Cinco de Mayo

Last week of classes. And I've been sick for two weeks. Started with a rather bad URI (upper respitatory infection--a cold) and then turned into a sinus infection. I waited too long to see the doc, I had to leave school and go to an urgent-care clinic on Thursday. It was a good reminder to me of how bad "just a cold" can feel, and how absolutely lousy it is when you get a secondary infection. (Never again will I scoff at all the UT students who run to the clinic two days after they get a cold.) Also I really should've paid attention to the day count -- I know that if you're still sick on day 10, it's turned bacterial. But I needed a lesson. And one lesson is that antibiotics are the best stuff on earth when you need them.

My darling daughter is graduating if she can tamp down on the senioritis for one more month. I put together some pictures for a slide show at her party, here's one from Baton Rouge and another from winter formal. She's a big girl now. And next year both of us will be in college. The past 3 weeks have been really challenging, on one day I turned in 2 papers, gave a presentation, and took an exam. Glad that's not the norm. This week I just have 3 exams and 2 presentations. Ha. Really, no kidding.

I'm working some in May as an RN at the psych hospital, so interesting things will happen and I'll have some musings to report. I tell you, I can't wait to get my hands on those MARS and look at the meds with my newly-educated eyes. And talk to the psychiatrists about med choice, like take Risperdal. That is one dirty drug. It's top of the list for nasty side effects in every category -- why is it prescribed so much? Is it cheap? Super effective? That wasn't obvious to me from my lectures.

Summer school starts May 31. I'm taking Healthcare Policy first, then Human Sexuality. Gotta have a little fun. Crabby is no longer a kitten - she turned 1 on May Day. It was wet food all day long. And Ken and I have 23 years together on Cinco de Mayo, so some margaritas will be consumed. Nile and I are volunteering at the Austin animal shelter, we orient on Saturday. Tomorrow night is the Roger Waters concert of the entire album of "The Wall". Typical busy May.

I mentioned in my last post that I heard on NPR that 1/3 of the people in Who's Who have lied about their military honors - that is, claimed those honors and actually were not awarded them. Some did not even serve in the forces. I was astounded at that - seems patently ridiculous, does it not, that someone would put on display in a database/book (whatever it is now) such a bold-faced lie that can be easily checked out. In my line of work, I often think about the line between truth and lie, between fantasy and reality, between what we wish and what's real. Dani and I recently talked about how we lie to ourselves when we want something badly. In class, this came up in lecture last week, and my professor (who is really good at therapy - I mean, I could sit at her feet and just watch for days) said it in an interesting way. She said that you take the truth that the patient chooses to give you at that time. But their truth will change as they open up to you. Be willing to see the change. Here's a link to an interesting NPR story about this, a different story - more specifically about fraud.
NPR fraud story

The gym is still fun-o-rama. We're doing a new "release" in spin and the lead-off song is that awful infectious thing about moves like Jagger...ick, I have to hear it every morning at 5:30 am. I am about to punch someone. Let's see Jagger do that move. One good thing (the absolutely only thing) about being so sick was that I missed 4 days at the gym so my hip now does not hurt.