October Happenings

The week in review:

As I was scrolling through my Facebook feed this week, I noticed a video someone posted of Brigham Young University Noteworthy (female acapella) of Amazing Grace. Must say it’s been my jam this week. Check it out HERE. (I hardly ever buy music on iTunes, but I did with this one, which just goes to show it’s I think it’s worth a listen.)

One day earlier this week, I saw 33 patients by myself. Manageable is about 20 or so. It was a 12-hour turned 16-hour shift. Needless to say, it was a long day. Welcome to being in the medical field, right?

Kind of how I felt when I had to give an epi-pen this week.

 On a more positive note, I kinda love making new foods, which I got to do this week. And it’s about 10 times more fun when I have someone to eat with me. It’s starting to get chillier here in Iowa, so I pulled up my handy Pinterest board labeled “fall yum” and picked a recipe I had never made – slow cooker creamy tortellini, spinach, and chicken soup. So yum! Panera tomato basil bread and some homemade pumpkin pie ice cream rounded out the meal.

A year ago, my mom mentioned that I would love a new show on CBS. Now, at the time I was in school and had about zero extra time to spend watching TV. However, I checked it out one evening and then had to catch up over the next few days on the next 5 episodes that were already released online. The show? Scorpion – a team of geniuses who pair up with Homeland Security to solve end-of-the-nation problems in 40-some minutes with a happily-ever-after-ending each episode. I also kinda love that show. So, yeah, that also happened this week. Since I don’t have TV, I always have to wait at least one day until it’s posted online. It’s so hard waiting when I’ve already been primed by my family that it’s “so good and suspenseful this week.” Every. Single. Week. Haha :)

Another cool thing that happened this week was participating in V.I.S.T. (violent incident survival training) for work. When I worked in the ER, we had a similar class which incorporated self-defense for health care professionals - but that's been several years back now and it's always good to have a refresher course. As we watched and listened to the presentation, the question came up of whether you would be prepared to kill someone if you had no other option to survive? Now, that’s a sobering thought. Picture this, you wrestle the gun from the shooter and he pulls another one on you. What do you do? Could you live with yourself if you shot someone? Hard questions. But ones worth thinking through. Also, just wanna mention that my aversion to sitting with my back to the room has a warranted basis – cops hate it too. They are always noting exits, obstacles, human behavior. Maybe I went into the wrong career? ;)

And to round out the week, I’m wrapping up my next two evenings with book club discussions. Tonight includes "peace, ping-pong and pizza" and tomorrow includes a classic vampire movie for our discussion on Dracula. Which brings me to the topic of Halloween – I’m going with some friends and we’re all dressing according to a theme. Working on my costume today. If you’re curious, I’ll just leave this pic here for your viewing pleasure…

Until next time. Consider yourself updated.