terrific tuesday

Our Siemens buddy Jerry used to bounce into the lab every time with a smile on his face and some saying in honor of the day. Dude would don his plastic coat and put on gloves and proceed to service the innards of several analyzers of human body fluids. He always made me smile and there was an aura about him that just made me keep the faith. I remember the day that Al died in our ER after having a heart attack over at the competition's building where he was on a service call. It's one of those things you don't forget, even as a seasoned professional. Cash and Steve are favorites as well. I could go on and on but....

Mom is in the ER again, this time without me because I'll be there at six AM so why not just stay in touch via phone. After telling her PCP yesterday that she was NOT going to a nursing home, she said a whole lot of nasty things to me while I was waiting for EMS in the rain. They denied mental status change which is pretty ridiculous since she's been unglued since day one from her last discharge. Daddy could care less because he's got his TV and schedule and all that. My dumb ass forgot that you have to go to your actual precinct to vote on election day so a guy at the chicken store directed me to the Fowlkes Fire Department where I was greeted with lots of "Vote Yes" on amendment 1 signs planted at the back of the dolla' gentral. The sad thing is that so many voters are so uninformed that they can't begin to understand what they're voting on. I went out on a limb and voted for a Green candidate just because all the rest of 'em looked strictly partisan or unheard of. And of course I went indie on Governor. Not to any type of state use of lottery funds other than for education. That was the deal, right Steve? Somewhere between here and there, I lost my faith. If I had to describe my current mood it would be one of transition which is basically what life is all about and we tend to spend more time fighting to stop change rather than embracing it as the next phase of growth. I set a boundary sitting out there in the rain last night waiting for the ambulance to arrive with the sounds of our clusteryeling still ringing in my ears. No more enabling of an unsafe situation for my parents. As their advocate it is my job to stay sane enough to help make rational choices.

So with new vendors come new friends and our universal favorite is Matt the pathology IT guy. He's funny in a Seth Rogan kind of way and brings candy! We're busy as a cat covering up poop and flu season is upon us all. Wonder if the dolla' gentral sells economy packs of masks? There is alcohol based hand foam everywhere and I like that new piece in the infection control biz. It's way too time consuming to do the happy birthday handwash every time you touch a patient. Gloves are good too. Always! If #ebolageddon has taught us anything it is the importance of hand hygiene. There are some damn nasty bugs out there in the world, and a lot of them are treatment resistant.

So, the GOP kicked ass yesterday and I totally wasn't surprised what with all this bringing prayer back to school mentality that espouses one point of view. Ditto for abortion. I think the next big uprising will be the state of Kentucky considering the fact they put that old fart back in office because there is a large "politically challenged" segment of voters there. That kind of shit can backfire on you.

That's what's on my plate. How about yours?