Change is Upon Us

I stood in line for 1 hour and 15 minutes to vote for change...and apparently I wasn't the only one. I sat on the edge of my chair all evening and cried when the announcement was made. Barack Obama has been elected president. I was humbled at the poll today. I watched parents bring their children to witness a historic day. I watched elderly men and women stand for over an hour to vote. I watched a lady who had been turned away from two polling places, stand for yet another hour to vote. It was the best spend hour and 15 mintues of my life. It reaffirmed my faith in the American people. Yes, change is upon us...a much needed change.

That Which Doesn't Kill You...

Makes you stronger? Well, I must say this little addage is true for Jamie and I. This past July, Jamie and I decided that we're going to spend the rest of our lives together. This was a huge step for us. I never really bought the whole "love at first sight" thing...but I have to say, I knew pretty early on that Jamie was the guy I wanted to grow old with. I never met someone that matched me on so many levels. We're both from totally different backgrounds - but when it came to the simple things in life, we were definitely on the same page. It's been amazing to watch our relationship grow. I have never cultivated a relationship like this. Every adverse event we encounter causes us to become stronger. When I had to have surgery, Jamie was my rock. When I was frustrated about my job, Jamie was my sounding board. When Jamie was passed over for promotion, my arms were his safety net. When we decided to start looking for a "homeplace," I thought were were set. HA! Talk about stressful...this was probably the most stressful event we've been through thus far. My surgery, his lack of promotion - they couldn't compare! We argued over location, price, location, size, location, shape, location, color, location...ok, so mainly we argued over location. Then we argued over land versus house. After headbutting each other a few times (ok, rather headbutting each other until we both nearly lost consciousness), we found the perfect place. It's like a little slice of heaven - a white cape cod on 4.4 acres of land. And I must say - finding it together made us even stronger. Tomorrow's a big day - I'm meeting the realtor to make the offer on our future homeplace. It's going to be the place where we raise our children, the place where we grow old together. Thank God we got stronger, because I nearly thought we were going to kill each other!

Is that Sunburn on my Neck?

Unfortunately, I don't think it is. I think I've become a redneck. Eeek! This evening on my way to look at land out in the middle of Bumfuck, West Virginia, I met up with a big rig carrying none other than Brian Vickers 83 Red Bull Car. I looked in the rear view and saw Red Bull and immediately thought - "Dear God, it's Brian Vickers!!!" It never crossed my mind that the truck could simply be hauling Red Bull cans or advertising Red Bull. My first and only thought was Brian Vickers. Yep - total redneck. Then to confirm my status, I chased the big rig down the interstate to get a picture on my cell phone. Thank God it wasn't an Amp truck...because someone may have gotten killed if Junior was passing me. :) *snicker* So now the background on my cell phone is the big rig. Next thing you know, I'll be wearing a checkered flag string bikini and holding my Rolling Rock in my Junior beer cozie at the Richmond Race. HA! We'll leave the bikini home - but the Rolling Rock does fit nicely in my 88 cozie. :)

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.

Introducing....

The 4th Floor Clinical Pharmacy Specialist!!! I found out a week and a half ago that I was selected for the clinical pharmacy position on the acute medicine floor that the VA. I'm pretty excited. Acute care has always been my love - now I finally get to flourish in my love. :) I don't have an official start date yet. They have to hire a pharmacist to take my place (apparently they haven't realized that I'm irreplacable! HA!). I'm hoping to start the new position in August - but I won't hold my breath. As part of my new position, I will now be responding with the Code Team. Yea - I'm still a little nervous about that. Honestly, when the code pager drops, my heart races. So - I'm hoping that becomes less with time. I did respond to my first code ever last week. I got to work at 10:30 and the code pager dropped at 10:35. I decided that it was now or never. I took off running out the door. I passed my supervisor in the basement hallway. I told him that there was a code on the 5th floor and I wanted to go. His reponse was - "Well, keep runnin' girl!" So I did. I ran my little ass all the way up the stairs to the third floor. I realized that I was taking 2 stairs at a time. Then I realized that I was a bit winded and still had 2 flights of stairs to go. I walked to the 4th floor and crawled to the 5th floor. My legs felt like iron barrels when I got to the door to the ward. I tried to compose myself and walked into the room. The RN turned to me and said, "Oh honey, did you run all the way up here from the basement?" I replied "Uh-huh" (actually forming words would've taken too much oxygen). She smiled and said, "I hate to tell you but he's ok." I smiled and mumbled something about that being great news. She then offered me the oxygen mask. I must've looked like hell. I tried to walk back down the stairs, but my legs had turned from iron to rubber. I wasn't able to make them go down the stairs. I crawled back over to the elevator and rode down to the basement. Note to self - you can't do chest compressions if you can't breath on your own. Perhaps next time I'll take the elevator to the 5th floor. I learned that my adrenaline rush lasts for 3 flights of stairs and then it dies. The pain of sucking air lasts for 3 hours. Code team here I come! :)

I Heart Nascar

Check out the 88 gear on this woman! :) Holy cow - I'm a redneck. I went to my first Nascar race this past weekend and now I'm hooked. I have 3 Junior shirts, a Junior hat, and a Junior beer bottle holder. I used to watch it with Jamie because he loved it. Now I'm watching it because I love it. Saturday was so exciting. The cars rumbling, the bleachers rattling, and the screaming - it was better than any rock concert I've ever been to. The fact that I got to share this experience with Jamie was even better. The look of excitement on his face was unbelievable. This was some serious tailgating. We partied for 12 hours before the race. My God, we were pulling out of the hotel parking lot at 6:30AM. These people KNOW how to tailgate.

The race itself was incredible. Jamie said it was quite possibly the best one he's ever seen at Richmond. Kurt Bush was in a hell of a crash. Michael Waltrip got put into the wall right infront of our seats. Watching Junior pull to the front was incredible. I never thought I'd be yelling and screaming for a Nascar driver. I was excited - excited like I've never been about a sport before (except when WVU beat Louisville in triple overtime at Mo'Town!). When Junior, Hamlin, and Kyle Bush were 3 wide in the back stretch, I was screaming my head off. When Junior passed Kyle Bush in turn 2 (and consequently, right in front of my seat) I was actually jumping up and down. We were screaming and jumping. I thought I was going to see Junior's first win since May 2006. But then Kyle Bush slammed him into the wall. @&#$ing cheating Kyle Bush! Even though Junior didn't win - it was an awesome race. And all I have to say is - I heart Nascar!!! :)

The funniest thing I saw all day: