Life Update

It's been a pretty tumultuous time for me. Here's the whirlwind update:

5/22/08 - Doctor's visit to confirm that precancerous cells were gone

5/23/08 - Notified that I was the official selection for the Acute Care Specialist

5/29/08 - Notified that precancerous cells were back and surgery was suggested

5/30/08 - Family decided that Shaggy's suffering was too much (Shaggy was my Old English Sheepdog who had been my best friend and companion since my sophomore year in high school)

6/2/08 - Ended Shaggy's suffering and let him go

6/9/08 - Start first ever vacation while working at the VA

6/12/08 - Purchased a 1998 Jeep Wrangler with cold hard cash & notified by hospital that I would need to be intubated for my surgery

6/15/08 - Jamie's parents met my parents & Jamie informed me that everything looks better topless (he's was referring to my Jeep sans hard top ;) )

6/16/08 - Spend the evening on the river in Jamie's new boat fishing for bass

6/18/08 - Underwent a LEEP procedure to remove all of the precancerous cells (it was my first time to have anaesthesia E-V-E-R..and let me tell you IV fentanyl, midazolam, and propofol combined with inhaled desflurane will knock you OUT!)

6/21/08 - Returned to work the weekend after having surgery - survived with great support from my friends

Today - Realized that I am a very happy person and a very blessed person. I'm graced with a wonderful family, great friends, and an amazing boyfriend. Now I'm going to go put the top down on the Jeep and let the wind blow through my hair. :)

Insane Clown Posse

This past week my work rotation placed me in the Outpatient Pharmacy. This is my least favorite place to work. It has absolutely nothing to do with my fellow staff members. In fact, many of them are my closest friends. I just don't like retail pharmacy, and this environment lends itself to the retail feel. My least favorite work assignment in this rotation is The Booth. It is a little booth encased in bullet proof glass. There is a 6 inch gap below the window to allow the veteran to slide their ID card and Quematic number under. Incidentily, it's also a nice gap to slide a 9mm under. I've often wondered what genius thought of placing a 6 inch gap below the bullet proof glass. Anyways, I wasn't as early as I normally am on Wednesday and consequently was banished to The Booth. My last customer before lunch was #101. I was flipping through my email when she sat down. When I glanced up to greet her, I nearly fell of my chair. Picture this - 26yo white female, roughly 5'5" and 140lb, with buzz cut brown hair. This was normal (ok - the buzz cut hair normally wouldn't be considered normal, but given the rest of her appearance, this was the epitmy of normalcy). Her eyebrows were shaved off and replaced with drawn-in brown vertical lines. These lines were placed on each side of the beginning of the bridge of her nose. There were piercings in ever orfice of the face - and few in places that didn't normally lend themselves to piercing. Honestly, she scared the hell out of me. I'm the type of person who won't listen to Slipknot because looking at them gives me nightmares. I saw Cold in concert in 2001 and had nightmares for 2 weeks because they worse rubber masks. So - she was all the things my nightmares are made of. I wanted to scream, but managed to choke out a hello and asked her her name and last four of her social. The whole time, my brain was saying, "Holy shit, you're spending quality time with a renegade member of the Insane Clown Posse!!!" (Another band that gives me nightmares - of course their's is due to their scary looks AND their horrible music) She was actually a very nice person. I wondered what in the world could've possessed her to shave her eyebrows off and replace them with vertical lines. I've had some crazy thoughts in my life time - but none of them included, "Today, I think I'm going to shave off my eyebrows and replace them with vertical lines." Wow... Consequently, I've been sleeping with the TV on the past couple nights - it's the best antidote for Insane Clown Posse visions.