Happy Thanksgiving!

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I told myself I would not watch one of these until I was done with all this

and now I have...

Wow. PLEASE CLICK ON THE BLOCK BELOW TO WATCH A REALLY NEAT VIDEO ON ROBOT-ASSISTED TOTAL KNEE REPLACEMENT IF YOU ARE APPARENTLY OLD ENOUGH. It didn't occur to me it would be age-restricted and only available on YouTube. I assure you, it's not sexy.

By the way...

This video is from another place, but let me just say I am really happy with my experience at Baptist for a number of reasons.

1) I went to Dr Talwalkar for my knees based solely on the fact that I work with his brother, which in a way is a silly reason, but he's just as great and a very caring and experienced surgeon, and I'm very impressed with his skill and manner. He has now done three surgeries on me (also a rotator cuff).

2) My hospital stay was pleasant. The food was great. I was so exhausted from my anxiety leading up to the surgery that I slept well. I wasn't constantly bothered, but they were attentive. PT was great.

3) Pre-op testing was great. One of my former co-workers was one of the ladies who did it.

4) The surgery scheduler worked a miracle to schedule my second surgery so I wouldn't have to redo my leave and mess everything up. The next available was originally sometime about the time I was supposed to come back. She and the doctor got together and did it earlier than originally expected, and right after a holiday on his normal day, but as his only case, stuck at the beginning of the OR schedule. I have my suspicions, and I am very grateful to both of them.

5) I got a bill for a code that was written off by UnitedHealthcare, and when presented with the paperwork, Baptist instantly erased it.

6) Any correspondence I've had--with PAs, CMAs, registration staff, medical records, billing, pharmacy, even security (I thought I'd lost something at the hospital that turned up when I went to pack to go back five weeks later) was cordial, timely, and productive. It's been a very good experience.

7) The use of that attachable nerve block that attached and went home with me for five days really made a difference because I was in very little pain for the first few days relatively to others I've talked to and was able to get up and get moving quicker, even use that range of motion bike, and as a result hit my 3-week goals a week or more ahead of schedule. On the left leg, I was cleared for driving in 2 1/2 weeks, on the right 3 1/2. Even the doctor has been impressed with how it's gone. I think that made a big difference. I was up and on that walker a lot early on. It was a pain lugging around and making sure the cat didn't play with the line, and the second time I accidentally pulled on the catheter slightly, and that caused issues, but it still worked, and that's what mattered. And it was easy to box up and return, plus they give you free batteries. 😃

Anyway, I have healthcare providers in every system in this town, plus one in private practice, but I will continue to use Baptist Orthopaedics, and I highly recommend going to Janak Talwalkar if you can.

I so love the British

You'd never see this on American television.

This child could have been me

Although I do have evidence I could hula hoop at some point. At one point someone I knew who is a graphic designer made it a Yule card cover:

A bluesey-Bluegrass version of the classic

My therapist, who is a musician, shared this with me.

A bit vulgar, but essentially true

My favourite parody that Randy Rainbow has done (so far)

*Facepalm*

Sigh. My roommate worked as a CNA for years. I have learned today that 1) I was wrapping my ACE bandage wrong, and that's why it was slipping and 2) I sat on the shower chair (which is backless) the wrong way when I showered. (Should have YouTubed that one first). Once he showed me how to properly do the bandage, it occurred to me that I didn't do well in the shower and that was probably wrong, too, so I did, indeed, look it up on YouTube.

How is it that I had THREE nurses in the family and no one bothered to tell me? And I sprained my ankle approximated four times a year. I guess that's on me for apparently not paying attention, but still.

As I have said on numerous occasions, I realise that I'm book smart, and I may have once been in a Gifted & Talented programme, but my common sense leaves much to be desired. Which I know, which is wisdom, I guess. But man, I feel dumb right now. [And just in case you need it, here's the video that comes up when you Google 'how to use a shower chair']:

This pretty much describes things perfectly around here

We're up to 169 cases in Kentucky, 4 deaths.  Our governor is taking steps to help flatten the curve, but we are, of course, still part of the upward swing one would expect at the beginning of a pandemic.  Still, we're doing better than a lot of states surrounding us, so that's a positive thing.

Starting tomorrow I have a new work schedule, where we've divided into teams.  My team will work Wednesday through Friday, then Monday and Tuesday, and then the other team will take over for the next span.  At least in doing so, we're spreading people out and halving the exposure to the world outside our homes.  We have options to take the off-days with paid time off if we have it (I do, for about two months of this, anyway, so this is my choice), taking it without pay, or supplementing income by working with other departments in the meantime.  If one of our team members gets the virus, we would all quarantine, leaving the other team able to do essential tasks.

So no one's being laid off or anything.  Those without PTO are also allowed to go into the negative, they just can't take normal PTO until they get back into the positive.  It's a reasonable plan.  I'm not sure if the third option above really helps with limiting exposure, but for those without underlying issues, that may not be such a problem.  However, with mine, I'm going to stay home on days I'm not scheduled.  That's five days (seven with the weekend) at a time that I don't have to take the parking shuttles or anything.  And all of the departments are doing a version of this, worked out with their managers, so that pretty much halves the number of people in the building.  And some are working from home--I just couldn't because of the amount of patient health information I deal with (virtually everything I touch is protected information).

We were scheduled to start this tomorrow, and I was supposed to be at work today, but my car wouldn't start this morning.  I have almost nothing in my bank account (22 cents, to be exact, but hey at least it's positive), so I can't do a thing about it till Thursday.  I don't think it's the battery.  My roadside assistance is in jeopardy due to the tow I had in the fall and then the two to do with the tyres, so I'm afraid to use that.  I was planning on transitioning to AAA, but that's been put off as I'll have to fix the car.  If it isn't one thing, it's another.  I was already looking at fixing the front brakes this weekend. :(

Okay, that's enough for now.  Hope you got a laugh out of the video.  We need things like that to keep us sane during all this.  Take care, and stay well.

