Another first

Tonight Hubby and I are going to my first Stars game! He got tickets from one of the men he works with, so as soon as he gets home, we are headed out. It will also be my first time to ride the TRE, the local commuter train that goes between Ft. Worth and Dallas. We have a station not too far from our home, so rather than drive through the thick fog blanketing our area, we're going to take the train. I had been to a few IHL games back in Houston, but this will be my first NHL. I'm excited!

Tear

I started as senior on a new service on Monday. Last night was my first overnight call; I have five more left of these occurring once every 4 days (with the exception of 5 days off for Christmas), and after 31 hours at the hospital, I'm tired. Despite all the frustrations that occurred, I had a touching experience last night that reminded me yet again why I love kids so much.

Early in the evening, I did an admission on a patient that I hadn't seen since my intern year. I remembered that this patient's mother passed away about 3 weeks prior to our initial meeting, and I knew that Granny was now the primary caretaker. I re-introduced myself to the family including my patient's younger sibling that I had not met previously, and soon the family had me cracking up laughing over how hilarious the kids are. The younger child (who I'm guessing was around age 4 or 5) wanted to be the center of attention and asked me to do an exam with my stethoscope, so since I had a few extra minutes, I complied. As I placed my stethoscope on the sibling's chest, I explained that I was listening to the heart. The sibling looked up at me with beautiful, trusting eyes, and matter-of-factly informed me, "That's where my mommy is."

A lump caught in my throat as I looked up at Granny. She smiled at both of us, and I'm pretty sure she had tears in her eyes. This sweet child exuded such innocence and love; I couldn't resist giving out a hug before I left the room!

Electric

Last week my mother-in-law and I went Christmas shopping. Naturally our day included a stop at Bed, Bath, and Beyond (honestly, is any shopping day complete without a visit there?). One of my purchases was a small square squishy pillow that I can use both in the car and in bed.

A few nights ago, I woke up in the middle of the night, and as I was repositioning the pillow, I noticed green sparks coming off my hand. I wasn't sure if I was just imagining it, so I went back to sleep. Early this morning, Sebastian woke up and started barking, so Hubby was sweet enough to free him from his kennel, allowing me to stay warm and cozy. As he climbed back into bed, I repositioned the pillow again; this time, I knew for sure I wasn't making up the green sparks! The static electricity from this pillow is amazing! I got Hubby's attention, and I'm know he saw the sparks too.

Had the room not been pitch black, I would have seen an incredulous look on his face in addition to the little sparks. I can only imagine the thoughts running through his head about how insane his wife was to be giving science lessons at 3 AM. He's so sweet to put up with my craziness. Now if I start explaining how to do medical procedures in my sleep, I'll know I'm in trouble.

Panic at the testing center

I'm in the middle of applying for my license to practice medicine in Texas. I already have my provisional license to practice as a resident, but now it's time to get the full meal deal. My wallet is over in the corner crying again as it has already cost me over $1000 so far, but it will be worth it in the end. Among the many hoops through which I have to jump is taking the medical jurisprudence exam. It's 50 questions in 90 minutes, and we can only miss 12 to pass. I studied for it a little during PICU night float over the last 2 weeks, but since I didn't really have enough time, I devoted the first day of my vacation (Monday) to hitting the books. By the time I left to take the test Tuesday morning, I felt decent about the test and just wanted to get it over!

The testing center was about 30 minutes away from our house, so I left at 7 AM to make sure I had plenty of time to sign in before the 8 AM exam. In order to take the test, I needed to show my scheduling permit from the board as well as two forms of ID that both had my signature. As I was sitting in the waiting area getting ready to check in, I peeked into my purse again. Permit? Check. Driver's license? Check. Passport? Check. Since I recently got my passport with my new name and photo back in the mail, I decided to look again and the picture and see how much it didn't look like me.

To my horror, the face in the picture looked like me ... nine years ago. I had grabbed the wrong passport! My old passport has my maiden name on it, and since my new IDs don't include that name, I knew I couldn't use the passport to prove my identity. I frantically began to look through my wallet, and to my dismay, not a single credit card was signed. As fate would have it, I only had a pencil in my purse, so I couldn't even sign a card. I could not believe this was happening to me, little Mrs. Prepared!

I began to pray for anything that would help me out. A few minutes later, I noticed that the man sitting next to me was holding an electrical book and possibly looked like some kind of engineer. I asked if he happened to have a pen I could borrow, and by a miracle, he did! I quickly signed the back of my debit card that has my photo on it and profusely thanked him. Five minutes later, I was called to the front and signed in with no trouble!

I was a little worried about the effects of the morning on my exam, but I had nothing to worry about. I passed with flying colors. I've jumped yet another hurdle in my path towards practicing on my own! Now my vacation can really begin.