July 23, 2010

Whether the Weather be: Overcast (52F/11C)
In the News: Tropical Storn Bonnie hits Florida
Events of Note: Unit 3: Discussion Thread Responses/Unit Project work and research.

* My Ipod is a welcomed, if not slightly strange escape, this morning. It still has the music files on it that my husband uploaded for my Stanford Hospital surgical stay back in January. Including the soundtrack from "Grey's Anatomy". My husband has a quirky sense of humor. I've not really been a fan of "Grey's". My only significant memory of that particular drama, is that I liked some of Sandra Oh's quirky dialogue back in the beginning. That said, all throughout my college career in New Zealand, I was a reasonably consistent fan of "E.R". Now, it's "House, M.D" and "Boston Med". It's the only Teev that I can be bothered looking at, really.

* My childhood was a bit unsual, in that I lived a good part of my early life as a long-term pediatric patient in the orthopedic department and pediatric unit of a major teaching hospital. I was born prematurely at 26 weeks, and came as close to dying as a human being can get, several different times. Later, I developed RDS (Respiratory Distress Syndrome) and pneumonia. The staff in the NICU had to wrap my tiny hands in little gauze mittens because I kept pulling all of my monitoring tubes out. Not long after that, staff inserted a special shunt just below my collarbone, to give me life-saving medication. I still have that very visible scar today. My father was urgently told to go and visit me, so that I could be named and christened, as I was not predicted to survive. Between the ages of four and 14, I had six corrective surgeries. I saw the same orthopedic surgeon for 27 years. He greatly influenced my subsequent life and made a real difference in many of the choices that I made for myself. He frequently told me, "Annabel, don't you ever let anyone try to tell you that you can't do something that you really want to". The last time that I saw him, was in the corridors of the clinical school where I was a graduate student, and he was an orthopedic teacher. An oddly surreal moment for both of us, I think. Tragically, he died in 2007, following a short battle with cancer. The same year that I finished writing my MPH thesis.

* Yesterday, I chatted with a great friend of mine. She and I actually met through the forum that was my very first online blog, and I'll always remember how she gave me my very first blog comment. Anyway, we were both contemplating the capriciousness of life, and how important it is to consistently keep a positive attitude and outlook. Life has dealt her some terrible twists and turns lately. Yet, through it all, she has managed to keep her warmth, humor and compassionate perspective. It was refreshing and grounding for me to be able to share a few, precious moments with her.

* I studied until 2am this morning, so I really need to get a jump-start on my Friday, here, in a minute or two. My daughter is playing on her computer, with half an eye on a "Backyardigans" movie. In the meantime, my husband has turned on our hot tub for me. So, I'd better go and have my hydrotherapy for the day, before I hit my books (again). Maybe after that, I can upload some new tunes on to my Ipod. You never know. The sun is shimmering through the coastal cloud-bank, and it's a new day!.

Off to do some reading on the Discussion Boards.