spend most of Clary's vacation here in the car, we opted to just hang out here in Myrtle Beach. I took her to Broadway at the Beach (aka Redneck Riviera...bahahahah!) and showed here one of the hot touristy spots. I really don't care for this place but everyone needs to go and see it. We went into the crazy candy store "It's Sugar" and had some fun in there. 

I found this particularly amusing on a GIANT box of gummy bears!

Ok. Let's talk about Black Biker Week. This is my first time experiencing this and let me tell you...it was something. I'm glad it's only once a year. Bikers/motorcyclists in general make me nervous because they weave in and out of traffic as they want (and are apparently the exception to several of the driving rules???), but when HOARDS of them show up in loud, revving, obnoxious groups, I am not a fan. Nor am I am fan of their lady passengers who are scantily clad in booty short, thongs, and/or bikini bottoms because these bikes are not your typical motorcycles; they slant up so you get a very unfortunate view of booty. Again, not. a. fan. 

Our tradition whenever we are together is to get sushi. This dates back to when Clary and I first became friends and she introduced me to sushi. I am indebted to her for my love of this stuff!!!!!

Monday I had to, very unfortunately, work so Clary bummed around my apartment all day. When I came home we worked out and then decided to go see "The Avengers" since she had not yet seen it. But first, we made Margherita pizza with fresh mozzarella and fresh Basil from my little plant. We weren't super hungry so we snuck it in to the movies (I have some very sneaky skills) and dined while we watched the film. If you have not seen "The Avengers" you need to go stat. It is very well scripted with excellent dialogue and fabulous humor. Plus it's action-packed! REALLY, REALLY, REALLY good. Go see it!

Her visit was, of course, too short but I'll be venturing to Tucson in August as we are both bridesmaids in a friend's wedding. She left early Tuesday morning and I had to get to work so it was kind of a rip-the-band-aid-good bye. Sometimes it's better that way. 

And now I have a doctor story. 

I worked this weekend and was consulted to manage a patient's tube feedings. This patient has been on tube feeds for 3 years and in situations like this, these patients are typically pretty stable so I figured it would be quick and easy. FALSE. The patient was pretty underweight so I wanted to alter his regimen a little to give him some additional nutrition. Well, his wife would have none of it. Every single thing I suggested was shot down completely. I'm learning to very carefully pick my fights with certain patients and this one was one I bowed out of because I could tell she wasn't going to let me do anything. So, I made my suggestions and told her I would let manage his feeds. I was looking for his chart to write my notes in and the doctor following him had it. I hadn't met him before, though I've heard/seen his name several times and know this doctor is one of our regulars, well-respected, etc., so I approached him, introduced myself and told him I was going to continue to allow the wife to manage the feedings because she wasn't interested in letting me take over.

"Chicken." 

My thoughts: Chicken? Give the patient chicken? What? He's NPO. He'll aspirate. I can't do that!

"What?"

"Chicken. You're a chicken aren't you?"

It dawned on me he was teasing me so I laughed and told him I had spent about 30 minutes throwing out every suggestion I could think of and she wasn't buying it. He laughed with me and told me it was a smart move. Whew. I didn't want to look like an idiot, you know????

I bought this beaut at Home Goods yesterday. Pretty right?!

I'm in charge of a youth activity in a couple of weeks and I'm going to teach the girls to make homemade rolls so naturally I had to try out the recipe first. 

Mmmmmm.....fresh rolls! Sunday baking is one of my favorite things!

And in other news.... 

*I am running a half marathon in October, October 21st to be exact. Training is coming along. I've been really busy so it's been tricky to get started but I'm PSYCHED for this. I hope I'm ready.

*This month is going to be insanely crazy: my youngest brother's high school graduation this week, my mom's wedding the next weekend in California, and then my other brother's wedding in Washington state the weekend after that. This is a partying month! So, you'll be sympathetic if my blogging is a little sparse this month, right?

But what I'm most excited for is....

*HOME!!!!!!!!!! NEW ENGLAND!!!!!!!!!!!*


P.S. Apparently I can no longer use playlist.com to play music on my blog. This angers me. 

Books, Baking, and a Doctor Story

I don't know if you do this but during my day when something happens I might think, Yup, this is some good blog material, and then instead of really focusing on my work, I compose the blog post in my head. Except then I get home and try to blog and the perfectly and cleverly composed post disappears from my mind. I hate that. It happened to me today.


Some girlfriends and I got together this evening and met up at Barnes and Noble. I wasn't sure what we were going to do but Ashley suggested we head over the children's section, pick out a few of our favorite childhood books and share them. Genius. It was SO much fun. We sat (rather, tried to squeeze) around a kid's table and read to each other. It was so much fun! A few of my choices were, "Chrysanthemum," "Froggy Gets Dressed," and one of the "I Spy" books. I LOVE "I Spy" books. In fact, when I was in college I would sometimes study on the 4th floor of the library (where the children's books were) and when my brain was exhausted, I would grab an "I Spy" book. 

When I was in elementary school, the author came to our school and read this book to us. I remember giggling until my stomach hurt.

Now. I did some baking this evening. For my Young Women youth group at church, I promised I would make them some treats on Sunday. I felt like I should test out the recipe first. I mean I'm partially buttering them up to really like me and think I'm super cool because I bring in awesome treats and I can't disappoint!!! How embarrassing would that be??? The horror! So, a few arm twists later (sarcasm), some friends at work agreed to be my guinea pigs. Behold: 

Homemade Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Peanut Butter Cups

Read to assemble! 

 

 Done! And now to cool them...

OH. MY. LANTUS. 

These are sooooooooooooooooooo good. I could not get over how yummy the peanut butter dough was. Incredible. Not to mention they are wicked easy to make. Recipe here.

Yummy! I loved 'em and I'm sure the ladies on Sunday will too!

Now, my doctor story. This is not about Dr. W, although he was in fine form today during staffing. His humor is so very much appreciated and I secretly really look forward to staffing just because I know I will be laughing a lot. 

But, there's another doctor who I have seen several times this week bopping between the floors that I cover. In my rounds and staffing, the nurses have dropped his name several times often followed by a fanning motion, and then I'm tempted to hand them a napkin to dab their drool. 

Now, being the rookie to this place, my manager is constantly encouraging me to get to know the staff, introduce myself to everyone I interact with and to get to know everyone. But you know, doctors can be very intimidating. They are busy, sometimes snappy, sometimes irritable, and unless I have something important to talk to them about, I'm usually pretty hesitant to just introduce myself. Such is the case here, not to mention every female in a 40 foot radius of this doctor manages to find some reason to say something to him. It's very comical. I wonder if he notices. I just couldn't bring myself to just go up and introduce myself. I felt so stupid and didn't want to be just another female making conversation with this doctor. I refuse. And I find attractive men very intimidating. So I have been avoiding every opportunity to introduce myself. Until today. I thought about it for at least a minute today when he was charting on one of my patients. He was just sitting there writing some notes and there were only a few people around so it was a pretty ideal moment. 

I almost did it. And then I chickened out. 

I left the floor, went into my office, typed up a note, and then as I walked out he was sitting in the charting area and I looked up and he looked up and we locked eyes and without thinking (except I remember thinking, Just do it. Perfect timing and then as I was walking towards him my mind was screaming, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!?!?!?"), I approached him and introduced myself. His handshake was a tad wimpy but he was very nice and we had a nice conversation. I was proud of myself. I tried to stop myself from grinning like an idiot as I walked down the hall but I couldn't help it. I did it! And that's my pathetic story of the day. Stay tuned for more to come!

And tomorrow I'm making homemade wheat thins. YESSSSSSSS.