Bigger or Better: Life outside of Texas

 When I was high-school-age or younger, I thought the best way to approach (or, rather, receive ) difficulties in life was to take it all at once, and then you're home free for the rest of your life. No. Bad idea. If all of my trials came at me altogether as if they were the worst searchlight to ever locate a human being, I would crumple and burn. I believe my childhood logic was only taking into account the troubles that had happened to me so far, which were mostly non-fatal illnesses and school-related worries. I hadn't considered such things as conflict at work, or being overworked, or having (as I do now) no work. Logically, it's impossible to experience all of those work concerns simultaneously--how does one have conflict at a job if there is no job?--but even if there were no paradoxes, the "one-and-done" trial by all-existing-elements would not succeed. I'm defining success in trials as the ability to get back up after being knocked down, and it's a...

 Once upon a time, back when I was single, I had an acquaintance [I know that sounds stand-offish, but I feel really bad saying she's a friend right now when I can't even remember her name. I am so sorry, whoever you are] who used the term "funemployment." Well, that's one way to spin unpaid productivity. Or, more realistically, periods of unpaid unproductivity. My last day of work at my temporary job was last week. I was feeling nostalgic, and took pictures of things I'd miss. Like how the pictures in the women's bathroom are odd for the demographic they should be aiming for. ~framed pics of golf courses--not the first thing I think of when considering the female gender in a bathroom~ Or being in my favorite stairwell ~inspirational quotes and everything~ Or the lame retardant. I find it very interesting that the thought didn't even occur to me to take pictures of the people I've been working with. But, you know, I have their emails and cell numb...

 As I was trying to fall back asleep early this morning, I reflected on how much "x" is used in medical jargon. It doesn't represent a sound or a particular suffix, so I can't think how it got into so many abbreviations. Ultimately, this thought prompted me to go through the entire alphabet looking for all the ways "x" is used. And, no, it wasn't as soporific as counting sheep. But now I can share what I've come up with. A--[nothing that I'm familiar with. Actually, I'm going to skip all of the vowels because I don't think they are mainstream medical words] Bx--biopsy Cx--culture (as in microbial growth, not referring to the common beliefs and values of a group) Dx--diagnosis Fx; fxn--fracture; function Gx--[apparently used in pharmacology; I've never used it. or seen it.] Hx--history (e.g., social history, medical history, family history) Jx--joint [maybe. according to Google, anyway] Kx--[umm, nada.] Lx--maybe laxatives. maybe nothi...

There's a very important lesson I have learned from church: in confrontations, it is less antagonistic to share personal experiences than to share doctrinal arguments. I'm going to apply that to COVID-19, because for illogical reasons, it is a controversial topic. Is it going to answer every question about SARS-CoV-2? No. Are my experiences representative of those of healthcare professions across the country? Probably not. But hey, this is a blog, not a medical journal. Treatment Since the second week of May, I've been working with the Infectious Disease (ID) division, primarily to help out with COVID-19 patients. In the first week or two, all we had for treatment was tocilizumab (to stop a 'cytokine storm', which is an overexcited immune system making things way too hard on the body). It doesn't affect the actual virus at all. And is only helpful if you actually have a cytokine storm. And ok, technically, we also had convalescent plasma (antibodies from the b...

The other day at work, one of the patients I was following as part of the Infectious Disease consult team had an interesting convergence of current and "rudimentary" medical treatment. He had an infection [hopefully you figured that part out, since the ID team was consulted] in his foot that would not be cleared by antibiotics alone. Why? Because he had necrotic (aka dead/rotting) tissue that the bacteria would hang out in. If the tissue is dead, that means it doesn't have blood circulation to it anymore, which means any antibiotic we gave him--either intravenously or orally--would not reach where the bacteria were hiding. And it was most definitely not something that can be cured with Neosporin. The necessary cure? Cut off the dead tissue. Which usually takes multiple trips to the operating room, since we'd like to only remove unsalavageable tissue, which is a developing process--we watch for what heals and what doesn't. The alternative for becoming an OR frequen...

Social media is a cursed blessing. I get a general sense of what is going on in the lives of friends, family, acquaintances, and colleagues, helping me to see what they look like, what is important to them, what they think. And, as I said, it's a blessing and a curse. Without social media, I could assume everybody I knew thought as I did, with the same political views or lifestyle choices or what-have-you. As I discover that such an assumption is not true, it becomes difficult not to "weed out" the dissimilars so that I am (virtually) surrounded by people who think and act like me. Truthfully, I still might do that if the dissenting voice is some person I don't know that well. But I can't do that with family. I'm stuck with them. For life. and also for after-life, considering I believe families are forever. So basically, what I'm saying is: one of my aunts [ good luck figuring out which one. I have about 16 aunts, assuming all of my uncles are married to...

Sometimes, in unprecedented times such as now, truths become crystal clear--that life is valuable, that friendship makes hard things bearable, and that we have ingrained flaws. Not that being flawed is solely our fault, but correcting--or even acknowledging--those flaws most certainly is our responsibility. For example, when I was in elementary school, I was under the impression that race relations had been resolved during the civil rights movement. Turns out that was wrong, but I still had no clear grasp of the extent of the problem; I next thought that affirmative action was stupid and unnecessary. And then, at my next progression of mind, I thought that I was becoming fairly non-biased and non-discriminatory. And I was in that mindset until I listened to the experiences of people of color. My new truth: there is no way I can fully grasp what it is like to face constant discrimination of a kind that threatens my life. I suspect I will always have some bit of bias, because how can I e...