It's a damned shame about that journalist. I don't know what else to say. He knew that he was in a dangerous place at a dangerous time, and his luck ran out. He was there in hopes of getting the *big* story, not *being* the big story. I have a lot of sympathy for his family... I have a lot of sympathy for everybody's family... we all have losses. I am very lucky in that all of my losses have been in the remote past, but I know that won't continue forever. A dear friend of mine has a mother who is dying of throat cancer, very slowly and agonizingly, and my heart goes out to her. There is nothing to do, nothing to say, I just have to be there for her. I can't cry for her, nobody can cry for anyone but themselves, for a loss of any sort is personal. If a friend dies, my tears are not for my friend, but for myself, because I have suffered the loss of a friend. Our tears for the victims of 9/11 are for ourselves, because we live in such a cruel world. OK, enough of that already. Nice day weather-wise, and it's going to be beautiful this weekend, in more ways than just the weather. Karen and I are going on a little get-away for the weekend... a cheap one, too. Just me and her, and it's almost Friday already! Another busy day at work, more confusing than busy, I guess... one of those days. It is really amazing how very little doctors and nurses know about what we do and how and why we do it. For example, we've had docs insist that we do an IV contrast exam on patients who have just eaten. Well, that's OK on an emergent basis, such as life-threatening situations where there are plenty of personnel around to handle the consequences... but the consequences can be life-threatening in themselves... I'm talking about vomiting and aspiration. In a rather enclosed place, inside the CT scanner. And they usually want the exam done stat for their convenience... not a really good reason for dangerously sloppy medicine. Most of them understand when we take the time to explain it, but some of them... well, let's say that they're harder to deal with. Especially the nurses, 'cause they know what the doctor said, and if it doesn't happen that way, they think that they're in big trouble. I've been in CT, and working days, for about eight months now. And to be quite frank about it, it pretty much sucks. Well, OK, it doesn't really suck, but I'm not having nearly as much fun as I did working nights. I will probably never have that much fun again in my whole life, and that's pretty sad. No, I can't go back to nights. It would kill me, and I'm too young to die, dammit. But I miss it. I really, really miss it. I miss my buddies, I miss the whole night-shift feeling. I haven't had anyone die on me for eight months or more. That sounds kinda macabre, I know... but the adrenalin, it's really habit-forming. I miss the trauma, I miss knowing that I'm helping the patient better'n any other tech could... I miss working by myself, with a team of really professional life-savers. Being a part of that team. Wow, this entry is all over the place tonight. I hope that it's not too confusing....
I look like I'm thinking in today's picture. I like it when I can fake people out.