I applied for a PhD program.

This was off my self-imposed to-do list for dispatches.

I applied for a program in my state.

Save on the in-state tuition.

At the nursing conference I went to (in person!) last week, I found more that I am interested in.

I’ve got a lot of read about and consider.

However, there are two, maybe three more I will be applying to before applications close for them at the end of January 2022.

I have an end goal.

I want to write textbooks.

My husband just wants to be married to Dr. Kate.

The theme for October is going to be spooky.

That can mean a lot of things to a lot of different people.

I think of dark cookies, spiders, ghosts and beasties.

We’ll see what I decide.

But today was inspired by a Pinterest cookie.

The picture showed a dark chocolate cookie with orange M&Ms.

That would have been okay.

But I instantly thought ‘Reese’s Pieces’.

And that made me think of E.T. the extraterrestrial.

And Drew Barrymore’s character Gertie trying to coax ET from hiding.

It took a minute to find Reese’s Pieces.

The last thing I saw them in was Reese’s Peanut Butter cups.

But a CRNA at the hospital said to try a gas station.

I finally found small boxes of them at a pharmacy.

These cookies were definitely a hit.

A friend of mine said that the group in the lounge voted and they were voted the best ever.

I will definitely be making these again.

Yes, another self indulgent post.

This time is about gravity.

You know, the thing that keeps us all grounded.

Facebook reminded me that it has been 2 years since I fell in the OR, during induction on a peds case.

I tripped over the c-arm on the way to the phone to call x-ray.

The irony just avalanches some days.

My left knee and tibia bones finally stopped hurting about 6 months ago and I can kneel without pain.

The newly formed dimple in my left cheek is here to stay.

I have not gone back to employee health.

They have their hands full right now.

And told me the dimple was in my head anyway.

Sure, Jan.

It still pulls when I smile too broadly.

The horrible TMJ pain is gone.

Small victories, I know.

What I remember most of that day is:

1. the anesthesiologist getting me an ice pack
2. the surgeon getting me a bandaid
3. the surprise on the team’s faces when I would not call anyone else in, um, this is a ten minute case, there is no one to call, and you’ll be done before they get here
4. the black bruising to my collar bone the next day

The OR is a dangerous place.

Sometimes for the workers there.

Last night was rough.

Again.

I know, I sound like a broken record.

I went home at my normal time.

Puttered around.

Played a little computer.

Killed a few thousand undead.

Headed to bed at a not unreasonable hour.

I have meetings on Tuesday mornings, after all.

And at 0130 I get a call from an MD.

Who wants to put a case on at 0500.

Okay.

Case for 0500.

Have to be at the hospital at 0400 to prep the room and prep the patient.

Called the surgeon at 0430 at their request as a wake up call.

Start the case.

Help the patient.

Finish case in time for the day shift to start.

Drive home.

I want a bagel but it is too late to get a bagel and make my meeting.

I was in my zoom meeting 2 minutes early.

Finish meeting.

Off to bed I go.

4.5 hours is an okay night of sleep, right?

I followed a surgeon to the door after a case.

Three of the biggest anti-vaxxers in the department had been speaking over him and the other surgeon.

They were talking about all the people who lost their jobs.

They were talking about all the people who no longer could get religious exemptions.

And places not giving out exemptions at all.

They were talking about all the places around the country who were lightening mask mandates.

They were talking about where they were going to be going on vacation next.

And hoped there would be no masks required.

One of them mentioned alternative treatments for covid that their cousin’s uncle’s wife had.

And lived.

They were not taking about vaccinating their kids.

They were not talking about vaccinating other kids.

They were not talking about the stupendous loss of life.

These conversations were being had in the open.

In front of two of the biggest vaccine proponents on staff.

The two vaccine proponents who had been told to modulate their tones while talking to anti-vaxxers.

I was telling the truth when I followed the MD to the door.

I admire their restraint.

The post-it reads ‘to the new to evenings CRNA, you’re in the endgame now.’

We have had a crop of new CRNAs who work until 1900 or are the call CRNA.

It is always interesting when a new CRNA looks around and sees how busy we are.

It is as if they don’t understand why we are still doing cases in the nighttime.

The OR takes all cases and does them at all times.

Whatever the patient needs, we do.

I am a huge Marvel fan.

