Back in Surgery!!

So today was a really good day at work 'cause I was doing some exciting stuff back in surgery for once. You bums have to comment if you want to hear about it, though, 'cause I'm just not motivated enough otherwise with all this "silence".

Prayers

Hey guys - a couple prayer requests for you all to help me out with if you would.

Andy is going to be in the hospital on Friday for a kidney biopsy. Please pray for peace for he and his family and wisdom for the doctors. They think his condition is most likely something they don't know a ton about yet, so it's kinda scary. Pray that they will be able to treat him successfully.

Also, Ryan's Mom is going to the doctors tomorrow (Wednesday) for some female issues. Pray for strength and peace for the Heidners during this health problem.
- Update on 7/21/05 is that she has a pulled muscle, which is a bummer but at least nothing more serious or hard to treat. Pray that she is able to do what she needs to for healing up.

The Kemps, who I'm staying with this summer, just lost Mr. Kemp's dad this weekend after a long battle with Parkinson's. Pray for his wife as she deals with the loss and has to sort through the family assets, including the family farm. Ask God to provide comfort and help for the Kemps during their time of mourning.
- Update on 7/21/05 is that the Kemps are back home and seemed to have the desired closure and happy rememberances during the funeral. Mr. Kemp's Mom seems to be doing well, but continue to pray for her and for some lingering family tension.

Keep praying for my Dad's Aunt Eleanor, as well as that whole side of the family, as she continues to deal with what looks like metastasized liver/pancreatic cancer.

Thanks guys. Thanks most of all to God who hears, understands, and acts in our best interest no matter what.

The Inevitables

So many of you have probably seen "The Incredibles" (and the rest of you should do so, too!). Here is my spin-off: A list I'm calling "The Inevitables" - it's full of things that I've found are just bound to happen at Banfield, in every day life, etc. I hope you all enjoy it. If all goes as planned, I will add to this list on occasion as I am inspired to do so.

- Crabby Dr. Narske and angry kitties tend to go well together.
- The more the doctor is paying attention to the pulse oximeter reading, the less likely the darn thing is to actually work.
- A mildly upset animal (vocal only) will suddenly become violent when Dr. Giumento approaches it. She will be bit/scratched/or at least have a close call.
- I will remember something I was supposed to do at work approximately 2 hours after I return home.
- The pet's need for medical attention/total estimated cost of services will have an inverse relationship with the owner's willingness/ability to pay. Emergencies will show up with no money whatsoever.
- Such an emergency will arrive approximately 20 minutes before closing time.
- When an owner asks about the cause of a certain condition, the more certain the doctor is about their response the more the owner is likely to think it's incorrect.
- The first question the doctor asks you about the patient's history will be the one thing you forgot to ask the owner.
- Pam (hospital director) will be frazzled approximately 95% of the time at work, the rest of the time she is cuddling something cute and furry.
- The simpler the treatment options, the more likely the owner is to think you're joking. (For example, giving canned pumpkin for constipation.)
- When an owner hears something simple and true that they don't like (such as "Advantix works better than Hartz"), they will keep asking others (receptionists, other staff, etc.) why this is true even after a detailed explanation.
- If I actually manage to get up on time, I will forget to put my scrubs in the dryer and therefore barely leave on time because I'm waiting for them to finish drying.
- The level to which I'm trying to watch what I eat is inversely related to the sales/coupons on junk food.
- The more organized my checkbook is, the less up-to-date my online balance is so I can't check to see if it's right.
- If I have an unexpected day off work or I actually get home on time, Ryan will have a long list of things he needs to do for his Mom.
- Friends I haven't talked to in ages and really want to catch up with will be on AIM regularly, just not when I am.
- Those who you really want to know what they're up to will have a nondescript away message such as: "I'm away" or "BRB" that has been idle for 2 hours.
- The sooner you need a response, the longer you will play phone-tag.
- I will gripe about not getting comments on my blog, get a whole bunch of comments, and then go through a long dry spell. (Consider this a gripe. ;-) )
- The more we need God's grace, the more He gives it to us!
- On random occasions, things you've heard and written your whole life will suddenly seem wrong, like "the more"...

Holiday and Such

I hope everyone had a great 4th of July! I went home to Springfield (Ryan came with) and visited with my parents, Ruthi, and Andy. It was good to see all of them. Ryan kicked Hawker butt at this new game they have called Blockus (it was a true display of Enginerd prowess). I managed to not win anything - not even Sequence - but had a great time anyway. My parents, Ruthi, Ryan and I all went to see "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" on the 3rd. Man, talk about a fun movie. I think we were all pleasantly surprised. And it even had the decency to point out how important honesty is in a relationship. (Afterwards Ryan and I made sure to tell each other we weren't living double lives or trying to kill one another... ;-) ) I was so glad that Ruthi could make it up to Springfield to visit since I haven't seen her in so long and she'll be off to Kansas State soon enough. I should be a meteorologist because I totally predicted the drought would end with rain on everybody's 4th of July picnics. We actually didn't mind the rain at all on the 4th - we needed it, plus we had a nice tent gazebo that we helped my parents put up to keep us dry. Besides, it kept Dad from making us do manual labor. What am I talking about, you may ask. Well, Dad made Ryan help him with changing my car's oil, rotating its tires, and chopping at a tree stump in our yard with an axe because the wood is so hard that the chain saw can't handle it. Oh well, Dad is funny like that sometimes. I think it was good for them to do a little male bonding. My Dad's cousin (my "Uncle") Chuck stopped by for brunch on the 4th. It was good to see him and chat. We haven't seen much of him since he left "Aunt" Jan for the town floosie. Yeah, I know that sounds harsh, but it's what happened. I'm still sorting out how I feel about the whole situation... Dad's maternal Aunt Eleanore (Chuck's mom) is in the hospital with what looks like malignant metastatic cancer (it's in the liver and pancreas for sure), so he was visiting with her and other family at the hospital the evening of the 4th. He got back a bit late, so we left for fireworks a bit late (it had stopped raining). Unfortunately, Springfield thought it was going to rain again soon, so they started the fireworks display about 20 minutes early. We could see them between buildings on the drive in. We never did make it to the Capitol lawn for the show, which is where we usually watch it. We ended up standing in an alley, but the 2/3 of the show we saw from there was pretty good. On the 5th we met Andy at a Thai restaurant in Springfield over his lunch hour, so it was nice to catch up with him. I was so excited to get some Thai sweet iced tea with cream. That's some good stuff! Ryan ordered his food spiciness "hot" (on a scale from mild to hot) and guzzled down about a gallon of water to eat it. Silly boy. We made lots of "pit stops" on the way back to the suburbs... Luckily we didn't get stuck in some nasty traffic, since we got to the north suburbs right at 5pm.

I had a good time on my break. My only regrets are that I didn't get to see my brother, Mandy, or Ashley, and I didn't get to talk to my Dad about some faith issues that have been on my heart for awhile. It's hard to go back to work after a nice break. Banfield has been quite busy since getting back, and I work all day all week. Needless to say, I'm a bit worn out, and my work week is only half over. Time to get some rest.

Please pray for Aunt Eleanore and Andy with their health issues and for me and my Dad's conversation(s) yet to come. Take care all!