You know your patient's constipated when...
Their abdominal pain is trumping their surgical pain
You know your patient's constipated when...
The usual Colace, Senokot and Dulcolax haven't even addressed the problem,
neither has the Dulcolax suppository
You know your patient's constipated when...
They've received a Fleet's enema, followed by two soap suds enemas, with no results
You know your patient's constipated when...
They've received the aforementioned within a 24-hour period, plus a half dose of the bowel prep regimen used for people undergoing colonoscopy, with zero results
And finally, you know your patient's constipated when...
The pharmacy voluntarily pages you, in order to inform you that your patient has been pre-approved for an 8mg, subcutaneous dose of an anti-constipation medication so potent, that results typically occur within seconds of administration. A medication so potent, and coveted, that it is ordinarily reserved for palliative care patients only. A medication that is so coveted, and secret, that neither I nor my supervising Physicians have even heard of it, let alone ordered it.
Subsequently order it, I did. And sure as shit, it worked within seconds...
Tuesday, August 6, 2013
Saturday, August 3, 2013
"Working for the Weekend"
I think I can officially say that Warren and I are "working for the weekend." Each weekend we seem to find something new to do or just enjoy time hanging out with Joanne and Luiz. Here are the highlights of our weekends in July:
1) Kayaking the West branch of the Susquehanna river. A nice wide, smooth flowing river, I got the hang of it pretty quickly. And with 4 hours on the river complete with snacks, water fights and conversations with good friends, who wouldn't enjoy themselves?
2) A long weekend with family. See my previous post about my sister and dad being in town. Great memories
3) Archery shopping with Joanne. Joanne and I decided we'd like to learn how to use a bow and arrow. Not to hunt anything, but for target practice, especially on those days when you need to release a little tension. We took a few practice shots with different bow types (recurve vs. compound). We both like the wooden bows more than the modern ones (like they use in the olympics). In fact, we ended up ordering the same bow. No date yet as to when it's supposed to arrive, I'll keep you posted...
4) A brand new yoga studio has opened in town, studioB (www.studiobyogacenter.com). It is owned by a young lady, Becky, who moved here from NYC, because her sister is starting residency at Geisinger in Ob/Gyn. She said that she was planning to open a studio soon in Long Island anyway, and when her sister was accepted here, she decided to relocate too. If nothing else, but to have an opportunity to thrive in a place where there isn't a yoga studio on every corner (I'm sure the rent's cheaper here too.) I took my first class there today. It's a great space, very open and inviting with a positive energy. I was amazed at how much my body/spirit was craving a good yoga class. I will definitely be back there.
1) Kayaking the West branch of the Susquehanna river. A nice wide, smooth flowing river, I got the hang of it pretty quickly. And with 4 hours on the river complete with snacks, water fights and conversations with good friends, who wouldn't enjoy themselves?
Me and Joanne
Warren
Luiz
3) Archery shopping with Joanne. Joanne and I decided we'd like to learn how to use a bow and arrow. Not to hunt anything, but for target practice, especially on those days when you need to release a little tension. We took a few practice shots with different bow types (recurve vs. compound). We both like the wooden bows more than the modern ones (like they use in the olympics). In fact, we ended up ordering the same bow. No date yet as to when it's supposed to arrive, I'll keep you posted...
4) A brand new yoga studio has opened in town, studioB (www.studiobyogacenter.com). It is owned by a young lady, Becky, who moved here from NYC, because her sister is starting residency at Geisinger in Ob/Gyn. She said that she was planning to open a studio soon in Long Island anyway, and when her sister was accepted here, she decided to relocate too. If nothing else, but to have an opportunity to thrive in a place where there isn't a yoga studio on every corner (I'm sure the rent's cheaper here too.) I took my first class there today. It's a great space, very open and inviting with a positive energy. I was amazed at how much my body/spirit was craving a good yoga class. I will definitely be back there.
Family Visit
Two weekends ago, I was very happy to welcome my dad and sister to Danville, PA. They arrived late Thursday night after flying directly from Denver to the Harrisburg airport. We'd been experiencing a heat wave that whole week prior, and I was concerned that there wouldn't be enough AC in the house to keep us all from melting (or choking on the humid air). Luckily, the heat wave broke on Friday and we were able to enjoy outdoor activities without too much discomfort.
On Friday, we went to Rickett's Glenn for a hike touring the famous waterfalls. Rickett's Glenn, as I may have mentioned before, is a recreational state park complete with lake, cabins, camping grounds and hiking trails. The park is 13,050 acres at the top of a "peak," measuring 2449 feet above sea level. The most famous of the hiking trails is the aptly named "Falls" trail. This trail takes you down the hillside through old growth timber on a tour of waterfalls. There are 22 waterfalls in all, with varying heights up to 94 feet. The scenery is gorgeous, hike is moderately difficult, and the best part is that there are areas to wade into the water to cool off from the humidity of the area. We had eaten a picnic lunch before our hike, and rounded out the afternoon with ice cream cones from snack shop after our hike.