First, an introduction

This is an excellent video that we were shown at work this morning.  It explains COVID-19 well.

Interesting video on gut bacteria/human biome on a person's health

depending on how well off they are socioeconomically [ignore the title's problem in English for now, as well as the thumbnail below, as it has little to nothing to do with anything in t the video].

This is adorable...

I slept in till about 9 am today

When I heard the cat trying to claw my bed, which got him yelled at, he stopped, and he proceeded to climb up on me and tread, eventually moving to my pillow and settling on it.  Even with my CPAP, my allergies were reacting.  I love cats (and dogs), but I am pretty allergic to them.  I'm pretty sure he realises this.  Anyway, I petted him for awhile as he purred, got up, took a shower (closing my door so he wouldn't act out further), and so he moved onto waking up YKWIA.  The dogs tried to get me to let them out. We have a rule we established early on; YKWIA lets them out in the morning and feeds them, so they're not as likely to bother me in the morning or have the little dog bark and wake him up since I get up about 6 or 6:30 am each weekday.  I feed them in the evening and let them out.  It works well, usually.  Little dog does normally make it till after I leave; she's the only alarm clock he has.  But she has a little old lady bladder, so eventually, she'll bark.  Anyway, by that time it was about 9:30 or 9:45, so even though he was up later than I, it was time to get up, as he's usually up by 8 or 8:30.

So I've taken my medicine (my blood sugar was 102 today, which is really good). I've eaten.  I've made my bed.  I just need some caffeine to be ready for my day, and YKWIA said he'd get me some soda when I do a little grocery run later.  Things to do:

1. Take those books back to the library after they open at 1:00 pm.
2. Pick up the hold that is waiting for me there.
3. Run to the grocery.
4. Caffeinate.
5. Clean the cat litter box.
6. Trim the cat's claws.
7. Take out the trash and recyclables.
8. Clean the toilet and tub. [The mirror and sinks are fine; the others need a once-over, including the tub, to keep anything from building up like soap scum or, well, you know.]
9. Sweep.
10. Mop the tile.
11. Run the dishwasher.
12. Do laundry.

I didn't work on the game notes yesterday,  I may do that today, depending on how I feel after I do all that.  Yesterday, of course, I did the reading. I also watched an episode of  'Sherlock' ("The Sign of Three").  Then I watched Despicable Me 3 with YKWIA (we had the DVD out from Netflix).  I liked both.  I felt a sense of accomplishment because 1) I rarely read, and 2) I'm not great at watching things, especially on my own.  I can't binge watch.  Three hours is about my limit, usually, and then I normally watch things with other people.  I tend to listen to music more.  I'm doing that now, the Bastille station on the Amazon Music.  So it's been a relaxing time so far.  Now I'm going to see if I can get one more garden book taken care of before I take those books back.

[I decided since it has been raining all weekend, and it is supposed to clear up tomorrow, and I'm off tomorrow, I would do the floors tomorrow.  The trash wound up not being an issue; the recyclables were, and I took those out.  So that leaves the cat's claws [and he threw up his food earlier and isn't feeling well, so I may wait till tomorrow on that too, rather than upset him and cause further distress] and the bathroom stuff.  That I can do in just a few minutes.  I think for now, though, I'll take a nap, because even though I didn't do a lot, I'm kind of tired.  Must be this supposed infection I have, which might be sinus, as this morning I was blowing out goop that was a little yellow.  Not that you really needed to know about that, I guess.  I'll call my doctor's office tomorrow to make an appointment (they wanted me back in two weeks) and to see if I can get any more information.  Then I can text my boss and let her know what's going on.  But for now, I plan to be back on Tuesday morning.]

GRRRRR...

If you're annoyed, like me, with the fact that Facebook videos are playing with sound again as you scroll past them, check out your settings and you can change it to off for starting videos in your newsfeed with sound. I personally get annoyed with the autoplay. If I want to watch a video with sound, I'll turn it on myself, Facebook. Don't push it on me.

And just because I'm feeling pretty happy today, despite everything

Puppies.

So tired

I packed 48 boxes today, almost 5,000 journals, to be sent to India this week. This is what my library looks like now.

After work, I took a friend to an appointment, and listened to an audiobook (John Skalzi's The Dispatcher) while chilling out in the waiting room. Then we went to the store, got gas and groceries, stopped by Gumbo Ya Ya for takeout, stopped by yet another grocery store with a wine and spirits shop, and then spent three and a half hours watching videos. I got home just a little while ago, at 11:30 pm. I'm pooped. I've taken some ibuprofen (forgot to do that last night and slept very little) and a half a Trazadone. I really want to get some rest tonight.

Good night.

Where the bound journals were.

The unbound journals were on these two middle ranges.

Most of the library is bare now.

Everything's gone from the two middle ranges.

Just have the books to go; most to departments, others to donate.

This is an excellent video

With Simon Sinek about Millennials and the challenges they face in the workplace. It was recommended to me by a coworker.  Apparently it was the day for video recommendations,  as another coworker suggested the Doc Vader videos such as Doc Vader vs.  the Hospital Administrator.  The author,  who also does music video parodies,  is a physician who uploads under the channel name ZDoggMD,  a character played by Zubin Damania, MD.

You've heard of the Great Pumpkin?

Sometimes, even a tiny pumpkin can be an archnemesis to an equally tiny puppy.

This keeps playing just about every time I go to the hospital

It's terribly appropriate at the moment, which is sad.

Pretty interesting--the body from top to bottom, as seen by an MRI

Your body, from top to bottom.

Posted by I fucking love science on Monday, September 28, 2015