Have been since I was a child.

I have many boxes full of comic books.

This is an Infinity War part 2 reference.

Dr. Strange tells Iron Man that they are in the endgame now.

Meaning it is the one chance to defeat Thanos.

Evening shift is not at war with anyone.

But I love this quote.

Because to me it means that there is work still left to do and we have patients to take care.

Until the shift ends, or the call team comes in.

Whichever happens first.

P.S. my favorite Avenger is Hawkeye, who fights even when he is hopelessly outnumbered with his skill.

Kind of like the OR.

Except we take them on one case at a time.

700,248 dead since the beginning of the pandemic.

18 months.

The US hit 676,000 on 9/21/21.

9 days to add 24,000 deaths.

Are there words?

I am not sure there are words.

Take a shot.

Any shot.

Please.

Healthcare workers are begging you.

This nurse is begging you.

Literary month concludes with a recipe inspired by Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

The fizzy lifting drink that Grandpa Joe and Charlie surreptitiously drink and nearly die in the ceiling rotators?

Turns out there is not a lot of consensus about what the drink tastes like.

Or how to turn it in to a cookie.

I used miniature marshmallows in a standard cookie batter.

Tragically I was out of/couldn’t find my vanilla.

I used watermelon flavoring instead.

It added a certain sweetness, which, when coupled with the marshmallows, made the cookies light.

Almost lifting worthy.

The very first experimental cookie I ever made was to add miniature marshmallows to a cookie recipe.

I was in middle school.

It is awesome.

They turn all caramel-ly and chewy and disappeared because they melted.

But it is the substitution of the watermelon flavoring for vanilla flavoring that is my take-home lesson for today.

In baking, such as in the OR, sometimes substitutions need to be made.

The tray #1 is needed for a case and there are no more tray #1s on the rack.

A nurse with an imagination and a nimble mind would know that tray #8 is just a tray #1 with additional retractors.

Give the doc a tray #8 and keep mum about the substitution.

And they would never know.

Do you know what happens when you get a group of nurses together?

They come up with bright ideas.

Ideas about all sorts of things.

Things that need to be fixed.

And how to fix them.

Things that need to be retired.

And how to replace them.

Things that cheer others up.

And how to do them.

There is something relaxing and freeing when you get a group a nurses together and give them time to talk while they are waiting for the the speaker who is running late.

It’s like talking to my mom.

But multiplied by 20 other nurses.

Today I shared my crochet group of nurses during such a discussion.

The Random Acts of Crochet Kindness that is on Facebook.

This is a British group that advocates creating little makes to make people smile.

Sometimes they are butterflies, or flowers, or little angels, or even post box toppers.

But the ones that I am going to start with are the worry worms.

The idea is that you take these little makes.

Bag them and add a little note that says ‘I am not lost, if I made you smile, take me home’.

Or words to that effect.

Apparently there are tons of You Tube videos that show you how to make them, step by step.

I haven’t crocheted in about 5 years.

It is time to get my hooks out of retirement.

By some frankly weird coincidence it has been 9 months yesterday since I was considered fully vaccinated. (Edited because math)

My first shot was in December.

My second shot was January 12.

The date I was considered fully vaccinated was January 26.

I received the Pfizer vaccines.

And the CDC recommends booster shots after 6 months.

There is a lot of data behind the timing, and the idea of booster shots.

The CDC also recommended booster shots for those over 65, those medically fragile, and those who work in healthcare.

I work in healthcare.

I have been fully vaccinated for 8 months.

Greater than the 6 months talked about.

I work in a hospital.

One that has covid patients.

One that has never been covid free.

We’ve had covid patients since the testing began last year.

The lowest the hospital’s patient volume went was 3.

I work in the evenings.

None of my ED patients, the ones who are unvaccinated, are tested.

There simply isn’t the time for the PCR test because they need surgery in a timely manner.

However, on the flip side, I am young and healthy.

Well, young-ish.

I believe in vaccination.

I believe it is the only way we are getting through this.

I believe that the goal numbers for herd immunity keep changing and rising the longer this plays out.

I may be denied when I schedule my booster shot, although I am a nurse and work in a hospital that has patients, and may have asymptomatic patients who need surgery.

Because of my age and my general good health.

Let’s find out.