Hippocrates In San Diego

Green

Additions and Losses

It’s been a whirlwind of a time these last 7-1/2 weeks, with a constant 24-hour cycle of baby care that has kept us poorly rested, poorly fed, and utterly, blindingly happy since January 25. I can’t say I’ve ever had a better experience, despite the frequently desperate and all-consuming fatigue, the frustration when he’s crying for no apparent reason, the inability to get out of the house in under thirty minutes…

Continue reading Additions and Losses…

Rapid

I can’t believe how quickly my family leave has come and gone. I have to go back to work in 3 days… it’s going to be a really hard two weeks.

Last 5 Runs

Two Weeks

On January 24, N. awoke with painful contractions, and by 3 pm we were at the hospital. She was far enough along to get an epidural, which relieved her very significant pain, and she labored in relative comfort through the night. Finally by 5 am on the 25th, she began pushing and by 8:30 am, our son C. was born.

Continue reading Two Weeks…

Welcome, Baby C.

Please, I implore you

When working in a nursing home, and encountering a little old lady who has fallen over and turned blue, please make sure she doesn’t have a pulse before you start pounding on her chest like a gorilla throwing a temper tantrum. She’s liable to break a rib that way!

Don’t make me twist your arm…

Don’t ever lie to your doctor. I can tell when you’re lying and I usually know why you are lying. There are few things that will make providing good care more difficult than a dishonest patient.

It can suck

You have to think about what you’re doing every single day. There’s rarely a time when you can be lax, or not care about the quality of your work, or ignore its results. And that is true whether you’re tired, ill, distracted, or bored. That’s why it can suck sometimes. Why somedays you wonder if people slinging coffee at Starbucks or fixing cars have to be on all the time, “bringing their A Game” every day. I’m sure most do routinely, but do they have to? Do they feel the same obligation? Right now an occasional day requiring only my B Game sounds fantastic. I’m envious.

Clean

That was somewhat liberating, although a little sad. Sometimes you have to just separate from things that you’re drawn to when you realize how bad they are for you.