What you learn working in a Pediatric office:

UPDATE: In order to cover all of my bases, I must tell you that I am neither a doctor nor a nurse. I am, however, a nurses aid/CNA/health tech/clinical care assistant. I don't want people thinking I'm something that I'm not. More on what I do, what I know, what I would like to do, and what I'd like to know in a later post.

So I don't have a substantial post tonight. Fear not, I have a couple in the works, they're just not ready yet. So here is a list. A list of things. Things I've noticed or learned from working in Peds (Work#2).

In no particular order:
1) You always want hand sanitizer right after you walked past nine million bottles of it mounted on the walls, in patient rooms, and on desks right as you enter the area that only has one bottle, tucked away in some lonely corner collecting dust because you can never remember where exactly it is.
2) You know flu season is starting when you administer quick flu tests to fellow staff.
3) You get kind of excited when a kid is coming in with a busted lip or funny looking bug bites. This is mainly because  it's not another "sore throat/runny nose/cough/fever" kid. Have you ever heard of a cold? (Sorry, had to get my little rant in). It also means you might get to see something cool...like stitches or draining a wound. Fun!
4) You find out that apple seeds are indeed "poisonous." They naturally have trace amounts of cyanide. Gasp! Don't worry, you'd have to eat a bunch of apple seeds to even notice the effects.
5) Babies pee on you. All. The. Time. And sometimes poop gets involved too.
6) You just have to laugh (and cry a little on the inside) when you botch a patients name when calling them back to the room.
7) Sometimes, just sometimes, you still call a she a he and a he a she accidentally even after you just saw them diaper-less.
8) The receptionist staff shrug away awkwardly when you walk up to them holding ________ (i.e. urine samples, sealed lab test swabs, a dirty diaper)
9) You've encountered parents who are much more frustrating than your own. (Love you Mom!)
10) Despite their saliva, snot, pee, and poop you still really do adore children...most of the time.

Rushing

Rushing used to be something that happened in the band room. It means hurrying through the music faster than the tempo is. I'm no longer an active musician but I still seem to be rushing. This rushing is different though and it usually is a direct result of being late ALL the time. Sigh.

So today has been fairly uneventful but painfully long. Waking up this morning was difficult. I had gotten enough sleep but by the time 7:30am rolled around my body was fighting hard to stay asleep. Of course that means I woke up late and had to rush around. I could barely get out the door fast enough. Thankfully I rushed to the bus stop and caught the bus just by the nick of time. (Yes, going to a large public university means taking public transportation because parking is, well, crappy)

I was a few minutes late to my 8:30 class - rushing as usual. This was unfortunate because we had a quiz. Thankfully I made it in time to see the first question. It was one of those quizzes that the question is up for 2 minutes - after those two minutes it goes to the next question never to return to the one before it. I rushed through that first question and then was able to take my time, err, full 2 minutes for the rest of the questions.

After that I rushed to catch the bus again. Mondays are weird days. I only have that one morning class and then I go to Work#1. I had some time to kill at my apartment before I had to leave. This means I had time to get wrapped up in something and of course ended up leaving late. Thus, I rushed to work. I got there on time but I may have driven a little faster than I normally do.

Work#1 was good. I got some work done. Of course I didn't finish the stuff I have to do which means I was rushing at the end of the day trying to finish. I didn't.

On this particular Monday I am also scheduled to work at Work#2. Thus I rushed from one office to the other, rushed to get changed, and now here I am...no patients to see...for now. Hopefully our clinic isn't so busy that I have to rush to see them.

I don't like rushing. I prefer to live life to the fullest, taking each thing as it comes. It isn't good to only think about what you have to do NEXT - it jeopardizes what you're doing in the present.

Do you ever find yourself rushing? I do. Sometimes I need a reminder to slow down and smell the coffee (before you down it and rush some more).

Let the ramblings begin...

So life...

It's great! Actually, it is busy, full, hectic, happy, crazy, joyful, mayhem-ous (yes I made that word up), and GREAT! God really is good. He is glorified in our work and He is praised in our fellowship. I am glad that He is the one who holds things together - I certainly am sucky at doing that on my own.

Lately I feel like I am over stretching myself in my responsibilities. But then at the same time I am completely content in where God has me right now, even if it's a little, well...see above. I'm working two jobs, going to school full time, and participating in extra curricular activities including RUF's ministry team. That's not even counting keeping up with my friends and family - all of whom I adore! OH! And now blogging!

I'm not going to lie to you and say I don't get stressed and overwhelmed at times. I'm quite open about my stress level - it often expresses itself in exasperated, unintelligible noises. I appologize plead for forgiveness from all of those who have had the erm, pleasure of experiencing this.

Anyway, before I get stressed by the mere thought of being stressed (sigh), I'm going to move on. God has given us work and it is good. He Himself did work - the universe wasn't created with a blink of an eye (Genesis 2:2)! He told Adam and Eve to do work - cultivate the earth and subdue it (Genesis 2:15). So now we modern Christians continue to do work. It may be different work between then and now and between different people but it is all rooted in furthering the Kingdom of God. Teachers work with our children and provide them with knowledge; engineers build, create, and analyze the tools used in living, doctors (and PA's!) work to learn about the human body (that was created in the image of God, mind you) and how to heal. These are only a few examples and probably don't even apply to all of you (if I even have readers) reading this...but basically...work is good!

So, working yourself into a whirlwind of stress is a good thing? NO! We serve a God of work but he is also (and possibly even more so) a God of rest. I for one am thankful that God rested on that 7th day (Genesis 2:3). We have a Sabbath Day to spend time in the word, fellowshipping with friends, and maybe even taking a nap. I'm not always great about not working on Sunday - sometimes I let my stress get the better part of me. I'm working on it! But beyond a single day of rest, we Christians are in a perpetual state of rest in our Savior. Have you ever noticed that "there was evening and there was morning" is MISSING from the 7th day of rest? Well I suppose it's not missing per say - God didn't just lose it. It is intentional. We are able to fully rest 24/7 in God. He is a relational God, one who knows His children intimately. We can go to Him with our problems and seek comfort and REST.

So who else is grateful that they serve a God of work AND rest? I know I am! It takes the control out of my hands. I'm not working for myself - I'm working for the Kingdom. I'm not resting in my own merits/having it all together - I'm resting in a God who DOES have it all together. He is in control! Does it get any better than that? I think not...