A Weekend's Labor

The holiday weekend started off with a bang at the old emergency clinic. I left early to beat the holiday traffic, which the Maine Turnpike Authority had predicted would be up by 20% from last year. I beat the heaviest of it and got to work quite early to find one of my colleagues preparing to go to surgery with a patient from his volunteer position with the local marine mammal rescue.



In case you don't recognize the flippers sticking out from underneath the surgical drapes, it's a harbor seal. Remember André? This was apparently one of André's less intelligent relatives, because she had eaten this:



That's 2 kilos of rocks! They filled her entire stomach, which explains why she hadn't been eating. The spoon did not come from her stomach. We keep one sterilized for removing things, like rocks, from places they don't belong, like stomachs.

It was a rather interesting beginning to what would be an exhaustingly busy night for me. I have mentioned before that the upper limit of manageability is an average of about one case per hour over the course of a shift (15 hours for me). Last night I saw 18, 8 of which required anesthesia for various procedures, the most common of which (5 in all) was the removal of porcupine quills. I took a photo of one, but not because he as an impressive case. In fact, he was the most minor of all the quill removals (The worst required about three hours under anesthesia, and we still weren't able to find all the quills). I just took his photo because of his name. This is Franklin:



Despite how busy the night was, I actually managed to have all my paperwork squared away by about 9:30AM - only an hour-and-a-half past the nominal end of my shift. When I got home, I was pleasantly surprised to find a big envelope in the mail from Ted. It contained some photocopied recipes for what look to be some very yummy dishes.

The breakfast clafoutis will definitely give me something to do with my blueberries. David's eyes glazed over, however, when he saw the recipe for maple walnut pie. Definitely not a diet-friendly recipe, but I may be able to fit in a small sliver without too much trouble.

Holiday Plans

I am off to my parents' tomorrow for an overnight visit. In addition to being Labor Day, Monday is also my mother's birthday. Even though it's only a 2½ hour drive, I really don't see my folks very often, so it's a very convenient opportunity to make the trip, even though it means I may be fighting heinous holiday traffic on the drive home Monday.

May you all have a wonderful weekend, whether it's a holiday where you are or not.