So today I had a patient- a 17 year old girl with a 5th metacarpal fracture. Commonly known as a Boxer's Fracture- because you usually get it from punching someone/thing. (it's always funny when kids come in and try to give us some big elaborate story about how they fell or whatever- and we just look them straight in the eye and say "no really, what did you punch?" and they get all embarrassed and freaked out that we're psychic.)

But anyway- usually teenage girls who break their hands punching people are either trashy ghetto drama queens, or really tough man-girls. Sorry for the generalizations, but, well, that's been my experience.

But so today this girl was lying on the OR table getting prepped, and we went out to scrub our hands. The nurses and anesthesiologist usually chat with the patient as they go off to sleep.

So, we came in to the room, and scrubbed, ready for our gowns and gloves. And every single person in the room is listening to the girl with rapt attention. Someone says "and then what happened? What about your sister?!" But right then she drifted off to sleep.

But so of course I had to know what this exciting story was...

Well.

This girl is 17. She has a sister who is 15. Apparently there was a bitchy girl at their school who was always bullying and teasing the younger sister, and had been making her life miserable for 2 years.

So finally one day, the sister takes a bunch of pills. I guess their mom came home and found her unconscious. She called 911 and took her to the bathroom to try to make her throw up.

And then the older sister, I guess the next day, just walks straight into bully-girl's classroom, right in the middle of class, and punched her right in the face.

That's awesome.

Not that I condone violence, but I love seeing a girl stick up for her little sister like that!

(And it's so much better than the usual "I was drunk and punched a wall" story that we get.)

Ok, so I've never had any allergies that I've been aware of.
All I can say now is that if this is what I've been 'missing'- I have a whole new sense of sympathy for allergy sufferers.

Yesterday morning I woke up with a bit of a scratchy throat and stuffy nose. No big deal. Took some aleve, made some theraflu, took a nap after work. And Airborne. (which is hocus pocus to me, but people swear by that stuff, so I figure it can't hurt.)
Felt decent this AM, a little sniffly.
So at 6am before work I took:
Airborne
1000mg tylenol
10mg claritin
240mg sudafed.
4 sprays Afrin

Got to work.
Eyes itching. Nose not stuffy, but dripping like a faucet. Coughing, sneezing. WTF!!!
This was probably 2h after taking that pharmacopeia at home.- and these meds are all supposed to last 12-24h.

But it was intolerable.
So I went to the pharmacy downstairs.
Took:
10mg zyrtec
more afrin

No relief.

Got home, took 25mg benadryl.
Still no change.

WTF!
I feel fine- except that my poor nose is about to fall off from kleenex overdose. No fever, no sore throat, no congestion. just itchy, runny nose and eyes, plus sneezing and some itchy cough.

From what I know, these are allergy symptoms. But i've never had them before. And the only places I've been are home and work- nothing new there. Yeah it's a little warmer out- but no flowers or pollen or anything.

If this is not better by tomorrow I don't know what I'll do.

Any chronic allergy people out there know any magic cures?!

So, last night I had a really vivid dream about my old house in New Orleans. So today I googled it.
And I found a pdf of some glossy report about katrina funding- showing that my house was denied.

Then I found a pdf of the minutes of some new orleans historical preservation society- from 2009.
And in the last section of the minutes, "demolition for neglect"- I found my house.

Yet google maps still shows it in all its glory... bougainvillea (sp?) in bloom... looking great. But, it says 2009 in the corner.

I am amazingly sad.

In fact, I am surprised by how sad this news makes me.

Goodbye, old friend.

:(

So... I just got back from vacation. And it sucks that we couldn't stay longer- BUT, it's really nice to still have the whole weekend.

So friday night we went to my parents' as a little surprise for my mom's 60th bday. My sis/BIL/niece came in saturday, but they got in too late and we missed them. But, still I think mom was really touched/surprised that we came home.

Then sunday went down to Palm Beach. BF's parents have a condo down there, and it was great. Too bad the weather kind of sucked. It hit 70 on monday and we got to spend about 2h at the beach before it got too windy. Then the cold came in, and it didn't get over about 62 the rest of the time. Which is warmer than here- but still, I was REALLY hoping for some beach time, and a tan. Ah well.

Wed we drove to Orlando to meet BF's BFF who he hasn't seen in a couple years. So we drove 2.5 hr to see him for 2h then drove back. But it was nice to meet him, and a great lunch.

Did some shopping, or rather, browsing, since we can't afford anything, in some of the ritzy shops in palm beach.

Oh and we saw The Wolfman. Which was good- but not as super-rad as I wanted it to be.

Then today had to come home. :(

I got a text from orbitz saying my flight was on time... soon after got a text from my dad asking if it was cancelled. Which made me nervous, so I looked online- usair.com said it was on time.

So I go to check in and the kiosk tells me my flight has been cancelled.WTF. So I go stand in line foreeeeever while they try to help some lady who apparently was flying internationally with an infant and they were making her buy another ticket (or something).

But so I get to the front of the line, and she told me that yes, my flight was cancelled, but I'd already been rebooked on a different flight. Which was better times, and even better- was the flight BF was on. (we were supposed to be on different flights).

What?! My flight got cancelled and i got an EVEN BETTER one instead? That DOES NOT happen in my world.

Then tonight made some super delicious zucchini pasta for dinner, since I am still on vacation for the weekend. my diet starts back up on monday, and I am NOT looking forward to getting on that scale- I ate like a pig all week. It's going to be bad.

Oh well. Just need to get back on the horse. That's all.

So, here are some pix. (btw, I tried mobl-posting some mobl-pix, but it didn't work.)


Mom's birthday present. We commissioned a local artist (a HS classmate of my sister's) to do this painting for her. This is a crappy phone pic, but it's gorgeous. And the scene is right near our house. And it's an original. Super cool.


Me and BF and his BFF in Orlando.


Sunset over the golf course




Trying on uber-preppy clothes in Palm Beach. hehehe.


View from the condo. (It's right on the 14th hole of some golf course. Which means nothing to be, but I guess is semi-big deal. I just know it was pretty...)


Our all-too-brief stint at the beach


This super-cool-dood then appeared at the beach, replete with skinny jeans, socks, sneakers, cigarettes, and mardi gras beads. Oh and the awesome shades. :/ And then he was bossing all the other kids around, and they let him, because clearly the worship him. GOD I am glad I am not a teenager anymore.

And here are some other randoms that were in my phone...


My favorite Valentine.


The best thing I saw in MoMA. This chick was staring at that BLACK CANVAS for like 20 minutes. And you can see- it's roped off. That, and Starry Night (like, THE Starry Night) are about the only pieces roped off in the whole museum. Seriously? that stupid black canvas? Clearly I am just not a connoisseur of fine art, i guess.
But anyway- I think that picture of the girl staring at it is much cooler than the 'art' itself.


Last week the whole freaking state practically shut down, because snow was forecast. I am not lying when I say just about every school in the state was closed. UConn was closed. The whole freaking university! Because there MIGHT be snow.
This is what it looked like at work around 2.
It *did* eventually snow. We got about an inch. Seriously?! It was like mass hysteria.




I dunno, I just thought this equipment in the hallway in the OR looked like it was dressed up for halloween. ;)

Good night peeps!