That's my life right now.
And that's a good thing... I hope!
As of this week, I am back to full time work for the first time in several years. I'm working 12 hour days actually during the day. :o For those that are not aware, normally I cover 12-24 hour shifts as an in-house doc on nights and weekends. For the next several weeks, I'll still be doing that but I will also be doing several shifts during the day where I cover both the hospital and run an ob/gyn clinic that happens to be located across the parking lot from the hospital. So far, I have to admit that I love it, but it is exhausting! I can see that I was burned out before. I don't know that I'd want to work this many hours ALL the time, but the money will be nice. I worked 72 hours this past week and the full time job only started on Wednesday! This will help make up for a bit over 6 months total of no paycheck between the time I ended up taking off for chemo and all the various surgeries I've had in the last 15 months. And, I am hoping that maybe it will lead to slightly more work in the future.
Fortunately, just after I get the hang of things, I will get a break. We are going on a previously scheduled cruise vacation. :) So, the few moments I've had away from work have been filled with shopping for clothes to wear (mostly for me since nothing fits right) and packing. Oh yes.. and sleeping. Not enough sleeping. I almost feel like I am in residency again. Long days with lots of action. I imagine September 2007 will be like September 2006 in one way.. it will last forever and pass by in blur.
Anyway... if I am a little quiet over the next week and the weeks to follow that, you'll know why!
Sunday, August 19, 2007
Friday, August 10, 2007
It's Showtime!
We're getting ready for Rachel's final theatre camp performance today... which means I should actually print out the photos from the yesterday and the last show, 3 weeks ago! While I'm in the process of doing that and charging the battery, I thought I'd share a few from the last production, "Kids Rock," a history of music from the 50's to the early 60's. It was pretty much all done in the form of songs from Broadway shows. From the top, Rachel and Jack dancing the jitterbug, Rachel in "Surfin USA" (second from the right), and Rachel in a scene from "Bye Bye Birdie." Blogger won't let me share much else today. Not very cooperative! :(
I'll try to sneak in just one more.. Rachel and her friend, Joey, in the finale from this weekend's show, "Rock on Broadway."
I was lucky to get decent seats at the final dress rehearsal both times. If I sit close enough and the lighting is not too bizarre, I get pretty decent shots by pushing the ISO to 400 and shooting in P mode with the shutter speed up most of the time. I still get unusuable shots, but I'm starting to find that I'm now getting more usable ones than not. :) I have a pretty good idea of what I'd need to do even better but I don't actually have a DSLR. I do have PSE 5.0 on order (finally) so I'm hoping that learning to play with actions and the like will help even more!
Thursday, August 02, 2007
Don't No Body Bring Me No Bad News!
25 Brownie points to whomever can name that song. :)
It's a no bad news, all good news sort of day.
First....
No more stitches!!!
Well, that's not entirely true. There's one left. It's dissolvable so it will eventually fall out all by itself. But, all the rest of the stitches are gone. No need to restock my Neosporin supply (already went through one tube) and no need to go buy more dressings. Turn off the oven and open the door... I am DONE!
Not completely done, but done enough for now. Tattoos to follow in a few months.
More good stuff. The very expensive medication I started 2 months ago to bring my cholesterol and triglycerides back down to earth is actually working. My cholesterol is back down to normal! Yahoo! The triglycerides are back down to a shade above normal. I am confident I can bring them all the way down to normal once I add back my omega3 supplement. I had stopped taking it for my recent surgery, but that was 2 weeks ago, so it's time to add them back. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know all about diet and exercise. My levels all went UP despite diet and exercise. That's what menopause and maybe some tamoxifen (in a small number of people.. like me!) will do for ya.
And even better, my LFTs were ALL normal. My cancer friends will understand that one! Each and everyone was normal except for the one they couldn't run because the specimen was hemolyzed. Sitting in the back of my brain for the last 2 months was the fact that one of the enzymes checked in that panel 2 months ago was out of the normal range. This is life living on the other side of Cancerville. The concept that the other shoe can drop without any warning. In most people, an elevation like that is usually totally meaningless. In someone with a history of the sort of cancer that likes to recur, an elevation in a simple blood test can be the first sign of something bad. The actual enzyme that was elevated is one that can rise in liver and bone mets. I know someone who had a small elevation, smaller than mine was, and it turned out, in retrospect to be the first sign of mets. So... big sigh of relief here today!
It's a no bad news, all good news sort of day.
First....
No more stitches!!!
Well, that's not entirely true. There's one left. It's dissolvable so it will eventually fall out all by itself. But, all the rest of the stitches are gone. No need to restock my Neosporin supply (already went through one tube) and no need to go buy more dressings. Turn off the oven and open the door... I am DONE!
Not completely done, but done enough for now. Tattoos to follow in a few months.
More good stuff. The very expensive medication I started 2 months ago to bring my cholesterol and triglycerides back down to earth is actually working. My cholesterol is back down to normal! Yahoo! The triglycerides are back down to a shade above normal. I am confident I can bring them all the way down to normal once I add back my omega3 supplement. I had stopped taking it for my recent surgery, but that was 2 weeks ago, so it's time to add them back. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know all about diet and exercise. My levels all went UP despite diet and exercise. That's what menopause and maybe some tamoxifen (in a small number of people.. like me!) will do for ya.
And even better, my LFTs were ALL normal. My cancer friends will understand that one! Each and everyone was normal except for the one they couldn't run because the specimen was hemolyzed. Sitting in the back of my brain for the last 2 months was the fact that one of the enzymes checked in that panel 2 months ago was out of the normal range. This is life living on the other side of Cancerville. The concept that the other shoe can drop without any warning. In most people, an elevation like that is usually totally meaningless. In someone with a history of the sort of cancer that likes to recur, an elevation in a simple blood test can be the first sign of something bad. The actual enzyme that was elevated is one that can rise in liver and bone mets. I know someone who had a small elevation, smaller than mine was, and it turned out, in retrospect to be the first sign of mets. So... big sigh of relief here today!
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