Saturday Warren was able to joins for the day's activities (he'd had to work Friday.) We all went to the gym (Warren and I belong to Anytime Fitness) and got in a great work out. We then headed to downtown Danville to see what was going on at the Iron Heritage Festival and find a place to eat a late breakfast/early lunch snack. We ended up at a place called "Pappas." Warren and I had never tried it before, probably due to low expectations and very limited hours of operation. It ended up being an experience to remember. The short of the long of it is:
It reminded me of the "Olympia Restaurant" sketch from the early days of SNL (click here to navigate to the Hulu page, then scroll down to find said sketch: www.hulu.com/best-of-snl ) We hung out in Danville the rest of the day, had an early dinner, then drank wine and played Scattegories at the house until late. The night was rounded out by a nice fireworks display that we could view from our porch, courtesy of the Iron Heritage Festival.
Sunday morning we met at the Pine Barn Inn (the hotel where my dad was staying) for breakfast, then headed out to Lewisburg for the morning. Lewisburg is a cute university town about 20 minutes NW of Danville. It is home to Bucknell, a private liberal arts university with Bucky the Bison as a mascot. We wandered the main street which has some cute boutique shops (most of which are closed Sundays, as is the norm in these parts). When then had a nice dinner from the grill at home. Complete with a grilled brussels sprout dish Katrina made. Dinner was delicious. We then played Jenga on the patio well into the night, with fireflies and a fire-pit fire in the background.
Monday morning the clock struck midnight, and Katrina and my dad had to leave for home. I was sad to see them go, but treasure the weekend we spent together. It made me that much more excited for my trip home at the end of August.
On Friday, we went to Rickett's Glenn for a hike touring the famous waterfalls. Rickett's Glenn, as I may have mentioned before, is a recreational state park complete with lake, cabins, camping grounds and hiking trails. The park is 13,050 acres at the top of a "peak," measuring 2449 feet above sea level. The most famous of the hiking trails is the aptly named "Falls" trail. This trail takes you down the hillside through old growth timber on a tour of waterfalls. There are 22 waterfalls in all, with varying heights up to 94 feet. The scenery is gorgeous, hike is moderately difficult, and the best part is that there are areas to wade into the water to cool off from the humidity of the area. We had eaten a picnic lunch before our hike, and rounded out the afternoon with ice cream cones from snack shop after our hike.
Saturday Warren was able to joins for the day's activities (he'd had to work Friday.) We all went to the gym (Warren and I belong to Anytime Fitness) and got in a great work out. We then headed to downtown Danville to see what was going on at the Iron Heritage Festival and find a place to eat a late breakfast/early lunch snack. We ended up at a place called "Pappas." Warren and I had never tried it before, probably due to low expectations and very limited hours of operation. It ended up being an experience to remember. The short of the long of it is:
- They didn't have half the items listed on the menu (it may have been closer to 2/3, I'm not kidding)
- They stopped serving breakfast promptly at 11am (it was 11:04 and we were made well aware that there were no more eggs, toasts, sausage or bacon)
- but if you really wanted something breakfast-like, you could order the lunch-time egg and bacon sandwich (choice of toasted bread, including English muffin), if it was ok that the eggs had an essence of hamburger flavor (the apparent difference between breakfast eggs and lunch eggs)
- Oh, and cash only to pay thank you very much (phew, good thing that's all we had on us)
It reminded me of the "Olympia Restaurant" sketch from the early days of SNL (click here to navigate to the Hulu page, then scroll down to find said sketch: www.hulu.com/best-of-snl ) We hung out in Danville the rest of the day, had an early dinner, then drank wine and played Scattegories at the house until late. The night was rounded out by a nice fireworks display that we could view from our porch, courtesy of the Iron Heritage Festival.
Sunday morning we met at the Pine Barn Inn (the hotel where my dad was staying) for breakfast, then headed out to Lewisburg for the morning. Lewisburg is a cute university town about 20 minutes NW of Danville. It is home to Bucknell, a private liberal arts university with Bucky the Bison as a mascot. We wandered the main street which has some cute boutique shops (most of which are closed Sundays, as is the norm in these parts). When then had a nice dinner from the grill at home. Complete with a grilled brussels sprout dish Katrina made. Dinner was delicious. We then played Jenga on the patio well into the night, with fireflies and a fire-pit fire in the background.
Monday morning the clock struck midnight, and Katrina and my dad had to leave for home. I was sad to see them go, but treasure the weekend we spent together. It made me that much more excited for my trip home at the end of August.
Fall at Rickett's Glenn
Danville as viewed from across the river in Riverside
Candid shot of Katrina and Dad
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)